5 Reasons Why Low Price SEO Work Doesn't Help Anyone and Can Damage Your Agency

OK it may have taken me a ridiculously long time to realise this but I can now finally acknowledge that working for an unprofitable client is in fact more damaging to your agency business than not having that client at all. Plus it isn't the best for the client either, despite the bargain they might think they're getting.

For years I had always justified taking on lower value work if there was capacity in the business as I felt it was better to be busy, plus it may open the door to extra work in the future. However this is what I've learnt:

Marketing Case Study - Disruption in Legal Marketing

I've just published an interesting legal marketing case study over on the Webscape website which nicely illustrates how the concept of Disruption can impact upon an industry vertical, in this case legal marketing in the personal injury claims sector.

The report draws upon my experience as one of the founders of the Simply Lawyers start up brand, a legal marketing collective which was born from the opportunities create by disruptive forces emanating from the wider macro marketing environment; social, legal, technical and political.

You can find the report in our recently created Insights section where we plan to add other case studies, white papers and market intelligence.

Exploring the Key Qualities of an Entrepreneur

I have recently been giving some thought to the qualities shared by entrepreneurs and how they apply to my own personal journey, partly inspired by my recent attendance at the for Accelerate conference for high growth businesses.

After listening to the experiences and views of such inspirational business leaders as Martha Lane Fox, Doug Richards, Lord Bilimoria and Jimmy Wales I've come up with the following common traits of the entrepreneur...

Insights and Inspiration at Accelerate 2013

I recently had the privilege of hearing some of the best known business leaders in the UK and beyond speak in person at Accelerate 2013 event in Liverpool. Their inspirational stories reinforced just how exciting and how challenging it is to be an entrepreneur.

Accelerate was the first event of its kind aimed at potential high growth businesses across all sectors. The event recognised that in the future the majority of new job creation in the UK is likely to come from the small business sector and so the SME sector is rightly attracting the support and encouragement which it has probably deserved for some time.

One of the recurring themes of the day was the tenacity needed to be an entrepreneur, especially in the face of repeated setbacks and even failures. This was amplified by the first keynote speaker of the day, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. 

Personal Branding and Social SEO - a Case Study

I thought I would share a recent post I published over on Google+ entitled 'Integrating Social Media, SEO and Personal PR' which was nattily subtitled 'A Case Study in Combining Social Media Channel Management, SEO and Personal Branding'.

The post is reproduced below and illustrates an exercise in improving one's personal brand online, identifying a social media strategy and leveraging social for SEO. It goes something like this....

The Value of Being Part of the Folkestone Digital Hub

The Quarterhouse in Folkestone's
Creative Quarter

Call it what you like; a scene, a cluster or a hub but luckily for us Folkestone has a small but steadily emerging cluster of digital and creative businesses. But just how can you measure the value of being part of such a scene?

BrightonSEO Conference Insights - Google Penalties, Content & Collaboration

The Webscape team and I recently attended the latest BrightonSEO conference in, well... Brighton. Here is my personal round-up of the key Search Engine Optimisation trends which appeared to emerge from the event.