walking

Walking Central Park: A 25-Year and Ongoing Odyssey

While I likely visited Central Park long before, my first recollection of spending any significant amount of time in the Park was when my now husband, but then boyfriend, Jay, and I made a trip to the Manhattan borough of NYC to celebrate my 40th birthday. Despite it being November, and likely a bit chilly out — it was cold enough to skate at Rockefeller Center (we had so much fun) and in Central Park (where we got to watch the skaters) too. On that trip, we visited the Central Park Zoo. I believe it was on that particular visit, or the next one, that we visited the Carousel at Central Park and a nearby gift shop in the Park as well.

Most of the visits we’ve made to NYC have been in the spring, specifically so we could spend lots of time in the Park. As Tom Hanks’ character says in the movie “You’ve Got Mail,” “it’d be a shame to miss New York in the spring,” which I’ve mentally revised to “it’d be a shame to miss Central Park in the spring.”

Central Park runs from West To East from Central Park West To Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, and from North To South from 110th Street to 59th Street. So, I thought the easiest way to document our visits would be by the number of the Manhattan Street that runs perpendicular to a certain part of Central Park. Each section has its own identity and unique features/attractions, and no section has yet to disappoint. As The World Monuments Fund calls out in this website page about why Central Park was built, “Central Park was created as a sanctuary from the pace and pressures of city life—a democratic space designed to enhance the enjoyment and wellbeing of all. Construction of the Park began in 1858, and only a few months later, the first section, the Lake, opened to the public.” So many tourists and NYC residents take advantage of the Park, the people-watching alone is enough of a reason to visit!

Ultimately, we’d love to visit all the sections of the treasure we all have in Central Park. But, when we do visit NYC, we like to stumble across things, and not have a large to-do list, or schedule we have to adhere to, so who knows if it will happen, and if it does, it will likely be more organically vs. planned out.

The Section of Central Park We Know Best And Have Visited Most: 71st To 82nd Streets

While I had made some trips to various NYC boroughs prior to meeting my husband, 8 of the 10 trips we’ve made together included staying at hotels on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and the two hotels in-question are both in easy walking distance of iconic Central Park. So, the areas or features of the Park we know best and have visited most are:

  • Strawberry Fields
  • Bow Bridge
  • Ladies Pavilion – of course, I love this because I love anything with a vintage, decorative look and I love the color too!
  • Tavern On The Green Restaurant — we’ve never had the pleasure of eating at this well-known and beloved restaurant in Central Park West and 67th Street, but we’ve had fun walking by! Plus, enjoyed watching horse-drawn carriage activity in this area of the Park!

On our most recent visit in spring 2026, we once again walked from the East Side of the Park to the West Side — ultimately going from around West 79th Street to 5th Avenue, on the other side of the Park. We had never before visited Belvedere Castle or seen Delacorte Theater (which we viewed this time around from the aforementioned Castle). The Castle is so beautiful and has a gift shop and a landing where street artists perform, and the views from that area are fabulous. We also got to take the path to and from the Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the MET) which is located at 1000 Fifth Street and East 82nd Street. This was our second time to make our way from one side of Central Park to the other on one of our trips to NYC, and it’s a very manageable walk for most, I would think. It was a sunny, warm (high 70’s/low 80s) day the day we visited, so we saw lots of sunbathers on the steps of the MET. And, speaking of sunbathing or relaxing, when we made our way back we walked thru the area known as the “Great Lawn,” and I have never seen so many people laughing, smiling, and socializing in one place in one park. It was mesmerizing!

We also visited both a pizza place for a traditional large NYC pizza slice and a delicious gluten-free bakery on Lexington Avenue after exiting the East side of the Park near the aforementioned Museum.

A favorite memory of this section of the Park pertains to a spring 2013 NYC trip we made with my twin’s family. What did we do as soon as we checked in at the hotel with my twin sister’s family? Grab cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery on Columbus Avenue and bring them with us to Central Park! We also visited the “Friends’ Fountain”(Cherry Hill Fountain) and beautiful Bethesda Terrace. And, one morning grabbed egg frittatas from a nearby farm-to-table place to eat them at the Park, and on this trip, and many others, we got to listen to some great musicians playing music in the Park.

This image shows a section of Central Park West -- in the roughly 81st to 77th street area of the park on the Upper West Side of NYC and it shows people standing on big rocks or sitting on them with a beautiful river/water view below and a view of tall Manhattan buildings in the background.

What Other Sections Of Central Park Have We Visited?

70th Street To 59th Street

On our most recent visit in spring 2026, we walked the interior of Central Park West from 79th Street to 59th Street (Columbus Circle and where the Park ends) to attend a new food truck festival called Smorgasburg (because it’s a food extravaganza with roots in Williamsburg, Brooklyn). But, since I already pointed out favorite points of interest in the West 81st to West 71st stretch, I’m focusing this paragraph on the stretch from West 70th to West 59th.

We’ve also visited and rode on the beautiful Central Park Carousel at East 65th Street and visited the Zoo (close by at at East 64th) there as mentioned in the beginning of this blog post related to my husband and my first or second visit to NYC). Both were so much fun!

What Sections Of Central Park Do We Still Want To Get To Know?

Well, based on using an orange highlighter to mark on a free Central Park Conservancy map the areas we have visited, it looks like we’ve covered a lot of the lower, western part of the park, and some of the lower eastern park. That means, Jay and I need to spend some time on our next NYC trip visiting:

  • The Upper Western and Eastern Parts Of The Park From 82nd Street to 110th Street
  • The Eastern Part Of The Park From About 66th Street to 78th Street

But, as I shared above, we like our time in NYC to allow for a lot of spontaneity, so we’ll see what our next NYC trip brings! But regardless, I know, for certain, we will be visiting one or several section of this fabulous Park!

