Matt Barker

I've faced over 50 rejections in July for my SEO services: ✅5 no’s from clients who didn’t see the value of SEO ✅15 no’s from companies looking for other services ✅10 no’s from clients who couldn't afford our services ✅20 no’s from proposals that went unanswered So what changed? ❌ Those rejections pushed me to sharpen my skills and expand my knowledge in SEO. 🚀 Being overlooked made me refine my strategies and understand what truly drives results. Each "no" fueled my determination to innovate and adapt my approach, leading to better client outcomes. Rejection isn’t a dead end; it’s a stepping stone to becoming a better SEO expert and more resilient professional. . . . . #rejection #results #seoexpert #seoguy #seoconsultant

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There's 1 common mistake that keeps most agencies stuck under 30k p/month. After personally helping 92 agencies scale, I see the same issue like clockwork. First - the reason your business would be stuck at any level, is always the same You're focused on the wrong things I mean think about it. All of us work hard and put the time in. People making 10k a month work hard, and so do people making 1 million a month. It's not the time spent It's what you do with that time, what you focus on And what you should be focused on, is the constraint And if you don't know the constraint (AKA what's holding you back from growing faster) Your only job is to find it, then attack it. It's all about prioritization - doing the right thing at the right time. Giving the business what it needs. For the majority of businesses under 30k p/month (and same goes for anyone under 10k p/month) The constraint is sales. Almost everyone I talk to at that level doesn't have a fulfillment problem...they can get their clients results Nor do they have an operations problem, because below 30k - you don't need many processes, systems, or team members. Which only leaves sales as the bottleneck. You need to talk to more people Start more conversations Have more calls Get your offer in front of more people Getting to 30k p/month is simple....There's not a lot of complexity or strategy needed. It's a matter of effort and grind. Than, it becomes more of a strategic game and about leverage, systems, operations afterwards. But up until 30k it's brute force! And most entrepreneurs I talk to at this stage want to grow...but spend little-no time on selling. How do you expect to sell and grow if you barely put time into sales activities? Sales isn't complex, and especially at that level. It's a numbers game. If you put more effort in, you'll have more conversations, and then you'll have more clients Conversations = conversions. So if you want to reach that next level Make sales your priority Do this - carve out a 2-hour block daily to work on sales activities In that time you could ...do outreach ...run automated outreach campaigns ...follow up with old leads ...give value in communities or groups ...post content All of it works But only if you work! Good luck out there 🙂 What do you think? Agree/Disagree? - #b2bmarketing #leadgeneration #coldemail #agencyowner

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Wrong. 1. Your agency's logo is your brand identity. If it doesn't stand out, doesn't impress your first few clients (that aren't friends or family), good luck signing them on. You need to be good at the services you want to offer. 2. The platform you use determines how much time you'll be spending fixing things that break with every update. 3. Your invoicing software can be a major headache, and changing the software after you have a bunch of invoices recorded is also painful. 4. Executive Assistants can help speed things up a bit but are irrelevant until you're making enough money. 5. I would much rather use Trello. Nice marketing trick but too obvious. 6. Moving to Dubai and saving tax is very much something you have to plan for and the sooner the better, because it's easier to move your operations to another country if you already have the logistics planned out.

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Google PMAX: The silent delflator of education marketing ROI (...and what to consider instead) Struggling with Google Performance Max for your education campaigns? You’re not alone. Here’s why PMAX fails in edu-marketing: - Broad targeting misses niche audiences - No keyword control for specific programs - Poor lead quality wastes admissions resources - Inconsistent messaging hurts branding - Can’t track long student journey accurately But don’t worry, there’s a better way: -Use Google Search for precise keywords -Try Display & YouTube for awareness -Leverage Meta Ads for detailed targeting -Set up proper tracking & CRM integration Don’t let Google’s one-size-fits-all solutions tank your efforts. Build a strategy to your unique institution and students. It takes work, but it’s worth it.

