I’ve recently launched my own digital marketing startup aimed at small businesses & startups in the London area.

And it’s equally terrifying and exhilarating mixed in with a rollercoaster ride of emotions!

Here are my top 5 numbing realities just a few weeks into launching!

No one knows who you are

Ok, so I’ve got plenty or experience under my belt when it comes to marketing OTHER startups with impressive results. But when it comes to my own startup? PANIC!

I’ve found because you are so emotionally invested as it’s YOUR company, then you tend to fret more over simple, logical decisions that you made with ease before when it was someone ELSE’S startup.

Add to the mix the realisation that your tweets are lost among a sea of competitors in your niche on Twitter, and you start to realise the enormity of the task ahead.

But I keep going back to what I have learnt, it takes at LEAST 3 months before my past startups saw results, a dramatic increase in traffic, and partnerships opening up to us.

Your Job Is 24/7

Ok, so this it to be expected. But waking up at 3 in the morning to scribble down ideas for the next day? er, is it?

I seem to have an abundance of ideas running around my head 24/7!

Even standing in the Starbucks queue, I managed to create 2 campaigns in my head AND graphics!

I eat, sleep, breath my business!

I also find it impossible to switch off – it’s almost like I am having a secret affair with my laptop as I announce to my partner, I just need ONE more hour….. at 11 PM after he catches me working late again hidden in the bedroom.

Your business is your LIFE! And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

You Finally Understand The Highs & Lows Of Other Founders

Erratic behaviour? Check!

Emotional whirlwind? Check!

Cool, calm confident exterior but on the inside trying to blag it? Check!

I started out very well, 2 clients in just under 9 days mostly thanks to word of mouth – I’m on a high.

But then, you will have another 2-3 leads and they don’t close. Maybe you will be ghosted like some first date that you thought went well ……

You also carry off this air of superiority as a founder whilst at the same time, a quivering wreck inside when you feel the ’90 % of startups fail’ HAS to be written about you.

BUT, incredibly, you have this inner strength, determination and trust in your skills to wake up in the morning and do it all again.

People Will use You

In your attempt to market your brand and network, you can’t help to give off a whiff of ‘new startup desperation’.

You find yourself involved in conversations with people that are highly unlikely going to be a future customer, and it takes all you have not to excuse yourself and run to the next potential client standing just a few meters away.

The fact is, the moment you start to market yourself and offer advice, there are ALWAYS clients clamouring to message you for some advice – for free.

Now of course, most of us do not mind helping out others, after all, it’s our job to provide solutions.

But when you start getting invites to market whole companies for free, or messages from a potential client passing on his girlfriend’s details so you can train her how to be a digital marketer without getting paid, you realise maybe you need to reel it in a bit.

And The Good?

I am COMPLETELY obsessed with my chosen niche – accelerating the growth of startups & small businesses in London.

I could quite happily sit for hours reading my kindle, just stopping to eat and drink whilst I absorb copious amounts of digital marketing trends for 2017.

I’m a bit of a google analytics geek too.

I could NEVER imagine working for anyone else again, and this thought alone seems to push me harder, each and every day, when you feel that every ounce of juice you have has been squeezed, I find more.

I am in COMPLETE control of ALL my business & marketing decisions. I can think outside the box, put those ideas into practice and growth hack as many channels as I wish!

And at the end of the day…… I always seem to wake up more determined than ever to keep my title as a founder.

Are you looking for startup support?

My startup & small business mini marketing consultancy package starts from just £30.

Do you know where your customers are from?
Which is the most popular piece of content on your website?
How about your organic traffic growth?
Google analytics giving you a headache?

Marketing blog

Backlinks – To Buy Or NOT To Buy?

by Viking Wanderer

I’ve heard some pretty horrendous stories regarding cheaply purchased bundles of backlinks from sites like Fiverr.

You know, the ones where dastardly google moderators discover them and penalise you, resulting in a considerable drop in rankings over the next 6 months – until you are welcomed back with open arms, lesson HOPEFULLY learnt.

But in the next breath, I am also aware of major brands that have admitted that backlinks have increased their domain authority considerably and thus their traffic and leads have also increased.

So what ARE the risks? The good and the bad?

The Bad

The above drop in traffic – 70% to be in fact – happened after an inquisitive founder decided to give his website a little bit of a boost.

After all, we all know how time-consuming it can be to build backlinks. Approaching endless websites in your niche in the hope that ONE of them will see you as a golden egg and give you the prestigious position of ‘guest blogger’

Unfortunately for him, the PR backlinks were low quality and produced absolutely NO activity. Not to mention they had been passed around to thousands of other consumers, thus being picked up by google moderators.

Even though the unfortunate guy was STILL creating 2-3 blog posts a week, his site took a massive hit and it took him MONTHS to recover.

