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I take a "traffic first" approach to testing ideas and building businesses, with a focus on organic search. I'm obsessed with creating new, independent revenue streams. Click here to see what I'm working on now.
I have been building websites since the days of GeoCities, on my Toshiba Satellite 100CS. I sent my first cold marketing email in 2004, while an analyst at Morgan Stanley in Conshohocken, PA. I've always been trying to create businesses, starting at the age of 7 selling my mom's mint iced tea on the corner of Wyomissing Boulevard & Dauphin Ave, making nearly $100/day.
I started consulting on web design, email marketing, and SEO while in college under the moniker Nick Eubanks Solutions, and then in 2008 created my first real business called atomni. Atomni was a Digital Marketing Agency with a focus on building new pages and websites.
I learned very quickly how important it was to have in-house implementation and a technical understanding of all of the pieces needed to actually execute on digital marketing. Open source content management systems weren't as prevalent as they are today, so Atomni did a lot of work extending legacy website functionality. We ended up building our own CMS to run many of our client sites, called Molecule.
In 2010 I was recruited to be CEO of angel-backed startup Factor Media, and in 18 months I designed, built, and scaled a CMS for consumer reviews in Japan that was receiving over 3 million organic visits per month.
The company and technology was chopped up and sold in 2012 and I joined W.L. Snook & Associates, Inc., the parent company of TrafficSafetyStore.com. From 2012 to 2017 I helped scale the company from 7 to 8 figures, and to become the largest manufacturer and distributor or traffic safety products in America.
In 2014 I founded From The Future, an agency specializing in advanced digital strategy to help companies grow online traffic and revenue. I've worked with hundreds of companies, on over 1,000 websites, and drove more than 100 Billion visits, and over $100 Billion in revenue.
In 2017 I partnered with Matt Barby (VP of Acquisition at HubSpot) and Ian Howells (Former Director of SEO at LendingTree) to launch Traffic Think Tank, The #1 Private SEO Training Community, whose membership includes top marketers from companies like Google, Intuit, Uber, Gucci, Typeform, and more from over 47 countries. Traffic Think Tank was acquired by Semrush ($SEMR) in February 2023.
In 2018 I purchased 2 agencies; Webris and True Voice Media, and 1 Ecommerce company UnderFit Clothing. We have some exciting things in store for the brand.
In 2019, FTF launched our first free wordpress plugin, Linkbuildr, to help writers automatically promote their content. Later in the year, FTF launched a new Digital PR brand called Launchpad PR to offer Outreach as a Service.I also invested in Inscope Video, to help video creators affordably edit their content.
Since 2020, I have been helping marketing agencies increase their revenue, profits, teams, and happiness through personalized agency coaching, with a focus on revenue growth. I offer hour long calls jam-packed with helpful information that comes from real-word experience (vs hypothetical theories).
In 2021, FTF acquired LA-based paid media agency, Plush Media. Combined with bringing on Josh Silverbauer to head analytics, FTF quickly grew into the media strategy firm it is today. Boasting clients like UFC, Sandals Resorts, Nestle, and The U.S. Olympics.
In 2023, Traffic Think Tank was sold to Semrush, and I was invited to join the the team to build an Owned Media program (separate from the deal).
In this podcast I catch up with Chase Buckner of Go HighLevel I dive into all sorts of mistakes along my agency journey.
This guide was originally offered for purchase in 2015, but now as some of the examples have gotten dated I’m publishing it here, for free. The goal is to provide a framework for how to approach actually implementing a keyword strategy.
Utilization rates are the key driver to profitability within digital agencies. Yet.. so many agencies don’t put any processes or systems in place to track it (especially those doing less than $5 million in annual revenue).
Anyone with sales experience already understands how valuable strategic partnerships can be to drive growth.
For the rest of us, it may not be as obvious just how much revenue can be generated, consistently (read; predictably) from building an intentional, formalized partner ecosystem.
This post was originally published as a paid product in 2015. At that time I sold this information as a PDF (selling over 3,500 copies) for $127 each — but now, as the information has gotten a bit outdated (but the process is still solid, I promise) I’m publishing it here, for free.
If you find any value at all in me making my paid products free – please let me know by either dropping a quick comment or giving this post a share. Thank you.