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Top 10 mistakes I find when auditing Google Ads for local service businesses. 🚩1. Search campaign shows ads on the Display Network  🚩2. Broad keywords used with a manual bid strategy  🚩3. No targeted keywords in ad copy  🚩4. No call to action in ad copy  🚩5. No negative keywords  🚩6. No assets  🚩7. No conversion tracking  🚩8. Auto-apply recommendations  🚩9. Landing page that doesn't convert  🚩10. Ignoring notifications or accepting them all Today, it's easier than ever to throw money at paid ads. But big corporations like Google really don't need donations from hard-working business owners. Check your accounts to avoid those mistakes and stop wasting your budget. I'm curious... Which of these have you encountered? - - - 🔎 Need help with your Google Ads? Book my 10-Step Audit and find out how to improve your campaign to start getting leads. Link in my intro!

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Most ppl don’t need a scaling method. They need... 1. A good testing & validating process 2. A proven method for creative strategy 3. A reliable system for doing research & writing copy ...so they can actually scale.

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Why you need SEO - Social sizing - Crazy canonicals | The Filter This week’s episode comes to you from sunny Norwich! Sign up for The Filter here - https://lnkd.in/ezyZ-9Sg

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In GA4, does your #charity use Channel groups?  They allow you to categorise certain traffic into important groups... 1. Go to Admin 2. Click on Data Display 3. Click on Channel Groups 4. Click “Create new channel group” 5. Click “Add New channel 6. Enter the Channel name 7. Click “+ Add condition group” and select the rules that would result in traffic saved to this group. 8. Click “Save channel”. 9. Enter a Group name and description.. 10. Click “Save Group”. Below is an email channel group! Remember, you can only create 2 custom channel groups, with a maximum of 25 channels in a single group, unless you pay for GA4 360 #charity #nonprofit #GA4

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Referrals are a tainted source of revenue for PPC agencies. Here's why my agency doesn't touch them anymore. So my main concern with referrals is they're great as a sticky plaster to get some money in early, but you can't control them. And I don't mean the rate at which they come in, but the quality of the leads themselves. What I've found is that it's really very hard to say no to an agency referring you work in an industry you've got no experience with, or you simply don't want to work with that type of client. You sort of feel like you're letting them down. These agencies come to you and say, "Oh, we've got this client and that client. Do you fancy it?" And you don't treat it as the rhetorical question that it is. You say you don't want them, and now that agency is going to say, "Well, we don't want to work with you in the future then, because you're going to cherry-pick." I got into a few issues over the years trying to deal with referrals because I was trying to get them from specific niches that I wanted to work with, because we had the experience and the case studies for them. Do you feel differently? Let me know in the comments. ----- After building a 7-figure agency and managing over $250 mil in Google Ads spend, I've learned a thing or two about this business. Most agency owners stall out at $10-15k a month in revenue and no matter how hard they try, they cannot break past it. To do that you need a framework to follow, to keep you honest and to guide you to building an agency that is not only profitable but easier to run. If you want to learn how to: - Get new agency leads in 24 hours - Close 80% of your qualified leads - Hire realistically, not based on lies you've been fed about unicorns - Get consistent results for your clients - Deliver exceptional Google Ads results Then you need to get my complete, step-by-step Perfect Agency Framework to scale your PPC agency past $15k per month, without burning yourself out in the process. 👉🏻 Smash the $15,000 a month barrier: edleake .tv/forge-framework

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Getting a lot of traffic, leads or conversions from mobiles? Analyse the data, look at the CPL or ROAS and then if needed add a bid modifier to up the bids specifically on mobile results. This can be done at a campaign or ad group level. Strangely it is now hiding in the "When and where ads" showed page in the new UI. Always a good one to really drive in some bid efficiencies and push ad groups that are converting on mobile. #googleads #googleadsagency #googleadsexpert #digitalmarketing #paidsearch #freelancemarketing #sem #ppc

