This website uses cookies

Our website, platform and/or any sub domains use cookies to understand how you use our services, and to improve both your experience and our marketing relevance.

📣 Try the fastest hosting platform with pay-as-you-go pricing & 24/7 expert support! MIGRATE NOW →

Bobby Kircher Talks About WordPress and the Future of SEO

Updated on March 4, 2020

7 Min Read
bobby kircher interview

Today, we have got Bobby Kircher, a digital marketing consultant based in Atlanta, Georgia. In this interview, he talks about his 20+ years experience and how is helping businesses grow online, the future of SEO, WordPress and WordCamps, and other things related to web.

Cloudways: Hello Bobby and thank you for joining me. Let’s start with your background? 

Bobby: I’m a digital marketing consultant based in Atlanta, Georgia. And it’s still weird to say, but I’ve had an Internet career for just over 20 years now, so insert grandpa emoji.

Growing up, I wanted a Nintendo and my parents refused, so they bought a computer instead. I coded for fun and for school, and eventually entered the Information Studies program at Florida State University, joining a development team in charge of a new website application called OSPREY.

Not long after graduation, I moved to Atlanta where I worked for MCI WorldCom during which was, at the time, the largest bankruptcy in US history. Two years later, I was laid off and then I started a company called Papaya Internet which focused on SEO and SEM. In 2019, we celebrated 15 years and renamed the company Papaya Search.

Cloudways: What’s Papaya Search all about. What problems does it fix for the customers? 

Bobby: We’re all about search and our focus is to help businesses connect to customers through search marketing. This includes optimizing websites and content for search and developing search advertising campaigns to connect with those customers. We also consider how visitors interact with the website — traffic is great but what actions are we going to have those potential customers perform when they arrive.

Cloudways: Papaya Search is a great name. How did you think of it? And has been Papaya “fruitful” for you :)?

Bobby: Fresh! I’m originally from Miami, Florida and grew up on a five-acre tropical fruit grove about 20 miles southwest of the metro We grew mangoes, guavas, avocados, lychees, tamarinds, sugar apples, and of course papayas. It was a fun time except for when we had to cut all that grass in the middle of the humid summer months!

Cloudways: You are a well rounded digital marketer. What are your top five tips for leveraging SEO and SEM for WordPress based businesses? 

Bobby: 1- Have unique and compelling content on your website that encourages your visitors to explore your site, connect with you, and link to you. If you sell a product, make it easy for your visitor to buy from you.

2- Have a responsive website that provides good user experience and loads quickly for both mobile and desktop visitors.

3- Install and configure an SEO plugin like Yoast where you can easily optimize your Title tags and meta descriptions, create a sitemap and analyze your website content. You have to do more than just activate the plugin. Learn how to best use it.

4- Register your website on Google Search Console. Take the time to see how Google understands your website.

5- For SEM, create a good landing page experience, make it easy for people to buy or provide their information, and measure your ROI by tracking your conversions.

Cloudways: In your opinion what’s the future of SEO. How WordPress based businesses can stay ahead of search engine algorithms updates? 

Bobby: Ah, the SEO crystal ball! Google is leaning into becoming a portal where it provides all the information you need within the search results. Just search for things like “current time”, “What’s my IP address”, or “population of Malta” and get the answer right in the search results without having to visit a website. You’ll see this too on its mobile app where there’s more than just the search box. Right now, websites are aiming to answer these questions as part of the featured snippet — getting the featured snippet also can help you become the answer when people use their smart speaker.

The best way for businesses to stay ahead of updates is to work with experienced SEOs who are plugged into the latest updates. Good SEOs will help you develop quality content, optimize your website, and provide an overall strategy to get quality organic traffic.

Cloudways: Can you share the highlights of your 20 years + experience in web design and development? 

Bobby: When I first started, websites were designed for bulky, low-resolution CRT desktop monitors. Now websites have to take into account a multitude of screen sizes from huge 5K monitors to the small computers in our pockets.

We’ve also seen websites compete for attention with social media platforms. There was a time when we shared content through blogs but now platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and even Medium are pulling attention and our content away from us on the web.

That’s why it’s important to own your own place on the web for your business. WordPress has evolved so much that it’s becoming easier to create and maintain your own WordPress website with your own domain name where you can manage and control your content.

Cloudways: You were a speaker at WordCamp Atlanta 2019. How was the event and how has speaking at events helped you in your career?

Bobby: WordCamp Atlanta 2019 was fantastic! We are very fortunate to have such a great WordPress community in Atlanta and they put on a great event which is one of the largest attended WordCamps in the US. They’re already planning WordCamp Atlanta 2020!

I love to share knowledge, and speaking gives me the opportunity to teach something they may not have known. Inevitably, this strikes up conversations at the event and some of these conversations have resulted in new business.

Cloudways: How do you think WordCamps contribute to the WordPress community? Do you have any tips for brands that showcase their products/services at these events? 

Bobby: Many of us spend many hours in front of a computer. WordCamps bring us all together to talk about issues, tips, and tricks on how to get better at using WordPress. It also gives us an opportunity to network which helps our businesses grow.

