Ranking Revolution

Doug: Hey, what's going on?

This is part two of the interview
with Alex Drew from ODYS Global.

In part one, we talked
about premium age domains.

And in this part, we're going to
talk about live in person events.

And if you miss part one,
be sure to check it out.

They sort of stand alone,
but listen to them in order.

It might, might flow a little bit
better and we'll put links so that you

could connect with Alex, uh, online.

Maybe you'll see him at a live
event and that sort of thing.

Without further ado, I will
send it to the episode.

I'm subscribed to your email list and
I think I follow you guys on Instagram

or wherever I could follow you.

I follow you guys over at ODYS
and I keep seeing you at events.

So you guys are setting up a booth or
you're hanging out with some other folks

that I know and you go to a ton of events.

So what keeps you going
back to these events?

What, what's the value in
these in person events?

Alex: Beyond branding, beyond just
meeting new people, I think that the most

important thing and the most valuable
part is actually networking and getting

to meet people that you've met online,
strengthening those relationships.

And it doesn't even have
to be business stock.

In fact, the best friends I've made,
best relationships that we've built

so far were during like, Parties,
dinners, breakfasts, lunches just, just

random events, just drinking coffee,
talking about everything under the sun.

It's not even required to talk business.

Like you are, in fact, the SEO
community is very, very friendly.

All digital mark.

Most of them like 90 plus percent are
very, very friendly, great people.

You won't get, get the
corporate vibe at these events.

Like everyone is so relaxed,
so chill, so keen to meet.

And it's actually been a pleasure because
we've been aggressively building the

brand and growing from so many years,
but haven't really attended events

in person until last year in May.

When we've been to our first one, it looks
like it's been forever, but not really.

Like we've been paying a lot of people,
a lot of money to be, to have ODYS

present at the events, but we haven't
really gone in person until last year.

And I've been blowing away about
how many people ends up, you know.

Getting close to us, thanking us for
building the brand, shaking our hands,

exchanging details, sharing their
phone numbers, sharing their stories.

There have been so many stories
involving our domains that I had no

idea about, making people lots of money.

And that is a very fulfilling experience.

And it goes beyond business,
money, building a company.

That's, that's, Of a more social nature,
and we are social human beings, and

we need other people to interact to.

So, I think it's a great opportunity.

Plus, especially, attending events, the
international ones, gives you the chance

to meet people from all over the world.

Like, if you go to very niche
events, or very local events,

you don't get that chance.

But you, when you get to bigger
events, that is a great opportunity.

So, that's why we're attending
and we'll keep attending.

It just, and in fact, there is
an ROI for these events, but it

doesn't directly correlate with
sales, at least not immediately.

And after this last one, I
came, I've actually, either

it's me accidentally hearing it
somewhere, but it kind of strike.

I kind of got it into my brain
and I couldn't get rid of it.

It's like, and it's sad.

And I've actually posted on Facebook,
it said people hate being sold.

But they love working with
friends, so investor relationships.

So, and, and that is so, was so like
enlightening to me at some point.

Like it's worth like building
these relationships further.

So that's one of the things why,
one of the reasons why we keep

doing it and we'll be doing it
for, for the foreseeable future.

Doug: You pretty much took my next
question with that very concise summary

and the, the question was going to be,
it seems counter intuitive that some of

the most valuable times are when you're
not talking about business and you're

probably not talking about business for,
or the majority of the time that you're

there, you're just building relationships.

You're making friends and I'll,
I'll just keep riffing a little bit.

I know personally.

When I sort of reframed it as I'm
just building a relationship, making

friends, hanging out, it's more fun
anyway, but you never know when the

business opportunity might pop up or it
might be two connections away, right?

So someone knows that you're into
domaining and you have a marketplace

and maybe there's just a couple
introductions that need to be made.

So you might never do a business deal with
a lot of the People that you're making

friends with, but they know other people.

And then you kind of
just expand your network.

So it's very clear when you take a step
back and if you're not in a hurry and

you're thinking, Hey, I'm just going
to meet people, good people, and maybe

there'll be some opportunity in the
future, but you're not even thinking that.

You're just thinking, we're going to
get out here and meet some cool people.

Now, Alex, are you more of an
extroverted person or introverted?

How do you.

Describe yourself or somewhere in
the middle, just spectrum, right?

Alex: I think somewhere in the middle,
because for instance, I don't really

like loud parties, so if it ends up
being like a very loud party, I'll

probably hang around for 30 minutes to
an hour and say hello to a few people,

have a few drinks, and then I'm gone.

