Learnings from the Growth of a Seven-Figure SEO Agency

Speaker A: Welcome to the Agency Growth series, the podcast dedicated to setting up, running and scaling your SEO agency. Hello and welcome to the first episode of the Agency growth series by keyword.com in every episode we're joined by industry experts to share their insights and experiences. And in today's first episode, we're joined by Matt Ross from hozio Digital Agency who will talk to us about the growth strategy behind building a seven figure SEO agency. Hi Matt, and welcome to the podcast.

Speaker B: Hey Benjamin, thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to today and I see there are a few good things on the agenda that we could talk about.

Speaker A: Yeah, really excited to have you today. So thank you once again. And before I start off with my questions, I'd uh, like to introduce you to our listeners. So Matt is a mechanical engineer. He is the senior Vice president and Director of operations at uh, Hozio. And while the company was created in 2009, Matt joined in 2017 as an employee when Hozio was still in its early and he played a pivotal role in transforming the company from a small team to a thriving nationwide agency. He's also a Google local guide and has been invited to Google's HQ numerous times to share his insights. And uh, did I miss anything? Anything else to add?

Speaker B: A few things. Whenever I have the time, I like to contribute to LinkedIn, um, one of the top voices for SEO, IT and operations. Um, I'm on the board of advisors for a few different New York universities and business schools. And uh, whenever I'm not doing the hustle here at uh, hozio, I try to free up some of my time and enjoy the outdoors.

Speaker A: So before we begin, I wanted to have maybe a bit of a general overview of hozio for our listeners and I just wanted to know if you could tell me a bit about hozio, the agency's overall focus and the type of clients you service.

Speaker B: Hozio is a dynamic digital marketing company. We're, we're based in New York. We do our best to help businesses grow their online presence and achieve real results. Some of our services are SEO, we also do pay per click, we specialize in web design and we also do social media marketing. Our focus is on small to medium businesses, help them stand out online, connect with the right audiences from the small businesses, the white collar, the blue collar, to the private equity groups. We specialize in crafting the functional search optimized websites designed to drive the growth that they need.

Speaker A: You definitely offer quite a range of services to your clients and I'm guessing that it takes a special kind of team to handle all of that. Speaking of which, I'm curious to know about the people behind the scenes and more specifically the company culture. If you could tell me a bit about what, uh, is the company culture like at Hoselton?

Speaker B: We've got a pretty great company culture overall. It's a relaxed settings, easygoing atmosphere. Most of the time. A lot of the guys and girls come in with jeans and T shirts. We've got annual summer and winter parties. We recently moved into a new larger office space where we built a gym. We have a racing simulator, golf simulator, and a few other fun things. And ultimately it's the people that make this work. Although we're all co workers in the office, I'd like to think that we're friends too. I think it makes it easier to work together sometimes, although it also leads to a bit of annoyance as well. You can understand what I mean by that. Back when I joined, we transitioned from two core employees. Now we're at 50 plus employees. Originally we were local or hyper local SEO specialists in the Long Island, New York region. Now we've grown into a, uh, full service digital marketing company and agency serving clients nationwide. We try to keep the employees up to date with the algorithm changes. Google and Bing. We're constantly evolving our SOPs, our processes and our infrastructure. We have continual training and certifications for all the employees, me included. And more recently, we were named on the Inc 5000 list as one of the fastest growing companies in the United States.

Speaker A: What does it mean to make the Inc 5000?

Speaker B: Honestly, it was exciting. They reached out to us via email. Following that, a few phone calls and emails, they spoke to us, they got our revenue, they got our employee base, they heard about a little bit more about us. And overall they did award us number, uh, 3,000 overall on the 5,000 list across all industries. Number 279 digital marketing of the fastest growing companies in America. This recognition celebrates the hard work, the passion and the innovation that we've brought to helping businesses thrive online. Some of the reasons why we stand out, the people, the hard work, the passion. We've got innovative strategies and we like to tailor custom solutions to the client's needs and goals.

Speaker A: I'm curious as to was this always the plan for hozio? As in was it always the plan to grow to seven figures, make the Inc 5000 or have so many employees?

