About Joey Donovan Guido, Owner of Cuppa SEO

Since you’ve made it this far, you’re either interested in improving your online marketing — or you’re just a coffee fanatic, like me.

Either way, welcome! As you may have guessed, this is where I’ll be sharing my background with you …

History & Philosophy

My career began as a playwright. After completing five plays, I started writing screenplays — one of whichwas almost made into a movie by United Artists.

Then one day my wife mentioned I could actually make money doing something called copywriting. Within a month, I had my first paying client and I’ve never looked back.

Over time, I developed a passion for search engine optimization (SEO), which led me to become an expert in the field. What’s interesting is the more proficient I got at optimizing websites — and driving more traffic to them — the more I realized the importance of looking at one’s website (and online marketing) holistically.

I found that implementing SEO is only part of the process. It’s also important to ensure that one’s website visitors are having solid user experience (UX), so when they arrive on the site they feel comfortable and grounded — without having to think or figure anything out. Just as important is making a visitor’s next step(s) crystal clear. This is commonly referred to as conversion, but in every-day terms it’s about making it easy for visitors to contact you, buy a product, download an e-book, and the like …

This is why Cuppa SEO brews search engine optimization, user experience and conversion strategies into every nook and cranny of every site we work on. The result? Incredibly functional websites that help our clients accomplish their goals. In addition, having mastery of all three of these strategies differentiates us from other web developers — because not everybody has proficient understanding of SEO, UX and conversion. 

Who I’ve Worked With
Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with companies like Lands’ End, The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Promega, Grainger Industrial Supply, Widen, First Choice Dental, Thysse Printing, Demco, Singlewire, and many more. I also ran my own boutique marketing company in New York called The Penguin Scribe, Inc., where we worked with clients of all sizes across the country.

Speaking

My speaking career started back in 2007 when I was actively working on my dad blog, Daddy Brain. As the blog became more successful, it led to multiple appearances on the radio, local news, speaking engagements, as well as quarterly dads’ workshops at Meriter Hospital in Madison, WI.

Many years ago I worked at Apple, where I facilitated 3-4 workshops a week to small groups on a variety of topics including the iPad, iPhone, iPhoto and Mac. These workshops taught me the power of making one’s presentations interactive, in some ways conversational, so that the presentation addressed the participants’ questions — in the moment — which added value and helped everyone remain engaged.

These days, the topics in my workshops, webinars and speaking engagements focus on the information included in my book, A Holistic Guide to Online Marketing, which include:

• Web Design
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• User Experience (UX)
• Conversion
• Blogs
• Social Media

Website Training

For some clients, workshops were not enough, which is why I developed a full website training program based on the material in my book. The training helps great marketing teams up their game in the areas of SEO, user experience and conversion — so they can develop more successful websites themselves.

The Book

I could say a lot of fancy things about A Holistic Guide to Online Marketing, and how helpful it is to marketers and businesses. But since this is my About page, I’d simply like to say: writing a book is not an easy task! Which is why I left the editing to my good and extremely talented friend, Kathy Watson (AKA The Ruthless Editor), and the book formatting to Robert Rubin, “The Book Doc,” who is also a fine writer and one of the most patient people I have ever met (believe me, I tried his patience many times with revisions to the formatting). More info on the contents of the book can be found here.

More About Joey

So, beyond the professional history, who is this guy who’s plastering coffee photos all over his website?

I’m the dad of two awesome boys, Max and Joss, and husband to my beautiful wife, Kara. We also have a cat, Olivia, who likes to stalk me. I’m a big fan of Zig Ziglar, spending time with my family, skateboarding, anything tech related, and of course — coffee!

In 1998, before we had our kids, I suffered from a condition called Crohn’s Disease that nearly killed me. It turned out to be one of the greatest gifts of my life because it set me on a course of discovering who I truly am.

One final note: these pics of my family are pretty old now, but I can’t bear to replace them with new ones! Both of my boys are now taller than me, and my wife is just as cute.

Thanks for visiting Cuppa SEO!