Ranking Revolution

Doug: Hey, what's going on?

Just wanted to pop in before
we get to the episode today.

I'm talking to drag of the full
intro as normal, and this is a

two part interview as normal.

I do like to split these up.

In the first part, we talk a
little bit more about YouTube

and building a personal brand.

And in the second part, we get into
the details of his consultancy and

what happened after he got laid off
and the kind of work that he does.

So I'll keep it pretty simple.

Like I said, there's the
full intro coming up.

I will ask a favor of you, if possible,
if you like the show, if you want

to help out quick little favor for
me is leaving a review on whatever

platform you check this out on,
probably on Apple podcast or Spotify.

Bye.

A lot of people do watch
on YouTube as well.

So you can leave a comment there.

It always helps out.

So thanks a lot.

And we'll get to the interview right now.

Welcome to the ranking revolution
podcast, your go to source for strategies

and ideas for SEO, organic growth,
content creation, and online business.

I'm Doug Cunnington, your host,
Paul Andre de Vera is a 20

plus year B2B digital marketer

who creates engaging, educational, and
entertaining video content that ranks.

His innovative approach has made Dre a
sought after speaker, online educator,

and organic growth strategist for
B2B companies like SAP and Workday.

He's a diehard Raiders fan who lives
with his two Yorkies, Buddha and Santo.

And you'll find Dre hosting
the live stream and it's called

SEO video show on Fridays.

At noon Pacific time, which has
accumulated over 80, 000 watch hours.

This hits close to home here.

He always looks for the next great place
to devour a great, delicious ribeye steak,

and occasionally sip a glass of whiskey.

He was recently laid off and now generates
more revenue in one year than he did

in his 20 plus year corporate career by
providing SEO consultation to hyper growth

startups and local businesses at Paul.

So today we're going to talk YouTube
and building a personal brand.

Plus a little bit about SEO
consulting for startups.

So Dre, welcome to the show.

Thanks for joining me.

Dre: My brother, Doug.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you for inviting me.

Doug: Yeah, this is pretty cool.

We haven't talked in a while and
we're just catching up and eventually

we realized, Hey, we got to hit
record and start doing the show here.

So I want to.

I want to go a little deeper
and hear about your background.

We're not going to spend too much time on
the 20 year corporate career, but how'd

you get into digital marketing and such?

And then we'll, we'll get into
some of the details on YouTube

and live streaming and all that.

But yeah, what's your background?

How'd you get into it?

Dre: Yeah, back in 97, I was,
I started creating websites.

I was, I was still in high school,
just graduated and then got into

graphic design and then more likely
like web design, web development.

And so I got a degree in college
and was able to tie all that

in naturally with when it comes
to digital marketing and SEO.

Doug: Right.

And did you just go the
corporate route, pretty standard

after that and toiled around?

Yeah.

Dre: Actually, I was an entrepreneur
right out of right out of college.

So I was a content creator back in 2003.

I was shooting I had a glamour website.

It was more kind of, you know, it was
kind of, it was kind of Playboy style

type of website where you would, I would
have people subscribe to a membership

that would join and that's how I actually
first got into SEO because I was able

to see like, it was called penise.

com and people were searching like,
you know, Filipino women and whatever

it was, you know, like I was a website
on Filipinos and I was like, Oh, wow,

these are actually kind of searches
that people are searching for.

And I was able to rank for, you know, hot
Filipinos, hot panais and stuff like that.

But I mean, it eventually led off
into starting a, a, a club promotion

company where I started ranking for
like San Francisco nightlife, San

Francisco parties, and then eventually
led to a clothing line where I was

ranking number one for streetwear
back in 2006, which actually generated

tons of for my clothing brand.

And that was Out in
Berkeley Telegraph Avenue.

Doug: Holy cow.

That's pretty crazy.

And so I'm half Filipino
and you're, you're Filipino.

So, yeah, very, super interesting.

You were just like, Oh, I'm getting
into websites and you figured out like,

Hey, people are looking for this stuff.

And you were into search
engines, like way back.

Dre: Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, obviously I wasn't, I
decided it was, we didn't even

have Google Analytics back then.

It was probably like a, it was hit
list or something like that, where it

was just like, you would look and see
who was your referrers and it would

just show a bunch, a bunch of search
engines was majority of my traffic.

And I was just like wondering,
oh, that's interesting.

