Sebastian: You're also fed up with scammy online marketing gurus who promise you superficial hype strategies, as a way to success? #00:00:07#
Niels: As self-employed online marketers who consider the daily grind their absolute comfort zone, we've made it our mission to expose the online marketing bullshit. With us, you get the unfiltered truth about the current state of the online marketing world and which strategies really work. #00:00:24#
Sebastian: In each episode, your hosts Niels Stuck and Sebastian Vogg will present you with new online marketing topics, such as SEO, Facebook Ads, content and much more, to take your online marketing success to the next level. #00:00:39#
Sebastian: Welcome to the (No Bullshit) Online Marketing Podcast with Niels Stuck (Niels: Hello, hello. Peace.) And you. Today it's not directly about online marketing, it's about us. Yes, about us we talk. So, about a bit of the little history of how we got to the point where we are now so. We've talked a little bit about us already, but not very much. That is, a little bit more concrete. How did our contact come about. How did we get into online marketing and that we're now doing what we're doing. And what we also do, maybe a little bit, okay. What kind of clients do we have like that we talk about. That you might also hear a few names that you already know. And yes, that we also not somehow, something therefore talk, but also actually what can. #00:01:40#
Niels: Exactly, to make it a bit more tangible, the intention is not to tell you the romantic love story, but simply to make it a bit more understandable, why do you have these two voices on your ears right now. And why is it maybe useful, if well, we do this content to the outside and share that with you. #00:02:05#
Sebastian: Exactly, because we have already talked a few podcast episodes about people who talk a lot, but there is little behind it. And that's exactly what we don't want. We want you to see that this is well-founded knowledge. And that it doesn't just come from nowhere. There is simply also a certain, yes, a know-how. And that it has developed over the years. Where do we start now? Would you like to just start a little bit. How you started with SEO. That would interest me a little bit already now. #00:02:38#
Niels:Okay. How I started with SEO we had, I think, in the first episodes very briefly. (Sebastian: Yes.) Although fundamentally, we both come a bit from networking, from network marketing and were both at a certain point rather frustrated by it. And then I just looked around for alternatives that interested me, what I could do. Primarily in my own work. That it is not necessarily dependent on a downline or team building. And then I came across the SEO topic a bit. Have dealt with it more, as it is just so. First of all from Youtube videos to some courses. Then I put some money in my hand and actually started to experiment myself. Setting up pages and at some point it worked. And I don't know how it is with you or how it is with you. But if you start something and get a lot of information, put a lot of time into it, and then it turns out that it works, even if it's only on a very small scale, then you're in. And that was three years ago now and since then I've been dealing with SEO every day actually. #00:03:55#
Sebastian: 2016. But you have done something before or. We know each other now so since? How long have we known each other? Since 2016 or? Or maybe even longer? No, I think 2016 was it.
Niels: Yes.
SebastianAt least we had contact for the first time. Primarily, the contact came through Elliott Hulse back then, when he still made good content. And then we were in the USA, my brother and me. And then we also had a bit of contact. During my training as an IT specialist, I already dealt a lot with online marketing, but it was still very, very superficial. I come from the classic IT sector, so I already had a bit of background in web servers and all that. But really, as far as the topic of advertising is concerned, little or not at all. But we have in the area with this online project 4 yourSelf with my brother and with a few buddies. So that was just learning by doing. So I basically built up the entire online marketing area. So we didn't have a website. We built a website. That was the first time I built a website. I didn't do anything before that. I had no idea. That was in 2015 when I started. And then just learned all the stuff. Searched, okay how do you do that. Googled. And then at some point you come across things like a newsletter or some other stories. And you think to yourself, okay, how can you get the message out there. Then you also hear SEO. But you don't really get deep into it when you sic-. Especially when it doesn't work. And it didn't work for us. We have earned no money with it. So really nothing. It was just a lot of teaching money, which one has invested there. We learned a lot, but the whole topic with money and so on, that came only when you really knew how to do it, so. #00:05:52#
Niels: In any case, I can confirm this from my side as well. I also paid a lot of tuition money in the first few years - or certainly in the first year - and didn't see much of it. But it's very motivating, even when smaller things come in somehow. And I can still remember very well how you set it all up. I met a few people from your 4yourself team at the Grow Stronger Expierience in Berlin. And through that contact I got to know all of your content. Then also the social media channels. So slowly. And also the website, which then came. And then I thought to myself, man fuck. Okay, I've been dealing with this stuff for quite a while now. But they're just going in now and doing all this.