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Taking A Step Backward To Move Forward

So many fellow marketing professionals are talking about the value of storytelling these days, and that got me thinking about what story of my own vs. my clients’ that I could tell that might help or inspire others.

In recent months, I’ve taken a step backward on both the professional and personal fronts with the ultimate goal of improving my work-related productivity and my health.

What Tool Can Help Improve A Marketing Professional’s Productivity?

Over the last two or so months, I’ve spent a very large number of hours creating monthly marketing dashboards/reports for each of my ongoing/monthly clients in a new tool. Well, new to me, not new to marketing agencies and consultants. It was a huge investment of time, and there was a big learning curve — and I used ChatGPT along the way when I needed help with challenges I ran into along the way. But, I’m pleased and proud to share that I successfully migrated the aforementioned clients away from manually populated KPI Google sheets and Word docs to monthly reports on Google Looker Studio.

Accomplishing the above meant I had to allow myself to live with the discomfort that other client and administrative work was piling up. But, I was eventually able to catch back up on the piled-up work and sacrificing the short-term for the long-term has already allowed me and my clients to reap the following benefits of my taking time to learn and implement reports on Google Looker Studio:

  • I can focus less on manually entering data in KPI sheets and Word documents and focus more on the data itself and what the auto-populated reports are showing/indicating
  • I have more free work/personal time and work/life balance, which means I’m less stressed and my brain is fresher and has more energy for being creative and strategic
  • I can present results visually vs. just in table or paragraph format, so that clients can easily understand their monthly results and metrics
this image shows the legs of woman below the knees who is walking on wooden pier and who is wearing jeans and who is bare-footed.

Hitting The Health Bad Guys Head-On

I won’t go into detail about my health history, but for the last 20 years, I’ve dealt with difficult health challenges. You can read my health story at Our Heart Speaks, an organization who provides a voice to individuals who are dealing with chronic illness and/or disability and in this past blog post about why I’ll always feel like a cancer patient.

The sum of all of it is this. I have struggled with severe digestive issues for 12 years now, and there have been days and times — a number of them — where I literally cried about my situation and felt I just couldn’t handle/deal with it anymore. But I am a fighter, and I’ve always picked myself back up somehow, while trying to lift up others too.

I have seen a large number of functional/natural nutritionists and consultants, and gastroenterologists over the years, and tried countless recommendations to try to improve or eliminate my severe digestive symptoms.

For the second time over the last 12 years, I recently underwent a SIBO breath test, which required a limited diet leading up to, and 12 hours of fasting before, the test. The last time I had one, nothing helpful/conclusive came out of it, but this time my results indicated I have both what’s known as SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and IMO (intestinal methanogen overgrowth).

The above can be treated, and possibly cured, by one or several courses of one or two antibiotics or thru many-months-long herbal supplement treatment. Because I believe the straw that broke the camel’s back related to my digestive issues was being put on a very powerful antibiotic after a surgical wound got infected in 2014 — killing off good bacteria in the gut and allowing bad bacteria to multiply — I decided to go the natural route in treating my SIBO and IMO. I’ve read that, often, the antibiotic approach is not effective and the bad bacteria and archaea return. But, the natural route has it’s challenges too, as I’m discovering already, including:

  • the supplements are expensive, only certain ones really work, and many, if not all, need to be taken in high dosages to be effective
  • you need 3 types of supplements or supplement groups: 1) one(s) that reduce inflammation, 2) one(s) that kill off the “bad guys” causing “die-off,” and 3) one(s) that improve motility and gut transit time
  • side effects of some of these supplements include nausea, burning, stomach pain/cramps, dizziness, and other unpleasant symptoms (including some of the symptoms I already had from having SIBO/IMO)

It’s the last bullet item directly above that really hammers home why I included the work I’m doing to address my health challenge in this blog post about “taking a step backward, to take a step forward.” Because, ultimately, I may need to feel worse on the digestive front for a few weeks (I just started my supplements on 3/27/26) in order to ultimately feel better!

We hope that whether it pertains to your professional life or your personal life, you’ll be both willing and able to take some steps back that will ultimately move you forward! And, we’d love to hear all about the steps back and the steps forward!

Speaking Of Steps, Be Sure To Check Out Our Blog Posts About Walking!

Check out our large collection of walking-related blogs, including ones about Boston, RI, and New England here: https://allintheresults.com/category/walking/

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September Strong: A Second Chance To Set & Achieve Goals For The Year

If my memory serves me correctly, I’ve written about the second “new beginning” that September offers each of us each year on my own blog or that of a client. I love the fact that September provides a second start to any year and a chance to begin any kind of project you’d been hoping to get to earlier in the year, and to revisit goals — whether they be personal- or work-related ones. There’s still four full months to accomplish something you’ve always wanted to, or at least make a lot of headway toward achieving that accomplishment, so let’s agree to not start thinking another year is already behind us!

Since I own and run a digital marketing agency, the fall and early winter work goals I’m going to discuss below are marketing-related, but obviously, your work goals could pertain to any area of your organization, such as employee satisfaction and retention, new technology implementation, or expense reduction.

