Software and Programs
This page is the extended version of the technology section on my resume. Rather than just listing tool names, I want to give you a clearer picture of what each one does and how I actually use them.
Whether you’re a business owner trying to understand what these tools mean for your project needs or a hiring manager evaluating experience: this should give you what you need.
Technology By Category
(Click on a category button below to be taken directly to them)
Regarding AI usage: The tools have changed but the approach hasn’t. I use AI for brainstorming, copy drafts, and working through ideas faster: not to replace the thinking, but to sharpen it. Claude, ChatGPT, CoPilot, and built-in AI within programs are all part of the toolkit depending on what the task needs. Automation takes care of the repetitive work. The strategy, the decisions, and the results are still on me. I just can’t trust AI too much as it can’t drink coffee.
Website and Content Management
(Back toTop)
Magento
An enterprise level eCommerce platform with deep customization capabilities
How I Use It
Working with complex store setups that require custom catalog structure, multi-store configurations, and DAM integrations.
BigCommerce
A dedicated eCommerce platform built for scaling online stores for small to medium sized businesses.
How I Use It
Managing storefronts, product data, and inegrations.
Nexternal
An order management and eCommerce platform used in specialty retail and direct-to-consumer sales.
How I Use It
Manging orders, customer data, and product content within established stores.
WordPress
This is the most widely used platform that powers over 40% of all the world’s websites.
How I Use It
Building and managing websites, creating content, and installing plugins to extend functionality for businesses, clients and my own projects.
WooCommerce
An eCommerce extension for WordPress that turns a site into a full online store
How I Use It
Setting up product catalogs, payment systems, and shipping rules for businesses that sell online.
Shopify
A popular all-in-one eCommerce platform known for its ease of use and a large app ecosystem.
How I Use It
Building and optimizing stores, managing product listings, and setting up marketing integrations.
Search and SEO
SEMrush
An all-in-one SEO and competitive research platform used by marketing professionals worldwide.
How I Use It
Keyword research, tracking search rankings, auditing websites, and analyzing what competitors are ranking for.
SpyFu
A competitor intelligence tool focused on paid and organic search data.
How I Use It
Identifying competitor keyword strategies and finding gaps to capitalize on in both SEO and PPC campaigns.
Screaming Frog
A website crawler that audits sites for technical SEO issues.
How I Use It
Diagnosing broken links, duplicate content, missing meta tags, and crawl errors that hurt search rankings.
Sitebulb
A visual website auditing tool that presents technical SEO data in easy-to-read reports.
How I Use It
Running in-depth site audits and presenting findings to clients who need a clear visual breakdown of issues.
Google Search Console
A free Google tool that shows how a website performs in organic search results.
How I Use It
Monitoring search impressions and click-through rates, identifying indexing issues, and finding keyword opportunities directly from Google’s data.
Google Analytics and GA4
Google’s free website analytics platform that tracks how visitors find and interact with a site.
How I Use It
Monitoring traffic sources, tracking goal completions and conversions, and identifying which pages and campaigns drive the best results.
Google Merchant Center
Google’s platform for uploading and managing product data so it appears in Google Shopping and search results.
How I Use It
Setting up and maintaining product feeds, troubleshooting disapproved listings, and ensuring product data is accurate and optimized for Shopping campaigns.
Paid Advertising (PPC)
Google Ads
The largest online advertising platform, placing ads in Google search results and across the web.
How I Use It
Building and managing search campaigns, writing ad copy, setting bid strategies, and optimizing for cost-per-lead or cost-per-sale goals.
Facebook Ads
Meta’s advertising platform covering Facebook and Instagram placements.
How I Use It
Creating audience-targeted campaigns, running A/B tests on creative, and retargeting website visitors to drive conversions.
MailChimp
One of the most widely used email marketing platforms, known for ease of use and automation features.
How I Use It
Building email campaigns, setting up automated sequences, managing subscriber lists, and analyzing open and click rates.
MooSend
A cost-effective email marketing tool with strong automation and segmentation capabilities.
How I Use It
Running targeted campaigns and behavioral automations for clients who need more flexibility without a large platform cost.
Constant Contact
An email and online marketing platform popular with small businesses and nonprofits.
How I Use It
Managing contact lists, designing branded email templates, and reporting on campaign performance.
Buffer
A social media scheduling and analytics platform used to manage multiple accounts from one place.
How I Use It
Planning and scheduling content across platforms, monitoring engagement, and reviewing post performance over time.
LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest & Instagram
The major social platforms used for organic content, community building, and paid promotion.
How I Use It
Managing business profiles, creating and scheduling content, responding to engagement, and running platform-native ad campaigns.
Data, Reporting & Analytics
Power BI
Microsoft’s business intelligence tool for building interactive dashboards and data visualizations.
How I Use It
Pulling data from multiple sources into a single dashboard so clients and stakeholders can see performance at a glance.
HotJar
A behavior analytics tool that records how visitors move through a website and where they click or drop off.
How I Use It
Identifying friction points in the user experience, informing A/B test ideas, and showing clients where their website is losing visitors.
Google Looker
Google’s data visualization and business intelligence platform for building live reporting dashboards.
How I Use It
Creating custom reports that connect marketing performance data to business outcomes in a visual, shareable format.
CRM and ERP Systems
Epicor Prophet 21 & Acclaim
Distribution and manufacturing ERP systems used by wholesale and industrial businesses.
How I Use It
Working within these platforms to pull product and customer data that informs marketing decisions.
DDI Inform & Xsitra
Specialty ERP platforms used in distribution and field service industries.
How I Use It
Navigating and extracting business data to support reporting and campaign planning.
SAP
An enterprise-grade ERP platform used by large organizations to manage operations across departments.
How I Use It
Familiar with SAP environments and extracting relevant data to support marketing and business analysis.
