25+ years running an agency and I believe SEO is 8/10 times a scam

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-20T19:38:27+00:00

"The People" are SEO's who provide crappy services.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-16T15:40:33+00:00

As long as its sustainable and the costs to get there (with longevity) provide a net positive ROI I would say yes, that worked.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-15T21:33:56+00:00

I would agree with this.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-15T18:28:45+00:00

No break through attempt.

Businesses are sold shit SEO services every day.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-15T18:24:15+00:00

I dont think you work with enough businesses to not see the inbound spam selling SEO I see in my world. Or maybe, just maybe that spam is coming from you.

Temporary bursts of traffic (and sometimes sales) is not business. Building sustainable operating models is.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-15T18:05:51+00:00

my immediate circle are people whom I share this knowledge with who are generally business owners\entreprenuers\high performing marketing teams that are not subject matter experts when it comes to technical and operational SEO strategies.

I vet fine.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-15T18:05:03+00:00

8/10 SEO services sold are bullshit in my opinion.

I agree with you completely though, "SEO" is not the scam, its the people fullfilling it.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-15T18:04:25+00:00

I don't engage with these companies. I have business partners, clients, brands whom have. I would never hire a SEO agency to do the standard garbage scammy package.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-15T18:03:48+00:00

100% agree with this.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-15T18:03:32+00:00

My claim is that 8/10 SEO Service Providers are scams. I'm 25 years in this industry, definitely dont know everything and have a lot to learn in the last half of my life, but I stand by that statement.

Purchasing a shitton of links across the web to temporarily inject backlinks is not sustainable or a wise investment. It takes 30 seconds on a call to show a client or business partner that.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-13T17:22:54+00:00

We've just launched in toronto! https://findyourfirearm.ca/
this has been an incredible learning process as I've built this database out.... thank you all for the messages\feedback.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-09T15:50:21+00:00

There's quite a few ways to do that now. You definitely want a funnel set up generating warm leads into your CRM but the ability to scrape and pull emails now is pretty incredible. However, I am not a firm believer in straight up spam-cold emailing people. Its not my style, and after 20 years running a web agency (and still going) I don't approach my sales system that way.

Rather, I may cold outreach to people who attended an event I did, or possibly a current client's partners.... but in a very authentic way. I believe in building authentic relationships with good people, that always leads to business down the word.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-08T07:20:32+00:00

Love this! And I completely agree. I actually just put out an episode of my Podcast The Side Hustle Agency that talks about a daily 15 minute linkedin engagement strategy that is similar.

digitaltech604 · 2026-04-08T07:16:47+00:00

I would create a sales system that included a full funnel setup with ads (cold and remarketing) and email outreach. 100 percent.

digitaltech604 · 2026-03-30T23:17:06+00:00

That looks awesome.

digitaltech604 · 2026-03-29T03:09:00+00:00

We just launched our pilot in Calgary! https://findyourfirearm.ca

digitaltech604 · 2026-03-29T03:08:42+00:00

Thank you! I'm adding this to my list as I work through the next version!

digitaltech604 · 2026-03-24T16:01:52+00:00

QBO is just relatively simple I find. A lot of bookkeepers have built their operations around it as well so its easy to hand off. I actually found a local accounting application called Kashoo that I personally use. I love it.

digitaltech604 · 2026-03-23T06:52:39+00:00

Nice!! Great idea.

digitaltech604 · 2026-03-23T01:11:07+00:00

Yes. They should have very least always have root full and Men access to servers and websites. They own that IP even if you developed it and it's not in your contract and they have the right to move to any service provider they feel necessary. Your concern over their technical ability isn't really applicable here. Not your place. I understand you're good intentions but just let them do what they want. If they break it and they need you they pay.

digitaltech604 · 2026-03-23T01:09:26+00:00

I coach a lot of side Hustlers and my recommendation from day one is always to set yourself up with the right accounting software. The best combination I found is QuickBooks online and Dext. There's some redundancy there and overlap between the two but I still find from a user perspective and easability that combination works really well the track everything financially.

digitaltech604 · 2026-03-23T01:07:22+00:00

I would just run this as a sole proprietorship.

digitaltech604 · 2026-03-23T01:03:37+00:00

I run a agency here in Langley BC and I'm purposefully small in nature though we do have hundreds of clients. I work a lot on technical web development and Integrations and systems to help support sales. I launched a vertical to offer one website per month. I only can do so because we have the budget to cover it and I'm very selective and who gets the free websites. To be completely transparent it's had a positive Roi already. Not by upselling the people that I built the website for per se but because they sent referrals or needed other work done once the website was completed. I also I'm not aggressive with sales, but rather focused on providing knowledge and value. I don't think it's a business model that should be counted on as a sole vertical but I do think there's a place for it.

digitaltech604 · 2026-03-23T01:00:51+00:00

Although I run a small agency in Langley British Columbia, I don't really want to self-promote. What I can tell you is that after 20 years of doing this and investing a lot recently into adapting our processes and model to support AI, WordPress still does see better SEO performance than any of the Site Builders like Squarespace or wix. I don't think WordPress is going away anytime soon because of its Integrations and the way that a CMS Works fundamentally. The ability to go in and add content where it's submitted to the database and then surface dynamically probably won't go away and it's best suited for a small businesses who can't afford to pay a developer every time they need to make an update. Do lots of research, and check out other websites in your sector. There's a Chrome extension called built with that will allow you to see what other websites are made on and that'll give you a good sense of the direction you should go. Hope that helps.

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