💼 Let's Talk Client SEO

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I was going to tell you how my romance ebook faired during the two promo days, but I’ll save that for another email. As well as an update on my local newsletter.

Cause I got a request to talk about doing client SEO and running an agency as a pivot from niche sites.

So, I’ll share some thoughts on what I’ve been doing.

More on that in a moment.

But first, I’ve got another sponsor today. TWO of them actually. One here and one toward the end of this newsletter. So, do your thing!

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Let’s Talk Running An Agency (part 1 of?)

Before Growth Cupid, I was doing some client SEO via Skipblast Digital.

That started out with me being more of a consultant and just billing it under the Skipblast Digital LLC.

But through word of mouth, I got more clients and did proper agency work for a bit.

Then, I got tired of full-service SEO clients and switched up to just doing HARO links for a few years before stopping.

The missing detail here is what really helped me make the decision on agency work - I had already trained some people to do SEO stuff for MY sites and I wanted to recoup that cost - so I used the same people to do my client work.

I stopped HARO because my main team member left to do other things. And I didn’t want to fulfill HARO orders myself or deal with hiring other people.

I see a lot of talk online about running a productized agency where you essentially do nothing but sell the services/be the face of the brand and hire out ALL the work for a fixed cost. This way you always know your profit.

I’m not a fan of this model because it’s my reputation on the line here and you never know when the fulfillment of those services will decline.

But at the same time, I truly hate dealing with hiring and firing.

People can, and most definitely will, lie to you. They will tell you they have experience they don’t have. They will tell you they checked something for an order that they didn’t check, etc.

You need a finely tuned bullshit meter. And you cannot become friends with these hires because that is the perfect recipe for getting taken advantage of. Also, never hire your friends or family.

Anyways, I still prefer to hire people instead of white labeling productized services. My advice here is to trust your gut, and don’t be afraid to fire people when they need fired.

And never offer a service that you don’t have the skills to fulfill yourself. Because things can and will go wrong with an order, leaving you, personally, to complete it.

Of course, I don’t think anyone should start an agency with a team of freelancers on staff immediately. Meaning, you should start out ONLY selling services that you can do on your own.

This gives you the most profit per order, and it lets you test offers in your target market/audience to see what’s a good fit.

Should you specialize? Yes, probably. My agency endeavors earned the most when I only offered ONE service.

The downside? If something crazy happens to decimate that industry, you have to essentially start all over again.

So, why does Growth Cupid not specialize in one service right now?

We’ll get into that in a future update.

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Coming up…

Upcoming topics: more tips and ideas on Etsy and KDP, how it’s going with my chatGPT fiction ebook and the AI music thingie, and growing an ecomm site.

If you have a topic you want covered just reply and let me know.

Stay awesome,

Shawna

P.S. If you’re looking for high level discussions or tips on things like local SEO and Rank & Rent, I highly recommend Jacky Chou’s Advise community. I’ve been in it for several months and there’s tons of value in it, including a SOP for local SEO.

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