SMEs, skilling up, and giving value to your audience: an interview with Danny Hall

We caught up with Freelance SEO Essex owner, Danny Hall, to get his views on everything from the challenges of running an agency, to how to generate traffic that converts.  

As someone who has gone from working at digital agencies to owning and running his own agency, what's been the biggest challenge and the biggest reward?

This is a tough question as there were so many challenges at first but I think the most significant was in making sure the agency had the relevant skill set to produce results for our clients. The biggest reward was when our clients started acknowledging and commenting on the quality of our work when compared to more established agencies.     

What prompted you to make the leap?

I was regularly amazed by the fees agencies were charging for what I believed were poor quality services. I was watching work being outsourced to other countries, with substandard results being delivered and it almost being considered as acceptable by clients and agencies. This inspired me to think about starting my own agency but the final push that encouraged me to make the leap was I realised that lots of SMEs or one-man bands were approaching agencies and getting quoted prices that were just not realistic. More annoying was the fact that the requirements of these SMEs could be achieved on very small budgets. I therefore decided to create an agency with the sole purpose of providing services to one-man bands and small companies on a no-contract basis at a fraction of the cost.    

What digital marketing channel or technique do you feel is most underused in the industry?

There are so many but I think one of the most obvious ones that anyone can do (even without an agency’s help) is to give value to their audience; share knowledge. So many people just try to promote and sell all the time. Obviously there is a place for this but the average consumer is becoming a lot more aware, more savvy, and they’re looking to understand as much as possible about what it is they are buying.

For example, a person considering dental implants will be on an information research mission. Price will normally be a significant factor in these cases due to the carrying costs and opportunities to go abroad, but in addition to price, people will also want to know more about the process. How long does it take? Is it likely to be uncomfortable? How long will they last? Creating a landing page, driving lots of traffic to it, and trying to generate lots of conversions sounds good in theory but fewer of these people will convert to patients if they do not have access to the right information beforehand. A site that provides this kind of information will find that they receive much higher volumes of traffic, with a higher conversion rate.

This concept works across industries. A patio installation company should share content on the process and how they do it, what’s involved. Yes, you may be giving someone the ability to do it themselves but how likely is it for someone to have those skills, time and tools to actually do it? More often than not, if they do do it themselves they probably never had the budget in the first place to use you.    

What work are you most proud of in your career?

I am most proud of my agency and what it has become in last 8 years or so. I set out to help SMEs and while that still makes up a large part of our business our service, results and reputation has led to us working with larger organisations like The Essex Police without ever abandoning our original values.

Danny Hall is owner & director of Freelance SEO Essex, a marketing agency based in Great Baddow.