Marketing Goals For Q3 & Q4

Here’s some marketing goals you might want to complete in September, October, November, or December:

Personal (Health) Goals For Q3 & Q4

Since everything one does in life ends up positively or negatively impacting their mental and/or physical health, every personal goal ultimately is a wellbeing/wellness/health goal. For example, if you enroll in a class this fall or winter, it may cause you to gain knowledge to support a professional goal, but it also will likely make you feel more optimistic and improve your emotional wellbeing.

As I shared in this blog post about why I’ll always feel like a cancer (sarcoma) patient, I deal with chronic digestive issues on a daily basis because of past cancer treatment. I also have had chronic neck muscle mobility and pain issues since my late 20’s. Unfortunately, the neck trouble all started when I was working as a research associate at Fidelity Investments and going to graduate school at Boston University at night. I used to regularly carry a heavy bookbag of notebooks and books on the T (subway) to and from the University for many years. Post graduation, and ever since then, I’ve suffered from neck troubles.

I’ve already taken steps this summer, and plan to continue them thru the rest of Q3 & Q4, to improve the above two situations by:

This is the image of a small bronze colored Degas ballerina statue who has her shoulders back and arms behind her and who is wearing a ballet tutu and ballet slippers.
Degas Ballerina Statue That Provides Reminder About The Need to Maintain Good Posture While On Computer!

In addition to the above, I’m using the hashtag #SeptemberStrong with friends and family to encourage them to stay well and for us to cheer each other on, and I’m identifying situations and people that are unnecessarily and excessively anxiety-producing (in some cases, toxic) and steering clear of them!

Reach Out For Help On Your Q2 & Q3 Goals!

Whether you want or need a free wellness cheerleader, or you need help with business/work goal setting and achievement — particularly marketing goals — I’m here to support you, so reach out today! I love being an accountability partner on both the work and wellness fronts! And, be sure to check out our Keep Up The Fight page to encourage you to keep on plugging related to your goals! We totally got this, right?

walking

The Benefits Of Both Walking and Having A Sunny Corner

Because my love of walking began when I was a child and has continued into my 60’s, I think you can appreciate why, the older I get, the more I wish New England winters were both shorter and warmer. Walking outdoors provides me with so many benefits, including the abilities to…

  • Manage stressful situations (and that comes from getting my heart pumping and seeing the beauty of nature)
  • Fall asleep more quickly and sleep more soundly
  • Stay in the best possible mental and physical health
  • See and chat with neighbors
  • Be in a better mood (from getting a dose of sunshine which we all need to stay upbeat)
  • Take a work break during the day (even it’s not until late afternoon)

On any day of the year, particularly cold winter days, I love walking to a spot in my neighborhood that I refer to as the “sunny corner.” One can stand on the corner where two very quiet, low-traffic streets in my neighborhood intersect and point one’s face at the sun that always seems to beat down hard on that corner. Of course, the sun does not shine there on a rainy day, but on a day when the sun is out, I seek out the sunny corner and pretend I’m Timothy in the “The Odd Life Of Timothy Green.” I raise my face and arms to the sun and soak up all the warmth, energy, and beauty of the sun to feed my body and my soul!

Whether it’s a literal “sunny corner” or a figurative one, I hope all my readers have a sunny corner. A special place, hobby, interest, person, song, poem, book, movie, sports team, sport activity, etc. that rejuvenates them, and provides nurturing and hope. Something, someone or someplace that provides the necessary nutrients to keep their body and spirit functioning optimally!

This image shows a couple of houses on a quite street in a quiet neighborhood -- a white house and a yellow house -- plus image shows sun in sky and lots of trees.
The view I see when I stand on the sunny corner!
This image shows a street in a quiet neighborhood plus a sidewalk outlined by a concrete curb where the author of this post stands to face the sun, plus the image shows a red and yellow modern-looking house that is across the street from the corner where the author stands.
The sidewalk and concrete curb on the right are where I stand to soak in the sun on the “sunny corner.”

Want to author a blog post for our website related to walking? Reach out to our Boston SEO Company’s Principal today! And, yeah, we’re glad to talk about search engine (SEO) too, but sometimes, we hijack our digital marketing agency’s blog to talk about one of our passions, i.e. walking!

Need more walking inspiration? Check out our numerous blog posts about the joys and benefits of walking!

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6 For 6: Ending One Year, And Starting Another, On A Healthy Note

Since launching my digital marketing agency and SEO consultancy in 2014, I’ve found the only time of the year where it really works well to take a full week off is the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Why? Because that’s the one time of year most of my clients are off the work grid too and don’t want or need me to be in communication with them.

Putting Your Mental Health and Physical Health First As A Small Business Owner

As a small business owner working out of my home office, I have far less “automatic” exercise built into my day than I did when I was commuting to various corporate marketing jobs in Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline (for my Brookline job I was able to walk to and from my job from my Brookline condo, which I adored). Commuting to work required me to take the stairs at MBTA (subway) stations, plus often walk part of the way to my office from the closest MBTA (T) station and/or take a lot of stairs to reach my office at the building in which I worked. Plus, I often did a quick lunch run to buy and bring back lunch to my office. So daily exercise was built into my daily life. Not so much now since I’m working out of my home in Braintree. A blessing is that we live in a tri-level house so there are lots of stairs to take to access various levels and rooms of the house.

Let’s face it. Exercise doesn’t just support physical health. It supports mental health by providing a means to manage stress, and if you exercise outdoors, there are so many benefits from being out in nature. Plus, exercise just provides time to step away from your computer and work!

