See You on the Internet

How can you stop feeling overwhelmed by online marketing and instead take control of your business’s digital world? In See You on the Internet, Avery Swartz argues that successful digital marketing isn’t about jumping on the latest tool or trend—it’s about understanding the core principles that connect your business goals with the work you do online. She contends that technology can empower small business owners when they combine strategy, measurement, and authenticity. But to do so, you must build a digital foundation that you own, measure your progress honestly, and connect with customers in genuine ways.

Swartz frames this guide as an accessible, hands-on roadmap for entrepreneurs and organizations that want to thrive online. It’s not a book about buzzwords—it’s about clarity. As the founder of Camp Tech and a long-time educator on digital marketing, she walks readers through each layer of the online ecosystem: from domain names and websites to social media, email marketing, SEO, and metrics that actually matter.

The Framework for Digital Success

At the core of the book is Swartz’s deceptively simple framework: Goal → Plan → Execute → Measure → Learn. Many people dive into social media, advertising, or online tools without first defining what “success” looks like. Swartz flips that backward thinking: you begin with a specific business goal (“increase sales by 20% this year” rather than just “make more money”), identify a key performance indicator (KPI) to measure progress, and then select your tactics accordingly. This framework helps you focus on what matters most—actions that bring measurable results.

Each chapter in the book builds on this foundation. Swartz shows how a clear structure can banish confusion and fear around digital marketing. Her message is both motivating and comforting: even if you’re a complete beginner, you can learn to make smart, strategic decisions online without spending a fortune. You just have to approach digital marketing as a continuous learning cycle rather than a one-time task.

Owning Your Online Home

Swartz emphasizes one essential truth: your website is your home base. “Don’t build your castle on someone else’s land,” she warns, referring to the risks of relying solely on social media platforms that can change algorithms or policies overnight. Instead, your website and domain name form the foundation of your brand’s online presence. Everything else—Facebook pages, Instagram posts, emails, ads—should lead people back to a place you own and control.

She uses real-life examples, such as Kate the florist and Christian the financial planner, to show how even traditional businesses benefit from simple yet strong websites. For Kate, moving from just an Instagram account to a proper website made her business look professional and credible in print and online. For Christian, a long-time advisor, it meant new ways for clients to refer him—proof that credibility online translates directly to trust and opportunity offline.

Mastering the Modern Web

A modern website, says Swartz, must be mobile, fast, and accessible. Our world is bursting with interconnected devices, from smartphones to voice assistants, and your website has to work seamlessly across all of them. Optimization for mobile is now a must—Google even ranks mobile experiences first in its search results. She encourages readers to test their sites for speed and accessibility, remembering that an inclusive website isn’t just ethical; in many places, it’s the law. Every person who visits your site—no matter their abilities—should be able to easily navigate and interact with it.

Through stories like that of Brent and Nisha, owners of an Irish pub who rebuilt their site three times over a decade, Swartz reminds readers that digital tools evolve quickly. What’s good today might not last forever. You have to accept that change is constant—but it can be exciting if you approach it strategically.

Authentic Content and SEO

Content, according to Swartz, is the engine of your digital marketing. Instead of crafting stiff, jargon-filled text, she urges small business owners to tell authentic stories. People connect with honesty and emotion, not corporate-speak. She shares examples like Debra, a lawyer whose website copy became far more effective when she replaced formal language with client-centered empathy. Similarly, Diana’s beautiful furniture website wasn’t getting traffic until she started using keywords her customers actually searched for—like “luxury Scandinavian furniture.” Her message to readers is clear: be genuine for humans first, optimize for search engines second.

Swartz also provides clear explanations of SEO strategies—breaking them into on-page (the words and structure on your website), off-page (links from others), and local SEO (visibility in nearby searches). Avoid black-hat shortcuts, she warns; SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. The best strategy is to contribute meaningful content, build relationships, and earn trust online through consistency and collaboration.

