From a lawyer to an SEO geek?
It definitely wasn’t a normal path to SEO. I was a trial attorney for a little more than four years. I was what you see on TV in the lawyer dramas. I did divorce/custody/support and criminal defense. I decided that I would rather chew on shards of broken glass than do one more divorce so I had to find something new.
What part of SEO you specialise and why?
I think I’m most known as an “On Page specialist.” While I feel that I have a rather complete SEO game I’m OK with people thinking that. At the end of the day, we’re talking about content and that’s what goes on your page so I’m ok with being known as an expert concerning On Page.
The reason I’m know as an On Page specialist is that in a public competition I ranked a page written in lorem ipsum #1 in Google organic and #1 in maps. I did very little off page but I did the math on placing terms in very specific factor areas on the page. I copied and pasted those terms into the lorem ipsum and got the page to rank #1. The internet lost their minds.
Tell me about your tool
There are a lot of tools that are more shiny but we’re the tool that leads the industry in innovation and effectiveness.
You become famous…
The original competition where I ranked a page in lorem ipsum made me famous. Then I got a lot of hate mail. People were telling me how I got lucky or why I couldn’t do it again. So, I did it again.
Last year I spoke at 5 different conferences around the world. At each conference I ranked a page written in lorem ipsum, on Page 1 in Google, Google can do all the updates it wants to do but at the end of the day it’s just an algorithm. If you give the algorithm the math it needs you will succeed in SEO.
Your SEO predictions 2020
Don’t overthink it. Do the basics and do them well. The key is benchmarking. Benchmark these things: organic impressions, organic clicks, and conversions from organic traffic sources. If you benchmark those things and work to improve them you will have the best SEO year of your life. Notice I didn’t mention tracking keywords.
Who cares if a keyword goes up a spot or down a spot? You should care about the impressions you’re getting, the amount of clicks from those impressions, and if those clicks are converting.
If I could change something in the SEO industry…
Nothing.
There is a lot of money to be made. If you are motivated, get a good horse, a (metaphorical) six shooter, and some thick skin and you can be successful.
Best conferences ?
DMSS Bali – it’s Bali. Nothing more to say
Chiang Mai SEO – it’s Thailand. Nothing more to say
Marketing Business Summit – it’s Milan. Nothing more to say
SEO boys and girls to follow
I really don’t follow anyone. It’s not because I’m conceited. I speak at conferences and have an SEO tool and I wouldn’t want to risk being accused of stealing someone else’s ideas.
Things that went wrong?
In 2012 I opened a web design and development company in India. I brought my brother in. I was in the US and he was there and we were raided by the police. We did everything legally and above board.
Nevertheless, my brother was thrown in jail and given the option of staying in jail for an uncertain amount of time or he could leave town the next day. Obviously, he left. All our employees fled and we were hemorrhaging clients as we couldn’t fulfill the work we said we could do. We had just started doing “SEO” for the recurring income.
I put SEO in quotes because I really didn’t know what SEO was. As the business was crumbling I took all the SEO clients and learned SEO that day so that I could pay the rent next month. Turns out I was good at it.
Things that went well?
Setting up business processes is the key. I’m very fortunate to have my business partner in our agency High Voltage SEO, Andrew Steven. He’s done a tremendous amount of work setting up our processes and he’s the reason we have money in the bank to cover several months or our operating budget.
We have no business debt which is amazing considering the software development we’ve done and all of the economic highs and lows the world has had of late. In fact, we are growing during these uncertain times.