Walking The Talk: Making Health A Priority

Being past mid-life, most of my friends and family members are prioritizing their health — both physical and mental. I’ve vowed to do the same numerous times in recent years, and I have walked pretty frequently, i.e., several times a week (particularly on the weekends), but I want and need to walk DAILY. I’ve stepped up my game (hah, hah) in recent months as far as prioritizing my walks – thanks to constant reminders from friends and accountability partners! Hey, the work will always be there, and I bring a better Gail to my client engagements and client discussions if I’m more mentally and physically healthy, right?

So, over the holiday break, I capitalized on my free time and set a goal to walk long distances during my days off. Unfortunately, I did end up needing to work the Thursday after Christmas (long story), so we’ll start with Friday of last week.

6 Walks In 6 Days

Day One:

I started out with a long walk with my husband, Jay, along the beautiful East Boston waterfront and in some East Boston neighborhoods — after dropping my little sister at Logan Airport to catch her flight back to FL. It was a bit raw out but as I always say, “if you bundle up, and are dressed properly,” you can pretty much walk all winter as long as the roads and snow don’t set you up for fall risk.

This image shows our SEO Consulting Firm's Principal, Gail Snow Moraski, standing at the end of a park in East Boston that overlooks the Boston waterfront. Gail is dressed in a red coat, gray hat, and blue printed scarf and you can see Boston's tall buildings in the background.

Day Two:

The next day I mall-walked at the South Shore Plaza with a good friend who also likes to walk regularly. We both wanted to get a good walk in after our annual holiday movie-watching activity with my twin. Mall walking provided the perfect solution since it was drizzling out. We were determined to not let excuses get in our way!

Day Three:

I walked to drop a holiday gift off at a friend’s house, and then just kept walking — visiting many of the smaller and/or less busy streets in the Highlands area of Braintree that I regularly walked during the pandemic to keep my sanity!

Day Four:

I went for a long walk around my neighborhood and stopped by the local lending library and found a book about Native Americans that I think that Jay and I will both enjoy reading! The added perks of walking around my neighborhood always include visiting this book-sharing spot, plus chatting with neighbors!

Day Five:

Jay and I visited the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton. So loved the button art display, plus the basketball related art and learning the heart-warming story behind it. We got some good steps in just going up and down the stairs at the Museum, but after walked for about an hour at DW Field Park. If you haven’t checked it out — and I hadn’t — you are missing out on a beautiful place to walk in the Greater Boston area! Gorgeous ponds, lots of ducks, geese, swans, and seagulls, and tons of shorter and longer walking paths! Plus, lots of fellow walkers to encourage one to keep moving!

This shows a a painted basketball that is decorated with bright colors that is on display at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton MA.
This is an image of two brightly colored crocheted basketball nets having from baskets that have brightly colored displays behind them. These are on display at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton.
Our SEO consulting firm's Principal standing outside the Fuller Craft Museum entrance in Brockton She has blonde hair, purple glasses, and is wearing a red cost and standing beside an estimated 12-foot dark-wood-carved rabbit who is has a red wood-carved cardinal standing on his arm.
This is an image taken at DW Field Park in Brockton. It shows the sun shining on the water of a pond which is surrounded by lots of foliage and trees.

Day Six:

I love a good “destination walk,” so to motivate myself to accomplish 6 for 6, I walked to my local CVS and then took a different way home than I normally would — just to force me to do some of what I call “hill work” (walking up a steep hill to strengthen my glutes, which ultimately strengthens one’s back). I always welcome carrying a small package or bag home when I walk to CVS, Stop & Shop, or some other business within walking distance of my home because I’m really trying to strengthen my upper back right now. And, the aforementioned destination walk provided an opportunity for both my legs and back to get in better shape!

Speaking of backs, I was “back at it” on the work front yesterday, but so glad my time away from my office allowed me to refresh my brain and relax a bit, but also get some physical exercise. So, I’m starting off the new work year in a better place mentally and physically.

And now, I’m really excited about the new year will bring, so bring it on!!! I wish my readers the healthiest possible new year on all fronts!

Gail

P.S. Need more walking inspiration? Check out our numerous walking-related blog posts!

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Why Walking And SEO Require The Same Mentality

If you regularly read our digital marketing blog, you know that I blog most frequently about two topics about which I’m particularly passionate — SEO (search engine optimization) and walking. It’s been a while since we put up a brand new walking-related post. But, as we write and post this, it’s Veterans Day, and unlike most Mondays, I was able to squeeze in a walk today during business hours. Usually, Mondays are our SEO consulting firm’s busiest day of the week because our search-engine-optimization and other-digital-marketing clients come back on the communications grid after being away from their offices over the weekend and/or we’ve got a bunch of work-related e-mails to respond to that came in over the weekend. But, with it being a federal holiday, it’s been far calmer on the e-communications front. The only e-mails we are getting today are from fellow marketing consultants! So, it felt right and perfect to squeeze in a mid-afternoon walk on a sixty-something-degree November day!

This image shows the backside of a woman walking on dirt path somewhere who is wearing a bright orange sweater or sweatshirt and black leggings, plus pink sneakers and who has her heads toughing the top of her head. It is fall day and the sun is shining thru the branches on trees and thru leaves, but some leaves have already fallen and cover the path she is walking on.

Don’t Get Out Of SEO Shape. Stay SEO Strong!

In addition to being able to walk today, from a time and workload perspective, I needed to walk. I’d been under-the-weather for about a week with a bad head cold, and I hadn’t gotten my almost-daily walk in since I became sick. That meant, I was a little bit out of shape and I walked slightly slower than usual and was able to walk less far. Like walking, whether it be related to my own business or a client’s, I’ve found it best to keep up with SEO regularly. How? By, at least twice-a-month, putting up fresh content — whether that be in the form of a blog post, new question and answer for an existing FAQ, or some other kind of updated/new content from which target audiences would benefit.

