Sean Patrick Si tells us about SEO Hacker, the top destinations for SEO services.
Tell us about you, your career, and how you founded SEO Hacker.
Sean Patrick Si: I built SEO Hacker when I was 22 years old.
I used to work for HP, and I had a blog I used to test out my SEO learnings. Then someone from church asked me to do some SEO work for his company. The client turned out to be a Costa Rican gambling company, and the contract ended quickly.
About half a month later, I landed the biggest scuba diving company in the Philippines as a client. SEO Hacker was born after that.
Do you have small habits that made a meaningful impact on your life and business?
Sean Patrick Si: I pray. A lot. I believe that God granted me this company, and for that, I’ll always be thankful.
We also decided to deliberately build our company culture early on, and part of that is reciting our core values every Monday to remind each of us why we’re here and why we do what we do.
How does SEO Hacker market its product/services online?
Sean Patrick Si: A lot of inbound marketing and SEO.
It wouldn’t make sense for us to be an SEO agency if we can’t even rank for our own keywords, so we make sure you find us on page 1 of the SERPs.
We also have the SEO Hacker blog and Free Resources we’re building. In February, we actually made a report that got us 300+ leads in 3 months.
I sincerely believe that being in this line of work isn’t just about getting as many sales as possible but also giving as much value as we can to our community. That’s why we put a lot of effort into our articles and resources.
Besides, if people are going to work with us, it’s because they know we’re a trusted resource in this field—not because we sell cheap services or whatever reason is out there.
What specific tools, software, and management skills are you using to manage your online marketing?
Sean Patrick Si: We’re using the usual SEO and other marketing tools, and we actually have them in our SEO Hacker’s Internal Toolbox. These tools are the ones we absolutely vouch for.
In terms of skills, we definitely prioritize SEO, content and copywriting, and project management.
Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?
Sean Patrick Si: Other local SEO companies, especially those that appear on the first page when you search industry-specific keywords.
We work hard to stay in the game to ensure that our SEO is always a white hat. We do not compromise on this.
We also take extremely good care of our existing partners, and we absolutely guarantee first-page rankings for anyone who partners with us.
We aren’t just another SEO services agency—we’re partners in growth, and that means everything we do is in the service of ensuring our partners achieve their goals with us.
What is your hiring policy/process, and how do you retain your employees?
Sean Patrick Si: We have a 5-step hiring process:
- Technical exam
- Personality test
- HR Interview
- GM Interview
- CEO Interview
It is pretty extensive, but that’s because we want to make sure that our applicants are the right fit for our company. We don’t hire just about anybody who walks in. We really make sure these people want to work with us.
I’m happy to say we have employees who have been with us for half a decade. We prioritize our employee’s growth, so we have a lot of opportunities for training right from the get-go. And if they have any paid resources they believe can be beneficial for the team, we happily pay for those too.
Employees nowadays believe in personal growth. That’s why we make sure to show them their growth is important for us as well.
Tell us a customer success story of yours.
Sean Patrick Si: Sure. One of our partners was Puritan’s Pride, an e-commerce business selling supplements. When they came to us, their website was penalized by Google, so they were booted out of the SERPs. Their previous agency used black hat tactics to get them to rank—which they did before getting found out by Google.
Thankfully, I have an excellent relationship with Google, so instead of having to wait for more than 6 months for the penalty to be lifted, we were back on track after only around 3 months. Then we just had to use our white hat processes to get their website on the first page of Google.
Your final thoughts?
Sean Patrick Si: Running the best SEO agency in the country is challenging, but it’s also incredibly rewarding. We’ve helped businesses reach unprecedented growth, and we’ve given people answers to their queries and solutions to their problems. And we really wouldn’t be here today without the best team I could ask for and, of course—God who listens to my prayers.
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