But at the same time, I
really enjoyed masterminds.

So masterminds.

And as of recently throughout the
last year, like most of the events

that we've attended, that's Matt
Diggity's Chagmai SEO and Matt Singer's.

As your mastery summit, they've
been able to pull to pull off

some really great masterminds.

So the format is very simple.

You end up in groups
of five to six people.

Then you end up introducing yourself
and sharing your experience, then

stating one or two issues that
the entire group is trying to give

feedback on or help you solve.

And beyond just getting feedback on the
problem that you have, it's building

up some really great relationships.

So regardless if you're an introvert or
extrovert, that provides tremendous value

that you simply cannot get otherwise.

Like it's almost impossible to get it
otherwise from somebody else because

all those people are so close to your
industry and to whatever you're doing.

So I don't think like I'm meeting so many,
like I'm in touch with so many people that

call them, openly call them extroverts.

People call themselves introverts and
I'm never going to attend a conference.

I'm never going to meet someone in person.

I like the main reason why I run
an online business is because I

don't like hanging out with people.

This myth kind of pops the minute you are
there and all of a sudden you end up being

surrounded by awesome people talking to
them and to some extent I think most of

them think of themselves as introverts.

But in that particular time
frame throughout the event.

It just kind of fades away for it.

It may be stressful for someone,
but it fades away the moment you

realize those are people just like me.

They're not different.

Doug: A room full of people that
say they're introverted, just

talk all night and hang out.

And they're the most extroverted
introverts I've ever seen in my life.

And you know what, one other piece, I
know I'm probably in the middle as well.

Like I don't like too loud of a party
unless I have too many drinks and then

I need to get out of there anyway,
as I'm getting older, I'm learning

that, but you can pick the size of
group that you want to hang out.

So.

Sometimes it's just one on one and there's
gonna be other people that can meet

you right where you're at and they're
like, you know It's a little loud in

here Why don't we step away and maybe
it'll be two or three other people in

a lot of introverts I think because I
used to identify as an introvert and

then I realized I don't need to put
a label on myself I can do whatever

I need to do, but they are They're so
welcoming that the anxiety, even if

you're an introvert kind of melts away
and if most people are okay dealing

one on one or with a very small group,
so you could pick what you want to do.

You don't have to be like
the life of the party.

You just need to be able to chat
with like one or two people.

And that's a hundred percent fine.

No one's, no one's paying
attention to you anyway, right?

No one really cares if you're in the
big group or not in the big group.

So.

Alex: That's very accurate.

In fact, one thing that I've been actively
doing during the past year is whenever

we're flying somewhere to an event I've
been just tweeting or just posting on

Facebook Hey, I'll be around you know
This city this event for the time being

if you want to meet up Just ping me and
I've been able to do up to 10 meetings

during an event that are not connected to
the event So these come from my experience

You know, business owners, digital
marketers who don't necessarily want to

attend the event, but they're around.

So they're keen to meet for breakfast.

They're keen to meet for coffee.

They're keen to meet for, have
dinner, invite to their place,

hang around, exchange ideas,
just build those relationships.

Now, another thing, even if you're the
attending the event, there are so many

places where you can actually hang
around and have a chat one on one.

Except the event itself, like, you're in
a hotel, you're in a big place, you can

go anywhere, there are restaurants, there
are coffee places, you can go outside,

you can go across the street, go to a
Starbucks, and just chat over there, it's

not really necessary to be physically
present in that conference if you don't

enjoy it, even though you I haven't seen
too many people that do not enjoy it.

As you said, like it just
fades away right away.

Yeah.

Doug: One, one thing I'm disappointed.

Uh, Kyle roof invited me to
speak at, is it SEO Estonia?

Is that

Alex: correct?

In June?

Yes.

Yes.

We'll be there.

Doug: And I, I'm, I was so disappointed.

I, we had some other travel
plans that conflicted, but I told

Kyle, invite me again, but I was.

I want to visit that part of the world.

I want to meet you and
the team and everything.

But I won't be able to attend.

So I'm pretty disappointed in that, but
I would encourage people to check it out.

It's coming up before too long.

I believe it's in June, 2024, but
it looks like a blast and maybe

the perfect time of year to be
in that neck of the woods, right?

Alex: Yep.

Yep.

No, it's a great event.

It would be very cool to have you there.