The Power of Connection and Measurement

Once you’ve built your digital foundation and created content, you can use tools like social media, email marketing, and online advertising to amplify your reach. But Swartz insists that these tools shouldn’t be chosen out of fear of missing out. Each must tie directly to your business goals and digital strategy. She shares cautionary stories like Leena, a real estate broker who joined a new social media platform because it was trendy—only to waste time and energy since it didn’t align with her audience or goals.

Finally, Swartz’s focus on measurement brings everything together. She shows you how to track your progress using real data from Google Analytics, social media insights, and CRM systems. Measurements reveal what’s actually working so you can improve intentionally instead of guessing. Her closing mantra—“wash, rinse, repeat”—encapsulates the spirit of ongoing experimentation and growth. The small business owners who thrive online are those who stay curious, adapt to change, and never stop learning.

In the end, See You on the Internet is both a roadmap and a pep talk for modern entrepreneurs. It shows that effective digital marketing isn’t about perfection—it’s about progress. By grounding your online presence in clarity, strategy, and authenticity, you can connect with the right clients, grow your reputation, and confidently say: see you on the internet.

Avery Swartz’s first major idea is that digital marketing only works when guided by a clear and consistent structure. Too many entrepreneurs, she argues, get caught up in shiny tools or trendy platforms without truly knowing what success even looks like. That’s why her Goal → Plan → Execute → Measure → Learn framework lies at the heart of the book. It gives you a roadmap for thinking strategically and acting deliberately online.

1. Start with a Defined Goal

Your digital marketing must start with your business goals, not vanity metrics or vague hopes. “Make more money” isn’t specific enough. What do you want to accomplish—sell more of a new product, reach new geographic markets, or reengage past clients? This clarity is essential because it keeps every tactic focused on tangible results. Without it, you risk wasting energy like Leena, the agent who jumped onto a new social platform (Ello) simply out of fear of missing out, only to achieve nothing measurable.

2. Choose a KPI

Once you know your goal, you need a way to measure progress. That’s your key performance indicator (KPI). Swartz emphasizes selecting one meaningful metric—such as number of sales, daily store visits, or email sign-ups—and ignoring the rest until later. This focus prevents you from chasing distracting numbers like social media likes or impressions, which often signal little about real business impact (these are vanity metrics, a problem highlighted by other marketing thinkers like Seth Godin and Neil Patel).

3. Measure Before You Leap

Before launching a campaign, you need to know where you stand. Take a “before” snapshot of your KPI to compare later. Swartz uses the example of a health food store that tracked its daily customers before starting a Facebook ad campaign. This baseline made it possible to assess whether traffic actually improved afterward. Measurement before and after keeps you honest and ensures that your decisions are data-driven, not emotional guesses.

4. Leap Small, Learn Fast

Swartz’s framework encourages experimentation over perfection. When you “leap,” you try a new tactic with a limited budget or timeframe—enough to learn, not enough to drown. For the health food store in her example, the first leap was a Facebook ad leading people to directions to the store. It gave minor improvements. The second cycle (“plan, execute, measure, learn”) refined the ad with a promotional coupon, resulting in a 27% sales increase. By iterating, the store learned what worked without wasting thousands on untested ads.

5. Learning as a Continuous Cycle

The book repeatedly returns to the idea of learning loops. Each round of digital activity—no matter how small—teaches you something about your audience and effectiveness. The process never ends because technology never stops evolving. By refreshing the “plan” with each measurement, you can double down on what succeeds and discard what doesn’t. This scientific approach echoes the agile mindset in tech startups: test, iterate, and improve continuously.

In short, Swartz redefines digital marketing from a guessing game into a disciplined process of learning. Whether you’re creating ads, testing emails, or posting on social media, every action must trace back to your goal and KPI. That’s how you transform chaos into clarity and data into direction.

One of Swartz’s strongest arguments is the need to own your digital assets. In a world where social media platforms rise and fall, your website and domain name remain the cornerstone of credibility and control. As she puts it bluntly, “Don’t build your castle on someone else’s land.”

Why Your Website Matters

Even if you live by referrals or thrive on Instagram, your website validates your business in your client’s eyes. When the local newspaper featured Kate’s flower shop, every business but hers listed a website. That omission made her look less professional. After creating a simple but elegant site matching her brand, Kate suddenly looked as polished online as she did in person.

