I’m a woman who, after 25 years of working in office cubicles, has found her comfortable place in life. After spending my youth chasing adventure in San Francisco, I finally moved back to my homeland (southern Louisiana) to settle down. Wondering how to pronounce my maiden name? It’s 2 syllables that sounds like FONT-KNOW. Now you know. 🙂
I was brought up to believe that good food and good fun went hand in hand, and that hard work and a strong education would enable the good food and good fun to be had. I work hard but I enjoy the work I do. I enjoy life and the people in my world. These are the things that make me who I am, and they contribute to both my work ethics and my personal life.
My LinkedIn Recommendations
One of the best ways to get insight into someone is to hear what others have to say about them. Below is a list of recommendations given from people I’ve worked with over the years, in some capacity. You can either read them here, or click the link to see them on LinkedIn itself. Many are focused on SEO because that was my primary focus in the first decade or so of my career.
LinkedIn Recommendations
“Donna is one of the few cross trained people I know. She brings her expert skills with the technical side of design, setup, servers, and programming, along with her strong, long time work in search engine marketing. She was my lead help when moving Cre8asiteforums to a new server, which was a complicated task. Donna’s is easy to work with, prompt, very smart and an asset to any company smart enough to hire her.” June 21, 2011 – Kimberly Krause Berg, Owner/Usability Consultant, Cre8pc
“I’ve known and worked with Donna since 2005. Back then I barely new what the letters SEO stood for and Donna was always willing to take the time to help me learn the basics – and not just about SEO but also about blogging, online marketing and running a business. I’ve always been impressed with her work, knowledge and ability to explain difficult concepts in and easy to understand way. But most of all I’m impressed by her commitment to the people she works for and with. I recommend Donna wholeheartedly to anyone looking for an SEO audits or coaching, consulting and training.” June 21, 2011 – James Cook, Web Developer/Owner, studioJMC.com
“Donna is a veteran SEO professional. I remember reading her blog when I first started learning about the industry, and that was about six years ago. She is friendly, professional, and knowledgeable. This makes it easy for me to feel comfortable sending clients her way, as I know they will be taken care of and get fantastic results.” June 21, 2011
– Everett Sizemore, Director, Search Marketing, Kinoli, Inc.
“I’ve worked with Donna in several capacities over the years, from Cre8asite Forums to my client work and personal projects. She is professional, speedy, knowledgeable, resourceful, trustworthy, easy to get a hold of in a crisis and overall a delight to deal with. Rely on Donna for SEO audits and advice, solving WordPress problems and as an eBusiness coach.” June 20, 2011 – Elizabeth Able, SEO Specialist, integrating design and content, LiBeck Integrated Marketing
“What I like best about Donna is her hands-on approach. She communicates well and is willing to teach “up” as your project becomes more detailed and you wish to learn the steps yourself. Donna keeps her sense of humor while still hitting her deadlines which makes it a real pleasure to work with her. You just can’t go wrong with her project recommendations and her promptness.” June 20, 2011Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Creative – Christine Metzger
“Donna knows an incredible amount about how to code a website so that it looks just right. She also knows a great deal about SEO and how to make sure the perfect website is found by the perfect people. She is generous with her knowledge and good to work with.” June 20, 2011 – Stephanie Smith, Owner, Freelance writer
“Donna Fontenot is incredibly helpful. Her knowledge and grasp on it is such that she’s able to convey and instruct on information in such a way that it is simple and actionable enough for those outside of her fields of expertise to act on, yet never “dumbed down”.” June 20, 2011 – Ruud Hein, Senior SEO, editor, Search Engine People
“Donna Fontenot has been, and always will be, a WordPress diva. Working with her on a project made me realize what a valuable professional she is; my team and I still have her in our “go-to” rolodex. Her ability to cut to the chase and deliver timely projects is second to none. It has been my pleasure and honor to work with such a widely respected professional in our industry.” June 20, 2011 Top qualities: Expert, High Integrity, Creative – Gabriella Sannino
“Donna is one of the best partners I’ve been working with. Although she is working remotely, she is able to communicate very effectively and has excellent client management skills. She distinguishes herself by proactively reaching out to clients and making sure every project is well-prepared in advance. Any potential employer would be lucky to have her on board.” June 16, 2011 – Jonny Chan, Analyst, Blitzlocal
“I absolutely love working with Donna – her work and dedication speak for themselves. I look forward to working with her in the near future on many a project – if she’d have me as her business partner!” May 12, 2011 – Ana Hoffman | Traffic Generation Cafe, Founder | Social Media, SEO, Internet Marketing, Blogging Consultant, Traffic Generation Cafe
“Donna is one of those few folks you can give a project to and not worry about whether it’s going to get done. She knows how to deal with tough clients, deadlines, and ambiguity. How often do you find someone with programming chops, client finesse, and a caring heart?” May 9, 2011 – Dennis Yu, CEO and Co-Founder, BlitzLocal.com
“Donna’s proficiency at getting things done – anything required of her – is amazing. Her skills involving any sort of web application are incredible. She’s comfortable, friendly, easy to work with, learns new things quickly, and seems to be awake 24 hours a day grinding away on a project well before it’s due date. I highly recommend her for any web administration, IT, or any other role that fits within her ever expanding skillset – she gets the job done, all with a smile.” May 8, 2011 – Matt Parnell, Senior Server/IT Administrator, Blitzlocal
“Donna is one of the most knowledgeable, insightful, talented and hard working people I know. She works tirelessly to get the best results for her clients and has a way of approaching problems that I envy. Her insightfulness and willingness to share has meant that I have learned a great deal from her over the years and I value every bit of knowledge I have gleaned. She is the only person I would trust with a usability issue as her SEO expertise and skills as a web developer make her the perfect person to balance everything.” April 12, 2010 – Judith Lewis, Blogger, SEO Chicks
“Donna has tons of experience and expertise, and could teach most of us a thing-or-two, yet she is still one of the most approachable people in the SEO and Internet Marketing World. Would always jump at the chance to work with her.” March 7, 2009 – Patricia Skinner, Freelance SEO Consultant, Wellwrittenwords
“Donna’s got the SEO knowledge you need and always responds promptly to any problems that may arise.” January 7, 2008 – Geoffrey ‘G-Man’ Faivre-Malloy, Owner, Purple Duck Software, Inc.
“Donna undersells herself too much in my opinion. She has some great ideas that are the very reason that readers of her blog are having success, yet gives them away for free. Im sure if she looks back in a few years and sees how many people have been influenced by her, she will be very happy.” October 14, 2007 – James Welch, Head of Research and Development, Just Search