Riikka Palmunen is an e-commerce entrepreneur who discovered her passion for search engine optimization (SEO) after participating in the Growth with SEO program. Her motivation for joining the program was the desire to improve the visibility of her online store in search engines, as a novice e-commerce business owner. While Riikka had often heard about SEO, she wasn’t familiar with the practical work involved. She had tried making changes to her site on her own, but the results were modest due to the fragmented information she had gathered.

SEO wasn’t rocket science after all

At first, Riikka was concerned about the complexity of SEO and doubted her ability to learn it quickly, as she didn’t see herself as a typical SEO professional. “Jutta assured me that I could do it,” Riikka recalls. With that encouragement, she decided to take on the challenge of learning a valuable new skill. During the program, she was surprised to find that SEO wasn’t as difficult as she had initially thought.

“SEO isn't rocket science. Learning the skill was actually just about having a good attitude towards unfamiliar information.”

Her initial doubts faded when she realized early in the program that she could learn the process step by step and genuinely improve her store’s visibility. After completing the GWS program, Riikka noticed tangible results in her business, even during challenging times for e-commerce. Her online store now ranks better in search engines, and certain keywords perform very well, with SEO supporting all of her marketing efforts.

SEO is the core of e-commerce marketing

Riikka emphasizes that every entrepreneur should familiarize themselves with SEO, even if it’s not their primary job. For online retailers, learning the basics of SEO is especially crucial. “SEO is the core of e-commerce marketing. Without it, your marketing skills are on shaky ground.” Whether it’s an online store or another type of business, a company’s website is a vital part of its operations, so the ability to enhance its visibility is invaluable. “Many people think that adding an SEO plugin to their site will help, but if you want results, the work has to be done properly.”

Mastering SEO opens many opportunities

Overall, Riikka feels that the GWS program was high-quality and beneficial. It offered clear and practical teaching, with a focus not just on theory but also on actionable insights. “I believe that mastering SEO opens many opportunities for business development and gives flexibility in terms of work.” “Now, no matter what blog or site I’m working on, I know how to optimize the content.” Today, Riikka offers website and SEO services in addition to running her online store, and she’s glad she took on the challenge.

Riikka provides SEO services as well as running her e-commerce store, Alldag.

Written by: Mira Rossi