Controlling Your Own Platform

Swartz compares building your brand solely on social media to renting space from a landlord who could evict you anytime. Facebook or Instagram could change their algorithms or shut down accounts overnight, wiping out years of effort. Your website, however, belongs entirely to you. She encourages buying your own domain (through registrars like Hover or GoDaddy) and setting up professional email using that domain—no more Hotmail or Gmail addresses for business.

Good Design and Functionality

A strong site doesn’t have to be custom-coded or costly. Tools like WordPress, Squarespace, or Shopify empower you to build professional sites affordably. The key is usability: clear navigation, modern visuals, responsive design, and easy ways for customers to buy or contact you. Swartz advises clients to “stop treating your website as an expense—see it as an asset.” Like a well-located storefront, it builds long-term value if maintained properly.

Ecommerce and Integration

For people selling products or services online, Swartz demystifies ecommerce. Selling via your own site, she says, is far better than relying solely on marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon. Shopify, in particular, allows small shops to own their store while connecting to tools for shipping, accounting, and social media. Integrations—like linking QuickBooks to Shopify or Mailchimp to your store’s email list—streamline operations and fuel smarter decisions. These integrations, she explains, let your digital systems “talk to each other,” saving endless manual work.

By owning your digital real estate, you future-proof your presence. It ensures that no matter how social platforms evolve, your customers always have a reliable home to find you on the web.

Swartz’s mantra for web design is simple but powerful: a modern site must be mobile, fast, and accessible. Ignoring any of these pillars means losing potential customers before they ever get to know you.

1. Mobile and Responsive Design

Nearly all internet traffic now originates on smartphones, yet countless small businesses still treat mobile as an afterthought. Google no longer does—it ranks websites based on their mobile performance first. Swartz encourages a mobile-first mindset: test how your site looks on every device. Responsive design automatically adjusts to screen size, keeping layouts legible and buttons usable whether viewed on a phone, tablet, or desktop.

She shares her own story about rebuilding Camp Tech’s site multiple times as needs evolved—from WordPress to Shopify, each redesign addressed new technical challenges. Her takeaway: websites have life cycles. Expect to rebuild every few years, not because you failed but because technology has advanced.

2. Speed and Performance

Speed matters—for search engines and humans alike. A slow site frustrates users and lowers your ranking in Google. Swartz encourages running your site through free tools like Google’s Mobile Speed Test and Mobile-Friendly Test. Many problems are easily fixed—compressing images, cleaning code, and working with developers to optimize performance often make an immediate difference. She notes, “If your site isn’t fast, you’re effectively locking your customers out.”

3. Accessibility: The Web for All

Accessibility, says Swartz, is not optional—it’s both the right thing to do and, increasingly, a legal requirement. She urges small businesses to design for everyone, including visitors with disabilities. That means using readable fonts, high-contrast colors, clear navigation, text alternatives (“alt text”) for images, and ensuring videos don’t play automatically. Tools like the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool can help you identify gaps. Her advice is straightforward: “If you hate a site that’s confusing and cluttered, don’t make yours that way.”

In the spirit of empathy and practicality, Swartz empowers you to think like your customers. If you create a site you’d personally enjoy using—fast, clear, inclusive—you’re already ahead of most businesses on the web.

Swartz dedicates an entire chapter to what she calls “locking it down.” Protecting customer data isn’t just a technical issue—it’s a matter of trust. She recounts stories of hacked sites, like Lauren the photographer whose outdated WordPress software exposed visitors to malware warnings. The cure, via services like Sucuri, worked, but the reputation hit lingered. Prevention, she stresses, is far less costly than repair.

Everyday Cyber Hygiene

Individuals are often the weakest link, not the technology itself—a problem IT professionals call PICNIC (“problem in chair, not in computer”). To protect themselves, she recommends password managers like 1Password or LastPass, frequent software updates, two-factor authentication, and virtual private networks (VPNs) on public Wi-Fi. Antivirus helps but can’t replace thoughtful habits. Even simple measures, like unique logins for employees, stop avoidable leaks.