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People who are always late are a drain. The same applies to your website. - Too many businesses underestimate what a website that loads in a second or less can achieve and are far too precious of their website’s current status. - Too many people who spend £££ on Google & Meta ads don't fix their slowly loading website. 
General excuses I have heard along the way that allow the website to remain slow: - Tech team say it's not possible to sort out and will take ALOT of time. - Low on dev priority list 🤯 - I fell out with my developers and I struggle to get anything out of them (probably wasn’t paying bills). - It crashes all the time too, then the server resets and goes back to a old version of the website. - I've never really checked it to be honest - Dev team allowed marketing department to upload HUGE pictures, files etc, ie its not their fault. - it's definitely not the slow loading speed that is showing a clear drop off and exit in Google analytics. It can’t be that. - Website is rapid but connecting to your desktop app from your website slow, this cannot be fixed 🙃 Benefits of rectifying this and asking the questions are obvious. If your website is slow and you have a large website that is critical for your business, sit with your devs and marketing team and begin going through some of the above scenarios to trouble shoot everything. Are you going through this and struggling internally to get things fixed? Would love to hear your stories around this and waffle you hear to keep it at the back of the cue 👇 #seo #websites #digitalmarketer

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I'm going to help you sell more with SEO.... ...and I'm going to do it by telling you a story....fetch🍿 This is the story how Adidas got their customers to sell their products for them. 📢 NB: You can probably do this too. Social Proof. In a recent study by the Baymard Institute, it was found 67% of e-commerce platforms do not incorporate social media visuals on the product page. Of those, many use generic social media visuals and don't add strictly contextualised images. What does this mean? It means they sometimes just add a social media feed for their brand. What exactly is Social Proof? 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 "𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴" ...and it is considered to be the PRINCIPLE buying trigger for 66% of shoppers. 66% Two thirds of the visitors to your product pages right now, including all those who don't buy, are principally driven by social proof in its 3 forms: 💚: Compliance - Is that this summer's look - that looks on-trend? 💚: Belonging - Are you my tribe? Think Cruises/Tours pages ;) 💚: Belief - Shoppers believe other shoppers more than they believe you Adding social media images with strict context to the product page enables shoppers or buyers to determine who wears/buys/uses this product, how it looks when worn by a real person not a 0.1% model, and says there is a genuine market or demand for this product. And that works for so many cases. 💣Study courses, 💣Football boots, 💣Weightlifting shoes, 💣Home gym equipment, 💣Protein powder, 💣Backpacker travel accommodation - eg: Hostelworld Group 💣Day out activities - eg: GetYourGuide So, before you start spending hours on meta descriptions, hiring an agency to write hundreds of pages of content, tweak meta titles, chasing a 100 Semrush score, or adding 37 different payment options at checkout, just prioritise this. 66% of your visitors will thank you for it. Here's a little way to remember it all #retailers #ecommerce

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〽️ 8: Click-through Rate (CTR) 🤏 Today I’m going to try and help you crack the Click-through Rate Code 🖱️ CTR = Clicks / Impressions x 100 Why CTR matters on LinkedIn 👇 🤜 Indicates content appeal 🤜 Measures call-to-action effectiveness 🤜 Crucial for driving traffic to your website/landing pages Improving your CTR ✌️ 👏 Use compelling headlines 👏 Include clear, enticing CTAs 👏 Experiment with different content formats 👏 Optimise post timing LinkedIn's sweet spot for CTR is often between 2-4%. How does yours compare? 🧐 #LinkedInMarketing #CTROptimization #ContentPerformance #Analytics #DataDriven #Insights #UseTheMuse

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5 steps to a 95% reply rate: 1) Optimum deliverability 2) Double validated data 3) Research your prospect 4) Kidnap their favourite pet 5) Use the CTA 'Want to see them again?' along side a picture. 🐱