And then you think about it it goes back
to this term was not, probably wasn't

even invented back then, or it probably
was, but not in our terms, but when we

say niche, You know, if we have our own
niche, a Pinay, you know, which pinays.

com is means a Filipino woman.

It's, it's, and it's, it was a site
of a bunch of beautiful Filipino

women and that's really, really niche.

Right.

So it was, I had my
own niche at that time.

Yep.

Doug: Got it.

Okay.

So let's fast forward and we're not
going to be able to go too deep into like

you getting laid off and how like the
personal brand and the whole transition

and, and all that stuff, but we'll save
that discussion for my other podcast,

the Doug show, but when we first met,
it was because you were doing your You

know, your live show, SEO video show.

And I was like, all right,
this, this looks cool.

We'll check it out.

And you've been doing
that for a little while.

So let's jump into YouTube.

And why did you start that channel?

Why?

What made you think you could do it?

Do a YouTube like live SEO
show that also is pretty niche.

Dre: Yeah, it was pretty crazy because
again, I was, I was, I came back from

a, a art, I had an art degree, right?

It was more multimedia graphic design.

So I had a background in video
photography and all that good stuff.

And at the same time, I've never had a
chance to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to

Get on YouTube or start doing any of my
personal projects ever since I was in the

corporate, um, when I had a corporate job.

Like, you know, taking photos and taking
videos was something I did for fun.

And having a corporate job
really took a lot of my time.

And then what happened was, when we
had the pandemic happen, We were all

stuck at home and I had a, I had a
ton of equipment, you know, I had a

ton of equipment, a ton of lighting.

I was like, you know, I'm gonna put
this to use now and I definitely had

to upgrade some of my cameras because
I haven't been using them for a while.

So I get some more digital cameras and
then I set everything up and obviously

live streaming was still, I was also
pretty new to me as well because I didn't

learn live streaming back in college.

But so I had, I took a course, I
took a course on live streaming.

It was, I wanted to go, I feel like I
feel better like doing live things than

recording things because there's so much.

post production.

I just like doing things live.

Like when it comes to photography, I
like making sure everything was set.

And then when I take the pictures,
I don't have to do any edits.

And then it just, you know, you
post it straight to the website.

And that's how I was able
to get into live streaming.

I just really, I didn't
know anything about it.

It took me about three months after
finishing a course and I like had all

the equipment and actually bought more.

And I was able to launch my
very, very first episode in

like the first week of July.

Doug: Of the pandemic year.

So 20, 2020,

Dre: 2020.

So we're, we're, we're
over four years now.

So I've been doing the live stream
every Friday for four years.

So that's, you know, that's, that's
something that takes dedication.

And again, it's, it's fun.

I have fun doing it.

Like I kind of, I feel bad when I
miss it because I was like, I, you

know, I just like, love doing it.

Doug: Yeah, that's cool, man.

Congrats on, you know,
making it over four years.

I.

Don't know if you know this, but
when I started on YouTube, I did

a few videos and then I kind of
agree with you as far as like the

editing, like it was such a time suck.

And I actually, I kind of enjoyed
it, but it just took a lot of

time and I wasn't as good at it.

And I wanted to remove the
barriers and doing live stream.

Those were my, that was my answer.

If you do a live stream, people are
a little bit more patient and I was

doing two for per week for a while.

And you end up with some kind of weird
skill set where you can think on your

feet, you have to do a couple things at
once and you have to answer the questions.

It was terrifying.

And also sometimes no one was there,
so I don't even know why I was scared,

but what was it like the first couple
live streams that you did where you

were like, all right, we're doing this.

Yeah, it's going to be live.

Dre: Oh, you got to see it.

That's if you compare my very
first video to what it is now.

I mean, I tend to talk fast already.

I was talking double
fast when I first got on.

I was nervous.

People were saying, Hey,
take a breath, dude.

Cause I was kept going.

It was one of those
things where I feel like.

When we, you know, you mentioned like
when we do live, there's a lot of

leeway and I think it's more raw and
I think a lot of people like that and

get, you become more engaging, you
become more authentic and, and when

you make mistakes, you learn from them.

Like there's one time when I was
actually interviewing someone

and their, their internet cut
off and I didn't know what to do.

I just ended the live
stream and I was done.

And I, so I thought about,
let me have a panic button.

So if that happens again,
it'll turn on music.