The Good

The number of backlinks is an indication of the popularity or importance of that website. Backlinks are important for SEO because some search engines, especially Google, will give more credit to websites that have a good number of quality backlinks, and consider those websites more relevant than others in their results pages for a search query.

Backlinks are important for SEO because some search engines, especially Google, will give more credit to websites that have a good number of quality backlinks, and consider those websites more relevant than others in their results pages for a search query.

If you want to take the risk and breach googles guidelines – this isn’t a guilt trip, I’ve also thought about it – then here are a few guidelines to abide by.

Avoid package deals and instead, pay for links individually

Purchase DIRECTLY from the site owners and NOT 3rd parties.

Avoid purchasing from sites that openly advertise them

Buy links from sites that are relevant to your own topic

Buy individual page links, not links to cover your WHOLE website

Use the 10% rule, purchase only 10% of the total links your site has

So to buy or not to buy? personally, I think it’s only a matter of time before you are found out. After all, it’s highly likely the links you purchased -even good quality ones – are still going to be making the rounds in the coming months.

So what CAN you do?

Simple, invest in creating good quality content that people will WANT to link too. Once you have enough posts on your niche,you can then start to approach sites with a similar content to yours and see if they will accept guest posts.

Yes, it IS more time consuming, but is it worth the risk of having your keywords BLOCKED for up to 6 months and taking a massive hit in rankings?

So look into OUTSOURCING for content creation.

After all, the figures below speak for themselves!

Marketing blog

The 3 Early Warning Signs Your Startup Is Failing

by Viking Wanderer

Is anyone else bored of the ‘90% of startups fail’ line being subtly directed at them?

It’s been haunting the majority of founders for decades now, but what’s more depressing is how relevant it is in today’s market.

But surely the most important factor is WHY are they failing?

Of course, there are multiple scenarios listed across social media which lead us to believe, it’s purely down to low sales and running out of cash, but how did the startup break down in the first place?

Let’s have a look at the top 3 EARLY warning signs.

You Have The WRONG Team

37% of founders surveyed admitted that their biggest challenge ( And possible downfall ) was trying to find the right team.

The team simply makes or breaks a business. How well they can adapt, execute and innovate will be the sole reason to you staying afloat.

So how well is your team connected to each other? Committed to their goals? Is there a general buzz in the office?

When looking to build a team, we tend to interview possible candidates separately and avoid group activities, but SURELY a group activity would show how well a prospective team could work together? Do they gel? Are there too many Alphas causing friction?

Seriously consider inviting prospective candidates to a morning brainstorming session and be sure to take notes of possible team connections.

You Haven’t Defined Your Niche

Targeting a large audience base in an overly saturated market which has ALREADY been dominated by global brands should be a warning for some……. hence us being brought back to the ‘90% of startups fail’.

So WHAT can you do about it?

According to recent insight by Inc, there are just 3 factors a startup should adhere to in order to succeed in a saturated space.

Challenge the status quo
Find an underserved audience
Identify profitable distribution channels

Startups that have been particularly successful in saturated markets tend to define their niche to a much smaller audience base.

This also helps to reduce marketing costs.

I for one as a digital marketer, KNEW that the small business market is HEAVILY saturated with thousands of freelance marketers like me. I’m competing against marketers in the Philippines that can be hired for a fraction of the cost.

So what did I do?

I started to focus purely on Small businesses in London, ones that may have been running for 5 years plus and are making a fairly adequate profit, but are stuck at the next hurdle. Expanding their brands reach further.

I also create content and started to notice a trend on sites like people per hour, that only wanted native English speakers, who can understand the UKs cultural tone.

I started to target these UK leads only.

Nobody Talks about you

Unfortunately, it takes more than a few Facebook ads to really connect to your audience.

In fact, this process can be a time-consuming and punishing schedule but can lead to a high ratio of leads and customer retention.

You HAVE to start building a relationship online.

A good way to do this is to visit Quora and look for the questions concerning your sector. and then …

ANSWER THEM!

You can also turn your answers into a blog post.

Creating a business blog for my last client was the SOLE reason we increased our traffic so dramatically, and even doubled our preferred London audience base.

But WHAT content should you be posting?

Even though you may fight against it, endless self-promotion posts became some of our least viewed posts in our archive. What DID work was creating posts that will ASSIST your target base. For example;

A shop selling trainers may just promote their latest range of running shoes. But what about creating a post on ‘Why your running technique is costing you 10 minutes in every race?’

I know which one I would click if I was a running enthusiast.

So, do you need any assistance with accelerating the growth of your startup or small business? How about connecting to your audience base? Maybe you feel you need to completely review your audience base and look into a small niche market?

Then feel free to get in touch!

Category: SEO

The 4 Hard Realities Of Launching Your Own Startup