Oil and water: two elements that don’t mix well. They don’t get along, and no matter how much you shake them, they always end up separating.

This is the case with SEO and computer programmers. At least in my experience or maybe it’s just Spain? Surely this doesn’t happen elsewhere… How is it possible that such a fantastic tool, such a key element at our disposal is almost completely ignored by most programmers? It’s complete folly.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, SEO is the most important marketing tool that currently exists. It is the skeleton, the supporting structure, of any coherent marketing plan and certainly the backbone of all webs. Or rather, this is how it should be.

Partly scientific and partly technological, definitely an art form, SEO straddles a thin line between the frustrating and mesmerizing. I, personally, find it fascinating. Others find it frightening. Good SEO needs someone with talent and knowledge, as it is most certainly dense. But it also needs someone with humour, emotional intelligence, and intuition.

It blows my mind that companies, or anyone for that matter, don’t consider SEO to be the logical and natural first step before putting together a web or launching a new product. How would a human stand or move, do any of the things we do, without a skeletal structure? It is madness.

Most programmers won’t touch SEO with a 10-foot pole. They don’t want to know anything about it. They dismiss it. I’ve had programmers say, directly to my face, mind-boggling things such as:

• It’s a waste of time
• It doesn’t make any difference
• I don’t know anything about it so I just ignore it
• No one has ever asked me to do anything with SEO

And the best one, my favourite, completely blew my mind:

• I’ve never worked with SEO before so I’m not going to start now…

To which I responded, absolutely incredulous: “So you have no interest, as a programmer, in learning new skills, techniques, software, technology, etc.?” Absolutely brutal.

I’m usually called in, once the web is already online, to basically fill in the SEO Yoast plug-in fields. And no, clients don’t see the benefit of paying for keyword research. Just make it up as you go along, they say…

By no means am I an expert, but there is so much more to be done with SEO. I’m not going to get into the complicated explanation of SEO as the great people over at Moz have that completely covered. But what I want to insist on is that SEO should be the first step before the programming even starts. Logic dictates that the programmers should work with the marketing people on the SEO and then start programming. But no… Oil and water.

Way back in summer 2016, I started to realize I needed a change. Well, to be honest, I had actually started to realize in summer 2015. But you know how we humans are. You continue along, make a few half-hearted efforts at feeble change, keep hitting your head against the same walls. Over and over again. Seriously, how can we be so dumb?

Read more

 Non-stop activity during the year? Don’t go crazy in summer.

It seems like we spend all year waiting for summer. But I have to admit that I find it highly overrated, especially in Barcelona. Every year I completely forget how much summer gets on my nerves. I know I’m not the only one! Let’s discuss some ideas to avoid losing your cool in the hottest months of the year.

Read more

“Silence invades the room and I sink into an almost meditative state as the knitting needles quietly click, adding rows and rows of stitches. I found solace in knitting after a rough period in life and have never looked back.” This is how Ainhoa Herrera’s story begins and is the text I wrote as the intro to her About.

Read more

I have personally been a fan of Claire’s heavenly cooking for quite some time now, (she created not one but two cakes for my wedding that disappeared so fast I didn’t even get a chance to taste both!) It was a great honour to help Claire with the food styling for her Albion Food & Events web, previously brainstorming the themes and perusing her menus to better understand the type of props that would be necessary. I was in charge of sourcing the different items, and once Claire had plated each dish, I swooped in to add the necessary details and arrangements. Nacho Martínez was the photographer in charge of capturing each image and he did a great job.

Read more