We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Chagala. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.

Alright, Michael thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

ChatGPT launched in November of 2022 and broke the internet. Not in a Harlem Shake or blue vs gold dress kind of way, but in a this-could-flip-everything-we-know-on-its-head kind of way. There’s been headline after headline ranging from how AI can draw Mr T in the style of Van Gogh, to marking the beginning of the end of humanity. Everyone has a theory on where we will take AI in the coming years (or perhaps what AI has planned for us). But the reality is nobody knows for sure. Before we get answers, we first have to learn the right questions to ask ourselves about the role we want this new technology to play in our lives.

But AI is not so new to everyone. AI has quietly been used to write many of the articles you’ve read on the internet in the last few years. This information may have helped you make decisions on healthcare, how to invest your money or where to buy a home. In fact, AI text might already be on your website if you’ve paid for content writing recently.

One thing AI got right early on was its ability to compose text indistinguishable from that written by humans. Not just in spelling and grammar, which it does with amazing accuracy, but also in sourcing information. With only some basic inputs, such as a few questions you want answered, AI will parse volumes of information and come back with an original composition of any length you ask. You may question if AI content can be called ‘original’ if it’s reassembled from other sources, but this is no different from what human writers do.

For digital marketing companies this is a dream come true. Human content writing is slow and expensive. Content writers tend to be career professionals, often with a college degree and expectations of earning a living wage – not easily off-shored to non-native speakers. Content writing can require hours of research before the actual writing starts. Humans can be biased, difficult, or on vacation. AI solves all of this.

AI content writing dropped a bomb right in the middle of the org chart of every SEO (search engine optimization) agency. Unlike other segments of digital marketing who are still sorting out how best to use this new technology, AI was adopted immediately and whole-heartedly by the SEO industry. Why? Because pumping websites full of text is one of the most effective strategies to rank higher in Google organic search and ultimately drive traffic.

But AI content is not without risks, mainly that we don’t know yet what, if any, Google’s response to content written by robots will be. If Google starts to get feedback that users don’t find AI content useful, it could pull the rug out from under agencies who have relied on it too heavily.

Our approach to content writing, and SEO in general, is different from most other agencies and shields us from much of this risk. While many agencies’ profits are tied to how cheaply they can outsource work, we are actively trying to hire more expensive talent. But this means we’re constantly raising our prices, limiting the number of potential clients who can afford us. This isn’t intended to disparage low-cost SEO agencies, as they are often the only option for small businesses with small marketing budgets. But there’s also room in the market for agencies like us who prefer to work with high-ticket clients who can afford our flesh and blood writing staff.

Michael, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started Rank Harvest after a long career of mostly corporate marketing. I worked my way to a Director title after starting at the ground floor, literally sweeping the server room floor at a software development company. From there I fought for every inch gained in my career through hard work and persistence. I started as a software engineer, then web development, and landed sometime later as a digital marketer who could also write code. Today I’m just as comfortable in a business strategy meeting as I am debugging code.

This mix of technology and marketing has made me the perfect fit for SEO, something I have been doing continually since 2006. I’ve developed an intuition for Google’s algorithm, at least to the extent anyone can. It comes from working in parallel with Google for many years.

After working for brands like Sony, Huawei and the NFL, we know how big companies get ranked first in Google. We then apply the same strategies to our customers, no matter their size. We don’t just throw tactics at a wall and see what sticks – we already know what works based on real data. The days of exploiting loopholes in Google’s algorithm are over; now Google rewards hard work and wants to see proof outside of your website that you are an authority in whatever you are doing or selling. And your website needs to provide an excellent user experience.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

Funny story; in 2020 we put a profile up on Fiverr just to see what would happen. We had no expectations and gave it very little attention at first. By the end of the first year we had done over $50,000 in sales! But that’s not where the story ends. The next year, in 2021, we did over $600,000 on the platform and were featured in the Fiverr Q4 shareholder newsletter. Today we’ve sold over a million dollars of digital marketing services on Fiverr with no end in sight. While we focus mainly on our agency clients, Fiverr is a nice income stream running in the background.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

There was no funding or initial capital that went into starting Rank Harvest. There were no investors, injections of cash or business loans. I started the company by running free ads on Craigslist and doing all the work myself, while also working full time by day as a marketing manager. For almost two years I dragged myself out of bed at 4am to work several hours before work. Then another hour in the breakroom during my lunch break, then another 4 from home in the evening. Plus another 12 hours each on the weekends. I built my clientele until there were no more hours in the week to work. Then I took a big leap of faith; at this point Rank Harvest was still a side-hustle and not generating anywhere near the income needed to pay my bills. But with 2 kids and a mortgage, I quit my job. The rest is history.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rankharvest.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rankharvest/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchagala
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RankHarvest
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RankHarvest
• Other: Forbes Agency Council: https://councils.forbes.com/profile/Michael-Chagala-CEO-Founder–Rank-Harvest-SEO/1c8153a8-a44e-4395-bdfe-00f3e052731c