- Jul 26, 2016
- 2,267
- 3,646
I have decided to give the forum a bit more activity by having the best members of the forum to talk about their career journey, opinions in link building and much more.
This set of Interview Series started with one of the most respected members in the forum and will continue to do so with many others.
Hope you enjoy the interview.
1. Can you tell a bit about yourself? What do you do and how did you get started in internet marketing?
I had been in business for years and was considering retiring about 10 or so years ago but was intrigued with how people made money using the internet. After a bunch of errors I started to generate some revenue and took the positive and built on that and kicked the negative things to the curb. Pretty simple business thought process actually and just applied it to IM.
2. Tell us a few your current projects, what are you working on?
I'm building out a couple of sites, revitalizing Linkpushing.net, and am putting together a team to build a couple of tools that I see a need for in the industry. I suppose I'll always be building out sites as I like to do that and seeing a need for tools and knowing the process to build a team and take them to market is also a pretty enjoyable experience so I doubt this will be my last rodeo for either.
3. What kind of SEO tools do you regularly use?
I have two that were made for me by a partner, and other than that Ahrefs and SEMRush are pretty strong in my daily work life. I'll break out GSA now and then when I feel like working hard but to set up a campaign properly I need 2 cups of coffee and no dogs coming into my office for a little attention.
4. What are the steps you take to optimize a website?
For onsite I assume; Image SEO is big in my thought process when I am building out a site, image optimization as well... making sure the site loads quickly and I like longer articles as opposed to shorter ones. I interlink inside categories on my sites also as that makes the sites crawler friendly. Using <h> tags makes a difference in a site and making sure your permalink does not exactly match your <h1> tag is also a practice of mine.
5. What kind of link building strategy do you use?
It varies by site but I like to make sure the links that I initially use have some authority to them but I like to use any and every type of link in order to keep things diversified. I also am very strong on link velocity and not being too aggressive with anchor texts.
6. Tell me about a time an SEO strategy went wrong. What did you learn from it?
I stuck with automation for tiered one links too long and as a result have a handful of sites that I sent to the shredder. Although I still believe there is a place for some level of tier one automation I don't think it should have any better seat than in the bleachers so that the links generated can hardly be seen. Fine for some camouflage links, not so fine for links that will rank your site though.
7. What do you think the future has prepared for SEO?
I think the only thing we can expect in the future when it comes to SEO is that what takes a site to rank will change. It's dynamic, it lives and breathes and will evolve just as it has for years. The changes we will see will be less prominent though as much of the easy gaming has been exposed and the search engines largely ignore it but the subtle efforts of SEO professionals is still live and I expect it to be so to a certain extent for years.
8. What’s been your biggest regret since starting out and your biggest lesson?
Biggest regret was turning down a stupid amount of money for a service I owned back in the day. Lesson learned (and I should have known that by the time I was offered those silly dollars) is that a bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush.
9. Do you use any VA? What's your take on them?
Yup, probably always will. I've had employees almost my entire adult life and you cannot run a business without quality people working with you.
10. If you could give some advice to people that are just starting out, what would it be?
IM is not a golden ticket. It is a business just like any other and applying standard business principles to your efforts are more important than knowing how to code AND it is not even close. You can hire/partner with the technicians, you cannot operate your business without a solid business plan and using the principles that work for almost any business and be successful.
11. What are some books that have changed your mindset?
I can't say there are any books that changed my mindset but rather helped format my mindset. 3 come to mind right off the top of my head; The Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament, How to Win Friends and Influence People and The Richest Man in Babylon.
12. What is your thought about PBNs?
Love them, use them and think they are the Cat's Meow these days in SEO.
13. What's your opinion on people sharing their SEO test data?
Tough question as I don't share a lot of my test data because people may take it, abuse it and it will end up on the cutting room floor. In circles it makes sense, in the street corner with a megaphone in Times Square it does not.
14. How do you see the role of A.I. in SEO?
We will always need the human element in order to use what I see as the most important aspect of SEO; Common Sense. But I do see there are some areas where it will be imperative to take advantage of that technology (is that actually technology?) and allow it to work for you much like a tool that works for you creating links. Anything that makes (SEO) life easier is going to have it's place in the IM society.
15. Where do you see the future of this Forum?
It is still evolving and, because I'm staff, I know some of the things on the back burner that are in the works that will make the experience a better one as things move forward. I do like to see some of the older members that were dormant coming back into the community as many of them have a perspective to offer that is fresh. I think there are a few things that are slowly coming together that will put many members in a better place and thus make the forum better. As an example there has been a bit of an undertone of building relationships, networking and increasing personal interactions one a one on one or a one on a few level. Those sorts of things have made me money almost every time and the added benefit of having a relationship with a quality person was a nice bonus.
