The Rise Above Podcast EP 3: Jeff Peroutka

Founder & CEO of an SEO Marketing Agency Jeff Peroutka joins Bram Bains on this episode of The Rise Above Podcast. They talk about the Art & Science behind the Modern Day SEO of 2021 and Jeff gives advice to Entrepreneurs on how to build processes. 

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Interview Transcript

[00:35] Bram: Welcome everybody to the rise above podcast. Today, we have a very special episode today. I have Jeff Peroutka joining me. Jeff is a founder and CEO of Core Marketing. Core Marketing is an SEO firm. How are you doing today, Jeff?

[00:51] Jeff: Pretty good. Pretty good. Thanks for having me. 

[00:54] Bram: You're very welcome. As we get into it, I'm going to go through a couple of icebreakers there with you to get the ball rolling. Then we'll jump into the interview. We'll learn a little bit more about you get into your story, kind of what your vision is and where you see this business going into the future. What is your favorite movie?

[01:11] Jeff: My favorite movie is Jobs by Steve jobs? If you talk to any of my friends, they'll tell you that I've probably seen that movie at least 50 times. I just think it's a really good story. You know, Steve jobs is definitely oneof those figures that I got a lot of motivation from, just kind of hearing his story, how he overcame so many obstacles down the road. I think it's just really inspiring and great movie. Yeah. 

[01:40] Bram: Good stuff. What is your favorite book and why?

[01:44] Jeff: I would say the Alchemist. I think it's a really, really good book. It's a short book. But it's just so jam packed with life lessons. I think it's just perfect. There areso many different things that, you kind of think about and yeah, that's great. 

[02:03] Bram: Nice. That's a great book. What is your favorite place to travel? 

[02:09] Jeff: My favorite place to travel is probably Bali. I'm born and raised in Hawaii, but Bali's kind of the beautiful aspect of Hawaiian island culture. But it's still very, I guess, undiscovered undeveloped which is just super beautiful. It's kinda got that old roots beauty to it and it's really cheap and yeah, it's just awesome. I encourage everyone to go check it out. 

[02:33] Bram: Who is your favorite actor or actress? 

[02:38] Jeff: I'll say Liam Neeson. I really like Liam Neeson. He's a really good actor. I think. All his movies are just really good. 

[02:46] Bram: Who do you look at as kind of like a mentor figure? 

[02:50] Jeff: Yeah, I would say moving it back to Steve Jobs like I mentioned. I think Steve Jobs is a really goodkind of mentor figure, just because he, like I said, overcame a lot of obstacles. I think lately Tim Ferris is a guy that I definitely turn to for a lot of insight and inspiration. There's a lot to learn from that guy and not only does he have really great books but like his podcasts and so forth are just so packed full of information. 

[03:20] Bram: Okay. Cool. All right. Jeff why don't you tell us a little bit about your story, your background, how you set this company up and what inspired you, and currently where you're at today? 

[03:36] Jeff: Pretty interesting little story. Actually, startedkind of my entrepreneurial break probably when I was a sophomore in college. I basically came up with this idea. It was called fit. It was my previous company before this one, it was an iPhone app. The way that we were selling it was basically kind of like different clothes, a new way of shopping this gamified shopping experience, the machine learning algorithm.

Yeah, basically I was kind of working on that pretty hardfor about two to three years. Then right when COVID hits it kind of rattled everyone's cage, especially because, in my head I was a senior in college and I was like, hey, I'm going to graduate. I'm going to make this my full time. When we got venture funded I'm moving to San Francisco and just going to kind of go from there. But yeah, COVID really kind of shook things up and especially having a bunch of other founders that were also seniors in college, everyone was kind of like, hey, this is a cool company, but at the end of the day, what's going to pay the bills in two to three months.

The company kind of went in their own separate ways. I basically pursued SEO as a freelance. Basically,throughout college, I was working at a digital marketing agency doing full-service SEO. What I did once that company kind of went south is I basically just focused all my energy into basically taking courses on Udemy and basically improving my skill. Started freelancing through LinkedIn and Upwork. Eventually became a top-ratedspecialist.