Speaker B: Interesting question, but I guess it was always the goal to expand and grow both our employee base and our revenue. As the owners of the company say, I want hozio to become a Household name. We've got a mission statement that we printed out, we posted on the wall and on each employee's desk. It states a few things, such as good clean business, help businesses grow and to unlock growth for hard working entrepreneurs, which is ultimately the driving force of our economy. Our overarching goal is to help people, help them be found, help them get leads, so they in turn could help others with their wants and needs. To answer part two of your question, the picture wasn't really clear at the beginning, but we've refined it along with our processes to deliver on the promise of good, clean business.

Speaker A: At what point did you realize that the agency was scaling fast and had the potential to hit the seven figure mark? And if there was one, what was the Eureka moment?

Speaker B: Being in the business as a group, from the two core employees and the 10 clients that we had back when I joined to the 50 plus employees and over 500 clients, it didn't give me the outside perspective that others might have. The growth felt a bit more organic to me. We knew we were scaling as we brought on more clients and we hired more people, but it wasn't something that we stopped to really quantify. The seven figure mark was never really the goal. It happened as a natural part of our growth. I wouldn't say that there was a single or unique Eureka moment, but if I had to pinpoint something, it would be when we outgrew one office and we had to open up a second, or when we eventually outgrew both of them. Move from two offices into a brand new building.

Speaker A: It sounds like you've had quite the journey. And with all that rapid expansion, um, I'm curious as to what were the biggest changes you had to make to ride and sustain that growth. And in terms of processes, team structure and workflows, how did you actually manage to sustain the growth?

Speaker B: Consistency. Consistency was key to the growth, to the strategies, to the mission. Once we wrote the SOP's, uh, standard operating procedures for the company, we were able to streamline workflows and build upon them. After that, we were able to go from the generalist type of employee to the specialist type of employee, and later on the T shaped employee, where they have both the breadth of knowledge as well as the depth of knowledge in more than one area, I'd like to say for some of the employees. So going from the T shaped employee to now the M M shaped employee, we also adapted the market shifts by tightening timelines and um, expanding teams to manage the influx of clients.

Speaker A: Now I'm curious about how that specific journey translated into actual clients. How did you land your first big client? And what specific strategies helped you land bigger SEO contracts over time?

Speaker B: I'd say customer feedback and satisfaction reports have been critical for client acquisition. Our transparent pricing, our excellent reviews, our hands on customer support build the trust that we need and they attract the larger contracts. We take pride in waking up to new, glowing reviews from the happy clients. As you can see on our Facebook and Google my business pages. Our first big client. To answer that, I don't remember really when we landed our first big client, whether it was before I came here or after. But once we started getting more of them, I knew that was the aha moment that we needed to expand and focus even more on the people and making strategic and resilient processes.

Speaker A: Yeah, I just checked actually very quickly on, on Google hozio Digital agency reviews. And you do have a lot of, of great reviews from your customers. And I find it fascinating how customer satisfaction has been such a driving force in, in hozio's growth. And for all of our listeners out there, it's a great reminder that in the agency world, happy clients can be your best marketers. You've touched upon a lot of different important aspects of growth here, from building trust with transparent pricing.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: To the power of positive reviews. It's, it's clear that your approach is very client centric, which is very crucial in this industry. And now I'd like to, to dive just maybe a bit deeper into the mechanics of your growth. So let's, let's shift our focus to lead generation and more specifically what lead generation methods, strategies, channels have been the most effective for consistently attracting high value clients for hozio.

Speaker B: Okay, uh, over the years we've refined the market strategy like I'd say using SEO and social media. We focused on targeting SMB businesses, which is our core focus right now. While ensuring the timelines and the team structures could support the influx of the new clients that we're getting. Every client that we have is high value. But I guess to answer the question of attracting higher revenue clients, SEO and social media have been crucial to us. With the inbound leads, the sales team that nurtures them, um, the sales people that close them. We've been able to consistently grow both our revenue and our profits. We're committed to delivering results, real tangible results. And we don't just talk to talk. The proof is in the pudding. That's why we don't lock clients into contracts. Our results speak for themselves. We keep our clients coming back for new services. Those no contracts that trust that transparency helps us close the deal on hot leads.