Legal and Ethical Responsibility

Data privacy laws such as Canada’s PIPEDA and the EU’s GDPR require explicit user consent for collecting or storing personal information. That means no pre-checked boxes or silent data harvesting. Online forms must clarify what you’re collecting and why. Swartz urges readers to use third-party processors like PayPal or Mailchimp for transactions and emails; these companies comply with data laws and offer secure handling. Always keep signed data processing agreements (DPAs) when possible to show compliance.

Creating a Privacy Policy

Every business website, she asserts, needs two plans: a public privacy policy (for customers) and an internal privacy plan (for staff). The external policy should specify what data you collect, how it’s used, and how people can request deletion. The internal policy governs who in your team can access confidential data and defines response steps in case of a breach. Free generators like TermsFeed simplify this process, but the responsibility remains yours.

Ultimately, good digital citizenship isn’t optional—it’s part of ethical business. “If it feels wrong, it probably is,” Swartz writes. Protecting your customers is protecting your reputation.

After establishing your technical footing, Swartz turns to the art of storytelling. “Content is king,” she declares, echoing marketing pioneers from Bill Gates to modern creators. But her spin is refreshing: authenticity and empathy matter more than algorithms.

Find Your Voice

Many entrepreneurs write stiff, formal copy because they think it sounds professional. Swartz’s client Debra, a lawyer, learned the hard way. Her original website was packed with legal jargon that repelled clients. When she rewrote her story in plain language that conveyed compassion and clarity, inquiries spiked. The lesson: clients hire humans, not corporations.

Write for Humans, Optimize for Robots

Quality content attracts both audiences and search engines. Using relevant keywords naturally—like “luxury Scandinavian furniture” on Diana’s site—tells Google and potential customers exactly what you offer. Swartz cautions against “keyword stuffing.” Instead, imagine you’re explaining your business to a curious friend. If it makes sense aloud, it will likely rank well too.

Go Beyond Blogging

“You’re not required to have a blog,” she assures busy readers. A blog may help SEO, but videos, podcasts, or live streams can work just as well—or better—for some industries. She encourages experimenting with formats that fit your voice: short YouTube demos, live Q&As, or guest appearances on others’ platforms. The point is to keep your content fresh and valuable, not to meet some blogging quota.

Visuals Matter Too

Great visuals make your words sing. Swartz insists on using original, high-quality photos whenever possible. If you must use stock photography, choose royalty-free sources like Unsplash or Shutterstock—and avoid overused images that appear everywhere. Consider hiring a local photographer to capture your team or workspace; it’s surprisingly affordable and builds authenticity.

In Swartz’s world, good content flows from self-awareness. Know your story, own your tone, and speak like a human being. That’s how your message gets heard in the noisy digital marketplace.

If content is king, search engine optimization (SEO) is its compass. Swartz demystifies this often-intimidating subject with humor and clarity. She compares shady SEO tricks to crash diets—tempting quick fixes that never last. The only way to build a sustainable web presence is by earning credibility organically.

How Google Thinks

Search engines like Google rank sites based on hundreds of constantly changing factors: speed, quality of content, number of inbound links, user experience, and more. Instead of trying to “beat” the algorithm, Swartz says, you should “feed” it with relevance. The goal is to align what you publish with what your audience is genuinely searching for.

Three Parts of SEO

• On-page SEO: the content and structure of your site. Use keywords in titles, headings, metadata, and URLs. Think specificity—“handcrafted leather boots Toronto” beats “boots.”
• Off-page SEO: backlinks from other trusted websites showing credibility. Each link acts as a “vote” for your site. Swartz suggests building “internet friendships” with related but non-competing businesses to share visibility.
• Local SEO: ensures nearby customers can find you. Creating a Google My Business profile, updating your contact information, and collecting good reviews all boost local rankings.

Long-Tail Keywords and Patience

Instead of trying to rank for generic keywords dominated by big brands, focus on long-tail phrases—specific searches that reflect purchase intent (“eco-friendly yoga mats Montreal”). These have lower competition but higher conversion potential. Remember, SEO takes time—sometimes up to 18 months. It’s cumulative; quality content builds authority brick by brick.