And it'll wait and say, Hey, you know,
and bring me back and well, let's wait

for my, you know, Guests to come back
on instead of me panicking and just like

shutting off the live stream So there's
one episode I believe in one of my first

10 where it was like Less than 30 minutes
because I cut them off so quickly.

Doug: Interesting.

I never thought to do
the panic button thing.

That's a great idea.

The last time, this was only a
couple of months ago, I was talking

to someone on a live stream, their
internet was going in and out.

So I just, I ad libbed.

I like, I don't even know.

I just rambled on.

It's like, I think I made some
bad jokes or whatever, but did

you ever do a Toastmasters?

Dre: Yes, I did.

I was president for four years at my
in my work, we had a corporate club

where we competed with everyone.

Yes, I was a president at
Toastmasters for four years.

Doug: Oh, so you're the real deal.

I was like, I went to a couple of meetings
and I remember there was an activity.

You can correct me cause I'm going to get
it a little bit wrong, Dre, but basically

it was like a minute and a half or so.

And basically it's like
a topic out of a hat.

And you add topics.

Table topic.

Okay.

Yeah,

Dre: impromptu speeches.

Yep You have to talk on a topic
for one minute at least a minute

minute and a half at the max.

It's hard.

Yeah

Doug: Yeah, and you don't know what
it is You can't prepare but a couple

little things like that and I think
you know that type of skill Is one that

you get with live streaming and I do, I
got to make sure I'm asking you enough

questions, but I was going to say, I
was asked to lead a breakout session

at a conference a few months ago and
I did what, you know, I started off.

With sort of group activities
as I was instructed.

But as I went around, I discovered that
they actually wanted to hear me talk.

So I did an ad lib, basically like
a 30 minute presentation based on

the feedback and all that, and made
sure like I was answering their

questions that I found and like, how.

Had a much better discussion than
what was originally planned, but

like live streaming gives you the
capability to not like melt down when

it was like a hundred people or so.

And I just, I was like,
okay, I'll do the speech.

I know what I'm talking about.

So it was more like telling a story.

I'm curious about your Toastmaster.

So it was at the company that you were
working at and you were, you were into it.

Can you talk a little bit about
your interest in speaking?

Dre: Oh yeah, I was very, definitely
interested because the one, one

thing, there was another company
prior to this company where I was,

I was passed up on, on a promotion.

I was trying to get a, I was trying
to, so there was, they put up a new

job, this thing, and I wanted to
like say, hey, you know what, I want

to go for this, this new position.

And then I was told that they
wanted someone that could speak

to leadership more, you know.

Really clearly and I was like, oh,
I was like, ah, man, I mean, I guess

you know I wasn't polished enough
when I would how I would talk and

so I decided to do something about
it when I went to My next job.

I was like, you know what?

I'm never gonna let this happen to me
again I went I found out this company

offers Toastmasters for their employees
And I went to it for four years.

For the first two years, I was just an
attendee then became the VP of education.

The third year, then my fourth
year there, I was the president.

And then she became
president of Toastmasters.

Doug: So aside from the obvious, or
maybe you could just give the obvious,

but what were some of the biggest
takeaways or benefits that you got from

being in Toastmasters, just one or two?

Dre: There's definitely the fear of
public speaking, right, because you,

anyone in front of you, you'll have it.

But the thing is, you're in a safe place.

Everyone there is there
for, to listen to you.

So you just kind of get
over those nerves that way.

And one of the other
things is the ahs and ums.

Because when you go to one of
these meetings, you get ahs, ums.

And sometimes there's some places
where you would have to throw in like

a quarter for every ah or every um.

And then, you know, there's
a little pot that we go into

that goes back to the club.

And so that really trains
you to do the right thing.

Stop your ahs and ums and just pause
just pause and of course hand gestures I

think I think I get called out a lot on
my hand gestures But I do learned a lot

from hand gestures through Toastmasters
because at the time, you know You're

walking around in a room, you know,
and and actually if you do the same

thing on video, it does get dynamic

Doug: Perfect.

And I I think Baked into it
is you end up with confidence.

So like I said, I only went
to a couple meetings and It

was right during the pandemic.

So we moved over to zoom meetings and
because I was already doing YouTube for

a few years, it wasn't as impactful.

I needed to feel nervous by
going in front of people.

And eventually, like I built
a few skills around that.

But all the things you mentioned the
ums and ahs, ironically, it's like

they still sneak in, but it is okay.

I'm much more likely to take
a pause, but you do get this

sort of confidence in case.

