Table of ContentsAbout the FoundersThe Creation of YoastAn Instant Success: SEONowadays, with Internet access at an all-time high, It is not easy to keep customers loyal and satisfied. There is so much content on the web that it's quite easy to get lost among all the noise and clutter. To stand out and be heard, articles, blogs and all other types of media must be unique and engaging. They must also follow good SEO practices in order to be spotted by search engines. Search engine optimization is every marketer and content creator’s best friend because it helps their work get the recognition it deserves. The undisputed king of WordPress SEO is Yoast, and this time we'll take a look at how the company started and got to where it is today. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay About the Founders Joost de Valk started his career working for a digital marketing company. He gave it up and began consulting for major companies such as eBay and The Guardian. In doing so, he was working on his own project: a plugin that would help websites improve their SEO score. It started as just a hobby because Valk was interested in the algorithms governing SEO. After a while, he began to feel that there was more than met the eye, and suddenly he began to see it as something more than just a hobby. He became so busy with this hobby that his current job began to suffer. That's when his wife suggested that maybe he should take this seriously and start trying to make money from it. Founding Yoast The entire empire we now know as Yoast started as one man's hobby in 2010! He started his blog in 2004, named joostdevalk.nl, and in 2006, css3.info. In June 2008, he launched yoast.com and began earning money from advertisements placed on the blog. In mid-2010, he felt the time was right to invest in Yoast full-time, giving up his job and founding the company. The journey started with video SEO, then came WordPress SEO Premium, and that evolved into Yoast SEO Premium. All of these companies became so successful, so quickly, that it was necessary to create a business around these services. De Valk was the only one involved, handling everything from advice to support for the first few years. The first years were very trying because he had to manage support, development and testing alone. During these years, it was his wife who was his greatest support and helper. Even today, it is Joost, Marieke, his wife and their first employee, Michiel Heijmans, who take care of almost all management and logistics. Joost's wife, Marieke, shares Joost's busy lifestyle: she majored in sociology and has a doctorate in criminology. She started her career as a researcher at Avans University in Den Bosch. But as her husband's business, Yoast, began to gain momentum, she made the decision to help her partner with his work. Her love for writing inspired her to start creating e-books, and soon the idea blossomed. Marieke is responsible for the entire Yoast Academy tab and has played a huge role in the company's growth. An instant success: SEOWordPress is a well-oiled machine that hosts over 74 million websites, and.!