Playing the Long Game

Camp Tech itself invested years building SEO through backlinks, guest blogs, and partnerships. Swartz likens this effort to building reputation offline: “It’s like being the new kid in school—get a seat next to the popular kid, and everyone starts noticing you.” Over time, these “votes of confidence” elevate your site.

True SEO isn’t an expense—it’s an investment in credibility. Each post, link, and partnership is a conversation that tells Google (and customers) you belong in the top results.

Swartz’s philosophy for communication channels is grounded in authenticity: social and email marketing should deepen relationships, not just broadcast promotions. She offers relatable success stories, cautionary tales, and practical methods for maintaining that human connection across platforms.

The Role of Social Media

Social platforms are powerful amplifiers, but Swartz warns against losing focus. Choose one or two platforms where your audience actually spends time, rather than trying to be everywhere. Annie, who built her cupcake business through honest Facebook posts about her ups and downs, is an example of doing it right. Her authenticity turned followers into loyal customers long before she opened her physical store.

Swartz highlights the importance of tone, etiquette, and consistency. You can be friendly, witty, or inspirational—but always human. Avoid automation that sounds robotic (like those instant DMs saying, “Hey, thanks for following!”). Scheduling tools are fine for planning, but they don’t replace genuine interaction.

Email Marketing: The Unsung Hero

Unlike flashy social media, email marketing gives you direct access to your customer’s personal space—their inbox. It’s one of the few digital assets you truly own. Swartz walks readers through building an email list ethically, ensuring subscribers consent and find the content valuable. She uses Tim, a landscaper who keeps clients inspired during slow winter months, to show how email nurtures long-term relationships.

Her advice for crafting effective messages: define your Most Desired Response (MDR) (e.g., buy a product, schedule a call, read an article), make every email visually clean and mobile-friendly, and measure outcomes like open rates and clickthroughs. Free tools like Mailchimp make this easy—and legal—by managing compliance with spam and privacy laws.

Quality Over Quantity

In both email and social media, Swartz insists that it’s better to have a small, engaged audience than a massive, disengaged one. She likens “buying followers” or blasting newsletters to yelling into a void. What truly works is empathy—understanding what your audience values, delivering it consistently, and measuring what resonates.

Ultimately, both email and social media are about community. When you share real stories, invite conversation, and celebrate customers, your marketing stops feeling like marketing—it becomes connection.

In her closing chapters, Swartz ties the whole digital marketing ecosystem back to measurement and learning. She returns to her core idea: what you don’t measure, you can’t improve. Data gives context, not just numbers—it tells you whether the time, money, and creativity you invest online are paying off.

Using Google Analytics and CRMs

A website without analytics is like flying blind. Swartz urges every reader to install Google Analytics (it’s free!) to track audience behavior—who’s visiting, what pages they linger on, and where they drop off. Paired with a customer relationship management (CRM) system like ZoHo or Insightly, you can map real customer journeys from first click to repeat purchase. The result? Smarter marketing decisions and stronger long-term relationships.

Focusing on the Right Metrics

She divides marketing data into four stages: awareness, engagement, conversion, and customer retention. Awareness metrics (like reach or impressions) tell you who’s discovering you; engagement metrics (likes, comments, shares) show emotional connection; conversion metrics (sales, form submissions) prove action; and customer metrics (reviews, referrals) reveal loyalty. She advises ignoring vanity metrics such as follower counts—they look good but mean little if sales aren’t rising.

Staying Agile and Curious

The final message in See You on the Internet is one of resilience. Because technology changes constantly, learning must never stop. She encourages you to “get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Entrepreneurs who thrive online are those who experiment fearlessly, track results honestly, and adapt fast. Her closing framework for digital transformation—listing your goals, KPIs, budget, and measurement schedule—serves as both a starting point and a compass.

Swartz doesn’t promise perfection. Instead, she promises empowerment: the ability to act purposefully, measure progress, and keep learning. As she writes, change may be the only constant in the digital world—but that’s what makes it inspiring.