This set of Interview Series started with one of the most respected members in the forum and will continue to do so with many others.
Hope you enjoy the interview.
1. Can you tell a bit about yourself? What do you do and how did you get started in internet marketing?
I had been in business for years and was considering retiring about 10 or so years ago but was intrigued with how people made money using the internet. After a bunch of errors I started to generate some revenue and took the positive and built on that and kicked the negative things to the curb. Pretty simple business thought process actually and just applied it to IM.
2. Tell us a few your current projects, what are you working on?
I'm building out a couple of sites, revitalizing Linkpushing.net, and am putting together a team to build a couple of tools that I see a need for in the industry. I suppose I'll always be building out sites as I like to do that and seeing a need for tools and knowing the process to build a team and take them to market is also a pretty enjoyable experience so I doubt this will be my last rodeo for either.
3. What kind of SEO tools do you regularly use?
I have two that were made for me by a partner, and other than that Ahrefs and SEMRush are pretty strong in my daily work life. I'll break out GSA now and then when I feel like working hard but to set up a campaign properly I need 2 cups of coffee and no dogs coming into my office for a little attention.
4. What are the steps you take to optimize a website?
For onsite I assume; Image SEO is big in my thought process when I am building out a site, image optimization as well... making sure the site loads quickly and I like longer articles as opposed to shorter ones. I interlink inside categories on my sites also as that makes the sites crawler friendly. Using <h> tags makes a difference in a site and making sure your permalink does not exactly match your <h1> tag is also a practice of mine.
5. What kind of link building strategy do you use?
It varies by site but I like to make sure the links that I initially use have some authority to them but I like to use any and every type of link in order to keep things diversified. I also am very strong on link velocity and not being too aggressive with anchor texts.
6. Tell me about a time an SEO strategy went wrong. What did you learn from it?
I stuck with automation for tiered one links too long and as a result have a handful of sites that I sent to the shredder. Although I still believe there is a place for some level of tier one automation I don't think it should have any better seat than in the bleachers so that the links generated can hardly be seen. Fine for some camouflage links, not so fine for links that will rank your site though.
7. What do you think the future has prepared for SEO?
I think the only thing we can expect in the future when it comes to SEO is that what takes a site to rank will change. It's dynamic, it lives and breathes and will evolve just as it has for years. The changes we will see will be less prominent though as much of the easy gaming has been exposed and the search engines largely ignore it but the subtle efforts of SEO professionals is still live and I expect it to be so to a certain extent for years.
8. What’s been your biggest regret since starting out and your biggest lesson?
Biggest regret was turning down a stupid amount of money for a service I owned back in the day. Lesson learned (and I should have known that by the time I was offered those silly dollars) is that a bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush.
9. Do you use any VA? What's your take on them?
Yup, probably always will. I've had employees almost my entire adult life and you cannot run a business without quality people working with you.
10. If you could give some advice to people that are just starting out, what would it be?
IM is not a golden ticket. It is a business just like any other and applying standard business principles to your efforts are more important than knowing how to code AND it is not even close. You can hire/partner with the technicians, you cannot operate your business without a solid business plan and using the principles that work for almost any business and be successful.
11. What are some books that have changed your mindset?
I can't say there are any books that changed my mindset but rather helped format my mindset. 3 come to mind right off the top of my head; The Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament, How to Win Friends and Influence People and The Richest Man in Babylon.
12. What is your thought about PBNs?
Love them, use them and think they are the Cat's Meow these days in SEO.
13. What's your opinion on people sharing their SEO test data?
Tough question as I don't share a lot of my test data because people may take it, abuse it and it will end up on the cutting room floor. In circles it makes sense, in the street corner with a megaphone in Times Square it does not.
14. How do you see the role of A.I. in SEO?
We will always need the human element in order to use what I see as the most important aspect of SEO; Common Sense. But I do see there are some areas where it will be imperative to take advantage of that technology (is that actually technology?) and allow it to work for you much like a tool that works for you creating links. Anything that makes (SEO) life easier is going to have it's place in the IM society.
15. Where do you see the future of this Forum?
It is still evolving and, because I'm staff, I know some of the things on the back burner that are in the works that will make the experience a better one as things move forward. I do like to see some of the older members that were dormant coming back into the community as many of them have a perspective to offer that is fresh. I think there are a few things that are slowly coming together that will put many members in a better place and thus make the forum better. As an example there has been a bit of an undertone of building relationships, networking and increasing personal interactions one a one on one or a one on a few level. Those sorts of things have made me money almost every time and the added benefit of having a relationship with a quality person was a nice bonus.