Goddammed, I must start now also slowly. And that was for me again such a small push, so even if you now, if it has not paid off for you as you had imagined at the beginning. In any case, you've helped me to really get out there and really put the theory into practice. And what you meant now, about being in the USA with Elliott. There's one more thing I remember particularly well. Because you were fighting on all kinds of fronts in online marketing. So, we had a chat. And then you listed so many things that you had done. You first had the for yourself project, you ran the German version of a YouTube channel, as far as I know, of "Charisma on Command" for a while. That's when I still got the Instagram account. And still I think two other things. Then at some point I thought to myself, because it was all a bit of a similar pattern, I simply wrote to the Instagram account of charisma on command, the German one, and asked, okay, is Sebastian Vogg behind this by chance? Then we really got talking for the first time.
Sebastian: Yes, exactly.
Niels: That's actually pretty funny. Because that's, how would anyone have known that there was just the one person behind it that I didn't even know. I didn't even know you. I was just kind of watching your grind. Very funny. #00:08:12#
Sebastian: Yes, it was like you say, all the different fronts. You just didn't know exactly what it was yet. What you put your focus on. And the whole topic at that time was really great to learn a lot about yourself. I also did all this NLP stuff and so on. That was also quite-. It all led to the point where we are now. And then it just came, so USA maybe very briefly to tie, because that was so turning point. Because I was still at the agency during that time, since February 2017, when I started, and before that I was still in training. So I was still an IT employee, and then I was still working there. And then I went to the USA after I had been at the agency for a few months. And I learned a lot there. But then I met Flo in the U.S. once, and wrote more with him and Florian Litterst, with whom I also do a lot together. And I asked him if he would also coach me. Because I wanted to have more knowledge directly from someone who has been doing this for years. Flo was the number 1. #00:09:12#
Niels:Can you tie back in very briefly, how did you get Florian Litters from the States? #00:09:20#
Sebastian:Well, I knew Flo before that, too. But I had the idea in the USA. So Elliott said well, "Just ask him if you could make fifty fifty. And then he will teach you it." Then I thought, actually a really cool idea. And then I asked Flo, hey, let's do 50/50. And somehow you help me convince the customer, I'll do all the operational work for you. And that way I learn more. And that was just the point where I, where the learning curve went extremely up. Because before that, I harvested everything, I was also at Adscamp, even the first year. But I noticed that at the ad camp I had a hard time really immersing myself in it. So I needed something else to get deeper into the subject. And that was the support from Florian, which was worth its weight in gold. #00:10:13#
Niels: Okay. Silent shudder again in any case. #00:10:15#
Sebastian: Yes, definitely. Flo best man. And then I just came back from the USA with the customer JP Sears. That was the first major customer. So the redhead. Maybe people know the influencer JP. He does a lot of comedy videos. #00:10:32#
Niels: "The Super Spiritual Guy."