Speaker A: That's a pretty good breakdown of your strategy. It's clear that you've got a winning formula. And now for agencies that are looking to follow in your footsteps. What type of clients should an agency go after? If they wanted to scale from five figures to six or seven figures like hozio has done, Go with the clients

Speaker B: that make sense to you. If you specialize in something such as pay per click or social media, market that and aim for clients looking for that service. If you're in a target rich environment for small businesses, start there. Every company's got a starting point and I'd like to say it doesn't define you for the life of the company.

Speaker A: Some really solid advice. It sounds like it's all about playing to your strengths and also being adaptable, striking that balance among all of those different elements. And speaking of changes as you grow, I'm curious about your approach to pricing and um, more specifically, what's the biggest difference between how you price your services at the beginning versus your pricing now as a seven figure business and has it changed?

Speaker B: I guess that's a funny question to me, but in the early days, our pricing models all over the place. Sometimes we'd lowball clients and sign them on, knowing that we were a small company trying to gain the traction. Other times we'd highball them simply because we didn't fully understand the scope of the work or the market dynamics. Right now, I'd say we found a bit more of a realistic and balanced approach. We're not the cheapest option out there, nor are we the most expensive. Our pricing is designed to be approachable for the S and B businesses that we target. We're flexible too. We typically start with a, uh, lower cost for a smaller area or fewer keywords so clients can see the results firsthand. Once they're confident in the value that we deliver, again contract free, they're pretty often eager to scale up their investment.

Speaker A: What are some common, um, pricing mistakes you see other agencies make when they're trying to scale?

Speaker B: Other mistakes that I see companies doing are lack of transparency or unclear objectives or expectations. Transparency has been our approach. By being upfront about our pricing, we've built the trust with our clients. This eliminates confusion and aligns expectations on both sides, which is critical for scaling effectively both on our side and for the client and to get the KPIs that we're looking for for.

Speaker A: It's a great point about transparency. You've mentioned this Multiple times previously. But it's clear that being upfront with clients has been a key part of hozio's success. So now let's. Let's change the topic a bit and talk about the internal side of things. As your agency started to take off, I'm curious to know about how you built your team. What critical roles did you hire once you realized that the agency was growing? And looking back, would you change anything about the hiring process if you, if

Speaker B: you could, first of all, cut me off whenever you want. I could talk about this for over a hundred hours, but I'll try to keep it short and sweet. Finding and training the right talent was essential. We developed a robust internship program in partnership with the local colleges and business schools that I advise these days. Many of our current employees began as interns. I think the number stands right around 80%, give or take interns to now employees. Alongside this, we hired skilled professionals for key roles as we scaled. I guess if I had to start it all over again, I would have started sooner and doubled down. I haven't been with the company since the start, but finding more specialized and skilled employees has been critical to filling the roles and positions that we need as we grow. Like I mentioned before, having the breadth of knowledge and the depth of knowledge has been critical to our growth.

Speaker A: Now with all of that growth and team building, uh, I'm curious about how this affected your own role. How much time do you spend working on the business, the high level admin stuff, versus in the business that is doing day to day work or client work?

Speaker B: Not m an easy question and I like doing both sides of it. But it seems these days I'm juggling both as one of the OGs, as ah some of the employees call me here, I've been through the dirt. I created the SOPs and roles. I've done all the hard work. I've learned a lot from it. Like mentioned before, I'm a mechanical engineer and material scientist. I'm not from a marketing background. When I'm not working on the business, I could easily be found on the floor with the team, tackling a hard problem, analyzing the data, working on the servers, testing novel ideas and refining the processes.

