This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
Rae (Hoffman) Dolan, age 40 lives in Katy, Texas with her three children and her son CJ who passed away, who she credits for most of her success. She has been active in the search marketing industry since before I remember there was an industry with the name. SugarRae, her pseudonym, we almost all went under pseudonyms back in the day, was well-known and respected for her challenging what Google told us, testing the limits of SEO tactics and always not taking someone else's word for it.
She is known for being outspoken, opinionated and the best part of it all, almost always right. She is super fun to watch on stage, espesially during live question and answer sessions. She is fun to follow on Twitter, with her rants and debates. She is also full of knowledge and experience that very few people in our industry can come near.
The best part, she is one of the very few that is still devoted to our industry, decades later. Heck, people come and go, we've all seen it, but she has been on solid pillar in our industry day in and day out. She has been through many personal challenges and has championed through them privately and some publicly all without missing a beat in her contributions to our space. Huge respect Rae.
Joe Pawlikowski nominated Rae and wrote:
You could try to work harder than Rae, but you'd have to function on three hours' sleep and drink a gallon of coffee a day. In my entire professional career I've never met someone so dedicated to what she does -- and that's not just limited to work. She's a superlative mother, raising kids that will undoubtedly make an impact on the world. She understands generosity, helping entrepreneurs in less-than-ideal situations get their ideas off the ground. And now, after nearly two decades dominating the search industry, she has her hooks in real estate investing. She'll win there, too, because when you're as dedicated to Rae that's what you tend to do.
Rae (Hoffman) Dolan Bio: Rae (Hoffman) Dolan is a veteran affiliate marketer and SEO known best in the online marketing community as Sugarrae. She is the Co-founder & CEO of PushFire, a digital advertising agency that specializes in delivering ROI. Rae is also the Co-owner of Audrey Micah Investments, a real estate investment firm focused on the Katy, Texas area.
Favorite thing about the SEO community? The low barrier to entry. If you have curiosity, dedication, and grit you can find big success – both financially and personally – in this space. It’s one of the few industries where talent and hustle beats a degree every day of the week.
One piece of advice to the SEOs out there? I have two pieces of advice. First, stay humble and don’t drink your own Kool-Aid once you begin seeing success - no matter how good everyone may say it tastes. There’s a big difference between confidence and ego. People respect the former and avoid the latter. Second, remember that Google is not your friend – they’re a corporation and they (understandably) put their interests first.
Favorite things in general? I spend most of my free time six months out of the year volunteering with the Katy High School Girls Basketball team (my daughter is a Varsity manager). I built and maintain their website and manage their online fundraising initiatives (PushFire also provides a lot of monetary support to the team). I’m an avid puzzler. I drink my coffee black and couldn’t function without it. My guilty pleasure is watching the Maury Povich show – and I feel zero shame about my Maury game.
What you want to be known for in the SEO space? First and foremost? Being bullshit free. I value my reputation more than I do anything else in my life aside from my family. I’d also like to be a reminder – as a result of using my platform on a regular basis to fundraise for worthy causes - that you have a duty to use any voice you’re able to obtain in life to both build your business and improve the world.
To learn more about Rae, check out her agency site PushFire and her SugarRae site. Finally, I strongly recommend you follow her on Twitter.
This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
