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Finally ready to make that pivot

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TLDR: Standalone SEO software is still confusing for people newer to SEO, so we are shifting towards a blend of consulting, education, and our software to guide companies to build SEO strategies that work for them.
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Just over a year ago I wrote about Centori pivoting our business model and here we are never having taken that jump.

I think I'm ready now though. First, a bit of context.

In 2018 I founded a company called 'Blog Trackr'. I really loved writing, creating content, and building audiences so I wanted to help marketers and small business owners at scale.

I quickly found that there is much more to creating content than writing 800 words and clicking 'publish'. You need to create content that gets found. A little less than a year in I started diving into the wonderful world of SEO and never looked back.

I've used plenty of SEO tools - from simpler tools like Neil Patel's Ubersuggest to higher end tools like Moz, Ahrefs, and SEMRush and the one constant I have found between them is they are all geared towards people who already know a thing or two about SEO.

The marketer just dipping their toes into SEO, or the founder who is already juggling too much, are consistently left out. They feel overwhelmed and intimidated, so they throw up their hands in defeat.

SEO is more than building a long list of keywords, or making sure every page has a title.

There is an element of strategy and nuance from business to business that gets lost in a one-size fits all approach from an app. This often results in users of the aforementioned tools getting stuck or not seeing any progress for their efforts.

I thought I learned that lesson last year, but I didn't.

I pursued a software-based solution and around $1000 in Google ads later I had 40 signups for a free trial and 0 customers to show for it. The software was a tad buggy at times, but the real killer for us was that people just were not getting value out of it, did not know how to use it, and dropped off after logging in a few times.

Ouch.

Rather than tweak my copy or redesign my onboarding for the hundredth time I took a step back to make sure I really understood the problem I was trying to solve.

Over a series of months this summer I interviewed as many people as possible across industries, business types, and levels of experience in marketing and SEO. I wanted to understand how they viewed SEO, what they struggled with, what they tried, and what they want out of it.

There is one phrase that everyone used, no matter their background or expertise.: 'what do I do next?' I've heard the same question in the feedback chats with people who used our own software and then it clicked for me.

When it comes to SEO, people are unsure of what the 'right thing' to do is, and are terrified of doing the 'wrong thing'. So they don't do anything. Or the hire an agency and have a bad experience.

That is why I am shifting Centori from a software-based solution to one that blends hands on SEO consulting with our own software at a small biz-friendly price point.

So what does this look like?

  1. We start with a consultation session to understand the business, their goals, and the gaps that need to be filled.

  2. We then build a personalized growth plan in order to reach those goals, and work with the client's team to educate and guide them to ensure they stay on the right track.

  3. All the while we power our SEO services, and the client's marketing team, with our intuitive SEO software in order to help them find keywords to target, monitor their rank, watch their traffic grow, and more.

As each business is unique pricing will vary based on the needs and goals of the client.

That said, I want to provide a fixed-cost pricing option for small businesses so we are considering a basic package that includes:

-An SEO growth plan
-Full access to our software
-Email/chat support
-One consulting session per month
-A personalized report each month

Pricing is still TBD.

I can't wait to see where this new road takes us, and I'm ready to finally make the jump and commit to this pivot. People don't just need a simple tool to help them with SEO, they need expertise and guidance at an affordable rate to show them how to grow and give them the gentle push they need.

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