Justin Watkins’ Post

Ever had one of those moments when you’re pushing for more resources, and your boss has a “brilliant” budget-friendly alternative? Me (during a call with my GM): "I have a LinkedIn connection who's an SEO expert and can help us achieve our visibility goals. I’ll reach out to them." My GM: "Well, GPT is also an SEO expert. It can help us get started!" What they actually meant👇 "We have a limited marketing budget, and hiring an SEO expert might break the bank, so let's just use GPT." The challenges of working within tight budgets and just having to roll with it and get creative are enormous for marketers. Anyone else have stories of “cost-saving” solutions that left you laughing (and maybe crying a little)? Happy to read them!

When I started my digital media journey, I kinda tripped and fell into it. My second job out of college was at a small SEO agency and it wasn't an area I necessarily wanted to be in. To be frank, it was (and still predominantly is) a male dominated industry and I constantly felt on the outside. I tried to leave SEO. It didn't give me "purpose." But I kept seeing so many colleagues and clients getting burned by other SEO agencies and/or doing it poorly (and if you know me you know if I see something done wrong, I will let ya know). No matter how many times I tried to leave, it kept pulling me back in. I realized that while SEO in itself didn't give me "purpose," helping people did. When done right, SEO can be the difference of 🏡 a small business owner buying a home to grow old in, 🏢 a mid-sized business creating more jobs, 👩💼 a marketing leader getting that well deserved promotion. When done wrong, it can cripple a business and cost people their jobs.

My biggest career decision yet After much thought and prep.. Myself and Tanja have joined forces to build SERPsculpt after 2 years working together. So far, we’ve been busy building strategies & executing content for our clients. With 10+ years experience of helping B2B companies - we’ve decided to focus on what we know best: **Growing Online B2B companies to 7 figures through high-quality content & holistic SEO that generates business results.** What we don’t do: - Hide behind vanity metrics like traffic, rankings etc - Focus on shiny tactics (and not a strategy that moves the needle) - Churn out content that doesn't serve a purpose - Outsource your work to young Jimmy who just read the Moz ‘what is SEO’ guide for the first time (no offence Jimmy) Instead we: - Focus on conversions & KPI’s that lead to business - Go deep on customer insights & ICP research - Create content that fits part of a broader strategy - Myself & Tanja directly handle the work. We’ve been in the trenches. We live and breathe quality content through search. If you’re a B2B company and are ready to scale with SEO.. and want to learn more… Drop me a DM or see the link in my bio for more details. (We’re taking on 1 new client in July) Happy Thursday

How does the Search Economy affect your business?

Unlocking the potential of your online presence necessitates strategic backlinking. Backlinks serve as bridges between web pages, amplifying visibility and authority. Integrating a diverse array of backlinks is pivotal for holistic SEO growth 😲 Quality reigns supreme in the realm of backlinks. Mix backlinks judiciously; blend authoritative domains, relevant niche sites, and diverse anchor texts. This fusion enhances credibility and fortifies your digital footprint. 😍 Navigate the landscape with prudence. opt for organic link acquisition, steering clear of dubious practices that risk penalties. Foster genuine connections within your industry, fostering symbiotic relationships that yield lasting benefits. 😲 Balance is key. Prioritize relevance and authority over sheer quantity. A handful of top-tier backlinks from reputable sources can eclipse a multitude of lesser ones. 😍 Adaptation is essential in the dynamic digital sphere. Stay abreast of algorithmic shifts and evolving best practices. Continuously refine your backlink strategy, embracing innovation while preserving integrity.

A lot of B2B companies will never benefit from SEO. With the recent Google leak, we now have confirmation of how important brand is when it comes to SEO success. A lot of these companies have only invested in performance Marketing while ignoring brand. Combined with the rise of generative AI in search, it might be too late for a lot of these companies to catch up...if they even try. So, what should they do? Here are my 3 pieces of advice. 3️⃣ Focus on building a website for your prospects instead of building one that you believe will capture some magic search traffic. Create content that addresses their pain points and answers the questions real-world prospects have. 2️⃣ Position someone (or multiple people) in your company as a thought leader. Let them be an advocate for your brand by providing value to your prospects and customers. Thought leaders are people, not companies. 1️⃣ Promote the shit out of your content in the places where your prospects consume it. Create once, share once is not a content promotion strategy. It's a waste of time. Make your valuable content unavoidable to build your brand. So, should B2B companies stop investing in SEO? Probably not. Content can still be optimized for search, and it should be. But if they think it's the magic bullet and aren't investing in the other things I mentioned... 🗑️ Here's a trash can for their money.

This is important for new business owners & startup founders. Even if you have hired the best SEO folks for your team, it will not work if you don't have equally good tech / product / content / analytics team. SEO is not 1 person or 1 team job and doesn't work in isolation neither is mutually exclusive. Till the time all other teams are aligned & work together, SEO won't work. #digitalmarketing #searchengineoptimisation

Would you trust a doctor with no medical license? Then, how can you trust an SEO marketer without thriving projects? 🟩The biggest green flag you can look for in an SEO consultant 🚀They must have a thriving website Thanks to this green flag, I get to build trust and credibility fast. Only last month, a lead asked me about my past and personal projects. As the call ended, she said, "Please send me more details on how you grew your personal website". ⏳6 hrs later... I sent her a 17 min loom video walking her through: ✅The back-end Analytics ✅Year on year growth  ✅My keyword strategy ✅My topical clusters ✅My conversion rate tactics ✅Actual sales and conversions ❌The only thing I didn't reveal was the site's actual revenue. I felt vulnerable at the moment, but again, this was a B2B brand working with top enterprises. That's a big opportunity for me too. Then... A few days later, she reached out and wanted me to do a paid competitor analysis so she could convince the founder to take up SEO finally. P.S. Does your past work/personal project give you an unfair advantage? P.S.S: I don't usually do Zoom calls in dark rooms, I just messed up with my lighting that day. #seoconsultation #leads #Seospecialist

A big mistake I see people making with their SEO is expecting it to work like this: “get started and cash checks”. While there “may” be instant opportunities to get clients, that’s a tiny fraction of who you’re going to reach. If you shift your expectations, you set yourself up for long term success. The real client “pool” of an SEO strategy is as follows: 3% of any given audience is ready to hear about your service. 30% will never get in touch. The rest are looking for information and may become clients later. You likely already know that people are likely to shop around for a long time. That shouldn’t be news. This is your brand’s opportunity to build trust. If you’re only targeting that 3%, it’s a frustrating battle. If you try to win that 30% that’s never going to get in touch, you’ll hate SEO. If you build relationships with that huge chunk that could eventually be in touch, you’ll never run out of leads.

What you can learn from this post? SEO is a long game, you don’t need to expect fast results, it takes patience and hard work for years for great results. And you need to offer value, a lot of value for your visitors, they could become your customers in the future, who knows. But help them first. Dr is important, referring domains are important, backlinks are important and traffic is important but Health Score is super important. In our case? Health scoate : 100 out of 100 DR 64 (we just started) Referring Domains (1,100 - it’s natural) Backlinks 5700 Organic traffic: 52800 (potential B2B SaaS Customers each month) So we could have around 633000 potential buyers for our sellers in the next 12 months only if we stay with this traffic but we will do our best to improve it.