It's rare whenever you have to
like give an impromptu speech,

but you probably can ad lib.

You make a couple bullet points
and you can talk for two or three

minutes and you're much more likely to
understand how long you've been talking

so that you can keep things short.

It's much better to give a short
speech than one that's too long.

Dre: Yeah, I could definitely do an
impromptu toast, like how our Toastmasters

came from, or even impro impromptu speech
at, I mean, as, as as dark as a funeral.

But I mean, people would
say, Hey, did you write that?

I'm like, no, that came hard.

I thought that came from my
heart and off the top of my head,

.
Doug: So let's, let's shift back
into the, the YouTube stuff.

So you decided to do a live show
and do you do any prerecorded

stuff or is everything live?

Dre: I majority is everything's live.

I, but I will do some recorded stuff just.

If I'm either creating a commercial
for my sponsors, I'll record that.

But for the most part, I do live stuff.

I may actually want to even take my format
and replicate it in another niche and a

bigger niche because right now I'm, I'm
an SEO, you know, there's only so much

SEO, but if I go in a bigger niche, like,
like I say, AI and bring that exact same

format, I think it'd blow them away.

Doug: I think you're right.

It's a, it's a tough format.

It really is much harder than people
think, just for a lot of the reasons that

we're describing, like imagine YouTube,
but then you can't edit it at all.

So yeah, it makes it difficult.

Okay.

So you do a couple of pre recorded
segments, but basically it's live.

Do you also publish it as a podcast?

Dre: Yes, but a podcast is it's different.

So what I do is is it's a totally
different property So I have the seo

video show right and then I also have
the seo knowledge bomb podcast It's

basically taking all the nuggets or the
knowledge bombs from each episode And

then like there's maybe five of them
and then I read it out on a podcast.

So the two separate entities that will
have, provide the same value, provide

value, but you know, one's a lot shorter,
one's like in five minutes, and while

the podcast is like an hour, and I
mean a podcast that shows an hour,

and the way I do this is all with AI.

I recorded my voice, I've actually
asked AI to kind of, hey, can you

take out the five key things from my
interview with so and so, and then

create a podcast for me to read?

And then I have my AI voice that I
recorded on 11labs to read it and I

upload it straight to what's that?

Budsprout and then have it syndicated
through Spotify, Amazon Apple

podcasts and stuff like that.

So I create, I have two different
properties, but kind of using,

they're still original content, right?

Because it's coming from
my content, but it's just

repurposing it in a different way.

Doug: Perfect.

And I like that.

It's, it is tough to have the long format.

People like to consume different lengths
of content, whether it's a ultra short

form or if it's just, you know, quick
hits when they're, you know, they can

also queue up cause you'll, you'll
have a lot of these episodes, right?

You've been doing it for a while.

So conceivably someone could find the
show and just kind of listen to them all.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And they're five minutes,
they could listen all day and

they could finish it up quick.

Dre: Exactly.

Doug: Love that idea.

All right.

So what was the initial goal?

So you're stuck at home,
you have the video skills.

You're like, I've been doing SEO.

I have this knowledge.

You want to talk to people, right?

Another benefit is like, you get some
social networking, even though you're

at home where we're all stuck at home.

And.

Did you have a specific goal for
monetization or anything like that?

And, uh, overall business plan?

Dre: Well, no, I did not.

I mean, my overall goal was to actually
learn from all of these, these really

good SEOs and digital marketers.

It was kind of like to really pick their
brains and, you know, and having, I'm

able to share that knowledge with everyone
else that didn't have access to them, but.

I'd say maybe after the second year
after 2, 000 subscribers, I, one of my

guests I interviewed goes, Hey, have
you ever thought about having a sponsor?

I was like, no, and that's when I
like, I decide to like, they're like,

Oh, so how much would you charge?

So I was asked, I didn't
know how to do this.

I asked around, I asked I asked
Lauren Baker over at Search Engine

Journal because he, I was on his show.

I was like, Hey, how much do
you usually charge for sponsors?

So he gave me a number and I
was looking at other numbers.

So then I came up my own with my own
number and offered it to the, the company.

And they said, okay.

And they, they sponsored the whole
year with only 2000 subscribers.

And I really felt it was, they told me
like, they loved the production and they,

they saw my passion within the project.

And then they, they totally
wanted to sponsor it.

So I was like.

Oh, thanks.

Cool.

