Michael Chidzey is the founder and CEO of Good Signals, a digital marketing firm that helps international companies rank higher on Google, increase the number of website visitors who make a purchase, and secure press attention in well-known magazines. He has experience with the internet and growing online businesses, having built his first website 24 years ago. Good Signals helps international companies rank higher on Google, increase the number of website visitors who make a purchase, and secure press attention in well-known magazines. These experiences have had a significant impact on what they do now and contributed to the creation of Good Signals when he was ready to launch a firm.
One of those companies, Good Signals, provides the appearance that they really do what they say, mean what they say, and get results.
Michael Chidzey, founder and CEO of Good Signals, a digital marketing firm that aids fascinating companies in obtaining the internet attention they merit.
He is on a quest to establish a business that values putting the needs of its customers first, leaving a lasting impression on its clients’ businesses, and consistently growing. Michael has experience with the internet and growing online businesses because he built his first website 24 years ago.
What is Good Signals, and why did you decide to start the business?
We are a digital marketing company. Through optimization and A/B testing, we help international companies rank higher on Google, increase the number of website visitors who make a purchase, and secure press attention in well-known magazines.
In 1998, I built my very first website, which by today’s standards was terrible. Even so, I gave this project my all and was able to share it with a select number of interested viewers who interacted with it virtually every day. That was likely the best introduction I could have ever had to the internet and online marketing.
Friends turned to me for help when they wanted to boost the effectiveness or traffic of their website. In fact, this is how we see Good Signals—as the buddy who is always one step ahead. Like anything else, you get better the more you practice. I’ve either built websites or worked in internet marketing since then.
When I was the marketing director of my former firm, seven or eight years before I started the company, I attended one of the best internet marketing conferences in the world. There, I came to the conclusion that what we already did internally was great since it was more original, distinctive, economical, and goal-oriented than the bulk of the case studies on exhibit.
For example, links and coverage from major newspapers and magazines are the exception rather than the rule, but we have learned to anticipate that level of achievement from our team and every campaign.
Therefore, these experiences had a significant impact on what we do now and immediately contributed to the creation of Good Signals when I was ready to launch a firm.
What happens throughout a regular workday?
I may arrive at the office as early as 5:30 a.m. to photograph customers in Australia before they depart for the day because we are situated in East London but have clients all around the world. Despite all the advanced equipment we employ at Good Signals, I think our Shoreditch Grind coffee maker is the most crucial piece of kit. Before the bulk of folks have had their first beer, we are usually on our third. But on such days, I finish my work earlier.
I pick up a notepad as soon as I can and start writing about whatever is on my mind; I don’t stop until I’ve written precisely three A4 pages. A few years ago, I read about this method, and I’ve used it ever since. It’s a terrific approach to retain information, be imaginative, better upcoming projects and meetings, and just come up with fresh ways to complete tasks. I usually mark anything that I might want to put on my to-do list or research more in the future.
Delivering training, talking about projects and ideas with customers, and doing actual work make up the rest of my day. It involves primarily solving problems, which might entail delving into the inner workings of a website to fix content or technical issues that affect how a company is rated by search engines, creating A/B tests to address conversion issues we’ve discovered, or working with colleagues to come up with innovative campaign ideas or content strategies to capture clients’ attention.
The real task-related part of the day is my favorite. I adore my job in digital marketing, and we have the good fortune to work on interesting projects for great companies. We won’t get any bigger than we are currently because of this, among other things. It would be hard for us to perform what we do as consistently well and to have time to learn and experiment with new things if we spread ourselves too thin over too many clients and projects. Therefore, rather than accepting more work than we can manage or settling for a subpar result, we would like to let you know that we are at capacity.
What words of wisdom do you offer for folks starting a business?
Take care.
Take into account what you are doing, who you are doing it for, your surroundings, and the workplace. Think carefully about your trade and keep honing it. Take an interest in whatever it is.
The dedication to continuously provide our best work is the one thing that Good Signals prioritizes above everything else. This dedication yields results and keeps us developing and constantly thinking about new ways to accomplish things.
Has there ever been a time when you felt like giving up? What persisted in you?
a number of times. We regularly receive new queries from clients who have encountered big drops in traffic and revenues due to a problem with their website, such as the effects of the most recent Google algorithm update or a substantial website overhaul.
It can first seem impossibly difficult to repair when issues of this sort arise, especially on massive websites, especially if the customer is terrified about the effect on the company as a whole.
‘The Obstacle Is the Way’ by Ryan Holiday is a great book to read for inspiration and encouragement in situations like this.
To stay focused, prevent highs and lows, and know what to convey to clients, we build daily north stars after doing a scenario analysis and creating a plan for challenging tasks. Despite the quantity of work that has to be done, this enables us to finish the day feeling more than fulfilled.
It is quite gratifying to watch their ranks, traffic, and revenues rise at the end of the day.
What motivates you?
Genuine faith in the businesses we’re supporting. Additionally, everyone we work with is tremendously kind, which is crucial. As a result, we work hard to support them in exceeding their customer acquisition targets, looking good, and growing their businesses.
Along with competitiveness, ongoing education is a powerful incentive. Competence is necessary if one wants to succeed in digital marketing. Nobody strives to be listed thirty-first on Google for a key search query, for example, in SEO. To continually surpass search opponents, you must put forth the effort.
Which novel do you prefer?
Roy Disney wrote “Building A Company” as a book.
I read this because Derek Flanzraich, the creator of Greatist and Ness, had suggested it in an essay (side note: Derek and Greatist have been such an influence to Good Signals and how I personally operate; I really encourage looking up his articles and interviews). I found it difficult to put this book down. The eldest sibling of Walt Disney, Roy Disney, is the subject of this biography. Walt Disney had a vision and worked tirelessly to make it a reality, but it was his sister who was successful.
What distinguishes Good Signals from other digital marketing companies?
We always have a project leader with a lot of experience, but I’ve never pretended that’s what makes them special because we think everyone should be in this position, even if it’s not always the case.
I started Good Signals with the goal of building the agency I would have chosen to work with if I had been an internal marketing manager.
When we start working with a company, we do so with the understanding that every brand, website, and customer is different; as a result, it requires unique solutions rather than just copying what everyone else is doing and using the same checklists and set of tools in order to be effective and have a lasting impact.
We focus on learning all there is to know about the business, not just the brief, in order to figure out what’s best for them and consistently carry it out. It also has to do with how crucial excellence, tenderness, and focus on the little things are. Long-term, sustained success is the outcome of this.
Aside from that, I have never worked for a different digital marketing agency; instead, I have always worked internally. As a result, I am very aware of how changes to your Google rankings or website conversions can affect whether you hire teams of employees or fire them. We never regard a client as an afterthought and approach their website and marketing as if it were our own as a result.
These are the qualities that made us unique and those I thought were most absent.
What comes after this for Good Signals?
We have no plans to overtake the current top agency. If our clients are featured on websites they are proud of, receive high-quality scores, rank highly in searches, and implement winning A/B testing, then we are doing a great job, and that is all we aim for.
We are actively working to achieve B-Corp accreditation, which is important to us.
Ultimately, we want to help other exceptional firms operate better online. But before increasing the bar and repeating the process, our goals are to develop responsibly, build a better business, treat our workers and community with respect, and surpass consumer expectations (and our own).
For further information
You can visit my site or contact me on LinkedIn
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