Doug: So maybe next year, when I was
looking at flights, I was like, well,

this is not going to be a short trip.

I want to make sure I spend some
time in various areas up there

that I have not been able to visit.

That's a great part of the world that I
want to get to so okay before we wrap it

up The March updates especially in the
content site world Really shook things up

and a lot of people are sort of scrambling
and I chatted with one or two people

That have attended some events recently
and they felt the the vibe was a little

bit different You know, there there
have been times where people are They're

flourishing, you know, they're making
money hand over fist Everything's great.

They could do no wrong, which is always,
you know, people need to be cautious

when they get that feeling, by the way,
but things have changed a little bit.

So what's the feeling out there as you've
attended a couple events here recently?

Alex: Well, it's, I'd say it's mixed.

Because I've been sitting at
the same table with uh, Jason

Hennessey, who has an agency.

And like, I, I think they're doing,
like, I think, like, he, he mentioned

they're doing like 15 million to 20
million this year with client SEO.

And he's one of the best SEOs I,
I, I, like I've met in my life.

And he really knows what SEO
is and how to rank sites.

Now, some people may say, I
don't want to deal with clients.

I hate dealing with clients.

I don't like the way he does business
made me want to start an agency side of

ODYS really like it was so inspiring.

So I think the problem is also in
diversifying because so many people

say, I'm an affiliate marketer.

I don't deal with clients.

I don't want to pick up the phone.

I don't want to call anyone.

And then you get obliterated by
these updates, like smart folks.

I'd say them, I'd call them
smart, mainly because they do not,

they see SEO as knowledge that
they can apply anywhere, right?

They take clients as consulting.

They run their own affiliate websites.

They have their own brands.

They have their own clients.

So they use knowledge as skills.

They use knowledge to, to, to, you
know, to, to just implement whatever

they know for people that request it.

So those people, their sentiment.

I haven't, I haven't really seen that
it's been affected to some extent.

It's more like, again, the traditional
affiliate and content marketers who

are a little bit sad, unfortunately,
because some of them indeed have lost

90 percent of their income overnight.

But in some of the cases, like when
you go to these events and you meet

people like Jason Hennessy and Other,
like, successful agency owners, you do

realize that, well, if they're doing
it, I could be able to do it as well.

And it's not just me, like, even
the affiliate markets, and some are

finding light in the end of the tunnel.

And they're able to kind of rethink
the entire strategy and say, well,

I don't mind taking 5 10 clients.

Maybe.

And that could be like a real solid
revenue stream for me and I could

probably reattempt to build my affiliate
websites in a different manner.

They might get affected, but
it's a risk I can afford to take.

So more or less, I think that
the sentiment is, is spreading

like a virus, but the, I see more
optimism at the end of the day.

Because we're all
entrepreneurs somewhere here.

And regardless of how
bad it is, we will still.

Have more faith in, in a potential
positive outcome and try to get it

done rather than accept that we've been
that we've been brought to our knees.

So, in most of these cases, the
feeling of hope, And of a better

future, it's what ends up coming
from meeting these great people.

And to be honest, it's a really
great feeling of being surrounded

surrounded by people that are more
successful than you, that haven't

been hammered like you, you did.

And that gives you hope.

So overall, the sentiment,
I wouldn't call it bad.

There are some people who had very
niche focused businesses, which got hit.

But overall, there is plenty to
learn for them included as well.

Doug: I haven't seen this
play out exactly, but I think

this will probably happen.

So in the, I mean, I'm fairly deep
in the content site world, although

over time I sort of de risks, de
risked myself and, you know, sort of

diversified what I was working on.

But in this situation, When everything
is sort of flipped upside down, it

kind of levels the playing field.

So I, I think of like someone who
was just getting started with, uh,

maybe content sites and SEO, and
maybe they were following someone who

unfortunately, you know, maybe they
lost 90 percent of their traffic.

Things have changed.

And I think it levels the playing field.

So if someone is starting off at the
beginning, They may be at a little bit of

an advantage because they don't have the
preconceived notions of the way things

were in 2016 or sometime in the past.

And there's this huge field of opportunity
because there are a lot of people with

a lot of SEO or other marketing skills.

They don't know how to deploy it, right?

The business models have changed.

Maybe they're going to start an agency.

Maybe they're going to shift
it over to some area where SEO

skills are very valuable, but
it's not the same business model.

So I think there's a huge
amount of opportunity.

We just don't know how it's
going to shake out here.