The more you stick to a schedule and stay in SEO shape, the easier it seems to be to stay on that path, and keep producing effective content that addresses the needs of your audience, i.e., helpful content. Plus, if you keep doing the aforementioned, the less likely your organization’s will slide significantly backwards in search-engine results, and the less you’ll need to invest a large chunk of time all at once to try to regain the ground you lost on the SEO front.

In addition to consistency, as we shared in this past blog post about what exercise of any kind/exercise in general has in common with SEO, search-engine optimization success requires patience. You’re not going to be able to walk or run at your desired pace from the get-go, i.e., when you first start a walking or running program. And, you’re not going to be able to go the distance you want either. You’ve got to stay patient, while continuing to move forward and achieve small successes.

Our Boston SEO Company/SEO Consulting Firm Is Here To Help!

As we also called out in our above-mentioned blog post about what staying in shape and SEO have in common, staying in shape and SEO often require support from a partner.

Our team of SEO consultants is here to take your SEO journey with you every step of the way! In fact, we’ll document results to remind you where you came from, what you’ve accomplished, and what goals you should be setting next and suggested tactics to achieve them. Reach out today for a complimentary SEO discussion today!

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A Day In The Life Of An SEO Consultant

If you’re considering a career in digital marketing, and particularly within that, a specialty or expertise in SEO (search engine optimization), read on to learn what a typical work day look likes.

How An SEO Consultant Starts Her Day

8:30a.m. – 9:30a.m.

Check/read (and send response e-mail) e-mails, which inevitably include the following:

  • Notifications from paid search (SEM) ad platforms (Google Ads or Microsoft (Bing) Ads) about:
    • Policy changes that have caused a Google or Bing Search Ad to be disapproved
    • Ad extensions and ads that have become disapproved because “page destinations” are no longer working (sometimes, clients of ours take down or move website pages to which site links (one form of ad extension/asset) point or ads point and forget to let me know that pages have been taken down, moved, etc.
    • Payment form (credit card) can’t be charged — therefore, the credit card information that a client provided to Google Ads or Microsoft Ads is no longer accurate/has changed
  • E-blasts and e-newsletters about SEO and invites to various SEO webinars and classes (due to the large # of search engine optimization experts we follow)
  • Client questions about how well their website is or isn’t ranking in search engines, particularly Google
  • Questions or comments from other marketing professionals with whom I collaborate, including social media specialists, branding/graphic design specialists, and website designers and developers
This is an image of Gail Snow Moraski, our Boston SEO Company's Founder/Owner Who Is An SEO Consultant. Gail has blonde shoulder length hair and is waring and orange crew-necked sweater that reads "Carpe Diem" She is wearing classes and smiling and is standing in front of a field of black-eyed Susans in her backyard.

9:30 a.m. – noon

  • Use Google Analytics data, Google Search Console data, paid search platforms, and SEO rankings audit reports to analyze and document KPIs (key performance indicators) for upcoming monthly/standing client meetings
  • Have a mid-to-late morning #SEOStrong snack, particularly one with lots of protein like swiss cheese or hummus because you definitely need a sharp brain and a lot of energy to do SEO work!
  • Employ “Answer The Public” and Google Ads keyword planner tools to conduct keyword research in relevant geographies using approved “inputs” from client about what terms they believe their target audiences would use to identify someone who offers the services, products, and solutions to problems they offer
  • Check client Google Ad and Microsoft Bing Ad campaigns (including Google Nonprofit Ad Grant ones) to see how they are performing, including reviewing cost-per-click (CPC) and click-thru rate (CTR); plus, review and apply or dismiss recommendations from Ad platform to improve optimization score, and check for appropriateness of “search terms” for which ad platforms are serving up ads.

12p.m. – 6:00p.m.

  • Review SEO diagnostics reports to determine possible website issues and/or missed SEO opportunities related to a particular client’s website ranking situation.
  • Facilitate client discussion about next steps/implications of their SEO rankings audit, diagnostics reports, and/or monthly KPIs. Where do we go from here to move the SEO needle and drive more relevant searchers to the client’s website in the month ahead?
  • Write a blog post for my own website or for a client website to support SEO by addressing topics and answering questions that are important to clients, but also to show search engines, that the website in-question is being kept “fresh”
  • Write and enter SEO page/post title tags (this might be in WIX, GoDaddy, Joomla, WordPress, Expression Engine, or a propriety software such as a CMS platform used in a particular industry), and submit the revised pages/posts for indexing by Google and/or Bing using Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster tools.

7:00p.m. – 8:30pm

Check e-mail again and/or continue to complete client SEO work of the nature outlined above. Being an SEO consultant is not just a 9 to 5 job!

Considering Hiring An SEO Consultant/SEO Expert?

Reach out today to schedule a complimentary discussion about your particular organization’s marketing challenges and opportunities!

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To Continue To Succeed At SEO, “You’re Going To Need A Quality Shoe”

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Mark Knopfler fans will understand where the quoted phrase in our blog headline comes from. I was first introduced to Mark’s wonderful storytelling abilities by my husband, Jay, when we were dating or first married. One of Mark’s songs that I first took a great liking to was his song “Quality Shoe.” Be prepared for the earworm that comes from wanting to listen to this song over and over!

“Quality Shoe” by Mark Knopfler YouTube video

What Do Shoes Have To Do With SEO?

The answer to the question above is this: a great deal!

