{"id":4367,"date":"2022-01-17T08:02:29","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T08:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/?p=4367"},"modified":"2022-01-17T08:03:17","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T08:03:17","slug":"my-seo-journey-cannycreative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/my-seo-journey-cannycreative\/","title":{"rendered":"My SEO Journey [Pro Edition]: Tony Hardy from canny-creative.com – The blog is our biggest growth channel, wish we\u2019d gone harder on the blog faster and for longer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My SEO Journey [PRO Edition] is a series where professionals of the SEO Industry, Digital Marketing, or Web Design, share their honest SEO Journey filled with failure and success, and most importantly proven results.<\/em><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Episode #62 features Tony Hardy from<\/em> Canny Creative<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tony<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hi, I\u2019m Tony Hardy, Founder, and Director of Canny Creative<\/a> – a branding, web design, and content marketing agency, based in the North East of England. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We work with companies around the world to help them drive real business results and grow. We connect brands to their customers, create high-performing, growth-driven websites, and help attract and engage their audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not one for big mission statements, but I\u2019m a firm believer that if you\u2019re investing in your brand or digital presence, then you should be making a return on that investment. We help our clients avoid pouring money down the drain, and invest in the areas that are going to matter most to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I always wanted to run an agency. It just appealed to me from being young. Traveling, seeing clients all over the world, awesome office spaces, working with great brands and people from every corner of the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What wasn\u2019t to like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea isn\u2019t anything new. Agencies have existed for years. But we wanted to attack it from a new angle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started Canny Creative straight out of University. Common industry knowledge (or just common sense really) dictates that you can\u2019t just go launching an agency without any experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve never been one for doing things the traditional way. And I knew I could. And, I knew by doing it without any preconceived notions of how agencies should and shouldn\u2019t function, I could be guided by our clients, and design our approach around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that\u2019s exactly what I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since launch, what has worked to attract more organic traffic?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve spent absolutely nothing on marketing, except time. And yes, time is a valuable commodity, but I\u2019d rather invest time into things experimenting, than money, to find something doesn\u2019t work particularly well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Canny-Creative.com<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So, where\u2019ve we invested our time;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Creating regular blog content<\/a>, we\u2019ve tried several different approaches:
    1. Posting short posts daily<\/li>
    2. Posting weekly<\/li>
    3. Posting fortnightly<\/li>
    4. Posting twice a week<\/li>
    5. And soon, we\u2019re experimenting with long form posts, once a day<\/li><\/ol><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      1. We\u2019ve also spent a lot of time creating video content on YouTube<\/a><\/li>
      2. Finally, we\u2019ve leaned hard into the partnership approach, and growing our current client accounts<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Lead generation is one of my favourite topics. In business, I love nothing more than attracting a new lead, having a great conversation, and turning that prospect into a client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Our blog first and foremost has been our main route to market. We\u2019ve shared thoughts on all of our service areas, and it\u2019s won us clients all around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Our most popular posts are far and away our brief template series, like this post about design briefs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"canny-creative.com<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

        We cover our services, types of people we serve, the sectors we work with, and the locations we work in pretty in-depth. That combined with long form (3000 words plus) posts bring us around 1500 visits to our site on a daily basis, so that\u2019s where most of our leads come from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Our blog posts feature Content Upgrades and relevant downloadables, so we\u2019re moving people from the blog to getting a free download, to joining our email list, and engaging with us that way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Sometimes people reach out straight away, other times it takes a little while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"Screenshot<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

        Video is less trackable, but we publish new YouTube content 2 to 3 times a week. And, when we have new sales conversations or meet new people, they\u2019ve always seen it! They reference things that we vlog about or talk about in our latest episode – so that\u2019s always great to hear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        And finally, forall new leads are great, they\u2019re a much harder sell than working with existing clients, who already know, like, and trust you. So periodically, we put together new plans and new ideas and take them out to clients to see if we can sell in something beneficial to them.<\/p>\n\n\n

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        There\u2019s more\u2026<\/div>\r\n

        Now it\u2019s time to discover the other 102 steps that will get more organic traffic flowing to your website. Get the SEO Checklist here.<\/a><\/p>\n

        Want to get a sneak peek of what it looks like?<\/strong>
        \nEnter your email and get a free demo version of the SEO Checklist.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n

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