I’ll tell you a little secret about running a business: the people who do it well are not that great at everything, and instead of trying to do it themselves, they hire out. Time is money, people. I do that for some things: photography, production, web design… But I truly believe that, if you’re going to be successful, you have to have at least a basic understanding of all aspects of your business, especially those that are critical to your growth and success. For instance, if you don’t know a thing or two about social media and you hire someone to do it, how will you know if the person you hired is doing a good job? How will you be able to participate in a meaningful conversation about your goals and expectations for your social media program? I had a long talk about this with a friend and fellow business owner over coffee this week.

I made the mistake a few months back of hiring an SEO service, knowing very little about SEO myself. I mean, I know the rudimentary reasons for it, and I know I want more new people to find me when they’re searching for things, but I definitely did not have a good understanding of how that was going to happen. The changes made by the service seemed to hurt, not help my efforts.

I reached out to a good friend I used to work with, who is an absolute master when it comes to SEO and she gave me a good starting point for moving forward, and how to proceed with not only making changes, but learning which changes I needed to make in the first place. I’ve already seen an improvement from the changes I’ve made based on her suggestions. I also participated in a very helpful twitter chat, hosted by Kim Bultsma, where I learned some great tips. You can read through the chat and see if anything jumps out at you.

This week, I’ve been reading a variety of things, including a lot of SEO tips, as you’ll see below. I hope you find these links as helpful as I have.

Seven SEO Strategies to Implement in 2015, via Nextweb

6 Changes Your 2015 SEO Strategy Must Focus On, via Entrepreneur Magazine

How Long Does It Take SEO to Work? via David Melamed

Hermes Doesn’t Make It Easy for You to Buy Their Stuff. That’s Why It Sells So Well, via The Washington Post

Yelling Mama, via Pencil Skirts and Playdates

The Truth About Supermoms, via Simply Lindsey Loo

Teaching Kids to Express Feelings Early: Why? How? via Oh The Simple Joys

Etsy Stock Crashes 15% After Catastrophic 1stQ Earnings Report, via Mashable

Why the Flash Sale Boom May Be Over & What’s Next, via Retail Dive

Free Printable for the Recent Grad or Any Awesome Trailblazer, via Elegance and Enchantment