Doug: Well, let's, can you talk a little
bit about the analytics and stuff?

And I'll ask you a bunch
of pointed questions.

You can say, Hey, I don't want to
answer as proprietary or whatever.

Okay.

So we'll start at like the number of
subscribers on YouTube these days.

So how many do you have?

Dre: Right now it's about 1100, 11,
500, I believe are on there, but

Doug: yeah, I don't,

Dre: it's not that much.

I'm, I'm, I'm far from like
getting my silver silver.

Bladder

.
Doug: That's amazing though.

Like, you know, there's some
thresholds are somewhat arbitrary,

but like they mean something.

So it's like a thousand, 10,000.

Yeah.

And then like every 10,000
up to a hundred thousand.

Yeah.

It's like, oh man, this is crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So congrats.

So, and I mean, overall like.

SEO is a, it's sort of a, it feels like
a big market if we're all in this bubble.

But when you like look at it,
it's actually kind of a, it's

a very niche industry overall.

So 11, 000 is like a pretty big channel
for the kind of show that you do.

Dre: Yeah, no, definitely.

I mean right now it went from like
earning like 2, 000 a month from,

from having like 2, 000 subscribers
and now over into earning 10, 000 a

month just with 11, 000 subscribers.

So like, that's, and that's
all through sponsorships.

And I mean, I'm getting, I'm
getting pennies on, on, on AdSense.

I mean, I think the most I made in
a day was maybe a little more than

a hundred dollars, like that's the
most, but now it tanked down like

earlier, like I think sometime
last year to like down to like 20.

So like, I'm like, ah, whatever.

I'm getting all my sponsors are
taking care of me right now.

Doug: Do you turn off ads on everything
nowadays because it's so low?

Dre: Oh, I never thought of that.

I actually never thought of that.

I mean, I wonder maybe I should because
I actually get interrupted all the time.

During my live stream, I keep
canceling because of, hey,

we're about to show an ad.

I was like, oh no, I keep canceling that
because I don't want it to interrupt

like the flow of the live show.

Doug: Right.

Yeah.

I would recommend turning it off.

Cause like you're earning money and
that's the thing I, I have turned

ads off for like a few years cause
I was selling my own courses and I

was like, I don't want other people's
ads to show while I'm doing my stuff.

So I would say, yeah, just turn it off.

And then.

People don't get interrupted
and you could even say like

hey, I turned off all the ads.

And you know Visit the sponsors like these
are the people that actually support the

show that kind of thing Because there's
that otherwise there's like jokers

coming on doing ads on your on your show

Dre: Yeah, no, I mean I didn't think of
that So I mean, but actually I never so

I never know who advertises on my channel
because I actually pay for YouTube,

the, the, the, the premium YouTube.

So I can't, I never watch ads.

So, I mean, I should actually be
watching them as a marketer myself.

I should be seeing what people are
putting out there, but I mean, I

get annoyed myself, like, man, every
single five seconds, good Lord.

Doug: It's yeah, it's insane.

It's funny.

I, I also have the.

The YouTube premium.

So I, I have no clue, like
what ads come out there.

Okay.

So let me get back on track here.

Drew, we could just talk for hours,
like school girls, just about

every, everything unrelated to the
real questions I need to ask you.

Okay.

So, earnings went up a lot.

You didn't have a plan.

You got some advertisers on.

That's great.

How many views do you
typically get like per episode?

And I know it varies a lot because of
the algorithm, but what do you say?

Okay.

Dre: It's about a thousand about
between between let's say 900 to 1200

on average person and that's within
a week Like I buy that by the time I

by the time I interview someone else.

Yeah the previous previous Video has about
about a thousand and it's interesting

because I mean the first day You'll
probably get the hundred or whatever,

but I get a lot more throughout the week.

It's not it's I mean I would
love for everyone To like, all

1000s to show up and livestream.

I mean, that'd be awesome, but, but
you know, I purposely scheduled my

livestream at 12pm Pacific Standard
Time because it's lunchtime.

Because I didn't want to make sure
you know, when I was working at my

corporate gig, that I was gonna, like,
go into, like, you know, their time.

So I made sure it was lunchtime at
12pm Pacific Standard Time on Fridays.

Doug: Perfect.

And this is amazing.

So, you know, I'm in the podcasting
world and the YouTube world and people,

you know, they hear like what earnings
might be and they think about the number

of downloads or the views or whatever.