Eventually got the number one SEO in San Diego. Then we kind of just decided, hey, it makes sense for me to start my own firm. Basically, I started my own practice. Now we have a few employees trying to build that out and can't really complain too much. We're in a nice spot right now.

[05:35] Bram: I mean, self-education definitely makes you a fortune and that's what I've heard. You said you were taking these courses on Udemy. Is that a website?

[05:43] Jeff: Yeah. Udemy is basically a marketplace where you could buy courses made by other people. I don't know, a lot of people always talk about YouTube and YouTube has this plethora of education. What I found was YouTube is great, but there's not a lot of organization in terms of, you watch this, whereas Udemy kind of had that pre-packaged course like, hey, you want to be the master at SEO take this course, it'll teach you this specifically. It's just really cool because there's a lot of really good, accredited teachers on there. I think there's a lot to learn, so it's definitely a really cool platform.

[06:25] Bram: Nice. Okay. You took courses online by yourself and then you went to Upwork, and you started offering I guess, a service for SEO. Before we go a little bit further. Can you explain what SEO is and what capacity, what kind of services that you learned and that you offer and how it helps businesses perform better? 

[06:47] Jeff: Certainly. Yeah. SEO search engine optimization is basically the science of getting websites ranked higher on Google search engine. Essentially what we are is we're competing for organic search traffic, which is basically kind of the Rolls Royce of traffic. Basically,when you look at all the different types of traffic that you can get on your website, you have social media traffic paid advertising traffic and then you have organic search traffic, which is basically traffic that could be attributed to when people find you on Google search engine.

Just like Google, when you type something in, there's 10 results. Then there's a second page, third page, fourth page. Basically, what SEO is, is it's getting websites that are on the second page, trying to get them onto the first page. That's essentially what my day-to-day looks like. How do we do that? Through a plethora of different strategies, we have our keyword research. We have our page speed. We have fixing broken pages, optimizing some of our content link building. 

The SEO, especially the modern-day SEO in 2021, wears many hats and it's constantly evolving. Google's algorithm is not stagnant, it's changing on a week-to-week basis. I would say the SEO and the future and the SEO that succeeds today is definitely going to be the one that's very versatile. I'm a real student of the art and constantly learning and evolving. 

[08:11] Bram: Nice. Okay. Organic search traffic. What does that look like? 

[08:15] Jeff: Yep. Basically, whenever someone types something onto Google search engines basically they'll be all these different websites that'll pop up. Basically, it has a title it has like a brief description underneath. Basically, there's an order to those specific results. Basically, what we try to do, what SEO do is systematically figure out strategies to rank those websites, higher placement onto those search engines. Basically, what that'll do is that they'll bring an organic search shopping, which is basically people that find your website organically. 

Now the reason why this job is so great is because once SEO is done to your websites, it's considered a permanent shopping solution. It's traffic that consistently comes to your website each and every month converts a really highrates of visits many pages per session, bounces less. Typically, all of the really important metrics that we look out for Google, SEO checks all those boxes. 

[09:17] Bram: Nice. Okay. There's an art and a science definitely to the SEO. It seems like everything that you've described is kind of like the science piece of it. Like the actual systems and the structure and understanding the algorithms and how they all kind of work in harmony. The art piece of it, like the creative. What does that look like in terms of the search traffic that's being funneled to these websites? 

[09:43] Jeff: Definitely. When I talk about SEO, SEO is also an art form. Basically, the way that I describe it is there's two different worlds out there. There's kind of be very, very creative content writing world where, we're aiming to be very creative and talk in a specific way that communicates directly with your audience. Then there's the more technical side the SEO language using specific keywords, using specific keyword phrases and so forth. Basically, what my job is, is to find the happy medium between both of the worlds. 

