The business.com community is a place where business owners and professionals can come together to learn from each other.
Those looking for advice can solicit it from their peers, while others can share their extensive expertise with those who need it.
It's that peer-to-peer give and take that makes the community such a valuable part of business.com. Overall, the site has more than 190,000 members from around the globe. The community is able to thrive like it does because of our members' eagerness to drive conversations, whether through asking questions, answering questions or contributing articles.
Digital marketing advice
Herrera is a frequent contributor to the business.com community. Specifically, he shares his vast knowledge of best marketing and SEO practices via business.com's contributing author program. The program allows expert members of the community to submit their own articles for publication.
In another article Herrera wrote this year, he highlights what small business owners need to know about online marketing. He says the concept of marketing relies on one fundamental objective: building solid relationships with your clientele through effective research and advertising."Digital marketing requires businesses to take a patient, multifaceted approach with a huge payoff on the back end," Herrera wrote in the article. "If you are willing to reconsider the fundamentals of your marketing approach, you can see the traffic numbers that you want."
"Even if you're selling a time machine or a map to the Fountain of Youth, you won't achieve any financial growth unless your target audience knows what your products or services are," Herrera wrote. "For this, you'll need an effective strategy that will leverage your marketing goals and sustain the profitability of your business."
He says small businesses would be best served by focusing their efforts on three key digital marketing areas: keyword research, content marketing and social media.
Bio
- Name: Rolando Herrera
- Business: Insignia SEO
- How long in business: 6 years
- Community member: 3 years
- Areas of expertise: SEO, paid advertising, digital marketing, marketing strategy, public relations, sales, social media, branding and concept creation
Q&A
Q: What attracted you to the marketing industry?
A: My first job was working at Walt Disney Theme Parks, and eventually I had the opportunity for a professional internship in marketing and sales for the Disney Youth Group Programs division.
Working in Orlando and getting to know professionals in the field of marketing for one of the largest companies in the world motivated me and gave me the drive to learn more about marketing and its many different channels.
Q: What makes Insignia SEO stand out in such a crowded industry?
A: Insignia SEO currently shows up as a first-page result in more than 50 U.S. cities for SEO. What makes us stand out is our focus on the technical aspects of search engine optimization.
For us, it's not about creating content, listings and backlinks, but perfecting each task and doing it as best as is possible. We spend time on research and strategy, and when we have the best understanding of the path ahead, we take it.
Q: Why did you join the business.com community?
A: I joined business.com because I felt I could learn from the community and impart some of my knowledge through this authoritative channel.
Q: What do you enjoy most about being a part of the business.com community?
A: I enjoy how selective the business.com community is with its content curation. I like the forum that it has and how it ties in experts in various fields to those starting out or looking for answers from professionals.
Q: How do you decide what to write about when contributing an article?
A: I usually take on the topics that I feel I master well enough to write about. I want to make sure that the content I write comes from real-life experiences and interactions with clients.
Q: What is the best professional advice you have ever received?
A: It’s not practice that makes perfect, but perfect practice that makes perfect.
Q: What is biggest professional mistake you have ever made, and how did you overcome it?
A: The biggest professional mistake I made was to remove myself from a substantial business deal because I thought at the time that I couldn't measure up to the responsibilities that came with that deal.
At this point in life and in my career, I find that most things are manageable and it's the perception that needs to adapt to the circumstance in order to overcome it.