About Melissa Popp | Content Strategist, SEO & Speaker

Where I Do My Best Work

Right where storytelling meets strategy.

I build content strategies that move people from curious to ready. I do SEO that helps the right audience find you in the first place. And I design funnels for how humans actually behave, not the fantasy version in the pitch deck.

I’ve done this work in a lot of different rooms. Fortune 500 brands with a full team behind them. Startups with one marketer and a laptop. Niche publishers, too: I launched TripSavvy’s RV travel section and grew it past 90,000 monthly visitors in peak season.

20-plus industries in, the pattern holds. Getting up to speed on a new market is the easy part. Finding the story inside it is the job.

The gap between content that sits there and content that works is usually smaller than people think. A clear story. A smart path. Pages that meet people where they are instead of making them do all the work.

Melissa Popp, Star Wars: The Last Jedi premiere night

Built for Real Budgets and Real Deadlines

Big goals rarely show up with big budgets or clean timelines. Usually they arrive with pressure, a half-full brief, and a deadline that got there before you did.

So I keep it practical. I test, I track, and I tighten what isn’t working. Every page, email, blog post, and landing page should have a job. If it doesn’t, it’s just taking up space.

Good copy matters. It can’t carry the load alone, though. The work pays off when every piece moves someone one step closer to trusting you, buying from you, or coming back.

What 20 Years Teaches You

Your story matters, but only if you tell it in a way your audience cares about.

Funnels break constantly, usually in quiet, boring places nobody wants to look. That’s why testing isn’t optional.

And budget is rarely the real problem. Priorities are. I’ve watched focused teams outperform bloated ones spending twice as much.

Traffic is good. Traffic that turns into something is better. I’ll take a page ranking #3 that brings in calls over a #1 that brings in nobody.

And AI is a power tool, not the author. I use it every day and built RicketyRoo’s workflows around it. The draft can be AI’s job. The story is still yours.

Why People Bring Me In

The receipts, if you want them: 2,500+ published pieces across industries from SaaS to cannabis. More than $4 million in client revenue driven by my strategies. Work for The Emmys, HP, and Samsung. Talks at Local SEO for Good and WTSFest. On-air spots on CBS Denver and ABC Detroit, and a feature in Majestic’s SEO in 2026 book.

At RicketyRoo, the AI-assisted workflows I designed cut production time 30% to 50%. Quality didn’t drop.

But the real reason people call is simpler. They want someone who can see the story, tell the truth about what’s working and what isn’t, and build content people actually use.

When I’m Not Fixing Funnels

Off the clock, I’m nerdier than my LinkedIn suggests. Video games, sci-fi novels, and a poetry practice.

I volunteer with Women in Tech SEO and keep up the conference tattoo tradition. I’ve written from beach houses, Amtrak trains, and National Parks. These days, home base is Denver.

Bring me the messy one. Let’s talk.