An Interview with Brian Jackson

Brian Jackson is a professional internet marketer who is known for his marketing company OKay Marketing. Brian recently joined Rise Forums and was kind enough to take part in an interview for all you.

In the interview, he explains how he helps clients online and how he got involved working online. I hope you enjoy the interview.

You are well-known for being the owner of OKay Marketing, however let’s rewind a bit. Can you tell us how you got started in internet marketing?

Well, if you rewind all the way it really started in the 6th grade when my parents first bought a computer. At the time, we had NetZero dial-up (kickback to the good old days), and after browsing around the internet I discovered eBay.

The idea of selling my stuff from home and making money through the internet was such an exciting idea. By the time 8th grade came along, I had a full drop ship business going reselling DVDs and CDs on eBay. There were some CDs that were selling like hotcakes at a profit of over $10 per CD.

I remember that feeling of accomplishment and pride when I bought my $1,500 laptop computer with cash; all from the money I had earned online. And ever since then I have been making money online in a lot of different areas.

What was the biggest hurdle you faced when you first started working online?

I think the biggest hurdle I faced when I started working online was deciding which avenue I wanted to go down. I have spent a lot of time in a lot of different areas and some were more successful than others. There was eBay, affiliate marketing, Adsense, web development, blogging, etc.

Did you ever have an “Ahhh” moment when everything just clicked? If so, can you please tell us more about it.

I did… I think I had that “Ahhh” moment late in college. I was running a web hosting business (HighWire PCs) to pay for my tuition. At one point, I was hosting over 700 domains. I ended up having to sell it because the upkeep and support was just too much to take on with my class load.

When I sold the company, I realized that from that point on, I needed to work smarter, not harder. I needed to automate every piece of the business I could to make it succeed. And with all of my future ventures, I have always kept automation as the #1 priority.

Your company offers a wide range of services such as AdWords Campaign Management (PPC), SEO Optimization and Web Development. What service are most of your clients looking for when they approach you?

Most of the companies that approach us are small to medium sized businesses. And to be honest, a lot of them are in such a horrible place that they aren’t even at the place to order a PPC package. Most of them really need a new website that is responsive, and then a social media package.

This includes branding and creation of a FB page, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, etc… You would be surprised how many small companies aren’t utilizing social media at all. Once we get them on a good foundation, then we start looking at lead generation, CTAs, PPC, etc.

You also offer lead generation. Can you explain how you can help companies generate more leads and sales?

The biggest part of lead generation really is first knowing what your average customer value is. We work with each client and first calculate what an average customer is worth to them, or also referred to as cost of acquisition. So for example, if a client sell’s products that are on average, $50 a piece, than that means you need to generate a lead for less than $50 to make a profit.

A lot of companies don’t know their ROI and that is a big problem. We work with the client to map all that out, and are able to show ROI on each weekly marketing report that we give. Once you can prove that you are making a return on your investment, than it makes more sense to ramp up your advertising budget.

Our weekly marketing reports include information such as how many web form submissions they received, the number of calls they received from PPC versus organic (we use CallRail), and then their social media growth.

I think the key to getting more leads is first to start off with a good foundation. That is why we work with each client to first build that foundation and then generate leads.

You might have an amazing PPC campaign with great ads and good quality scores, but if they hit a bad landing page, they aren’t going to convert into a lead. That is why the website (or foundation) is critical to us generating more leads. And we help clients build that foundation.

How has Search Engine Optimisation changed since Google released their Panda and Penguin updates?

SEO changes every week, it is never the same and that is one reason I love it! I would say the biggest change right now from Panda and Penguin is that content is simply becoming more and more important. Content has always been King!

For static pages, Google is wanting higher quality content and more of it. We are talking like 5,000 word articles. Gone are the days of 450 word pages and ranking #1. It simply won’t happen anymore. And that is why our packages include content creation. It is something that no business should be overlooking.

What three products and services could you not live without and why?

• Buffer – As many of you know, Buffer is a tool to share content to your social media accounts. It is a tool I use every single day. It is simple, the UI is beautiful, and it makes my life easier so I can spend time on more important things.
• WordPress – WordPress is the foundation for which we build websites on. We normally won’t accept a client if they are using something else. I have worked with a lot of third party CMS platforms, and there are none that compare to WordPress. We use it as more of a framework now than anything. If you want something done, there is nothing WordPress can’t do. WordPress also helps automate a lot of our processes.
• RescueTime – This is something I have just started recently using. RescueTime is a program you install on your computer and it generates reports based on your daily habits. This allows me to see how productive I am being and where I need to focus more time.

What are your main goals for 2014?

My main goals for 2014 is to grow OKay Marketing and help as many clients as we can to become more successful with their businesses.

You lose your business, lose your home and lose all your money. If a kind stranger offered you $1,000 to start working online again, how would you invest it?

To be honest, I would start up another business doing the exact same thing I am doing right now. I would take $500 and put it towards PPC and $500 towards content creation.

What would be your number one tip to anyone just starting working online?

The #1 tip is to never give up. Making money online doesn’t have to be hard, but you will fail sometimes. If you do fail, learn from it, and move forward!

A huge thank you to Brian for taking part in this interview. You can find out more about Brian at Okay Marketing. You will also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and of course, Rise Forums.