So again, no question, but if you have
any comments on that, I'd love to hear it.

Alex: So the question like
is content marketing debt

is affiliate marketing debt.

Not really, like you have to adapt.

And one common problem what I keep
seeing is the lack of skin in the game.

So again, the crowd, and I call them
a crowd, a group of people who said,

I don't want to deal with clients.

Therefore I won't be building an agency.

I won't be consulting anyone.

And even more, I just
want to build a website.

I don't want to deal with anyone.

I'm an introvert.

Now Google doesn't necessarily like that
because They want sites that solve a

problem and not just informationally.

And the advice I'd give is try
to rethink the overall strategy.

Like, if you're an informational website,
even if a travel niche, how about you

create an e commerce side of the business?

Selling, like, souvenirs, for instance.

Selling consulting.

Actually, there is a niche
for selling travel consulting.

Like, I would explain
how to navigate a niche.

I don't know, like some African country
that I have lots of experience with, or

I could put you in touch with some local
people there, so there are definitely

opportunities to be tapped into.

And another, so the e commerce
side of the business, one of our

most successful clients that has
up to seven 301 redirects, like

he owes a lawn care business.

Now, he provides lawn care as a
service in a certain state in the U.

S.

He owns a training course where
people sign up on loan and learn

how to start a loan care business.

He also has an e commerce side of the
business where he actually sells weed

killers, insecticides, pesticides,
fertilizers, and for products that

he doesn't, he's not able to fulfill
directly through the e commerce

side of the business, and that's on,
on one single website, by the way.

He has an affiliate site where he actually
reviews products from Amazon and say, I'm

not able to fulfill it, but you need it.

It's in your lawn care business.

So click here to buy it.

And his website keeps going up,
but he has a 60 plus thousand

subscribers on his YouTube channel.

He's active on social media.

It's a real brand.

So he's making money from his course.

He's making money from
affiliate marketing.

He's making money from
the products he fulfills.

And I, I don't think that, I think it's
job shipping, but it doesn't even matter.

So I think, think about like, if
there is no service you provide,

because you don't want to, actually
sell something to someone, you

don't want to treat it as a service.

Most likely, like you will be
hammered again during the next update.

So treat it more as a business, like
build like a real brand feeling towards

the side that you're building and,
you know, start getting along with

people who might be your customers.

You never know.

Doug: That's a great spot to end it.

I want to tell people where they could
find you and everything, but I always

want to give you an opportunity to mention
anything that you want to close out with,

or if you want to mention any specific new
services or things that you're doing over

at ODYS, I'll just leave the floor open
and Alex, you could share those things.

Alex: Um, not really, as of recently,
I I've been reconsidering the

overall approach to marketing and,
uh, I've been listening to Gary V.

So Gary V used to say.

Like the best marketing aims to do
two things, entertain or educate.

Like if you're trying to pitch someone
something where they're trying to get

educated or just have fun listening to
this podcast Most likely it won't work.

So people know me.

I'm the founder of a domaining business
mainly focuses on age domain you can find

me on social media Alex, AlexODYSGlobal
very easy to find and Yeah, if you if

you want to buy or sell age domains go to
ODYSGlobal But that's really like the goal

of this podcast was not to pitch anything.

It's more like to You know, hang around
and have a, have a great chat around

SEO business and and life, to be honest.

Doug: Very good.

Alex, it's always fun to catch
up, so we'll link up and make

sure people can find all of your,
you know, your socials out there.

And I'll give a plug for
y'all's YouTube channel.

You guys do a weekly kind of a roundtable.

Very cool.

I've been on it a couple of times, but
people can sign up for the email list to

be informed when you guys are going live.

And it's over there on YouTube.

Like always, people can go through the
back catalog and check out their favorite,

uh, SEO personality, but there's usually
like three or four people on there.

So a lot of fun, a lot of good discussion.

Alex: Awesome.

Thanks.

Doug: Thank you.

Thanks to Alex and be sure
to check out ODYS Global, the

source for premium age domains.

And if you have any questions or
comments or you want to connect with

him a little bit further, you can
follow the links in the description.

He's a very approachable,
very cool guy, and always a

pleasure to catch up with him.

If you dig the show.

Please leave a review out there really
helps out as far as giving people the

confidence to want to check out more
episodes or download their very first one.

And if you know someone that
could benefit from one of the

shows, then please share it.

Word of mouth is one of the best
ways to help grow a podcast.

And I really do appreciate your support
and we'll catch on the next episode.