It’s also a welcoming environment for those who are new to the platform. The Happiness Bar is one of the best things about WordCamp where those new to WordPress can connect with experienced WordPressers to answer any questions and help solve problems.

There’s so much value that comes from attending WordCamp for the small fee of admission.

Cloudways: How does digital marketing contribute to the success of an online business? Do you have any tips for WordPress based business owners for scaling their marketing and branding efforts? 

Bobby: It’s important to understand your customers and your audience and find out what they’re searching for, where they are active on the web and target those places. If your time is limited, maybe you don’t need to market on Facebook when most of your customers are using LinkedIn. Focus on the channels that will lead to more business. Once you’ve got a handle on that, you can experiment on other networks.

Also, measure! With so many channels to market on, it’s important to understand how effective your efforts are. Conversion tracking is easy through Google Analytics and many advertising platforms offer their own conversion tracking as well.

Cloudways: Can you name five people who have inspired you in the WordPress community? 

Bobby: This is a tough one because there are so many people who inspire me and they total over five people. I’ll say that the Atlanta WordPress community inspires me. I dove into the Atlanta community three years ago, and have met so many wonderful people who have taught me how to be a better WordPresser, digital marketer, and business owner. Our success is due in part to this WordPress community and I’m very grateful for that.

Cloudways: You are a member of the Cloudways family. How did you come across Cloudways and what was your first impression? What made you switch to Cloudways and why did you specifically select Cloudways for Papaya Search? 

Bobby: Site speed is important not only for visitors and because of that it’s important for SEO too. I have participated in a few SEO Facebook groups and there was a thread about hosting companies who specialize in WordPress and site speed, and there were several votes for Cloudways. So I signed up for an account and hosted a site just to test it out. I was so happy with how simple it was to set up and with the site performance that I brought my own websites to Cloudways. I’ve been a happy Cloudways customer for two years now.

magazine cta

Meet 25+ WordPress Stars and Read Their Success Stories.

Cloudways interviewed these people to help you succeed in the WordPress world too.

Thank You

Your Magazine is on its Way to Your Inbox.

Cloudways: I have read on your website that in your free time you take photos, ride your bike around Atlanta, etc. Can you please share some interesting stories/pictures from this side of your life?

Bobby: Yup! Atlanta has a thriving improv comedy scene and three years ago, I took my first improv comedy class to help me with public speaking for WordPress Meetup. The class was at an improv theater in Atlanta called Dad’s Garage, a very funny place with a talented cast. After that class, I was hooked took classes for 2 years. Not long after that, I helped start a Spanish-speaking improv troupe called Other Side of the Wall. Here’s a photo of us together:

Atlanta photo

The theater is also close to the Atlanta BeltLine which is a large sidewalk that runs over a former rail line. It currently circles the city and connects many different neighborhoods that were not connected to one another before. It features lots of street art, restaurants, and fun events like the Lantern Parade. It’s only 7 years old and it’s changed the dynamics of the city. I use the Atlanta BeltLine to bike to work.

Atlanta BeltLine

Cloudways: Finally, here’s your chance to freestyle :). Write anything you think could be interesting or useful to our readers.

Bobby: If you’re curious to see the evolution of the web over the past 20 years, the recently launched Version Museum has a great archive of websites showing how they’ve changed over time. And of course, the Wayback Machine is a great resource too to see what the web was like.

Cloudways: Can you please share pics of your workstation?

Bobby: Here’s a photo of my office. I love to travel, so I have a globe and a post of Havana, the capital city of Cuba, the country where my family is from. (You can also see a bit of my bike there too.)

workstation

That would be all!

Share your opinion in the comment section. COMMENT NOW

Share This Article

Saud Razzak

Saud is the WordPress Community Manager at Cloudways - A Managed WooCommerce Hosting Platform. Saud is responsible for creating buzz, spread knowledge, and educate the people about WordPress in the Community around the globe. In his free time, he likes to play cricket and learn new things on the Internet. You can email him at [email protected]

×

Get Our Newsletter
Be the first to get the latest updates and tutorials.

Thankyou for Subscribing Us!

×

Webinar: How to Get 100% Scores on Core Web Vitals

Join Joe Williams & Aleksandar Savkovic on 29th of March, 2021.

Do you like what you read?

Get the Latest Updates

Share Your Feedback

Please insert Content

Thank you for your feedback!

Do you like what you read?

Get the Latest Updates

Share Your Feedback

Please insert Content

Thank you for your feedback!

Want to Experience the Cloudways Platform in Its Full Glory?

Take a FREE guided tour of Cloudways and see for yourself how easily you can manage your server & apps on the leading cloud-hosting platform.

Start my tour

CYBER WEEK SAVINGS

  • 0

    Days

  • 0

    Hours

  • 0

    Mints

  • 0

    Sec

GET OFFER

For 4 Months &
40 Free Migrations

For 4 Months &
40 Free Migrations

Upgrade Now