But if you're in a niche
market, especially.

for professionals, like professional
marketers and SEOs, the sponsors,

they pay a lot of money.

So you're getting, you're doing
roughly four shows per month.

You said you're making like over
10 K per month from the show.

This blows any sort of RPM stats
that people might have been

familiar with out of the water.

Like it's not even close.

So I know when advertisers have
approached me, like general companies,

they're like, this makes no sense.

Like people that are 10 times
bigger than you charge less

than what you're telling me.

But I'm like, Nope, that that's the rate.

Like that's the industry we're in.

So.

No,

Dre: exactly.

Exactly.

And, and the thing is with me, when
it comes to the industry, it's like,

I'm also, so the one thing I also do
is I do like live coverage or I do

coverage of other people's events.

So like, you know, Brighton SEO or SEO
Rockstars or any of these conferences,

I go out there and shoot the events
and like they get a coverage and also

post that on, on the channel as well.

So I try to make sure I'm really
out there with the community.

And like, that's one thing I want to.

You know, actually even disrupt myself.

So this year at Brighton SEO, I plan
on bringing a whole IRL kit with me.

I have a live view solo, which is a,
it's a modem that has four SIM cards from

different carriers, so I can actually
have a live, high quality internet

wherever I go connected to my camera.

And so now I'm going to
be doing live interviews.

In real life live on my
channel, so that's good.

Something new.

I'm gonna be doing and
plan on doing more of

Doug: yo, that's really cool I didn't
even know that was possible for like

regular, you know Prosumer grade people
like us because we got nice camera gear

or whatever, but I didn't know you I
mean It's probably not cheap to do that.

That's super cool, man

Dre: Yeah, I mean the whole setup for
the whole IRL setup is about three

grand and then you have to pay about
three hundred dollars a month for all

the SIM cards that you put in there.

So, and, and So I'm trying to
think of making sure I have ways.

Obviously, it's write off.

It's a business expense.

That's the one thing I tell a lot
of people, like, don't be afraid

to scare, spend money on yourself.

Like, you're the best investment.

You are the highest
return of ROI on anything.

And you can write it off.

Come on, you can write it off.

If you're in the United States, it's, it
just makes sense to just buy things you

need and things you want to like do to
like, at least trying to make more money.

Doug: Yeah.

Especially, I mean, to your point with
like camera gear, I've definitely,

I've taken advantage of that.

But I use it all for the business.

So it does make sense, but it's
fun to shoot some photos too.

Okay.

So what tips do you have for people that
are looking for sponsorships out there?

So let's say they have a fledgling show.

They have a little traction.

How do you get some people on board?

Dre: Okay.

As sponsors, how are you want to
get, how do they interview people?

I mean, guests.

Sponsors.

Okay.

Sponsor wise, one of the one of the
easiest ways that I was able to get

new sponsors was going to actually the
conferences and whoever has booths.

Because if you think about it,
they paid thousands of dollars for

that one day event for that booth.

If you can say, Hey, I, you give
them a month of sponsorship with my,

you know, over here with my beer,
you know, to my viewers and I'll

promote it and all that good stuff.

That's another great way to get it.

Another way is to interview CEOs
of other, of actual companies.

Sponsors.

That's how I got my
very first sponsorship.

It was, it was through it was actually
interviewing, I was interviewing Sam

Oh over at Ahrefs and he was, he was,
he's not necessarily the the owner,

but he was at Ahrefs and he was like,
hey, dude, you know, like, I think you

would love to sponsor your channel.

And I was like, okay.

So like, yeah, being able to,
um, understand, interview.

People that have, are companies that
actually sponsor other companies.

So like, for example, I feel, I think,
um, Semrush sponsors like Wix and, I mean,

just look at other, look at the channels,
or look at other people's channels and see

which companies are sponsoring channels,
and then somehow get your way in.

Either interview someone at that
company, and like, you know, kind

of work your way in, and then they
can at least notice you, and you

can possibly sell yourself that way.

But, the most important thing
to have is, Is your media kit.

I mean, you'll be surprised of
how many YouTubers, SEO YouTubers

out there who are told, This is
what you, this is all you need.

You need to pitch, have your media
kit to show this to companies.

You'll be able to, I guarantee you,
you'll be able to, like, land a sponsor

because you just send it off to them.

And, and just you're letting them
know that you, you want, you're doing

this as a business that you want them.

