Ben Goodey’s Post

How I got +50% revenue in Q1 2024 for my client via SEO: I got off the phone with a client this week with a biiiig smile on my face. They had good news to share.  “Your hard work is paying off”. And much more than expected. They’d literally had 14 new prospect calls last Tuesday 🙃 Business revenues in Q1 2024 were +50% compared to the year before—and SEO was the driving force. I’ve been working with this client since November. And in just 6 months (starting from a DR 0.3 and 0 traffic)...SEO is driving serious revenue results. So, it's time for some reflection. Check out the full "how-to" strategy guide here: https://lnkd.in/gEbDHUju

My 38-point "new client" SEO checklist (the bare minimums): Before I kick off SEO strategies/content production for clients, I make sure every site follows this checklist. It's my "bare minimum" for any new website I setup or work with. A lot of it is beyond the scope of typical SEO. But it's all needed to get organic traffic and for it to actually drive results (what I'm measured on). And since most of my clients aren't marketers by trade (they're founders, niche experts, etc) I love helping them across their entire site: + Architecture + Copywriting + Design + SEO It adds value for them + for me because client retention is how I grow. (it's way more fun for me this way too) ✌️

I was featured in Hubspots "Ultimate Guide to SEO". Woo. This is one of my core SEO philosophies, too, so that's a win.👇 Link in comments.

You find a keyword. Get excited. Write a blog post and...nothing. No traffic. Why? You probably wrote the wrong content. + wrong angle + wrong intent + wrong format + wrong length It's one the biggest mistakes beginner SEOs make. And, to be fair, it's easy to get wrong. But it's also not *that* hard to get right. And getting it right is the difference between #1 and obscurity. So, here's my 6-step guide 👇

Prospect: "Our SEO agency says our site is a mess. We've got lots of technical fixes to do." Me: *looks at site* *looks like a normal SaaS website* *sees it has under 30 pages, 10-20 very thin, AI-generated blog posts, and little to no traffic* Me: "Uhuh...I've heard this one before. Can you share what fixes they plan to do?" Prospect: "Yeah sure, here's the presentation they made—it says their plan for the next 3 months". Me: *looks at slide deck* *slide deck says 3 months of fixing meta descriptions* Me: "Don't use this agency. They're doing f*ck all. Also, that's not technical SEO—you could do that in 3 hours yourself." Prospect: "We just signed a 12 month contract for £3K a month." Me: *awkward turtle* —— Please, stopped getting conned by your service providers. Learn the basics. Ask key questions: + Is this a priority + Will this help us grow traffic AND revenue? + How? How does that work? + Why are you squirming? Some agencies love to scare you into buying with them. But if your site is new or small, it ain't actually that complicated. You don't need a wizard. You need: + A clean and fast website ($50 template - nothing crazy) + A content strategy + A writer (backlinks will also help) —— Image via Brian Solis —— PS. I'm not a fan of 12 month contracts. They're hard to trust. I do monthly rolling contracts, no strings attached. ✌️

Next month, my team will produce 28 long-form blog posts for 5 clients in completely different industries. This is the highest it's been in a while. But we'll double it before the end of 2024 👀 With scale and client diversity, it's difficult to maintain: + creativity + industry expertise + product expertise Especially when you have a (stupidly high 🙋) bar for quality. But here's 3 absolutely crucial elements to my operation that allow us to do it: 1. The team My team of one (just me) became a team of two recently. We also work with ~5 freelance writers regularly. Between us, we fulfil four roles for each client: + SEO strategist + Content strategist + Content operations + Creative (writing, mostly) Beyond 4 clients, I couldn't fulfil all these roles to my own standards. Expanding the internal team has already unlocked a ton more client value. That + role division has been a key step toward this year's goal: 10 retainer clients. 2. The strategy We spend a LOOOT of time getting deep knowledge of each industry. The strategy is then set early in the engagement. But I always leave room for it to iterate as we go. The key part of translating strategy to execution:? The content briefs. We invest hours in each one. Finding: + Original sources readers will love + Creative ways to tackle tired topics + Matching product features → benefits The biggest lesson of 2022/2023 → Spend WAY longer making briefs to 10x the value of the final content. 3. The writers I have to give a dedicated shoutout to the writers in my network. Working with a writer who gets it = a HUGE unlock of time and headache. Writers who: + learn fast + write well + care about readers + like bringing some spice Are hard to come by. Once you find one, pay them well and on time. Grow your businesses alongside each other. Strategist x Writer is the best mutually beneficial relationships in the content world. —— When most people hear scale, they think "reduced quality". But with the right team & operations you can do both. —— Happy Friday ✌️

5 signs your SEO will fail: 1. No human wants to read your content I meet a lot of people who would never read their own content. That's a really bad sign. 2. Your competition is doing more If your competition is moving faster and investing more, you need to be smarter or more aggressive. Good strategy is everything here. 3. Someone isn't "in the weeds" I've never seen SEO be successful unless its owned by one person who's hustling daily to make it work. 4. You focus on hacks and shortcuts If every algorithm update reverses your work, you're playing a losing game 🤷 Don't over do it. 5. You give up after a few months You should see some results early, but the life-changing stuff only happens to the patient. - The most successful SEO is backed by: + Brand building + Unique and original content + Consistent and aggressive action ✌️

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Elite backlinks: The FT is in the top 600 websites worldwide for authority. If they backlink to you? It’s a BIG signal for SEO. #Sponsored #HowtheFxckCommunity