As we’ve called out in a number of blog posts over the past year, the SEO landscape continues to shift — and on a daily basis. As we recently expressed in this blog post about thriving — not just surviving — in the SEO jungle, it’s our belief at our Boston SEO Company/digital marketing agency that the organizations who will continue rank well in search-engine results, despite all the change on the search-engine front, are those that really try to walk in their target audiences’ shoes and answer the questions and concerns they have. And, keep in mind, that these questions and concerns may be related to the product or service the organizations who succeed at SEO offer, or they may be unrelated, or only distantly related.

Sure, as we discussed in another blog post about succeeding at SEO, entitled “Give The People What They Want, you can use keyword research tools to determine on which topics, particularly questions, your target audiences are regularly conducting Google searches. But part of walking in your target audiences’ shoes also includes:

  • digging down deep mentally and emotionally to really understand your marketplace and your organization’s place in it
  • making and taking the time to think about what are the likely questions your target audiences have about your products or services, plus, about working with/buying from/engaging your organization
  • brainstorming with individuals at all levels of your organization, particularly those who are in customer-service roles, or who actually provide or deliver your product or service, to determine what client “pain points” your product or service addresses
  • reaching out to customers with whom you have a strong and longstanding relationship to ask them for feedback about why they chose to work with your organization or buy your product, and how the product or service has made their life or job easier
  • In addition to chatting with your organization’s staff and clients about the problems your products or services solve and using those to inform website and other online content your organization publishes, as part of such internal and external discussions, ask about other pains/challenges your target audiences deal with regularly (even if you don’t offer a solution to them). Simply providing helpful information online on topics or questions that are tangential to your products or services, but important to your target audiences, is a great way to have search engines serve up your website or Google My Business Profile in related to searches being conducted by your target audiences even if they aren’t directly related to your organization. It’s a win-win.

So, break out those quality shoes and start the walking-in-your-clients’-shoes process today! And, check out this blog post that speaks to another reason you and your organization are “going to need some quality shoes.”

Plus, if you’re an avid walker (literally vs. figuratively) like us, check out our many blog posts about walking by selecting walking as your category when you visit our blog.

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walking

Getting To Know A Neighboring State: Our 2024 Quest To Experience & Enjoy The Less-Touristy Parts Of Rhode Island

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Regular readers of our blog know we regularly include — among our series of blog posts about marketing — a blog post about walking, and since every day trip we, or most people take, involves quite a bit of walking (particularly if you like to check out parks and trails wherever you go, like we do), we thought it made great sense — and would make for some good fun — to document and share our adventures related to getting to know Rhode Island, which definitely included miles of walking!

My husband and I have often found day trips to be as fun, exciting, adventurous, and informative as a week or more away someplace. And, of course, it’s cheaper because you don’t have lodging expenses. Plus, if you have a pet, you don’t have to arrange for many days of care while you’re away, take steps to have your mail stopped, pack clothing and other necessities for a week, etc. You get the picture!

Sure, we may do an overnight trip at some point this summer or fall, but right now, we’re just enjoying chipping away at achieving our goal of getting to know the fellow New England state of Rhode Island better since we have quick, easy access to it from our home state of Massachusetts. We’ve already completed two day trips to areas either officially considered on the “Farm Coast” of RI or that allow you to enjoy the beauty of the country and water simultaneously. Hey, what’s not to love about the dual joys of experiencing being by the water at the same time as being in the country, right? There may not be as many places to shop or eat as there is on Martha’s Vineyard (a favorite place of ours for a day or an overnight trip), but being on Rhode Island’s Farm Coast gave me the same joyous feeling! For years, we’ve also always loved a day trip to the Town Farm in Westport Massachusetts, which some include when they reference “Farm Coast New England.”

Keep coming back to learn about our visits, as I’ll be documenting each one here. For now, I’m starting with the two that are already under our belts — Tiverton/Little Compton and North Kingstown/Jamestown areas, including Wickford Village.

Tiverton/Little Compton

A New England “Chronicle” segment on the above area ignited a desire to check this area out, particularly since they mentioned that in this area of Rhode Island, a mecca could be found for Francophiles in the properties owned by Groundswell in the “Four Corners” area of Tiverton. And, I consider myself one, having lived in France my senior year in college, plus graduating with a B.A. in French from UCONN. The cafe, home & garden, and table & provisions properties did not disappoint! We also enjoyed visiting the long-standing cheese store diagonally up the street a bit (there may have been some tasting of Triple Creme cheese and raspberry-lemon home-made cupcakes!) and checking out some of the other quaint shops in the area.

As with every usual day trip, eating and shopping was combined with visits to local bodies of water, wooded walking trails, parks, farms, museums, historic houses, and/or nature conservatories. We were in our glory spending time walking along the beach at Fogland Beach, as well as just admiring the beach and water’s beauty while plopped at a picnic table at the beach. We also checked out and admired other breath-taking nature along the way. And, then, ended our day with yummy seafood at a restaurant on the edge of Tiverton — officially in Portsmouth — with very friendly wait staff.

North Kingstown/Jamestown

My husband and I enjoyed another fabulous day trip from our home in Braintree (on Boston’s South Shore) to the beautiful Rhode Island locations listed in the header above.

In North Kingstown, we visited the very fun and festive area of Wickford Village. A fun fact — it’s a mecca for kayakers because of it’s Kayak Centre which provides a variety of kayaking equipment and gear, but also opportunities to take group kayaking classes and tours. In addition to the fabulous Kayak Centre, it makes sense Wickford Village would be a mecca for kayakers since, per the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “Wickford Harbor is located in the Wickford section of North Kingstown in western Narragansett Bay, about two miles southwest of Quonset Point and 17 miles south of Providence. Wickford Harbor consists of an outer harbor and three small coves — Wickford Cove, Fishing Cove, and Mill Cove.”

