If you’re looking to diversify or grow your website income, you’ve probably heard about the amazing success that Mark and Sylvia have had with buying websites for passive income.
In less than 24 months, Mark grew their website portfolio to a six-figure income, which is amazing.
Imagine having 4-6 websites running in the background, generating your family income while you sleep and without much of your involvement.
All because the tech is handled by your techie and all the content is written by your writers.
That’s exactly what Mark has achieved for his family – financial and time freedom.
So then why is Mark interested in the local SEO agency strategy?
Especially when the income you generate isn’t as leveraged or passive as buying websites for passive income is.
That’s what you’ll find out today from Mark himself.
Click below to hear why Mark’s using the local SEO strategy to diversify his website income, even though he doesn’t need to.
Hear from our graduate student Mark who took his Digital Skills to diversify his income and start a Digital Marketing Agency…
Liz Raad: Hi again. I’m here today with our very special guest, Mark. How are you, Mark?
Mark: I’m good, thanks. How are you?
Liz: Fantastic. Thank you for joining us again.
Today, I want to talk about a different angle that you’ve taken in your online journey. What’s really interesting is that as we work with people to teach them digital skills, most people who join us want to earn very fast income. They want to get in there. They want to make money out of their digital skills quite quickly.
So, to start out, we usually guide them towards building some websites for local businesses. Being able to sell a website very quickly is a very good way to use your digital skills.
Mark’s Website Income came from growing his Portfolio of Websites
Liz: Mark, you started your digital journey by going straight in for the portfolio. You were very keen to get your portfolio going and did very well with that. But now what’s happened? I know that Matt’s always saying to our students, “You need to build local websites.” So, what have you done? Have you actually listened to Matt?
Mark: So, we actually listened to Matt’s advice right from the beginning. But we held off building websites for local businesses for a while.
When we started building our portfolio, we had such a high level of success that we thought, “Well, while we’ve got momentum here, we’re going to keep on concentrating on that.” We also talked to Matt and Liz Raad about our growing digital skills, and you gave us some great encouragement for that journey.
That was all going well, and we were building systems around our portfolio. It was all ticking away in the background. We were building our portfolio of websites for passive income, and adding new content etc. We always had the intention of doing the local online strategy. But we put it off because we were focusing on our portfolio sites.
When Mark was Ready to Diversify his Online Income, He Purchased a Local SEO Agency
Mark: Then one of your elite Champions student wanted to sell their digital agency. We felt that would be a perfect opportunity to really hit the ground running with that strategy. So, we bought this small digital agency and inherited a number of clients with it. From that, we were able to learn how to run a digital agency and now we’re working at growing it.
How Mark Uses Networking to Grow his Local SEO Agency
Liz: How are you finding running a local digital agency? I know when we talk to Mark about his digital agency, his eyes light up! You’ve got the portfolio, it’s making money and it’s quite leveraged. But there’s something that a portfolio doesn’t quite give you, is there?
Mark: I do love working on the websites and our portfolio strategy. But you can get a little bit insulated, and not interact with the outside world quite as much.
With the local business strategy, I really love the high level of interaction that we’re getting. I’ve started dealing with the clients that we’ve inherited. I’m also looking for new work and even joined some networking groups. We have joined a local BNI group and have met all sorts of interesting business owners.
Liz: Sounds like a cool BNI group!
Mark: It’s a really cool group. There’s a really heavy emphasis on marketers, but I’m still the SEO specialist. And they keep on coming to me and saying, “Oh, Mark it’s so good that you’re doing SEO because we don’t want to do SEO.”
Liz: Who here doesn’t want to do SEO?!
Mark: I know! It’s a really new BNI chapter, but already we’re getting referrals coming our way and getting all sorts of new clients. And now those clients are referring us to more new clients and so it’s really exciting.
As well as Increasing his Website Income, Mark’s Digital Agency is helping local businesses to grow
Mark: Actually, one of the most exciting things of getting into SEO is that we can make a real impact for our clients. So, we’ve been working really hard on the SEO for a local window tinting business. The increase in traffic for this business has just shot up. It is quite seasonal for this business, but we’re really looking for a big summer season for them. And I think they’re going to be pretty excited too!
Liz: I think that’s the wonderful thing about working with clients like that – you truly do affect their lives. We have a lot of Champions who are coming to us and saying, “It is awesome to be able to just change this person’s business around. Now, they’re getting a flow of leads and they can’t believe it. We’re like magicians.”
Mark: Yes, they look upon you pretty favourably once you start to bring in more business for them. And the leads are coming in.
Starting a Digital Agency has given Mark a whole new level of opportunity to Diversify his Website Income
Liz: So, you’re growing that agency and that’s going really well. And we’ve just been talking about another business idea that you’ve had, which is very cool.
Mark: Yes, we’re very excited about that.
Liz: The leverage in that idea is enormous. So, I think what’s really cool to see is how much your life is changed. How different is this from what you used to do?
Mark: Oh, so different! What I really love about it is just having full control over your destiny. We wake up each morning and the sky’s the limit. We can get our local business clients great results. We can build our portfolio sites and we’re doing it for ourselves. We’re building assets for ourselves and I just love it. It’s just fantastic.
Liz: Yes, and that’s the next step for you too. We’ve got another strategy that you’re about to do where you’re building local business sites, but you get to keep them.
Mark: Yes, it’s very exciting.
Liz: So, all these wonderful things are happening. Thank you so much Mark for sharing that bit of an update of where you’re at.
Are you ready to Learn how to Start a Digital Agency?
Liz: And for our readers – if you’ve perhaps been thinking about maybe putting off the local business strategy, well…even Mark’s doing it!
Mark: That’s right! If you are thinking about it, definitely give it a go. It’s actually a lot of fun and you can get some big wins for local clients. It’s actually amazing the results you can get for small businesses and they’ll love you for it.
Liz: And not just small, actually – you’re also looking at working with some multi-million dollar businesses now too.
Mark: Yes, and that’s come from the networking. It’s amazing what opportunities can come up once you start talking to people and seeing where you can help out as an SEO person. We’ve got the potential to work with a client doing about $6 million a year.
Liz: That’s awesome! Wow, the value of SEO knowledge! Well, there you go. Thanks so much again Mark for sharing where you’re up to now.
