Martin is a 30-year-old entrepreneur from Latvia who launched Rankd SEO, an innovative service that provides a unique approach to link building. He offers step-by-step guides with images on how to create backlinks on hundreds of high-authority websites, and uses a recurring revenue model. He is working on regularly expanding the database to have it so large that it wouldn’t be possible to build the links in a month.
Martin has always been interested in online marketing. Because he foresaw a vast market opportunity in the industry, he decided to create Rankd SEO, an innovative link-building service with a novel approach. Let’s investigate how he validated the viability of the idea in 37 days!
Your Ticket to Consistent Recurring Revenue
I am a 30-year-old European entrepreneur from Latvia.I am the chief executive officer of a major retail chain that carries intoxicating beverages. My passion, however, is online marketing.
I introduced my newest service, the Rankd SEO backlink database, exactly one month ago.
Rankd SEO is an innovative link-building strategy. I do not sell links nor provide link-building services. I provide images and step-by-step instructions on how to build backlinks on hundreds of high-authority websites.
I’ve always appreciated the concept of recurring revenue, which is why I designed Rankd SEO in this manner. In order to access the database, you must subscribe to our website.
Even with our backlink guides, building all backlinks in our database would require days of nonstop effort. And that’s assuming you only have one website. I believe the model suits this website for this reason.
I’m working to routinely expand the database to the point where it would be impossible to construct the connections in a month.
The inspiration for this concept came from the fact that I personally own multiple websites but detest purchasing hyperlinks because you never know what you’ll get and the links may penalize your site. Additionally, they are expensive, and who desires to spend money, right?
Building relations on your own is a hassle because it requires a great deal of time and effort. The publicly accessible hyperlink lists are obsolete, flawed, and the majority of links do not function. Most importantly, you are not given instructions on how to establish the link.
I’ve never seen anyone do it, so I figured if I’m going to build the links myself, I might as well document the procedure and possibly earn money in the process.
Before launching Rankd SEO, I was already making money through affiliate marketing and the sale of my own information products. In 2018, I released several highly successful information products. With two of my publications, I have earned over $40,000.
I published my first book in March of 2018. Even though the sales are not as robust as they were in the beginning, they still reach four figures per month.
Since sales are beginning to decline, I sought a new source of revenue. That’s when the concept for Rankd SEO was conceived.
Maximizing SEO with Rankd Backlink Database
Over the years, I had compiled a list of websites from which to construct hyperlinks, but it was difficult to recall how to construct the links on each site because each site is unique.
Since I frequently launch new websites, I must consistently construct new backlinks. Each time I strain to recall how to create a link on a particular website.
When the concept of the backlink database was conceived, I began documenting the procedure. First, I did it for myself in order to establish hyperlinks for my future sites more quickly.
Even on the day of the database’s public release, I had no notion whether people would like the concept and pay for it.
I priced the service at $34.99 per month, $59.99 for three months, and $99.99 per year using a subscription-based, recurring revenue model for each pricing option.
On the first day of launch, I received numerous inquiries regarding the database and even received my first orders.
I’ve made $2,364 in my first month of earnings.
The biggest worry I have right now is how many members will continue to utilize the service after a month has passed (recurring income). If I can retain the clients using my service for more than a month, my business will flourish in the years to come.
To maintain the interest of both new and existing consumers, I frequently update fresh tutorials.
A Journey to Financial Success and Independence Through Online Marketing
I created sales posts on a few forums since I had positive experiences with several SEO boards.
70% of all sales are the result of one in particular.
I started getting a lot of traffic and sales right away.
Reddit is yet another resource. I Reddit. Since 2016, I’ve used it to advertise goods and services. Even an eBook about driving traffic from Reddit was authored by me.
In the next three months, I’d love to generate $5,000 in income using Rankd SEO. My next objective is to earn $10,000 every month after that.
After then, there are no restrictions.
Being the largest backlink database on the internet is another objective. The database should have tens of thousands of connections to guides. I expect my database to have 500+ guidelines (there are currently more than 240) during the next six months.
I want Rankd SEO to be a financially successful enterprise for many years to come.
I may be able to sell the company for millions of dollars in the future. The future?
I want Rankd SEO to be just one of my numerous internet revenue sources. I want to quit my 9-to-5 job in the next years so that I may travel the world and become a true digital nomad.
Although others would consider my income to be enough right now, I have high standards of living and don’t feel ready to rely only on income from the internet just yet.
Overcoming Website Development Challenges
The link-building procedure was tested throughout the initial month. I performed tests to check how the guidelines would appear and how long it would take to develop each guide. Before I was certain that I could build a website and market it as a service, I built more than 100 backlinks.
Furthermore, I had to make sure I had documentation demonstrating the efficacy of the backlinks from my database. As a result, I created the links for two of my newest sites as I started creating the database.
Backlinks typically take many months to start working. At the time of the launch, I could not demonstrate any concrete outcomes. But recently, traffic to both of my websites has significantly increased.
Here, you can see how the links to my sites have affected things. Google Search Console statistics are used. In October 2018, the first website was developed. In August 2018, the second one was created.
I anticipate a good effect on sales based on these data.
Since there aren’t many WordPress themes that enable a subscription-based approach, developing the website was another issue.
I didn’t want to invest a lot of money on a website that I wasn’t sure would be profitable. I had to use the theme I had purchased. I struggled to customize the theme for my needs because I’m neither a programmer or designer. Seriously, I detest creating websites. Making it decent took me two weeks. Others, I’m sure, would need a day to finish.
Even though I’m not completely happy with the way the website currently appears, it’s the best I can do for now given my skill set.
Scaling Up: Strategies for Building a Large SEO Database Quickly
Since the service is just a little over a month old, I can honestly say that I haven’t made any significant blunders yet.
I’m trying to find a way on how to build the database larger as fast as I can. I’m thinking of finding a freelancer who could help me since I have lists of hundreds of sites to be made into guides. But they all take a lot of time to create.
Finding a reliable and smart assistant is my biggest concern now.
If you had the chance to do things differently, what would you do?
The business is too fresh to tell. I could’ve made the database larger for the launch but it seems that people are ready to pay for the number of guides I have already.
I launched the service with 200 guides. Would it pay off more if there would be 300 or 500 guides? I don’t know. What if the service wouldn’t sell at all? Then I would have wasted my valuable time.
With 200 guides I felt confident to start selling the service at the price point it is now.
SEO Resources for Success
My two favorite blogs are Backlinko by Brian Dean and Matthew Woodward’s blog.
I believe both sites have the most comprehensive articles about SEO and online marketing in general.
Also, I highly recommend watching anything from the motivational speaker Jim Rohn. Once I stumbled upon one of his videos on YouTube, and the way he talks and his advice changed my view on life.
Also, forums are a great place to learn new techniques and maybe some less known tips or cool case studies. My favorite forum is Black Hat World. While it may sound shady, it actually isn’t and is full of very smart people, successful online entrepreneurs and experts in SEO, social media, etc.
You can read more about me:
I own a personal online marketing blog called Mr. Web Capitalist. Some of the case studies are very unique as I talk about my success and failures in online marketing. And my website
We gather unique business case studies from all over the internet, to inspire you with a wide range of business ideas. This case study was supervised by our team and it definitely caught our interest. You can find other inspiring business stories here.
English 
German 
Spanish 