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Build Great Backlinks has posted a new item, 'How Our Agency Survived Year One'

Posted by Bill.Sebald
There are some things in life you don't truly understand until you experience
them. I was given plentyof parenting advice when my son was born, but it only
took me so far. Nothing prepared me for the first time our babydecided to roll
over right off the bed onto the floor (luckily we had a pile of laundry serving
as a cushion). If you've never been a parent, you simply don't have a lot of
personal experience to draw from. It's a complete trial by fire, full of
missteps, emotions, andanxiety.
In a way, starting Greenlane was a similar experience.Greenlane Search
Marketing, LLC is my startup boutiqueSEO agency. It started in 2005as asole
proprietorship consulting practice.It was my baby, and I had to let it grow up.
Now it's a partnership between myself and a long-time colleague Keith Urban (not
the singer). However,differing from the parenting example, I did have some
practical experience to guide me this time. I ran an SEO department in a major
digital marketing agency. Regardless, it became very clearwe didn't know a thing
about truly running an agency.We were new parents.What to expect when you're
expecting
We expected to be busy. We knew we'd make mistakes, and we thought we had a
solid business plan in place. In the end we were busier than expected, made more
mistakes than we care to admit, and our plan fell apart on a weekly basis.
ButI'm proud (and relieved) to say we're successful. We have a great staff of
smart SEOs and digital marketers. We have happy clients. We have a great network
of people to tap into. We're profitable, targeting half a million in fee revenue
by the end of 2014. We survived year one, where 25% of startups crash. We're on
yet another phase of growth, with our legal and taxation items well managed, our
employment under control, and the company as a whole being positioned to
overcome year two.
For me, that's an enormous win.
Specifically, what was our secret? Hell if I know. But I think it's this fuzzy
formula: Take what you hear, mixed with what you've experienced in life,
multiplied by your best guess, and divide by quick, brave decisions. But we also
had a motto, one that became our backbone:"Always make it better!"Making it
better for you and your clients
This is a post about some of the more conceptual, "outside the normal" things
we implemented to constantly improve our company from the start. These arebased
on my life experiences and recent business victories.My hope is thatthis will
serve asfodder for your own company, even if you're not theproprietor. This post
is not about tax management, or accounting, or filingsthis is about the
day-to-day behavioral things that can make your digital marketing company a
great place to be, to the benefit of you and your clients.
And to sprinkle in a little fun, since I said life experience fed into many
ofour first yeardecisions, I'll supplement each section with something from my
own awkward photo album.
On to the tips#1 -Think about your group experiences

For those who played team sports, remember when your parents said, "One day
this will make you better at your job!" Go tell them they were right. Working as
a team is an invaluable skill, improved onlythrough experience and
introspection. We've all engaged in group experiences, from grade school to our
earliest jobs. Everyone has some kind of group or department participation
todraw on. Maybe it's as simple as cub scouts, a yearbook committee, or in my
case, a rock band.
Additionally, we've all either seenor have beenthe flunky in the group, doing
the least amount to make the group as a whole succeed. There's also the
oppositea "Johnny-Come-Lately" who shows up with good intentions but sticks a
giant crowbar into the gears, grinding progress to a screeching halt. We've seen
the drama and anger that comes from personalities that just don't mix. Nothing
slows down momentum more than an unfocused crew rowing in different directions.
An agency isno different. You will always have bosses, clients, and employees
that behave or think differently than you. You simply need to learn how to
overcome.
Someone once told me you can't be a boss and a friend. I've never disagreed
with something so hard in my life. A friendship presents an amazing bond of
trust.At Greenlane we've carefully selected co-workers who we enjoy being
around. We all have different talents and roles in the company, but you see
virtually no instances of "pulling rank" over anyone else. There's a respect
that drives each of us to do a good job for each other. It creates more open and
creative dialogue. If you don't feel like you have anything to prove, you can
more easily pause,listen, and learn. We don't want to let each other down, but
we all feel empowered to counter an idea without fear. The best idea wins, and
our clients (as well as ourselves) become more educated. We've nurtured a really
powerful environment. The bigger your group, the harder this is, but certainly
not impossible.
We take the same approach with bringing on clients. We call them partnersa term
I took from an old gig. Just as we are being paid to help businesses be
successful, their actions have a lot of bearing on our success as a vendornot to
mentionour own happiness. I'll often tell a prospective partner, "just as you're
auditioning us, we're auditioning you too." That could come off cocky, but any
prospects we lost for that statement were probably not going to last in the long
run. In fact, I ask all prospective clients to first read our website, where we
openly talk about the kind of clients we're looking for. About two-thirds return
superqualified, with the remainder vanishing forever. Those that return often
say, "you are exactly what we're looking for." It's a bit like online dating.
I wish we could say we've never lost a client due to poor performance. We have.
Two of them actually. But in retrospect, this providedgood lessons on where we
needed to improve. In one case it was due to never being on the right wavelength
to begin with, and the other was simply based on poorcommunicating. We largely
(and swiftly)pivoted internally to make sure we never make those mistakes again.
As a company, we were all just rowing the wrong way. Catching it early allowed
for a very quick adjustment.
By the way, I'm well aware that some internal hierarchies don't allow you to
have a say on the clients that come in. While that is unfortunate, it is
alsocommon. But what's to stop you from climbing the totem pole and pleading
your case?
The TL;DR tips:Don't just act like you're interested in every word of your
clients and employees, trulybeinterested. This is their time to talk, and your
time to pause,listen, and ask valuable questions. Work together!
Ask your clients questions. Let them understand it's your job to pull
information out of them. Don't be a yes man; be a friendly challenger in order
toget everyone nodding in the same direction.
Work with your team, not against them. If you're not actively on the account and
their day-to-day work, be careful not to break the flow of the meeting throwing
out ideas that counter the direction the account managers want to go. Get
yourself on the same page, even if you're the boss.
Have a postmortem on every lost employee or client account, and drop your
defenses. Try to figure out what could have been improved as a group.
You've been an SEO for over 15 years? Good for you. Now sit down and listen to
everyone else's ideas. Be an equal.#2 - The people you meetcould become
important