Sebastian:Exactly. And that's how I got from one customer to the next. Then after JP came Sears. I had met Nic Lecloux at OMR 2017. I had already written to him at that time. I thought that was awesome. So from true foods the CMO. And to him I said, hey nick. By the way, because I knew he was a fan of JP Sears. I said I'm doing JP Sears ads now. And he's like, "What, you're doing JP Sears' ads? Let's do something together." And from that point true fruits client, Gin Kingdom, Alandia. And then something like Visual Statements came along. All these names proved to me of course. So I have delivert. And once also in the scene then made a bit better known. That was actually the point where I decided to quit. I then made myself one hundred percent independent. But that's the short version of it. I mean, in the meantime there are even bigger companies involved. I'm now with Facebook Marketing Consulting. So all that stuff. It's not meant to be a blatant glorification of me, but that's how it developed. Relatively fast, but relatively solved. #00:11:43#
Niels:But that's a relatively steep start. That's something you can hold on to briefly, even objectively. That's why you're right, my go. No question about it. #00:11:53#
Sebastian:Very good. Very good Niels. Exactly. And then we started working last year in June. #00:12:00#
Niels:Exactly. That was a little bit out of context. I think that was even before you went to the States and still worked in the agency, we exchanged a bit about SEO. Because that was also an important part of your agency and yes, then you also gradually gained more experience with other agencies. Because you are always out there. You are always somehow in contact with people and I have always learned SEO in my quiet room. I have always been busy with it. I read up every day in some forums, gave myself some content, tried things out. On 20 pages at the same time and then we have found there times so a bit the connection point. And you were able to share some experience with me and then, after we ran the first test projects, we realized, okay. I work quite differently in many things than some other agencies and that was quite interesting. Because I always thought to myself, okay, this all works. But so far everything now not so ultra witchcraft, because I had dealt with it. At some point you become a specialist idiot and lose a bit of the connection. And then we realized, okay, the results are actually quite good and not so typical. And then we decided to bundle the forces and tackle the projects together to that extent. You in performance advertising, me in SEO. And yes, it was only through this that I was able to realize that the skill set in this area is already well established. And that's what we've seen with many customers now. In any case, we still have a few case studies to do. Because there were definitely some interesting results. #00:14:01#
Sebastian:I mean, we have now even the release for example both case studies to speak. (Niels: Ah, okay.) Caroline Preuss for example, that's an example of SEO, how you get 100,000 more impressions within one month. So that's pretty rad. And those are really results that you don't normally see in agencies. In most, I just emphasize now. And that this experience value just also showed me, hey Niels works differently, but it works and it's just something that not everyone does. Yes, that's why the whole thing works better. And I found that very exciting.
And I mean since the punk... I don't know how many hours a month we hustle away there. But it has become brutally much, compared to what-. I mean, we have our one year anniversary soon, Niels.
Niels: Oh my god. Shit.
Sebastian: And accordingly, it's just really stark what's happened in that time, business time. So you are also one hundred percent self-employed. Only, you have completed your studies, are now also (? of SEO). Have your own step.
Niels: One point is also, I have-, one of my first, one of my first web projects I started a little over two years ago. And two weeks ago, I kind of submitted my bachelor's thesis on this web project.
SebastianAh, cool.
Niels: And I tracked that analytically and was then able to reconstruct the results. And it was just about how Search engine optimization and also how it affects a website in the style that I do. And how this web project then developed from point zero of creation to 25,000 visitorn a month- and top rankings, and yes, 20k plus search keywords et cetera. And that's also I think quite interesting, because I really wrote a scientific paper about it. About fucking 60 pages. Because I've just become a powerful nerd in this topic. I always notice that. It's always, it was always very interesting in the first conversations we had at the beginning and in the customer meetings and appointments, where you always had to snap at me. Hey, in German, please.
I always have to do the same with you when you tell me something about advertising in a hurry. But it's cool. #00:16:29#
Sebastian: Yes, I like it. That's how it developed. I mean, we rant or talk a lot together about all the topics. But then there was also a time when, well, let's go outside with the content. (Niels: Exactly.) and try to prepare it a bit. And bring a bit of structure into it, and somehow also give people something, because I like listening to podcasts myself. I'm a big fan. And I think there are already podcasts, of course there are podcasts in Germany. But there are not so many that really say all the things as they are. A little bit like that. Accordingly, I think it's quite cool and we'll just see how it develops here. Because of the whole podcast community. But I think that's where maybe we're already speaking from the soul of one or the other, if you will. Allright, I would say that to us. The Egoshow ends here. In the next there will be content again. #00:17:36#
Niels: Exactly. So again briefly to the conclusion. It wasn't at all about adulation of each other, but just to briefly introduce again, okay, what do we do, who are we. And yes, why do we produce content. And, you just see a lot on the net, you hear a lot of people talking, you also see a lot of people with their selfie camera on, telling something. And it's very hard to distinguish who you can believe a little bit and who you should listen to. And therefore for authenticity again this little intro to each other. #00:18:13#
Sebastian:Exactly. Great closing, Niels. Then thanks a lot for listening and we'll hear you next time. #00:18:24#
Niels: Peace out. See you soon.
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