Lion Zeal Show: Turn Your SEO Expertise Into a Highly Profitable Business

In this episode, I've bought back my friend Armando Saenz for a third interview to discuss the changes to SEO, digital marketing, and his business itself over the past few years. It's a fun look back for any long-term fans of the show - as Armando was the very first guest. And it's an insightful episode from two digital marketers with 10+ years in the space.

Steve Brown was previously featured in episode 52 of the show, where we discussed building his dental SEO agency to 40+ clients. Today, Steve still operates that agency but pivoted his focus to affiliate SEO - where he's also gone on to build multiple 6-figure sites. In this episode, we discuss how he's done that, why the change, and some good ol' nerdy SEO discussions.

Want to launch your own service business or agency? Mahmoud Fathy is the founder of ContentWish, an SEO content agency, that grew from 0 to $10,000 without even a website. This is an inspiring episode for anyone looking to build a productised service, hire a team, and hustle to 6-figures. Never mind his 6-figure affiliate portfolio.

Outreach link building is booming, but short of paying for guest posts, how do you land high quality links? My guest today, Amit Raj, runs a link building agency where he does manual outreach-based link acquisition for clients ranging from local companies to eCommerce, SaaS, and everything else. In this episode we breakdown his outreach process from research to acquisition, including what it actually means to build relationships.

Kraig Bond is an SEO agency owner making multiple 6-figures a year working with various types of small businesses. So I brought him on the show to figure out how he broke through the struggle and went from unable to sell to closing 5-figure deals off a simple phone call. Here's how Kraig did it, how he landed his clients, his sales strategy, and recommendations for someone trying to do the same.

Ulhas went from making $250/month in his job to landing $8,000+/month worth of clients and building a niche site to over $20,000/month without any link building. In this episode, we breakdown how he did it from start to finish, and what strategies he uses to bring in a lot of traffic without links.

In this episode, I'm joined by Ryan Stewart for our second episode together, to discuss how to build a scalable SEO agency. Ryan knows a thing or two about that, since our first interview, he sold his agency Webris. Only to later rebuild it again. But beyond that, he's helped over a thousand agencies streamline their SEO fulfilment so they can better manage, communicate, and deliver to clients. Show notes here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/ryan-stewart-2021/

In this episode, I'm joined by my friend Jarod Spiewak to catch up on his journey since our last interview where he built a $20k/month UpWork SEO business. We discuss why he fired half his clients, his shift from consultant to agency, and why he now focuses in PPC - including how he does it. It's a fun, informative episode and a must watch for local SEOs or anyone looking Episode mentions here: https://lionzeal.com/blog/jarod-spiewak-2020/

In this episode, I'm joined by Michał Suski from Surfer to discuss OnPage SEO, content optimisation, and how Surfer helps with this. There's also a sneak peek of a brand new feature Surfer are working on to instantly map out an entire content plan based on a single keyword. Enter a keyword like "best mattress reviews" and you'll instantly get 500+ content suggestions, with keywords for each. This has never been shown publicly before. That's alongside some great onpage advice, tips for using the tool, and other nuggets you won't want to miss. Show mentions here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/michal-suski/

In this episode, I’m joined by Kyle Roof to discuss what’s changed with onpage SEO over the past few years. I last had Kyle on the show around 2 years ago (episode 55), where we discussed his SEO testing approach. Today, we expand further on that, and learn a little more about Kyle’s approach to onpage SEO, his agency, and what’s changed in the past 2 years. Video and show notes here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/kyle-roof-2020/

In this episode, I'm joined by Holly Starks for a long overdue catch up interview. If you don't know Holly, she's probably what you'd call a blackhat SEO. She used to have over 3,000,000 YouTube videos which brought in 6-figures a month. Today, she has 700 phones which she uses to push podcasts into "New & Noteworthy", among other things. Show Resources here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/holly-starks-2020/

If you're making a few thousand dollars a month from SEO, what are the strategies you need to use to scale this fast? My guest today, Tom De Spiegelaere, runs a small portfolio of affiliate sites. One of which, he publicly writes about and is making over $60,000/month. In this episode, we breakdown some of the more advanced strategies for increasing traffic, flipping sites, and growing your affiliate business. Show notes and mentions here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/tom-spicky/

Learn how Julie Adams built an affiliate portfolio to quit her agency job and become a full time affiliate SEO. Show notes and resources here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/julie-adams/