Salesforce
The leading CRM platform used to manage customer relationships, sales pipelines, and marketing automation.
How I Use It
Tracking leads and contacts, building reports, and connecting marketing campaigns to sales outcomes.
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft’s enterprise CRM and ERP suite, tightly integrated with the Office ecosystem.
How I Use It
Managing customer data and marketing activity within larger organizations already using Microsoft infrastructure.
QuickBooks
Small business accounting software used to track income, expenses, invoicing, and payroll.
How I Use It
Supporting financial reporting needs and staying familiar with tools clients use in day-to-day operations.
Creative and Design
Canva
A browser-and-app-based design tool that makes it easy to create on-brand visuals without advanced design software.
How I Use It
Creating quick social media graphics, presentations, and marketing templates: especially useful for collaborating with clients who manage their own content.
Microsoft Publisher
A desktop publishing tool for creating formatted marketing materials and documents, included in the Microsoft Office suite.
How I Use It
A cost-effective solution for updating product catalogs that were originally made with Publisher.
Adobe InDesign
A professional layout tool used for multi-page documents like brochures, catalogs, and reports.
How I Use It
Designing print and digital marketing materials that require precise layout control and typography.
Adobe Photoshop
The industry standard for photo editing and raster image creation.
How I Use It
Editing product photos, creating social media visuals, and preparing images for web and print use.
Adobe Illustrator
A vector graphics tool used to create logos, icons, and scalable illustrations.
How I Use It
Creating brand assets, infographics, and graphics that need to scale cleanly across different sizes and formats.
GIMP
A free, open-source image editor with capabilities comparable to professional paid software.
How I Use It
Adopted it as a cost-effective alternative to Photoshop and built automated batch workflows for in-house product photography: processing and standardizing large volumes of images without manual editing for each one.
Productivity and Collaboration
Microsoft Office Suite
The standard business productivity suite: Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, Power BI, SharePoint, and Teams
How I Use It
Day-to-day writing, data analysis, presentations, email, and collaboration across every type of organization.
Google Workspace
Google’s cloud-based productivity suite: Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Drive, and Meet.
How I Use It
Collaborating in real time with clients and teams, managing shared documents, and integrating with marketing and analytics tools.
Monday.com
How I Use It
Asana
How I Use It
Trello
How I Use It
ClickUp
How I Use It
Let's Connect
I’m open to new opportunities and always up for a good conversation.
Whether you’re looking to bring on a marketing professional, need help with a project, or just want to swap adventure stories over coffee, reach out.
About Cathy
I’ve run marketing as a team of one, worked within larger teams, and sat at the table with sales, ops, and leadership. Every situation is different. The focus never is: results that move the needle.
Outside of work, Georgia and the Southeast keep me busy. Trails, rivers, caves, campsites: anywhere Sam can still keep up.
And always with coffee in hand.
Portfolio and Projects
A mix of real-world projects, client work, and hands-on experience across eCommerce, SEO, digital marketing, and print. Each project represents a problem worth solving and results, with sometimes solving more problems along the way.
Should Your SKU be in the Product Title? It Depends on Who’s Buying
Recently I was in an online discussion about product titles in eCommerce. Someone made the claim that putting a SKU in the product title messes up your schema and just looks ugly. I disagree: at least not across the board. The schema argument is a partial truth at...
Bamboo Forest Marietta, GA
Escaping into Atlanta’s Bamboo Forest Getting There The bamboo forest sits along the East Palisades Trail inside the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area: about 20 minutes from downtown Atlanta in average traffic. There are two entrances: Indian Trail and...
A Year of Living, Losing, and Finding My Way Back
Over a year ago, I stepped away from a traditional full-time position. It's not for everyone. And honestly, it wasn't always easy. This past year had more loss in it than I expected. I lost my grandmother and my aunt. I lost close friends, some of them unexpectedly....
Build It Once, Use It Forever: How I Created 1 Flyer That Solved 4 Problems
Custom hose assemblies are not a simple order. There are a lot of variables involved, and when customers came in without the right information, the whole process stalled before it even started. I spent seven years at Atlanta Rubber & Hydraulics before the company...
Sam: The Adventure and Office Dog Who Earned His Retirement
Sam is a 16-year-old boxer I rescued when he was just over a year old. Do the math: that's a lot of years, a lot of trails, and a lot of miles logged together with a long life for a Boxer breed. The average lifespan for a Boxer is 10 to 12 years, and Sam as surpassed...
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Explained – What Leadership Needs to Know
What Is Conversion Rate Optimization? Most businesses focus on getting more traffic. CRO focuses on what happens after they arrive: increasing the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on your site, like making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or...
WEI Sichuan Authentic Chinese Cuisine in Marietta, GA
I like to travel the world with food and I certainly did with this local treasure for the not so typical Chinese Cuisine. WEI Sichuan Authentic Chinese Cuisine in Marietta, GA was a surprise to see on DoorDash when I looked on the menu. About Sichuan Cuisine What is...
Unlocking Revenue Potential: The Business Impact of SEO in Ecommerce
Most eCommerce businesses have products people are actively searching for. The problem is showing up when it counts. That's the short version of what SEO does. It's not a buzzword or a checkbox: it's how customers find you before they ever land on your site. And for...
Stay Motivated: Getting and Staying Motivated
Stay Motivated: Getting and Staying Motivated Do you ever feel like you're stuck in a rut, unable to make progress towards your goals? It's a frustrating feeling, but the good news is that you can take steps to build momentum and start making strides towards the life...
Benefits Of Visualization
Visualizations works to get you on your way to feeling like you're living up to your full potential. You will no longer feel like you're holding yourself back from achieving your goals and living the life you truly desire. By harnessing the power of your mind, you...