What’s your backstory — how did you end up starting (or joining) an agency?

For 10 years I've been building my own affiliate websites and doing other things in digital marketing that me money like PPC, dropshipping, building and selling my own info products, affiliate marketing on Youtube and Reddit, among other stuff. Then I met my business partner who also was building affiliate sites and ranking them with SEO. We decided that we have excellent know-how on how to rank websites and that we could use this knowledge to help other businesses. That's when e started Uprankd. It was 5 years ago.

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When do you feel most energized at work?

When I'm doing things that I love. Mostly it is getting new clients. I love that I can persuate people to use my services. I am thrilled each time a clients says YES.

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What’s your definition of “success” right now?

Being free from employment and having enough to not stress about money from month to month.

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What makes your agency different from others in your space?

When we launched the agency we wanted to be have added value in our service compared to other agencies. We do that by being transparent with our clients. They know very well what we are doing each month and they get very detailed monthly reports on what has been done, analytics explained, what went well, what didn't and what are the plans for the next month. Another thing is that we know different SEO techniques, even gray-hat or black-hat SEO for those niches that are super competitive. We can provide solutions for clients in those niches. And we do extensive link-building aroud the globe. We have built links in 40+ countries for our clients. If a client want's to rank in any specific country, we can get links anywhere.

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What type of clients or projects are a 'no' for you?

Those who want to get results with a small budget. Those are the worst, since they ask the most.

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What’s a principle or value your agency lives by?

Excellent customer service is the main ingredient of the success. Even if the results are sub-par, if the customer service is excellent, they will most likely stay with our agency.

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What trend in marketing/advertising do you think is overhyped?

I don't believe in overhyped trends. There is some truth to all of them. The question is - are those trends impactful enough to care about them. For example, there have been talks for years that voice search is the next big thing. None of our clients have cared about it, nor we have done anything to chase this trend.

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What’s a trend you’re betting on long-term?

AI is going to change the game. Faster, better execution of tasks. Smarter solutions. If we won't learn it, we will lose big time as an agency.

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How do you approach pricing — any rules you live by?

Don't do anything for less than 1000 EUR. If the client can't pay, he isn't a good fit.

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What software or tool do you swear by?

Ahrefs is our go-to SEO tool. We have others as well, but Ahrefs have stood the test of time.

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Remote, hybrid, or in-office — what’s your ideal setup and why?

I love office work, but as times are changing, so does my attitude towards it. I myself need an office, but I see how my employees like to work remotely. Right now we have a hybrid option, where they have to be in office 2-3 days a week.

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What’s your favorite thing about being in this industry?

Having option to work with anyone in the world since the internet has no boundaries. If you have a website, you can be our client.