Cause yeah, I go to a lot of these
conferences and they're like,

Hey, how'd you get their sponsor?

I was like, bro, you have a lot
more you do a lot more shows and

a lot more videos and, and you
know, it should be easy for you.

And then I showed him
how to make a media kit.

I actually even, I was a photographer.

So I actually took his pictures and you
know, he's putting, he put, put it, he

actually put it together over that show.

And I'm not sure if he has gotten any
sponsors yet, but he's on his way to

Doug: very cool.

So fairly simple.

So let's say.

Well, I'll just ask you,
do you ask directly?

So obviously if people have the booths
or whatever, like, you know, they have

a marketing budget, you know, there's
a team in charge, so it, it has a

critical mass, but let's say you are
interviewing someone at the company.

Do you ever like, Go in for more of
a sales approach where you're like,

hey I'm actually looking for sponsors
if you guys are interested or do you

say a softer approach where maybe
you're like I'm looking for sponsors.

So if you know any one at other
companies, let me know where

you're saying like, hey If you know
anyone it's more of a networking.

So how do you do it personally?

It's

Dre: for me.

It's since they saw them on my sponsor.

They people would inquire in me
like hey How can I become a sponsor?

So right now I actually have a waitlist
on sponsorships Because I only want to

have three three at most Because, and
which is, which is, which is also why I

decided to like, Hey, I should just start
another channel because if I, if I can,

if I can't put in some sponsors here,
let me start another channel, build that.

And, you know, cause I can, I think
some of them could fit there and,

but, but yeah, so I actually limited
to three, so there is a wait list.

So I'm going down my wait list right now
because I had one sponsor just finish

his, his, their, their engagement with me.

So I'm going down my first list right now.

I'm giving them a week to reply.

If not, I'm going to go
down to my next person.

So yeah, so I have a decent list
of people who've always wanted to,

who've inquired, who I said I'll get
back to them once someone leaves.

But I'll tell you this, some sponsor,
I had a sponsor now that's been

there for like over three years
and then another one for two years.

So they, it's, they, they rarely leave,
but when they do, like I, I open it up.

Doug: Got it.

And when I was more active with
sponsors, I always, I like the rule

of three, right, to not disrupt
the show and not have too many ads.

And I always made sure.

There was never a competitor, right?

So it's like single
stream for this person.

So it sounds like you follow
the same kind of idea.

Dre: Well, that's, that's actually, I'm
actually some sponsors don't want to be

with other sponsors on, on the channel.

So like, you know, let
me know when they're off.

And then we'll, we'll come in.

So yeah, there's, they, they think
either, either it's, they think it's

competition or they just, you know,
cause you know, when it comes to SEO,

there's, there's, you can say there's
the white hat, black hat, and some,

some of the white hat companies that
want to mix in with black hat companies.

So the, you know, yeah,
there's some differences there.

I mean, yeah.

You know, there's nothing but, I
think it's whatever works, works.

No white hat, no black hat.

Doug: And do you, do you
have like a minimum term that

you'll let someone sign up?

Now, now you're more established and
you don't want to have churn and have

all these emails going back and forth.

So how do you set up the initial
engagement and what does it look like?

Dre: Yeah, I always ask for three
months and three, I say, and the thing

is, of course I would say, Hey, I,
I'll try to give 'em discount if they

pay up front for all three months.

But you know, like if they can at
least sign for three months, like,

you know, they can pay it monthly.

Monthly.

And, and for the most part, if they're
not happy, I don't mind letting them go.

I mean, it's, it's like, again,
I, I, I have that wait list where

it's like I can bring someone on
if they wanna go, if they wanna go.

But, but for the most part, like, right.

Yeah.

But I do want, I wish they would
follow at least the guidance where

I said at least give me 10 days
before the next month you cancel.

So it doesn't go into the this
month because right now, the

person told me after September
1st, so now it's like, oh okay.

I mean, now I, I, and I, I lose
a few weeks of this month now.

So, so now whoever, my next sponsor is
going to benefit from it because they're

going to get through this month and
the next month, you know, at one cost.

Doug: Got it.

And how long do the ads typically last?

Dre: The ads, they stay on for
as long as they're sponsored.

Their ads play on the show.

But one thing I do for my sponsors,
which is what they really love, is

I retarget their commercial that
I create for them to my audience.

So each, you know, each sponsor, like
my tenant, let's say if they've been

with me for a few months, they'll
have a video that has, has been

seen over 20, 000 times with a with
a click through rate of like a 0.