While the title of this episode sounds awesome, it doesn't really do justice to the conversation here. In this episode, I'm joined by Viola Eva, where we discuss all things SEO, content optimisation, client work, and even public speaking. It's a really fun value-packed interview, well worth listening to. Show notes and resources here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/viola-eva/

Can you rank a website in a language you can't read or write? Will Tribe has been doing SEO since 2013, starting with local lead generation sites, before shifting into affiliate review sites. In this episode, we discuss how he scaled that further by duplicating what's working in English speaking markets, into other languages. All without being able to say more than "Hello" in the language. Show notes and mentions here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/will-tribe/

Gary Wilson runs the popular link building service, GetMeLinks, which he purchased and rebranded from "DFY Links" last year. In this episode, we discuss the systems and processes Gary has in place to handle all this link building in-house. And how you guys can do the same. Including some interesting discussions on Gary’s backstory, mindset, and learning. Show notes and resources: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/gary-wilson/

Digital real estate is a huge business, and like regular real estate, there's several approaches. You can be a property developer, long-term investor (buy/rent), or a flipper. My guest today is Craig Campbell, a popular black hat SEO, discussing how he makes money buying and flipping niche affiliate sites. You'll hear about his purchase requirements, average purchase price, where to find deals, and steps to increase revenue fast. Show notes and resources here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/craig-campbell/

Are you brand new to SEO or trying to make a business out of it? Jenny Abouobaia was a dancer, choreographer, and personal trainer before finding a way into SEO and building a 40+ person content marketing agency in Egypt. Here's how she did it and some lessons learned along the way. Show notes and mentions here:

In this episode, we bring back Jonathan Kiekbusch from SEOButler to discuss the massive changes to his business and the world of SEO over the past 4 years. Show notes here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/jonathan-kiekbusch/

In this episode, I'm joined by Greg Elfrink from EmpireFlippers, where we have a nerdy conversion on all things marketing. Specifically, how agency owners and affiliates can better market their websites and services. You'll learn what Greg calls the transition from "affiliate site" to "media company", and how doing this can easily build a brand worth upwards of 7-figures.

How can you assemble a team and build outreach links at scale? Bibi "The Link Builder" Raven is doing exactly this with a team of 8, focused primarily on acquiring free links for her clients via email and social media outreach. In this episode, we discuss link building, managing a links team, and some valuable tips on working with clients. Resources here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/bibi-raven/

In this episode, I’m joined by Bobby Pham to discuss how he’s built up a six-figure SEO consulting business in the past year using UpWork. I believe UpWork is one of the fastest ways of getting to six-figures today, so today you’ll learn how exactly to do it. From profile optimisation and client acquisition, all the way to delivering your services. Show notes and resources: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/bobby-pham/

Frank Heim is an interesting guy. He’s a self-proclaimed “loner”, bass player for a German medieval metal band (Saltatio Mortis), and co-founder of an 8 person marketing agency. He built his agency from scratch, while balancing being in a top of the charts band and all that comes with that, likes tours and recording albums. In this episode, we discuss how he’s built up his agency, his motivations, and how he balances all the work. Show notes and details here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/frank-heim/

Chris Romero is determined to help small local businesses grow with digital marketing, but wanted a way of providing that service at scale, so it's easier and more affordable. He achieved that by automating 90% of the work. Here's how he did it. Show notes here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/chris-romero/

In this episode, John Logar shares his thoughts on surviving and thriving during the crazy COVID-19 times. John coaches various agencies and consultants around the world, so has some incredible insights into the impact and ideal response during this.

In this episode, we see how Cole built his agency from scratch to 6-figures within 6 months, and more importantly, how he's systemised every part of his business so he doesn't do the work nor communicate with clients. Topics Covered: How Cole got his first apprenticeship in online marketing (5:30) Behind the scenes of operating a Facebook Ads agency (13:38) Finding and setting up deals for his agency (18:42) From running FB Ads to E-commerce with starting price from $3000 (32:10) Advice for landing clients on UpWork (1:06:05) How he tripled his income with UpWork (1:10:00) Questions? Leave them here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/cole-lajeunesse/

In this episode, Karl Kangur talks about starting his journey when he was only 12 to running a successful content marketing agency with three offices today. Watch the interview & get the show notes here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/karl-kangur/

In this episode, Chris LaMorte talks about going from working as a web developer with zero sales experience to running his own SEO agency. You'll also learn how he overcame getting stuck working in his business. Watch the interview & get the show notes here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/chris-lamorte/