I'm often asked how we perform lead generation. Our primarily lead source is
our network. Keith and I are very lucky in that regard, both coming from the big
agency world. Big agencies seem to organically create seedlings that go off to
start new companies or work withother established businesses. From former
clients to former co-workers, developing serendipity every chance you get,
should be a 24/7 goal.
You never know when someone you've met will hit it big. If you leave a
goodimpression, they may invite you to their next party.
Digital marketing is one of those rareindustries. There are millions of lawyers
and accountants, as well as designers. There are relatively few SEOs,PPC experts
or affiliate marketers. Make the right impression and your name will get passed
around quickly. If you have a bad reputation, or are generally unliked, the word
spreads just as fast. I've picked against vendors for my clients (or when I
worked in-house) simply based on how phony they came off. I'll probably have
this put on my tombstone because I say it so much, "Perception Is Reality." Let
that onesink in. It doesn't mean "fake it," but be genuine and supportive.
I wrote a post that I still think about often. It was called "
Create Your Own SEO Serendipity." I don't know how, or where, or why I started
doing it, but I've been in the "serendipity" game for a long time. "Karma" might
be a possible synonym. Building up your network is one part of the puzzle, but
building it so you're memorable is a whole other piece that may require a bit of
introspection on your end.
In hindsight,Ispent my entire professional career mirroring my personal lifebe
good and helpful to everyone you meet. Sure you get burned if others take
advantage, but when a referral comes in from an old colleague, I'm thrilled.
It's that warm feeling that makes "doing business" pretty damn fun.
The TL;DR tips:Stay in touch with everyone you can by any means necessary. The
tiniest little gestureslike endorsing a skill or expertise on LinkedIn, or
buying someone a beer at a conventioncan sometimes bring you top of mind when
you need it most.
In my experience jobtitlesdon't necessarily mean everything. Personality and
kindness go further. Always be willing to support someone's little needs. Free
advice or work can turninto major opportunities.
Answer everyone's emails, tweets, texts, whatever. Very few of us really can't
find the time.
Don't just wait for people to call you. If you generally feel good about all
your encounters, there's nothing wrong with reaching out and saying, "Thanks for
the great talk at the meetup last night. I wanted to see if I could help you
solve that problem we were talking about."
Create serendipity every day.
Create serendipity every day (worth mentioning twice!!!).
#3 - Hire people smarter than you

Around 2009, I remember the
CEO of GSI Commerce said this at a company meeting I attended (paraphrasing)"I
built this companyby hiring people smarter than me."This off-hand comment was a
real wake-up call for me. He's since sold his company to eBay, and moved on to
restart something new. If this tip helped make someone a billionaire, there must
be something to it
My partner and I didn't read many business books. Personally, I tried, but
rejected most of them. I stubbornly refused tobuy into some ofthe concepts.
However, there were a few where I recognized common threads. Books like
Good to Great, How To Think Like A CEO, The Outsiders, and The Corner Office
didn't have a "fake it until you make it," or "kill or be killed" lesson.
Instead, they highlighted leading by example, taking calculated risks, being
human, and learning from everyone around you.
We candidly tell our prospects that we hire people with unique experience for
the sole purpose of supporting the clients. We reveal that Keith's background is
in data and analytics, Mike's is in design and development, Jon's is in PR and
outreach, and so on. We're not all experts at everything.We're very clear that
any of our team may work on an account dependent on a given strategy. It's
honest and realistic, and goes over well with prospects. Meanwhile, in the
office, we have a lot of co-mingling, where each teammate may join another to
work out a specific problem. I'm the old dog in the group, but I'll tell you the
honest truthI learn something every day from this team.
The client wins, my company improves, and my own personal development grows.
What more could anyone want out of a job?
The TL;DR tips:Let smarter (or more experienced) people help guide you. It's a
win-win situation for everyone involved.
Don't act like you know it all. Your employees and your clients will see right
through this.
If you don't know the answer, let your clients know that you may have someone in
your fold that might have the answers. When your company is hired, so is your
entire organization. There's nothing wrong with this!
Encourage your team to speak their mind, take a chance, and kick your ass. When
they do, give them a high-five.#4 -Don't be so serious


Last but not least, have fun.
Keith and I don't need to remind ourselves why we took this risk. It's fun
every day. Business is a game, and we're enjoying our time on the field. No more
toxic relationships, no more loss of control, and no more sitting in the "peanut
gallery" watching otherpeople do it wrong.
Be serious enough to hit your deliverables, make your marks count, and help
your clients win. But why not do it with a smile? I've always heard that working
in marketing and advertising is one of the most stressful jobs you could have.
It doesn't have to be.
We didn't build our company with a textbook or a degree. The more I experience,
the more I see most people in our field didn't follow a rule book either. Great
businesses are managed by CEOs who take chances, with varied personality traits
and levels of intelligencesomething school doesn't necessarily teach anyway. For
years I thought I'd have to be an "American Psycho" type business-genius with an
MBA, a big vocabulary, a clean haircut, and a country club membership. I have
none of those. In the end, I honestly believe we were guided by our own
experience, serendipity, and common sense. It's been a great ride so far, with a
lot more learningsand laughsto be had.
Besides, if the business folds tomorrow, at least I achieved the biggest thing
on my bucket list. So there's that.Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly
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