034: Growing A Subscription Business, Advise For Newbie SEOs w/John Doherty

John Doherty’s experience spans across everything from working in house managing SEO at Distilled NYC, to working within the Zillow group doing SEO for HotPads and now as a founder – of Credo – a marketplace for marketing companies. Because of this he has a wealth of knowledge to share.

We get into a TON in this interview including – advice for newbie SEOs, how he builds his email lists, how to find a mentor, mistakes bad SEO agencies make – and how he attracts and sends 50+ leads to 35 marketing agencies per month.

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes!

Links

• Interview w/ John Doherty (2011)
• JohnDoherty.com
• GetCredo.com
• The SEO Tools We Couldn’t Work Without
• List Builder from Sumo
• Moz Recommended List
• Paddy Moogan’s Link Building Book
• Interview w/ John Mueller
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things
• The Four Hour Workweek
• Why Are We So Bored
• John’s Facebook

People

• John Doherty
• Noah Kagan
• Rand Fishkin
• Paddy Moogan
• Nick Eubanks
• John Mueller
• Mike King
• Tom Critchlow
• Ross Hudgens
• Sujan Patel
• Richard Branson
• Dan Martell

Agenda

John’s background

• “My first full-time SEO job was building links.”
• “It’s been beneficial to me as a marketer to see all the sides (in-house, agency, consultant, etc).”
• “People should try to experience both sides (agency and in-house SEO).”

Credo

• “It’s a place where businesses looking to grow can find the right marketing agency/consultant.”
• “About 35 agencies and consultants are on the platform right now.”
• “Most months 40-50 leads are coming through.”
• Onboarding process

Marketing Credo/Attracting Leads

• “Internal referrals have really built the platform (agencies currently on the platform).”
• “I have a few different email lists.”
• “I really saw the value of email lists while working at Hotpads/Trulia.”
• Building email lists
• “I try to be smart about how I use popups.”
• Giveaways

Mistakes that (Bad) Agencies Make

• Quality of work
• No References
• Suspicious links in profile

Client Profile

• “The minimum is $1000/month project.”

Newbies Getting Into SEO

• Importance of mentors and more experienced peers

Finding a Mentor

• Find a personality fit
• Should be mutually beneficial

Adwords

Entrepreneurs Admired

Good Books

“If you want to win be one of the people who try.”