About Us
Standing Dog understands the hospitality industry. Our expert team is comprised of travel professionals who have led e-commerce efforts for major brands. Our dedication to your Internet marketing efforts combined with a proven track record make Standing Dog your partner, not just your agency.
Mike Wylie, President
Mike Wylie is President of Standing Dog and leads the interactive strategy for the agency. He founded Standing Dog LLC, an interactive marketing and media firm, in July 2005.
Wylie was formerly the Vice President of e-commerce for Wyndham International for four years where he oversaw all Wyndham’s e-commerce efforts. Under his leadership, wyndham.com grew from $6 million in annual revenue to over $100 million. In 2004, Mike was named one of the 25 Most Extraordinary Sales and Marketing Minds in Hospitality and Travel by HSMAI and served as founding Co-Chair of the HSMAI Internet Marketing Committee. Before Wyndham, Wylie worked for Hilton Hotels Corporation as the Senior Director of e-business and as a senior consultant with the Synapse Group, an internet development firm.
Rob Phillips, Vice President
Rob Phillips is Vice President of Internet Marketing at Standing Dog. Rob’s primary focus is search engine marketing and web analytics.
Prior to joining Standing Dog, Rob enjoyed 10 years with Wyndham International in both hotel operations and Revenue Management. In 2002 he joined Wyndham’s corporate e-commerce team and utilized his revenue management experience to optimize campaigns around availability, greatly improving Wyndham’s overall ROI in e-commerce. Rob brings this sharp revenue management perspective to Standing Dog, designing strategic campaigns around the specific needs of each client.
Bill Hartzer
Bill Hartzer is Standing Dog’s lead SEO guru.
A frequent speaker and expert discussion panel participant at various search engine marketing and internet marketing conferences and events such as the Search Engine Strategies and WebmasterWorld’s PubCon Conferences.
Bill writes frequently for Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Guide, and is regularly published in many online publications. He currently writes the “Everything Google” column in Practical eCommerce magazine. He maintains a blog on his website, www.BillHartzer.com and is a member of the Forbes Business and Finance blog network.
Bill is one of the original founders of the Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association, and has over fourteen years of search engine marketing and social media marketing experience.
Laura Shaikh
Laura Shaikh is our Director of Paid Search and oversees all paid search marketing campaigns run by Standing Dog. She has managed paid search marketing campaigns at both the agency and corporate level and her past experience has allowed her to work with clients such as Diesel, Emporio Armani, the Indianapolis Colts and the Miami Dolphins.
Immediately prior to joining Standing Dog, Laura was a part of the Ecommerce department at Fossil where she was primarily responsible for executing paid search marketing across multiple branded websites. She has also been recognized for achieving high returns in her accounts through careful keyword analysis and optimization.
Laura recently attended advanced training sessions at Google’s main campus and has achieved Individual Google Qualification through the AdWords Certification Program.