Let the creative still be creative while at the same time, suggesting certain elements that they can incorporate to their pieces to just make their content rank a little bit better. I would say giving that guidance and really knowing how to incorporate some of those keywords and strategies. I would say that's the real art to it.

[10:40] Bram: Okay, awesome. It definitely seems like it's very collaborative, like kind of a project that you would get involved in working with some of these businesses and these companies. Okay, cool. What kind of clients do you currently deal with and in terms of, like case studies, what kind of results are you able to achieve? 

[11:01] Jeff: Right now, it's three main industries. We have cannabis companies. We have medical websites, so those are kind of the doctors. A lot of the dentists and so forth. Then we have law firms. Those are basically our three niches in terms of results. We recently worked with a law firm that actually we still work with. We started the project a little over a year ago. They basically in their first four months they increased the organic search about 688%. Basically, getting some of their keywords back onto the first page.

As for law firms to increase their search traffic that much. With such a high conversion rate, it really yields that ROI and moves the needle in a really positive way. One thing I also want to point, those are three industries that we service. But we also do direct to the consumer, meaning that we focus directly with businesses and work collaboratively with them. But at the same time, I would say most of our clients nowadays are digital marketing agencies. Those marketing agencies are contracting us and basically outsourcing to us to build some of their client needs.

[12:20] Bram: Nice. Very nice. Currently, what does your team look like? 

[12:28] Jeff: Yeah, so our team right now, we have a sales team of about four people. We have a PR agency that we're currently working with. We have a few social media people that are running our social media team. We have two content writers that are both freelance that we basically work with on a contract-to-contract basis. Then I do pretty much all the high-level strategy. Then I do have a VA that helps me with some website implementation. That's basically what we look like.

[12:58] Bram: Nice, good stuff. Now where you are today, what advice would you give a younger version of yourself?

[13:11] Jeff: To be completely honest? I probably wouldn't give myself any advice. I think, one of the biggest things that I learned from fit was just to expect the unexpected just because, working in that star lifestyle especially running it through an incubator where there's constantly someone, over your shoulder, kind of watching over you. I would say you hit a ton of speed bumps and I would say those speed bumps are the biggest learning objectives. 

From my perspective, I'm kind of looking forward to that, just because anytime there's a pickup, then it makes me kind of reflect and build a better product or anything like that. I think, I wouldn't really tell myself anything. I'll just tell myself to keep going. Just because there's going to be hiccups naturally and that's how you learn even better.

[14:06] Bram: Okay. Mindset wise, I've heard that at any given time you're a reflection of the five ideas that you keep around you. That being said, I mean, what kind of influence do you take and what kind of ideas do you have around you at all times? 

[14:30] Jeff: Oh, yeah. I would say definitely right now, a lot of my friends that I have in my close-knit group of circle or also other agency owners, other business owners. Definitely very, very collaborative. I think, kind of branching off from the five ideas, I think you are also kind of the sum of your closest friends. I believe that a lot. I definitely think that, if you surround yourself with around really positive people, really positive energy and really positive ideas, you're going to be something awesome. 

[15:09] Bram: Okay. I've got a couple of questions here that come from an MBA student from DeGroote School of Business from McMaster. Is this the career path that you envisioned for yourself or did this kind of fall into place? Like what was the backstory there? 

[15:30] Jeff: Really, really interesting backstory. Right when my first company was kind of going south, I kind of had this period where I was like, oh my God, I'm not going to be doing this for the rest of my life. What do I do? I'm graduating college. Basically, what I did was, I was actually gonna buy an agency that was very similar to mine. Essentially what we do right now is we do link building, and I was going to buy this other link building agency with basically just this money that I saved up through college.

Basically, I couldn't buy it. They didn't accept the buyout and I just kind of said, what, I'm going to start my own. That's basically kind of how it started. Try to buy a competitor out and they said, no. That's pretty much how it went. Didn't really plan for anything and couldn't be happier.

[16:31] Bram: You built it yourself. That's amazing. How was the process of building it yourself and what were some of the challenges that you had in building the company and assembling a new team and how did you overcome them?