In this episode, Tim Soulo digs deep into everything Ahrefs, including how Ahrefs began, how they estimate traffic, measure keyword difficulty, hidden features & much more. Watch the interview & get the show notes here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/tim-soulo/  

Are you struggling to build a passive income with your SEO business? In this episode, James Ruhle talks about going from hustling on $200/m SEO clients to traveling the world investing in start-ups. Watch the video interview & get the show notes here:  https://lionzeal.com/podcast/james-ruhle/

Struggling to see the potential for your agency to scale beyond 6-7 figures? In this episode, Guy Sheetrit talks about the actions, mindset & partnerships that helped him go from freelancing on Fiverr just 4 years ago to now running an $89M global agency that employs over 100 people. Watch the video interview and get the show notes here:  https://lionzeal.com/podcast/guy-sheetrit/

Are you wanting to offer more services than just SEO within your Marketing Agency? In this episode, Ben Maden talks about the sales and management systems he has in place that helped him scale a full-package marketing agency to 11 people. If you're wanting to expand beyond specialisation and offer more services, this is a must-watch. Watch the video interview and get the show notes here: http://lionzeal.com/podcast/ben-maden/

Are you looking to manage and scale a successful e-commerce business? In this episode, you will learn exactly how to start and build up an e-commerce store, how to build up a team to help run the store and how to scale your e-commerce stores to the point where they provide you with financial freedom. Ronnie Teja is breaking down exactly how he achieved all this over the past five years, and the steps you need to take to ensure you succeed. Watch the video interview and get the show notes here:  http://lionzeal.com/podcast/ronnie-teja/  

Do you know how to deliver SEO results yet you still struggle to sell your SEO services? In this episode, Wilson Viera breaks down the best sales tactics to land those tricky sales, how to perfect your sales techniques, how to handle potential customer objections and everything in between. After watching this interview, you will learn how to build up trust and credibility with new customers, and how to deal with tough customer objections to ensure you are able to close the sale every time. Watch the video interview and get the show notes here: http://lionzeal.com/podcast/wilson-viera/    

In this episode, Mads Singers breaks down exactly how to scale an SEO team to grow your business. You will learn how to build up a successful team, how to manage that team, and how to ensure that the team operates efficiently to focus on the important tasks that need to be done to scale any SEO business. Watch the video interview and get the show notes here: http://lionzeal.com/podcast/mads-singers/

Are you currently getting traffic to your website? If so, why not learn to make more money out of what you already have. In this episode, you will learn advanced tips to optimize your sites and increase your conversion rates. You can do this for affiliate sites, or even local sites as Kurt teaches you how to get up to 100% increase in your conversion rates. Kurt also discusses building a team, systemizing things and scaling your business up to the next level. Watch the video interview and get the show notes here: http://lionzeal.com/podcast/kurt-philip/

Do you incorporate Youtube as part of your SEO strategy or use it as an additional source of revenue? In this interview, Daryl sits down with the successful Youtuber – Johnnycrazy, who has built up his channel with over 250,000 subscribers. You will learn everything from how to start and grow a YouTube channel, how to rank your existing videos, how to get more views and subscribers, and most importantly, how to monetise it all. YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world. It is vital that you start incorporating it into your SEO strategies to take advantage of it as an additional source of traffic and revenue. Watch the video interview and get the show notes here: http://lionzeal.com/podcast/johnnycrazy/

Ever wanted to get a behind the scenes look at a successful 7-figure SEO business? In this episode, Matt Diggity shares everything from his SEO processes, his team building processes, how he lives the life of a digital nomad, and everything else Diggity related - including some special news.   Watch the video interview and get the show notes here: http://lionzeal.com/podcast/mattdiggity/

Do you want to become an outreach specialist? In this interview, you will learn step-by-step how to build outreach links for your clients, how to create linkable assets, and the automation tools needed to simplify this process at scale. You can use the exact same processes that Gareth breaks down in this interview, to start your own successful, white hat agency. Watch the video interview and get the show notes here:http://lionzeal.com/podcast/gareth-simpson/   

Are you looking to grow and then flip a 6-figure affiliate site? In this episode, you will learn exactly how Kevin built up, and then flipped 3 6-figure affiliate sites. Kevin breaks down everything from how to build up the site, to exactly how to handle the complicated sale process, and everything in-between. Watch the video and get the show notes here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/kevingraham/

Thought this would be fun… Just put together a top 10 list of the most popular episodes of the Lion Zeal Show in 2017. Check it out here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/2017-recap/