3, 0.

35.

Through video, right?

And it was, it's through my,
it's through like, and we target,

and these are just my audiences.

So it's like, it's no
one that doesn't know me.

So like, the engagement of watching
the videos, over 90%, the average view

time for all my, all my commercials.

And so it's like, they, you know, cause
they know who I am, they watch it.

I mean, I guess some, they
don't like skipping it.

I guess my commercials are pretty cool,
but but yeah, 90%, 90 percent watch time.

And again, it's my, we target all my
sponsors ads that I create for my show.

On its own to my audiences,
whoever, anyone that watched

the video on my channel.

Doug: Got it.

Okay.

Very cool.

Any other details around the sponsorship
or monetization for the show?

Dre: Again, one of the things I, I feel
like everyone just, just needs to have,

like, a lot of content creators do this,
but, and if you're just like, let's

say, like, maybe not your thing, but
having that media kit is really, really

important because it's, it's just, it's
kind of like your, it's like kind of your

business card, but it's just a big one.

I mean, it's basically a one pager of
all your stuff that you got going on.

Doug: And there's, uh, I created
mine with a Canva and of course

you can create it anywhere, but
there's some great templates there.

Is that what you do too?

Yeah.

Dre: Exactly.

I use Canva as well.

I was just like, fill it in and yeah,

Doug: okay.

Dre: Easy.

Doug: Yeah.

Yeah.

Very straightforward.

And for people that don't
know, it just has like some

of the stuff you could offer.

It's kind of like a, Part resume, part
like little price sheet, you know,

some people do put the prices in there.

Do you put the pricing in your, okay.

Dre: Yeah.

So, and I put different packages.

I have a platinum package, I have a gold
package and I have a brand ambassador.

So, you know, you can have me as
a brand ambassador to do like,

maybe be like, create content for
your channel and stuff like that.

I mean, I have something like that.

And I actually put out the platinum.

Okay.

Package just just because I really want
to sell you know the gold package But I

did I did have a couple people buy the
platinum package like all right Let's

do it So it's pretty much like a whole
channel takeover the logos on all the

thumbnails the logos like shows presented
by them You know basically it's basically

take some time to once a platinum
sponsor leaves It takes gonna take me

some time to redo everything to kind of
remove them at least from the channel

graphics and all my other social channels

Doug: Got it.

Okay.

Very cool.

Well, I think we could kind of close up
the YouTube focused portion and talk a

little bit more about the consultancy, but
I want to double check, is there anything

else that you want to add about YouTube?

And I guess sort of the, the nuts
and bolts of creating video and

doing a live stream and stuff.

Dre: Yeah.

When it, when it comes to video, I
feel like the ranking video is really,

really easy, but it does take some
like building your channel up to have

some type of authority, making sure,
establishing your, your, your channel's

entity within the Google ecosystem.

Right.

So you want to make sure that when
you start your channel, make sure

you link it to your Google ads,
link it to your Google business

profile, link link every your Google.

Analytics to your Google Search
Consoles, your Search Console to your

Analytics, if you tie this all together
and you have your own, build your own

entity within Google, you'll at least
become a trusted channel where you,

I feel you can like rank instantly.

You guys can test this out.

If, if you just schedule some live
streams, you'll be surprised how,

how some of your thumbnails will
just rank almost like immediately.

So like when I, when I schedule some
interviews for my guests and I just search

their name, I was like, Whoa, my, my
video is already on the number one video

on, on the first page for their name.

So, yeah.

So I'm telling you like live streaming,
it has, there's some benefits there.

I feel like Google loves it because live
streaming is the fresher than fresh.

I mean, what's, I mean, it's, it's,
it's freshest content out there.

Right.

I mean, it's because you're live.

So I feel like again, which is why
I even plan on taking even a step

further and doing like a whole show.

In real life, live streaming.

Doug: Thanks a lot to Dre.

It's always fun to catch up with him.

He has a lot of great energy and
very positive energy as well.

So as you know, this was part one.

Part two is coming out very
soon, or maybe it's already out.

And we talk a little bit more about
his consultancy and working on his own.

So we'll put links up and you can check
out the SEO video show and all that.

I've been on, uh, one, so I'm going
to be going on again pretty soon,

depending on when this episode comes
out and when you're listening to

it, have a great day out there and
we'll catch you on the next episode.