Hi Y'all,

I hope your 2026 is off to a great start.

I wanted to send out an update on my SEO career in 2025.

In earnest, I had gone a majority of 2025 without SEO work - I had a sense that was going to happen and covered it in a personal note .

As such, I’ll be diving into our family business a bit more than usual, treading on my managerial tactics and operational changes.

Let’s jump into it.

Rediscovering self-confidence, in SEO, and beyond

I believe the biggest hurdle I’ve had to overcome is being comfortable in my own skin.

As I posted in “SEO: Business a̵s̵ is (un)usual”, the rise of AI adoption and its disruption to the SEO space made me feel as if I was falling behind. Coupled with income disruption and tech trends, I questioned my skillsets within SEO. “Was I doing enough? Was I still a quality SEO? Was I even a quality entrepreneur?”

I buckled down in Q2 of 2025 and began to digest as much AI-related content as I could find. I found overlap between SEO and AI best practices and my readings made me feel more comfortable in the space.

As I began to share my revelation with more SEOs, marketers and brand leaders, I discovered the sentiment was common.

AI won't substitute a business (SEO) strategy; it get definitely supplement it but at the center will always be the our target user and their behaviors.

Edwin, the mediator

In 2025, I took on a mediator role at El Condor; I attempted to foster better communication between managers, employees and customers.

I liked it.

It took me back to my manager days at my last job.

If there was a misalignment among our leadership team (my siblings and parents 🙂), our team on the ground would feel it several times over, which then spills over to our customer experience, affecting our business (womp womp).

We turned to quarterlies among employees and managers. The goal was to provide a forum where our team could voice opinions, ideas, and concerns in a community space with no judgement.

At first, the team appeared apprehensive - Ecuadorians are more reserved with providing feedback despite having it. It's been a few quarterlies now and, although it's still a work in progress, team members share thoughts more freely. I'm continuing them in 2026.

Controversial decisions

Keeping on with the family business, there was apprehension on some of the initiatives I was pushing.

For example, to combat rising operating costs and improve cash flow, we pushed for delivery minimums and enforced surcharges on credit cards. The outrage!

Although they're among my favorite highlights of 2025 they came from known issues...

Minimums

We had customers ordering ~$200 worth of merchandise (roughly 2-3 units of goods) requesting delivery. (To put it in perspective, it's not uncommon to have other customers purchase in excess of $2k-3k per delivery.)

It didn’t make operational sense to load our vehicles with 2-3 boxes and drive across town for an order worth $200.

We offered customers a few options and noted side effects,

1. Delivery minimums: The customer had to meet a threshold. When a customer didn’t meet it, they could go with the 2 other options, or they could add on to their order to meet the minimum. We were pleasantly surprised when customers began to go above and beyond their initial order.
2. Delivery fees: It’s not a large fee but it would compensate for effort to deliver goods or free up our team. Some customers were reluctant to pay for the fee, particularly when it was a small order, so they would add on to the order to meet the minimum or would resort to the final option.

Credit Cards

Regarding the credit card surcharges, this was a bit more contentious.

We saw that some customers were ordering $1000s worth of goods but El Condor was paying credit card fees. Fees could range anywhere between 2-3% of a total and the costs added up. For example, 3% on an $10,000 order would mean we would pay $300 in fees, enough for a utility.

Our solution?

Let’s expand payment options and deter credit card usage through surcharges.

We implemented ACH payment solutions and encouraged check and cash payments; both of which were much more affordable than credit cards.

The result?

Fees for ticket orders began to decline and smaller orders didn't mind the surcharge.

There was a lot of reluctance from our team on the above changes. However, it hasn't deterred customers, new and existing, from shopping with us.

What's 2026 look like?

2025 allowed me to continue to sharpen my strategic skills but I want to reinvest in myself as a marketer and as a community member and leader in 2026.

In Q4 2025, I took on a new agency client where I served as a 3rd party SEO lead for their clients. The clients are e-commerce and non-profit; both have unique circumstances but it feels like a good fit going into 2026.

Attending Tech SEO Connect in December reminded me of how much I miss interacting with other SEOs in person and the value I get from attending conferences. I hope to attend a few more SEO conferences this year and continue strengthening my skillset and relationships with others in the space.

What’s more, I’ve been looking to build a larger community of 1st generation Ecuadorians like myself. Yes, it’s to expand El Condor’s reach but more than anything it’s to build community among those with shared experiences.

Most importantly, I want to be a better version of myself; a better father and husband and happier person. This also means getting healthy - eating better, being more active (especially), and taking care of myself mentally and emotionally.

Well, I hope y’all are doing well and thank you so much for reading if you got this far!

All the best,

Edwin Romero

Independent SEO Consultant

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