We had fun watching kayakers enjoy their time on the water while we ate our delicious lunch on the back patio at Wickford On The Water. As eaters who enjoy fresh produce, we were thrilled this restaurant had so many healthy options to choose from for lunch/brunch. I highly recommend the Vegan bowl!

After our yummy brunch, we strolled Wickford Village’s main streets to check out old sea captains’ homes — they were just gorgeous, and this was one of my favorite parts of the visit because I love anything “old” or that has to do with history.

We left Wickford Village vowing to return for dinner (which we did, and had a delicious seafood meal at Tavern By The Sea) because in keeping with my above statement about my husband and I being history buffs, we are members of Historic New England and wanted to attend a special event at Watson Farm in Jamestown. We love a good property that offers the benefits of both being in the country/a farm, plus on the water. It was so nice just walking the fields/pastures at this property, seeing the cows, and most importantly watching kids fly kites — what’s not to love about kids laughing, smiling, and having fun in the great outdoors, right?

And, as an added, unplanned bonus to the day, we spent some time before returning to Wickford Village (after visiting Watson Farm) at the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum in Jamestown. Such gorgeous views in all directions (just don’t stand too close to the edge of the cliffs!), and I smiled at the fact that the porta-potties on the property looked like small individual cottages!

I definitely expect that we will return to Wickford Village, Beavertail Lighthouse Museum, and Watson Farm in 2025, if not before!

Pawtucket, Warwick, and Cranston

Check out the second in our series of blog posts related to our RI day trips to learn about our visit to the above three areas, plus other parts of the Ocean State!

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Celebrating Our Digital Marketing Agency’s 10-Year Anniversary: A Then and Now Story

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Because one of the services my agency offers is PR — and we’ve had some decent success obtaining meaningful media coverage for some of our for-profit and non-profit clients (as documented in our Public Relations Portfolio) — of course, we reached out to The Patriot Ledger to see if they wanted to do a “then and now” story about our South Shore organization since they covered our story nine years back. We’re still awaiting news, literally and figuratively on that one, but we figured why not go ahead and share a similar version of that story on our blog using the highlights we shared with them? So, here goes…

Our Then Story

Here’s the telling of our story by a local reporter about a year after we launched our digital marketing agency, which eventually developed a specialty in search engine optimization (SEO) — which is why we often refer to our business as a Boston SEO company too!

I prefer to refer to my business as a digital marketing agency vs. a marketing consultancy because we do as much as hands-on work as we do developing & recommending marketing strategies.

Our story actually began with me launching my own WordPress website without the help of anyone else, and my officially hanging my digital marketing agency’s shingle via that site. And, if I knew as much as I know about WordPress and website development now as I knew then, I would have originally launched my site with WordPress.org (the platform that it’s on now) vs. WordPress.org, so I could use the many great WordPress plug-ins from the get-go! Or, I might also have considered Joomla instead, but owning a business and getting it right is all about the journey. And, you can’t learn what you need to learn without making a few mistakes and getting your hands dirty, right?

What’s been particularly challenging as an organization who helps others with their own marketing is, sometimes, as I’ve been known to share, “the cobbler’s kids have no shoes.” That means often we are so busy helping our clients with their marketing, we don’t have time for our own. The aforementioned said, we make every effort to have our firm’s own marketing activities (such as our website and social media profiles) serve as a shining example of how to maintain a strong online presence, and it’s great that we’ve been able to use our own business to test and try out various marketing activities — therefore, serve as a bit of a guinea pig — before we test or try something brand new with clients.

We’re proud that, over the last 10 years, we’ve literally written and posted over 140 marketing, SEO, and health-related (yes, health-related — keep reading to learn more) blog posts, and we’ve had a few guest or co-bloggers along the way too!

This image is a light gray square one with the words "Celebrating 10 Years Of Using Our Digital Marketing Agency/SEO Company As A Platform For Doing Good." The image contains some colorful confetti in the middle and the logo of our Boston Marketing Agency, Results Communications and Research at the bottom.

Our Now Story

I believe and hope my story can motivate and inspire others considering opening their own business. Before, or right after I launched my business, I was told by one individual who works with entrepreneurs that 80% of female marketing consultants fail. I refused to be a statistic, and regularly told myself that during the first 5 years, which were the hardest. It takes a good five years to get the word out there and have business come to you organically/naturally thru referrals, leads, and recommendations from others — made by former co-workers and clients, existing clients, other marketing consultants and agencies, and other organizations who serve the same vertical/target audiences whom you serve.

My philosophy and dreams when I started my business have remained pretty constant and I’m pleased to report I’ve followed them. I’m particularly proud that I’ve been able to continue to offer what I believe, based on research, are very reasonable rates to small for-profit and non-profit organizations. Due to my years of experience and expertise, clients have access to the same level of knowledge and skills that they’d have access to via a larger marketing agency, but at much lower rates than what a larger agency might offer. And, because we have significant experience in both traditional marketing AND digital marketing, we can offer the majority of services a larger, full-service agency can.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned that I’d love to share with others starting a business is this: don’t think of others in your space as competitors. Think of them as collaborators – people who serve the same target audiences who may need your services.

