Intro
I am a technical SEO specialist and digital marketing consultant with a strong technical background across multiple tech stacks. More than just building the web one site at a time though, growing businesses online has been my passion for almost 10 years.
My code focus has been primarily on HTML / CSS / Javascript development (Front-end development stack) along with WordPress centric PHP, completing ~100 custom WordPress themes for clients. I have experimented with Node.js, Angular, Rails, and completed demo projects with the MEAN stack. I have also managed linux / apache / mysql / php (LAMP stack) server environments in an agency production setting. I have also launched a Growth Hacking Tips skill for Amazon Alexa to raise awareness for GrowthHit.
Recently I have ventured into Shopify theme developent as well, completing two full featured themes to date. I use my technical skills support my Search Engine Optimization efforts which ultimately I feel offers greater long term value for both myself and my clents.
Learn more about me or my work.
Work
As a Growth Hacker for Hire
- Universal Standard
- Swell Energy
- ApartmentPropertyValuation.com
- SugarBayBarbados.com
- BougainvilleaResort.com
- Elite Telehealth
- Semperllc.com
Agency Experience
- 724 Factory / 724 Med
- KeyCreative / iClassPro
Personal Projects
- NerdyMugs.com
- DrWhoMugs.com
- StarWarsMugs.com
- StarTrekMugs.com
- GeekLoad.com
- GeekBabyStuff.com
- GeekShirtsDirect.com
- Darklit.net
About
With the barrier to entry into the world wide web rapidly lowering (it's pretty easy to get a website made these days), the need for innovative growth strategies continues to grow.
My first website (back in 2008) netted me a grand total of one conversion after 11 months of being on-line. This was ... disappointing. It was at this time I crawled down the rabbit hole of SEO. Sadly (not really) that first site (selling hemp necklaces with a rock and roll music theme) has long since been scrubbed from the web.
As friends and family learned I had the ability to build websites I spent the next couple years building sites for them. I was determined to make sure each site I built was as SEO optimized as it possibly could be because invariably each time someone would ask me "where is my site on Google?". Powerful motivation if you ask me.
You might say the rest is history. I got my first agency job because I had optimized my personal website for a strong local search term for which I was ranking very well and this grabbed the attention of the CEO of a growing startup in the city I was targeting who then offered me a job (because of my SEO skills) building WordPress themes (because of my code skills). From there my career has been continuing this same balance of coding and SEO.
Fast forward a few years, and now I am co-founder of GrowthHit.com, still coding and optimizing for search.
Learn more about my work or contact me. You can also view the previous version of this site if you'd like.
What is a Growth Hacker
"the kind of strategies he employed did not represent the typical playbook used by traditional marketers"
- Neil Patel on Sean Ellis
In 2010, Sean Ellis (Author of Hacking Growth, CEO of GrowthHackers) coined the term Growth Hacking. After using a unique blend of marketing acumen, innovative analytical insights, and integrating of historically siloed departments to help massively grow multiple companies (like Dropbox) he felt the need to define a new type of marketer for this digital age. Thus "Growth Hacking" was born.
In his book "Hacking Growth", Sean defines the core principles of Growth Hacking early on like so:
- The creation of a cross-functional team that breaks down the traditional silos of marketing and product development.
- The use of qualitative research and quantitative data analysis to gain deep insights into user behavior.
- The rapid generation and testing of ideas followed by rigorous data analysis to take action on the results
To be a Growth Hacker, it's more about the mindset of doing things which can be measured and making executive desicions based on data than a particular individual skillset. That being said however, one could be considered such if they not only follow the outlined principles but posess a variety of skills required to implement these type of experiments and the knowledge and experience to iterate on them.
I love mining Analytics for actionable gems. I stay up to date on the SEO industry and have been active in it since 2008. I can hand code HTML, CSS and Javascript and can code custom themes for the CMS that powers at least a fourth of the entire World Wide Web (WordPress). That's my skill set. My mind set is this: I'm not afraid to "fail" when pursuing a goal, the only true failure is to not get up once you fall. I have a growing list of growth experiments in my arsenal - both tried and true along with raw and un-tested. Each week I personally help several companies grow as a consultant.
Yeah, I'm a Growth Hacker.
"A traditional marketer has a very broad focus, and while their skill set is extremely valuable, it is not as necessary early in a startups life. In the first phase of a startup you don’t need someone to “build and manage a marketing team” or “manage outside vendors” or even “establish a strategic marketing plan to achieve corporate objectives” or many of the other things that marketers are tasked with doing. Early in a startup you need one thing. Growth.
Sean asked for marketers. He got marketers. So Sean changed what he asked for. The title of his watershed blog post was “Find a Growth Hacker for Your Startup” and the idea was born."
- Neil Patel on Sean Ellis
Contact
Use this form to send me a message. It's cool.