Speaker A: Okay, so it sounds like you're wearing multiple hats there. From high level strategy to hands on problem solving. I'm curious about how you've managed to scale your actual SEO operations alongside, uh, the business growth and how did you build out the scalable SEO workflow to keep pace with this business growth in

Speaker B: one word or acronym sops Standard operating procedures. Although implementing automation has been key to streamlining our workflow and increasing efficiency. Also from the keyword tracking tools like keyword.com to server based data collection systems, we've optimized the processes for better efficiency and results. We've got a barrage of servers running night and day to collect the best data, uh, and to be able to utilize it. Adaptability and continuous improvement have been critical to the workflow as well as the operations. I'm an engineer by schooling so I brought a novel approach to the company. As opposed to using traditional processes that were outdated and not fluid enough. Training programs and leadership development have been pivotal to employee growth. We've introduced after work study sessions. We've got motivation meetings to enhance collaboration, both inter team and interteam. And recognizing the impressive ideas with bonuses also helps keep our team motivated and aligned with a greater goal.

Speaker A: It's a super great breakdown of your approach. Uh, it's super clear that you've put a lot of thought into optimizing your operations and I specifically love how you're fostering a culture of learning and collaboration with your employees. And undoubtedly that has been super important for the, the growth of hozio and achieving its goals. Now I'm, I'm sure that our listeners are eager to hear about the details of your operation and more specifically the tools. What are the top tools that or platforms that you have been using that have been instrumental in streamlining your operations and delivering the results to your clients?

Speaker B: Do you want me to name them all? I've got quite a few, yeah.

Speaker A: No, some of them I guess, yeah.

Speaker B: All right, so to name a few, keyword.com has been instrumental for keyword performance monitoring, ahrefs for a backlink analysis and detailed data semrush for our audits. We've also got some confidential homebrew tools that we use to help with the processes and workflow. But ultimately these tools and others alongside our custom built solutions ensure our workflows are efficient and data driven.

Speaker A: And by the way to our listeners, we, we didn't tell Matt Ross to mention specifically keyword.com but he is a keyword.com user. So thank you for the shout out and it's clear that you got quite a toolkit. You're using lots of different tools but it's a, it's a mix of industry standard tools and also your own custom solutions that you use to stay on top of your game. So that's very interesting and yeah, thanks for sharing that. Now as we we start to wrap up, I'D like to tap into, uh, some of your wisdom, your hard earned wisdom over these many years and looking back on your journey, what's, what's one thing you wish you had known earlier that would have accelerated your growth? Or if you just prefer, what's the biggest mistake you made while scaling?

Speaker B: Looking back, it wasn't so much about knowing something earlier, but being in the position to act on it. If I'd been in a role to prioritize building and documenting scalable systems like the SOP's, roles, responsibilities, duties and processes earlier in my career here, our growth could have been a bit smoother. Consistency and structure provide the foundation for scaling effectively. When I started as employee number two, my focus was on analyzing the data and handling the individual tasks, not creating the systems or processes that drive the success today. At the time, hiring specialized talent and streamlining workflows weren't decisions I could really influence. Once we shifted the focus to building strong teams, company culture, processes with the right expertise and developing those foundational systems, growth naturally followed.

Speaker A: So it's just not, not just about working harder, but also working smarter and creating the right structures to support that growth. If I had to summarize, absolutely. Well, thank you for that. That was very insightful. And that's it for me for today with the questions. So to end this first episode, I'd like to thank you so much for joining us and sharing your experiences and the wisdom you've gained along the way. I'm sure our listeners will find a lot of what you've said very valuable, will reflect on it and we'll apply some of these learnings to their own agency. So thank you again for joining us Matt and uh, I hope to see you again on one of our next episodes for the podcast. So thanks again. Do you have anything that you'd like to say before we end this?

Speaker B: Benjamin keyword.com thanks for having me today. It was a pleasure. Hopefully some of the answers I gave will give insight to other companies they could learn. They could always call me to talk about it. I enjoy those calls or emails When I have some time to answer them, I will have to give a shout out for my company. If you're an SMB business in America and you need leads, you need transparency, you want trust, here's hozio.

Speaker A: Call us hozio.com everyone. Thanks again Matt. Appreciate it.

Speaker B: Thanks Benjamin.