[16:48] Jeff: Oh yeah, I would say the biggest challenge was, this is kind of an unorthodox piece of advice that I tell a lot of people, because a lot of people, are real advocates for, you should do everything yourself. You know, another business really well. For me, that's what I was really trying to do at first. I was trying to do the company, social media. I was trying to do the PR. I was trying to do all the graphic design, learn graphic design, learning the paid ads, so I can do paid ads, myself, content writing. But I just found myself being stretched in all these different directions. 

At the end of the day, I kind of said, this isn't sustainable, this isn't scalable. I'm good at SEO and not good at all the other things that come with running a company. Basically, I kind of just decided, it makes sense for me to just hire a consultant, pay them more money to build a framework that I could then contract someone into and basically, have systems in place to define success and progress. That's basically kind of where we're at right now. 

You know, we built all these systems for how to run social media at a really high and scalable level. You know, what our goal should be for PR how do we see ourselves in one year? All these different things, I think, especially with running a big company that has, scalability in mind, I think that's definitely a big piece of advice that I would give to startups. 

[18:21] Bram: Amazing, good stuff. In terms of running and being a leader virtually and so forth, in the environment that we're in, what are some tips that you can kind of share to still get the engagement out of the team and make sure things are efficient and productive at a high level?

[18:38] Jeff: Yeah, I would say definitely using more than one project management system. I think a lot of people they just rely on Slack, or they just rely on Sheets or something like that. I think, it's definitely really good to incorporate all these different plethora of project management. Just so that you have documentation, just you have kind of a real big picture of, where the projectsat. I think our key to success for running a really highproductive team is just making sure that everyone's on the same page, making sure that we have all our information in one centralized place. Everyone knows, hey, this is what's expected. This is when it's expected. Just building systems around that. I think that's just really important. 

[19:26] Bram: Okay. Good stuff. Kind of more on a personal note, what made you want to leave Hawaii?

[19:31] Jeff: Yeah, great question. I think Hawaii especially, I remember when I was graduating high school a good amount of the people that I went to high school with all stayed on Hawaii. I think it's just; Hawaii is really beautiful. But a lot of people in Hawaii get stuck on the island and they don't really branch out. They don't ever move or travel or anything like that. I guess I was just raised by parents that really love to travel. At a very young age, I really, got that travel bug and really wanted to the world. I think, naturally I wanted to get out there, and California especially San Diego was just the best access to the west coast and really good weather and some sort of life.

[20:19] Bram: Awesome, man. Sounds great. Okay. Speaking about the Alchemist, what does that book mean to you and what was your takeaway from it? Yeah, I would definitely say following your personal legend. I think it's really interesting how they say that, when you're actively seeking it and when you're actually actively going after your personal legends, then the universe is going to do everything in its power to guide you closer there. I think that's super right. I think it's really interesting how there's all these hiccups along the road as he's trying to go along that quest. 

I think, you can definitely look at life in that same vision. I think, yeah, the biggest takeaway for me was just, follow your dreams and do exactly what you want to do. Because at the end of the day, that's what really matters.

[21:20] Bram: Okay. Well, thank you so much for your time, Jeff, for anybody listening out there that wants to get in touch with you, what's the best way that they can connect? 

[21:29] Jeff: Yeah, definitely connect with me on LinkedIn. Jeff Peroutka. Yeah, check me out on LinkedIn. I also have a link in my info box for my calendar link. Basically,giving out free 15-minute consultations for anyone that has a business. Take me up on it. 

[21:51] Bram: Amazing. Thank you again, Jeff, for your time. This was the third episode of the rise above podcast. Be sure to subscribe, share it with a friend that you think this may benefit any business owners out there. Definitely check out Jeff on LinkedIn and until next time, have a great day.

[22:12] Outro: Thanks for listening to this episode of the rise above podcast. Make sure to subscribe for future episodes, leave a review and share with a friend who would love to hear this episode. This was the rise above podcast.