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For Tracy Hammond, Business Development Director of Visible Theory, SEO web design means more than just lead generation.
 
The self described “natural product guru” and mother has been in high tech publishing since its’ inception.  After graduating from Syracuse University in 1991 with a degree in Communications, Tracy went to work for Seventh Generation in Burlington Vermont. At the same time she was working for an independent college newspaper as Associate Editor, Sales Director and Distribution.
 
“I was writing the articles, selling the advertising and literally handing out the publication at local universities all while working at 7th Gen. One time I remember having to wait until the cows went across the road to their pasture in order to deliver some papers to Middlebury College.”
 
Tracy decided this “internet thing” was the wave of the future and moved to San Francisco in 1997. She couldn’t find an editorial position in high tech publishing and took a job working as a production assistant at SPINS, a start up that focused on marketing research for the Natural Products Industry.
 
Tracy knew and loved the industry inside out but her heart was always in publishing so she eventually scored a t job at Miller Freeman Publishing as an assistant website editor.
 
She stayed at Miller Freeman for years before leaving to go to ON24 as an online business news reporter. It was her self described “dream job” of writing about the high tech industry and producing audio files. The ON24 gig was interrupted by the economy as the tech bubble burst in 2002 and the entire editorial team was laid off en masse.
 
“It was a sad day for a lot of people. I should have known as all the news I was reporting was bad news. Tech companies were going belly up left in right.”
 
Her next incarnation was an Account Manager for CMP Media in the Embedded Systems Design Magazine and Conferences.
 
“I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know a damn thing about embedded systems but from all my publishing and natural product industry experience I knew people.”
 
Tracy’s laid back yet aggressive personality eventually earned her “Most New Accounts” award for the entire Electronics Group in 2007.
 
“The award was a complete surprise as I never considered myself a true “sales weasel”. I mean I was up against some tride and true 20 year sales veterans. I always felt I was a website editor posing as a sales person. I didn’t know I was good at it until I got the award.”
 
So good in fact Tracy left CMP and went to work for the LA Business Journal.
 
“I figured I was such a hot shot Account Manager that I could even sell print advertising.”
 
A bold statement and a challenge for sure in a world of ever shrinking ad dollars and search engine optimization.
 
After about a year of expensive lunches, successful schmoozing, 3 billion gallons of gas she decided to come back to the online world as Business Development Manager of the full service design company Visible Theory.
 
“You know - it’s just where I belong.”
 
Tracy also mentions out of her hundreds of clients at the Business Journal she was hearing the same story from marketing managers around town. “We can’t buy advertising this quarter as we are investing in our website.”
 
“Hey - you don’t have to hit me with a frying pan...I get it. You want direct, high quality online leads without wasting any of your precious budget.”
 
Tracy also knows there is more to a website than online leads.
 
“A website is your face to the world.  It’s the first thing anyone looks at. It’s the main communications tool to reach out to million of clients.”
 
What’s the best thing about the job?
 
“The great thing about working at Visible Theory is I get to brainstorm on different projects and utilize my editorial skills as well as hard nosed sales. Being a Business Development Director is the best of both worlds and no having to wait for cows to cross the road...usually.”