Spencer Wade is the Founder & Principal Strategist at liftconversions.com, a Google Partner agency with offices in Chicago, IL and Westminster, CO. Spencer has been in digital marketing since 2009 when he took a senior marketing manager position with a leading Chicago SEO firm. He has managed digital marketing campaigns for clients in over 40 verticals across the US. Today, Spencer holds Google Top Contributor status in their three flagship products – AdWords, Search, and Google+. He’s also a Google North American Ambassador and a Mentor in their Programs and was a 2017 DMA Echo Awards Final Judge in New York.
Please introduce yourself and where you work.
How do you think SEO has changed over the last 10 years?
How did you get introduced to digital marketing, more specifically SEO?
After speaking to every peer I could find, I realized the market was never going to rebound fully and that meant troubled times ahead. Plus, after the crash, there were families I had helped to get into a home that were facing foreclosure. It was too much to try to answer those questions every day. In fact, none of us even had the answers to give. We didn’t know how it had all happened either. It was tragic and disheartening, so I decided to make a change.
On the recommendation of a peer, I was given a position with the premier SEO agency in Chicago, Illinois and learned a great deal in my time there. However, the lesson that stuck with me the most was how not to treat customers. The business was fee-driven and nothing could ever get in the way of those fees – promises, mistakes, black-hat tactics. In the end, I had a confrontation with the CEO and gave my resignation letter the very same day I enrolled in university.
I went back to school to get my IT degree and follow my passion for technology. It was the best decision of my entire life. I opened Lift Conversions and honed my SEO skills right alongside my talent for PPC. That talent led me to AdWords and I’ve not looked back since. Our blend of SEO with AdWords and targeted content marketing has proved invaluable to clients in over 40 verticals across the US.
What are the services you provide to your clients?
What strategy according to you will prevail in 2018 for SEO?
What would your advice be to people who are looking to take up digital marketing as a career choice?
Marketing never sleeps. It doesn’t take vacations. Your clients will be relying on you to make their lives better – not the other way around. It’s a serious and long-term commitment and should be entered into with both eyes open. And, most importantly of all, it’s an ever-changing landscape. There’s no resting on your laurels or thinking you’ve got it all figured out. In short, be prepared, be passionate, and be persistent.
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