Our Impact: Local (South Shore of Boston), National, and International

  • I’ve helped a number of young adults who grew up on the South Shore, or elsewhere in MA, get hands-on experience that they were able to parlay into a post-graduation job elsewhere.
  • Related to the above, I’ve had the great fun and pleasure of working with my nephews, my brother, my brother-in-law, and my late sister-in-law on various client projects.
  • I’ve also met with a number of college or graduate school students looking to pick my brain about careers in marketing and learn from me – including one in my neighborhood who found me thru a Google search! Yes, because early on I recognized I needed to create a Google My Business Profile for my own business to be found by local, relevant searchers and this is something I regularly help my clients with now!
  • I’ve given a large number of pro bono hours to nonprofits as part of a totally free consulting/volunteer situation or discussion, or as part of their paid arrangement with me. I’ve had a number of very interesting local nonprofit clients, including ones in the faith-based space, arts and music space, ones serving vulnerable populations, ones serving individuals with special needs, and one providing financially challenged teens the opportunity to serve vulnerable teens abroad, and more! Some have an international impact.
  • One of my specialties is helping nonprofits apply for a Google Nonprofit Ad Grant. I, then, often stay on and manage the Grant for them – $120,000 in free Google Search advertising annually. I can explain more.
  • I also have a number of for-profit clients on the South Shore, but my client base is national and I have had clients in New Orleans, CA, Texas, and more!
  • I’ve served over 120 for-profit and non-profit organizations in the 10 years I’ve been running my digital marketing agency/SEO company.
  • I had no idea when I launched my business that I would become an expert in something that I only had very little knowledge of at the time when I launched my business – search engine optimization (SEO). Many of my referrals for or sub-contracted work come from other agencies, marketing consultants, and website designers who need to pull someone into their client work/project who knows how to get websites and Google My Business Profiles ranking well in Google via organic and paid search (Google Ads) SEO activities. I’ve become a self-taught SEO expert and very proud of it. I just read and watched everything I could get my hands on, took Google Ads certification classes, and attended free webinars. I still do that daily as Google’s Search Engine will be switching to an AI one, and I’m already helping my clients be proactive about that and prep for it (Google SGE).
  • As indicated above, while I do sub-contracted or referred work for other agencies, marketing consultants, and website designers, many of my clients are my own clients, and I usually have a plate of about 12 – 15 clients for whom I’m doing ongoing, digital marketing work for on a monthly basis, plus also juggling several one-off/one-time clients at the same time. At any given point in time, I’m normally doing work for about 17 – 25 clients with the help of some fabulous interns and associates, as they were/are available.
  • My clients are diverse – large, small, business-to-business, business-to-consumer, product businesses, service businesses. I’ve done a bunch of marketing work in the food space, legal space, education space, and more! 
  • I’ve given a number of free workshops for SCORE and other organizations serving entrepreneurs, and I’m a SCORE volunteer and have provided tons of free advice to entrepreneurs by meeting with them on a complimentary basis. And, related to all of this, I’ve had a blast partnering with fellow marketing experts to give presentations that address multiple marketing areas of expertise! Thank you! You know who you are!
  • I’m a data geek and SEO geek and proud of it. I’m a huge data slicer and dicer and that’s what separates me from a lot of others in my space. I always say I won’t encourage clients to start or continue with marketing activities that don’t make sense for them based on what data is showing. I consider myself to be my clients’ accountability partner, and I’m not afraid to give tough love when I need to. I’m not afraid to voice a different opinion than other marketers. If I think something isn’t going to work, or isn’t working, I speak up.
  • I’m also proud that my marketing agency survived our recent COVID-19 pandemic and was extremely proactive about providing helpful insights from the very start of the pandemic for marketers to appropriately respond to the pandemic/pivot, such as these blog posts about using paid ads during the pandemic and how to make sure your social media presence wasn’t offensive and was relevant.
  • I give back significantly to the community. I was involved with the Braintree Relay For Life Committee for a while, and now, I do a number of charity walks in addition to all the other beneficial work I mentioned above.

Our Focus On Health & Wellness

If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you’ll know that I’ll throw in a good blog post about walking once in a while. You can use the categories search tool/drop-down menu to search on “walking” to see the various walking topics about which I’ve written.

Since my corporate marketing days, I’ve always loved to share health & wellness tips — whether they be with fellow employees as part of an internal communications role, or with members of a health plan I worked for, and from the get-go with Results Communications & Research, I’ve aimed to inspire those with health (and other challenges) to never give up, and keep fighting via my “Keep Up The Fight” website page. And, I recently put up a new blog post about an invisible disease with which many health warriors who have battled or are battling other forms of illness have to contend.

Our Thank You

My digital marketing agency/SEO company and I would have never made it this far without all the help of great collaborators, cheerleaders (friends, family, my husband Jay, and other fellow small business owners), and most importantly, our clients who looked to us for expert marketing guidance and assistance. We have many clients with whom we’ve served as an outsourced marketing department for years, and we thank you for your faith in us! We’ve so enjoyed being a part of your business family! We also thank those who we haven’t had the opportunity to work with for as long as some of our long-term clients, but have enjoyed or are enjoying being a part of your organization’s success story.

What’s Next

I don’t know what the future holds for Results Communications & Research, but I’m excited about what’s to come! And, I know I will continue to try to give back as much as possible with the platform that this fun, educational, and interesting business provides!

Want To Benefit From The Marketing Services Of A Digital Marketing Agency/SEO With A Long Tenure And Who Gives Back?

Reach out today to schedule a complimentary discussion about how we can help your organization create awareness and/or drive inquiries and sales via our outsourced marketing and/or strategic marketing planning services.