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A real Google Ads specialist does not only have knowledge of Google Ads. To make Google Ads really work you need a wide range of skills. Also referred to in the PPC Hub as a T-shaped Google Ads specialist. The extra values I bring to my clients are 👉 Business strategy: What is your customer's general business strategy and what can you help with? 👉 Other (online/offline)channels: Google Ads is not the only Holy Grail to succes. Which other marketing channels can help your customer grow further? These channels can also ensure better results in Google Ads campaigns 👉 CRO: Landing pages are crucial in successful campaigns. Clear structure in a page and the right Call To Actions are key to success 👉 Pricing: Once you know what the margin is for your customer's products and services, you can also anticipate this. On the one hand to set up campaigns for this and on the other hand to ask/advise questions about the pricing strategy. 👉 AOV: how can I increase the AOV? Special deals and bundles. These are just a few examples of what you as a Google Ads specialist can offer added value. Which one am I missing or what is your extra value? #googleads #specialist

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3 underrated skills of working in SEO Showing the potential → to win clients or to get resources Setting expectations → to keep clients happy or manage internal politics Ruthless prioritisation → to actually get those damn results Three of the biggest, yet often hardest parts of SEO. Showing potential, telling that story. → For prospective clients, show them how big their market is (total potential searches * conversions * AOV) → For internal resources, show them the total potential impact of the project To keep people happy (clients or internal). Set those expectations. → Highlight competitors, what they have vs you (missing content, missing links, etc) → Showcase other's growth trajectory tied with inputs To get results. Prioritise effectively. → Fixing those five 404 pages on a site with 200,000 pages likely isn't going to make an impact → Getting thousands of additional pages indexed, probably is Getting sign-off, winning clients, getting results. You nail those three and you'll print money with SEO.

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CRO is still widely misunderstood and misrepresented. Misleading agencies are tagging CRO to entirely different initiatives. Do not let them sell you on what is a poorly hidden attempt at boosting their MRR. What’s the incentive for your average digital marketing agency? I mean this seriously. Are they really looking to build a growth function in your organization? Most likely, they think template tests will suffice to you while adding more revenue and profitability to their bottom line. Consider that they already offer paid search, paid social, email, seo, affiliate marketing, organic social…. A fair question to ask is do they really have the competencies with each of those service lines? And do they for CRO? Locally here in Montreal, average retention in agencies is benchmarked under 1 year. You don’t get specialized skills and a dedicated team in these environments. From personal experience, I can also tell they assign clients to staff until they are over capped on bandwidth. And a lot of projects landed on my lap that I was not skilled to work on but had to nonetheless, without tools, coaching or resources. If you consider their offer, here’s a set of questions that will enlighten you on their ability to deliver. - What does client allocation look like for my assigned team? - What sort of tenure in the company do my assigned team members have? - How is the team trained and kept up to date with industry standards? - What is the composition of my assigned team? - How do you come up with test ideas? - What does a test results analysis looks like? From these questions, you will get to understand the intent and incentive the agency has. You’ll get to see what sort of team you would be working with. You will also see if they work tactically or if they operate under a specific process. Most of the time, digital marketing agencies do not have the specialized skills.

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How to.. Build landing pages that convert! You got your Ad locked down! Copy? ✅ Keywords? ✅ Creatives? ✅ Structure? ✅ However, without a synchronised landing page that is seamless in transition.. Here are some tips to get your landing page right to increase conversions, reduce CPC & improve ROAS: Value Prop ✔ Clear & compelling headlines ✔ Communicate benefits ASAP ✔ Match headlines & overall message in LP to Ad messaging Simple Design ✔ Limit navigation options ✔ Simple, minimal & focused design ✔ Accentuate conversion elements such as forms, CTA's etc Build Trust ✔ Include client/customer testimonials ✔ Show security & privacy policy links ✔ Implement credibility indicators Technical Optimisations ✔ Fast loading (under 3 seconds) ✔ Minimise code & optimise images ✔ Create with mobile in mind Conversion-Focused Elements ✔ Clear CTAs (tell them what to do next in a firm but pleasant way) ✔ Create a single & focused conversion path ✔ Be concise & use persuasive copywriting Average strong website conversion rate = 2-5% Average strong landing page conversion rate = 9-10% Would love to hear your thoughts! Comment down below #Marketing #PPC #Ads

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