The Journey To Becoming An SEO Agency For IT Companies
It was a long road to learn where my potential clients were looking
Let’s rewind the clock, and I will walk you through the journey to the present day.
Over the years, as the owner of an IT support and consulting company, I didn’t know anything about marketing my own company on any level.
When I needed to write a single paragraph of sales copy, I could be there for an hour to decide what to write. Does this sound familiar at all?
My marketing strategy was virtually zero for years.
I read newsletters on marketing, other success stories, and all that good stuff. Every day, I promised to do “marketing” – whatever that word meant – to get new leads and grow my business.
I always promised tomorrow, which turned into next week and next month, but it was usually never.
I was too busy being a tech, working in the business, projects, and managing day-to-day operations as a small business.
Over the years, I have tried different third-party marketing services and thought they would bring in new business. I was just going to sit back and watch the leads come in.
Other Marketing Methods Didn’t Work
LinkedIn: I hired a consultant who specialized in getting leads for IT companies through my LinkedIn profile. After thousands spent, it yielded zero; the consultant told me, “Your market is peculiar right now; it’s hard to get leads.”. Hmm, isn’t that why I hired you?
Google Ads: My first attempt was running the behemoth myself. I made a point of spending an hour a day working on Ads. In reality, it was, at best, an hour a month, but hey, I was spending a lot of money each month, and as we all know, as long as I’m spending money, I have to get a good ROI, right?
I knew very little about Google Ads and how to use it effectively.
Networking Groups: I joined BNI and was a member for almost two years. I’m sure it worked for others, maybe in a smaller market, but I was in a New York chapter. After two years of never missing a meeting, it yielded almost zero, and I eventually moved on.
Obscure Marketing Channels: I tried different channels, such as Craig’s List, Thumbtack, Yelp, and a few others. Why, you ask? It was half out of desperation and half because I didn’t know where my potential leads were looking.
Cold calling: Someone mashing buttons for me sounded like a great idea; while I worked on my business, they would get me leads by the bucket.
Unless that person has skin in the game and works for you full-time, a cold caller is a robot following a script. I spent thousands and yielded zero. Not that I would invest in this again, but looking back on it, I didn’t provide any structure—grooming leads, follow-ups, a unique message. I was missing all of that, so, of course, the results were zero.
Google Ads Managed By A Consultant: I hired a third-party consultant to manage my Google Ads because he had to know more than me. Yes, he did, but there was a critical piece he didn’t know—my business. Unless someone knows your business as well as you do, at best, you will get a generic, watered-down, and expensive approach.
I spent thousands of dollars a month – half to the consultant and half to ad spend. Did we get leads? Sure! Did I get enough leads or close deals to compensate for our spending? Not even close!
Do other marketing agencies really Understand Your Business?
To touch on a previous point, I now know that an effective sales pipeline does not have to be expensive; it just needs a beginning and an end.
No matter how much you spend to get leads or “bring the horse to water,” you will get minimum results if you get the wrong horses!
That means you need the right keywords, the right calls to action on your website and in the right places so everything works together.
All of that doesn’t need to cost a fortune; it just needs to be implemented by someone who understands your business and industry.
SEO Was The Last Stop On My Train
I learned Google Ads myself and even ran BING ads. Yes really! I was spending thousands a month but still struggling to get proper ROI. It took a lot of work to get quality leads; closing deals to break even for the ad spend was tough.
Near the end of 2022, I finally paused all my campaigns and decided to start learning that mystical three-letter word – SEO.
Why SEO? Why not outsource it to someone else and have them do it for me? I learned two things in my sales journey.
First, SEO was the last area I had never tried.
Still, I knew I could eventually learn it since it’s all about tech and analytics. I had plenty of experience with both.
Second, nobody knows my business better than me! I was tired of getting bad advice from people outside my industry.
IT? VOIP? Backup? Security? Ultimately, they are all the same to an outsider and I would get the same generic approach.
My Appetite To Learn Was Insatiable
I started watching and reading a lot about SEO – webinars, YouTube channels, blogs, you name it. I learned the tools, what the industry terms meant, and how to read the data, and I also made many mistakes on my websites along the way.
Eventually, my sales team and I started seeing actual results.
Our content gained traction, and we started getting leads regularly. I improved processes and content, learned more, and learned how to use SEO tools to their full potential and data correctly.
I also learned what my future leads were looking for and insights a generic marketing company couldn’t know, and there was no looking back.
Today, we enjoy steady leads in our market cities from Google Organic, Google Maps, and even the occasional BING search.
To get the most return on your investment, partner with someone who knows your business as well as you do, which is a fact.