Do you find it hard to stay motivated long enough to grow a successful business? In this episode, Daryl sits down with Diggy to discuss how to get started, building up your business, and mindset traits that you need to run a successful business and then scale it. With the wrong mindset, your business will fail. Learn what Diggy does to avoid these failures. Watch the video interview and get the show notes here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/diggy-dirk/ 

Are you struggling to land high paying SEO clients? In this episode, Jarod Spiewak explains how, at twenty years old, he makes $20k per month from clients he landed on Upwork. Even better, he explains how this client acquisition process is almost completely automated. You will learn step-by-step how to do this to land clients paying $3,000 per month. Watch the video and get the show notes here: http://lionzeal.com/podcast/jarod-spiewak/

Ed Stapleton is the co-owner of Clicksgeek.com – A white label pay-per-click agency, specialising in Adwords and lead generation campaigns. Ed originally started doing SEO before crossing over into paid traffic and specialising in pay-per-clicks, and in this episode we will discuss how to start upselling AdWords to your SEO clients. When Ed first started out with SEO, he joined different SEO groups and purchased a few courses which helped him learn the industry. During his journey, he discovered the power and scalability of pay-per-click ads, and the power of Google Adwords when done correctly. In this interview we’re breaking down how he’s done it all, including going from zero to having over 60 partners. Watch the full interview and get the show notes here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/ed-stapleton/

Gregory Ortiz is a fairly well known guy in our side of the SEO industry. He owns the #1 ranking agency for "New York SEO", has coached thousands of people through Source-Wave and Source University, and also built a highly profitable affiliate business. In this interview we're breaking down how he's done it all, including going from zero to 100k per month. Watch it here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/gregory-ortiz/

If you're going to spend hours creating a proposal, why not get paid for it? That's what Kris Reid does. Before he'll even offer you his services, you've got to pay for a custom marketing plan aka proposal. Not only does this instantly eliminate "freebie seekers", it massively increases his conversion rate from proposal to monthly paying client. And it's extremely easy to do if you know how to ask the right questions. In this interview Kris walks you step-by-step through his sales process, including giving you the actual questions to asks. Show notes and video here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/kris-reid/

Most people have a tough time starting their SEO business from zero. Building up sites, setting up a PBN... these things aren't cheap when you're starting out. So seeing someone start their business with -100,000 is fascinating. And that's exactly what Derek did. After losing all his money in real estate, leaving him with $100,000 of credit card debt, Derek entered the world of "launch jacking". See how it went here... https://lionzeal.com/podcast/derek-pierce/

There's this belief that you can either run your own websites, or you can be a slave to clients and never feel true freedom. I disagree. As does Armando. Armando was the first ever guest on the Lion Zeal Show, where he showed how he was making over $35,000 per month from client SEO. Since then he's not only scaled that further, he's drastically cut down his hours. These days it's a lifestyle business. He spends time with his kids and family, then he works when he chooses. You'll see how in this weeks episode, and what big mistakes prevented him from doing this sooner. Watch the video interview and get the show notes here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/armando-saenz/

The best SEOs in the world use testing to stay ahead. That's a statement I'm willing to stand behind. If you don't test things, you're relying on other peoples knowledge for how to rank. When you test however, you know exactly what works because you've tested it. Kyle Roof is someone that believes in exactly that too. So much so that he's been running SEO tests for years now. In this interview we're breaking down some of his test results, how he runs tests, and the benefits it's provided for him and his agency. Watch the video interview and get the transcription here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/kyle-roof/

Love or hate clients, it's a great way of building up cashflow to fund scaling, or just living a great lifestyle. And that's exactly what it did for Brian Hong. He's one of the few people I know that shifted from affiliate SEO, to running an agency. That agency is now running smoothly with a team of 14 people all working remotely. So we sat down to discuss building and managing a remote team, client acquisition, getting started... and of course, why you would start dealing with clients rather than running your own websites. Watch the video interview and get the transcription here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/brian-hong/  

It seems trendy to talk about making money from Amazon, but while most people are talking, some people like Doug are making money from it. Doug Cunnington is an affiliate guy, who partnered up with my friend Rob Atkinson to help sell one of his successful affiliate sites. They went through a process of "switching" from PBN links to white hat links, to increase the site value. And $235,000 later... it worked. We'll be revealing how he did in this interview. Watch the video interview and get the transcription here: https://lionzeal.com/podcast/doug-cunnington/