We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Lindteigen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

When I was first starting out my clients all came from referrals from friends, family, and old co-workers. My first big client was referred to me by an old co-worker who I’d worked with about 8 years earlier.

Within 30 days, I had three clients and all of them had come in from my network. Once people knew that I had started my business, they started sending referrals in my direction and I had the opportunity to showcase my talents and start to help other small and medium-sized businesses with their SEO (search engine optimization) and content marketing.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have been in marketing for about 20 years. My educational background is a BA in Broadcasting and an MBA in Marketing. I’ve worked for special events, arts and entertainment, and franchise organizations in the corporate office, non-profits, and ad agencies over the years.

In 2011 I went into digital marketing full-time and fell in love with Search Engine Optimization because it was a chance to help companies connect with their customers in meaningful ways through content thanks to Google’s algorithm updates in that same timeframe. In the early 2010s companies everywhere were looking for folks with backgrounds in journalism and communication to help build better websites and content strategies to guide their businesses from an SEO and content marketing perspective.

From 2011 until 2016, I worked for ad agencies and crafted content and SEO strategies for companies. Ultimately, I ended up managing the team for a NY-based ad agency while living in Phoenix so I had the best of both worlds – I worked with clients in NY but got to come home to AZ at the end of the day (or week).

In early 2017, I founded Etched Marketing and began offering SEO (search engine optimization) and content marketing services for small businesses. I love working with my clients and helping them achieve success through Google. I later added the training side of the business, Etched Marketing Academy, and launched my SimpleSEO program which teaches SEO in an easy to understand and implement manner so that those who aren’t ready to hire someone to do it for them can still learn how to do it the right way so they get results. I’m currently updating that course and will soon be launching an expanded version that includes teaching content strategy so they have everything they need to supercharge their website through SEO and content so they get more organic traffic, better quality leads, and sell more products.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In the fall of 2016, the agency that I worked for was sold to an investment firm and within 90 days my role as the Senior Director of SEO and Content Marketing was eliminated, along with several other similar roles. I was shaken and not sure what to do next.

I had my son in May of 2015 and while I loved my career, my clients, and the travel before he was born, it was harder once he came along. I was an older mom. I’d spent years building my career and I wanted both the family and the career that I loved.

When I was laid off, I looked at my situation very realistically and weighed the good and bad of all of my options. I knew I could go back into the corporate world and get another 6 figure job and continue to rise in my career but at what cost? I was interviewing for positions and looking for something with flexibility – even being able to work 7-4 or work from home once a week or something to give me a bit more time with my kiddo during the week, and it was hard to find. This was 2016 and early 2017, pre-covid, work from home or flexible hours were still not common in a lot of companies.

I had wanted to start my own business for probably 10 years at that point but I’d been afraid to go out on my own. I was afraid I wouldn’t succeed. I wouldn’t be able to find clients. I might not make as much money as I did in the corporate world. But I also didn’t want to give up things like seeing my baby in the morning (I didn’t get to see him before work when I was still at my old job because of my schedule and commute) and I wasn’t OK with giving up as much as I’d had to give up in my last role.

Ultimately, in April 2017, I removed myself from consideration for a Content Marketing Director role with a major e-commerce retailer based in Phoenix and started Etched Marketing. I was scared. I backed out on the day of interview #7 and was scheduled to meet with the President and CEO that morning. I had no clients for my new business. I wasn’t sure what I was doing but I knew I wanted to give it a try.

5 years later, it was the best decision I could have made. What I didn’t know at the time was that a little over a year from then we’d have to move to Tucson for my husband’s career and had I taken that role, I would have had to quit because they weren’t remote work-friendly at that point in time. Since I was working for myself when we moved, I was able to tell my clients I’d be off a few days to move and that was it. I kept everything going and set up the office in the new house.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Almost all of my new clients and students come to me from a few channels. Many find my website thanks to Google. Since I’m in SEO and know how well it works, I started out using search engine optimization and content marketing on my website long before I had any traffic. But I knew that if I built it with my Ideal Customer and their needs in mind, I would be able to grow my business through organic traffic.

I also do a lot of interviews and podcasts because they help grow my audience, increase my website’s domain authority (which makes it easier for me to rank for more keywords), and build my online visibility.

Finally, I get a lot of leads from referrals from my network. Sometimes I get leads from old co-workers, sometimes from someone who’s seen my answer on posts in a group we’re in, and sometimes from someone who knows me and has someone ask them about SEO or content marketing.

I don’t spend much on paid ads because, for me, the ROI is better on my search engine optimization work and content marketing. I can spend my time writing blog posts that help my ideal customer and let me ultimately get more organic traffic, great quality leads, and make money without buying ads. And let’s be honest, after the iOs14 updates, ads are super frustrating right now. I’m glad more people are starting to discover SEO and hope I can help them succeed with it too because it’s definitely helped my business grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etchedmarketing.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/etchedmarketingacademy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EtchedMarketingAcademy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-lindteigen/
• Youtube: https://www.YouTube.com/EtchedMarketingAcademy