a different kind of search

MEET DOREEN BROWN, SEO EXPERT AND FOUNDER OF LET’S GET VISIBLE

Words Hayley Griffiths @hayleyg.creative

A sea change from Melbourne to the sunny shores of Wollongong in 2003 led Doreen Brown on a search for a different career path. She found all that and more, starting her own consulting business in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and assisting many local businesses along the way with their own – albeit different kind of – search.

Doreen had been a training consultant in the financial services sector for over 15 years when she decided to transition into the digital marketing space. Landing an entry-level role for a Sydney agency, Doreen spent five years learning SEO from the ground up. It was during this time that Doreen had her ‘a-ha’ moment, realising that SEO was her true passion. Fast forward a few years and unexpectedly the agency closed.

“I went from managing teams in Australia and America to being unemployed,” explains Doreen. With a glass half full attitude, she saw this as the perfect opportunity to launch her own consulting business, Doreen Brown Consulting.

In 2020, the business was rebranded to Let’s Get Visible, consolidating her offerings including a podcast and online academy. What fuels her passion for the business? Seeing so many business owners missing out on critical support in digital marketing because they can’t afford big agency rates. That’s where Let’s Get Visible steps in: “We support busy businesses that want to outsource their SEO and digital marketing efforts or train their existing internal teams in SEO.”

Now, if you’re reading this article and thinking ‘what is SEO?’, don’t worry you’re not the only one! Luckily, Doreen is here to make sense of it all. “SEO has evolved so much over the years and now it's all about creating an online experience for users that will meet their needs. It's not about how many keywords you can get on page one,

it's more to do with connecting qualified searches with your website and being a resource not just a sales pitch once people find you. It's important because SEO is an organic, long-term strategy.”

Doreen also offers an online learning platform named Let's Get Visible Academy. It provides online SEO and digital marketing courses to support solopreneurs and small businesses that may not have a budget to work directly with a consultant or outsource their SEO management. As a busy entrepreneur herself, Doreen understands the important of ensuring the courses are not too lengthy and can be completed at their own pace from anywhere. “The courses run for two hours or less, so business owners don't need to carve out six weeks of their busy lives to learn,” says Doreen.

Wearing many hats, Doreen manages to fit in time for her passion project – a podcast called Let's Get Visible with Dorz Brown. Her aim of the podcast is to get real about the ups and downs of running a business. “It’s not always unicorns and rainbows – we get to hear real stories and realise that we are not alone with some of those experiences. I especially love and enjoy this, as I get to interview other business owners and remove the fluff,” explains Doreen.

There are some absolute gems of wisdom from each episode, which features creatives, solopreneurs and business owners from a diverse range of industries both locally and across Australia. But it’s Wollongong that has become home for Doreen. She loves the local community of business owners who she says, “support what you do and share it with others, even when you’re not in the room!”

In her downtime, you’ll find Doreen on the water paddleboarding or spending time with her family. “I am a mum of two boys and that keeps me pretty busy!” she says. “They absolutely love getting involved in different types of sports, so weekends are always jam-packed with attending matches and games.”

Find Doreen at letsgetvisible.com.au or @lets_get_visible