Joe Walter
With 20 years of retail furniture experience in Tampa, Florida, Joe Walter brings both a deep understanding of the demands placed on the independent furniture retailer and a successful track record of promoting stores to the top position on the first page of Google search. He’s a “furniture guy” who wants to help other independent “furniture people” succeed. 
Joe’s vast Google AdWords experience started around 2002 when he owned two Murphy Bed store franchises and began selling the Murphy Bed mechanisms on eBay. (Murphy bed: a bed that is hinged at one end to store vertically against the wall, or inside a closet or cabinet.) After quickly achieving some success on eBay and becoming weary of the high eBay fees, Joe started his own website to sell the Murphy Beds and began promoting his website on Google AdWords, which itself was only a few years old at the time (the official birthday of AdWords is October 23, 2000). Back then, placement in the results was very bid-influenced. There was no talk about Quality Scores, Google Analytics didn’t exist, Remarketing wasn’t a thing, and the first iPhone was still 5 years from being introduced (June 29, 2007). Achieving top placement on Google search was all about simply outbidding your competitors.
Through the years, Google added features and fine-tuned their algorithms with Joe learning the ropes along the way; studying what was effective, monitoring results, adjusting budgets, testing new features, attending seminars, asking Google for advice, and through trial-and-error with an unfortunate emphasis on error. Watching keyword campaign results go from the top of the first page one day to the side of the fourth page the next due to Google algorithm changes was particularly disheartening. (Google no longer shows ads on the side of the page as a move toward a more mobile-friendly experience.) With time, Joe’s campaigns started to produce results, great results. Sales and website traffic were up and costs were down. Joe was selling more Murphy Beds online than in his stores. It was then, in late 2007, that Joe sold his stores and was hired by Macy’s Furniture & Mattress Clearance Center by Highland Park Furniture to create an online presence for them.
