Travis Bliffen founded Stellar SEO, a US search marketing agency based in Franklin, Tennessee specializing in link building and inbound for competitive niche markets.
He has spent several years working in the field of online marketing and has a strong background in link building and on page SEO. An Army veteran, Travis read about the future of SEO in a magazine and decided to go into SEO for himself. Since establishing Stellar SEO in 2012, they have quickly gained a reputation for being a cost-effective, trustworthy, and leading SEO agency. In addition to being a featured speaker at conferences like SEMPO Cities and other industry events, Travis is a published writer on SEO and link building.
Just this February, they launched a new division, offering end-to-end SEO services exclusive to law firms. In this episode, we learn why Travis decided to launch another department, how he grew the firm from 1 to 53 employees in 9 years, what they’re investing in to scale the agency, and the challenges and obstacles of expanding Stellar SEO.
This Cast Covers:
- Travis’s interest in sports and videogames as a child and having no interest whatsoever in business and marketing (04:43)
- Joining the army for 4 years continued to fuel his stubborn, competitive spirit (07:21)
- How he started freelancing and discovered SEO from picking up a magazine (08:04)
- Founding Stellar SEO in 2012 without experience or money and growing a team from 1 to 53 people (10:27)
- His struggle starting out without knowing who to hire and what skills to look for (12:13)
- How Stellar SEO’s methodology of growth to where they’re at now (15:22)
- Playing to their strengths in inbound marketing, SEO, content marketing, and guest blogging to grow their client base and revenue (15:55)
- Travis’s decision-making process for trying to build outbound sales process (18:58)
- How to close the gap between inbound and outbound sales (25:24)
- Where Stellar SEO is headed and what obstacles they’re trying to figure out right now (36:09)
- Finding the sweet spot of targeting the right market using tactics and strategy (39:23)
- Why sometimes taking on too many new clients can hurt the agency (43:12)
- Focusing on sustainable, realistic growth while driving predictable revenue (41:21)