Interview: Mike Salvaggio

Mike Salvaggio, Wharton School Graduate and owner of SEO Brand has been a leader in the SEO/Direct Response space for just under 10 years now. From SEO/PPC campaigns to designing some of the most successful direct response offers to date, SEO Brand is well known and respected in the affiliate space.

Tell us a little background info about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? How long have you been making money online?
Sure. I am 37, born and raised in South Philadelphia and have been making money online for the last 10 years or so. If you count the days of the Commodore 64 – we are talking over 20 years.

Do you have any experience with affiliate marketing? If so, to what extent?
Yes. My company SEO Brand supports the affiliate marketing space with landing page creative, programming and SEO/PPC campaigns. My partner and I were involved in several direct response offers — teeth whiteners to be exact. After we dove into the advertiser side of affiliate marketing, we were instantly hooked. Even though its been several years since we rolled out an active campaign, we still have a nice chunk of recurring revenue from that offer. Good stuff.

What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?
Well, first and foremost, my family. I have a wife and 2 beautiful children 15 and 9 but the kicker here is that I have been with my wife since high school and she has been the greatest influence on my life which leads me to another accomplishment — graduating from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of business. My wife pushed me to return to school and when I did, all of my business success stemmed from this accomplishment. None of this would be possible without her.

How did you become successful? Why did you choose this career? When did you first realize the full potential in the Internet? When did you first “hit the big time?”
Well selling 2500 teeth whiteners in 24 hours was a real game changer for me. All I can remember doing is hitting refresh every 5 minutes on my laptop and saw the sales piling up which of course convinced me that I should never even think about working in a conventional way ever again. All of this was almost by accident but I have to admit, it has been a fun ride and gets better every day.

What do you think it takes to be successful?
I can tell you all of the normal responses you would expect to hear: hard work, dedication, endurance but you need luck also. I can’t tell you how many times I was at the “right place/right time” and I took full advantage of it. Keep in mind, success comes at a price. Although we built something special here, it took a lot of irreplaceable time away from my family as well. If you are going to start something and it gets traction, you need to stay on it to make it work AND be prepared for the time trade-off because its unavoidable.

What have been your biggest failures and frustrations?
Well, building SEO Brand was frustrating due to the fact we had so many services to offer and it was difficult to retain focus. Once we decided to focus, we scaled the business and that took a lot of the frustration away. Of course, new frustrations arose but that’s just part of owning a business. For failures, I cant tell you how many I have had! The trick is to keep trying and stay dedicated to your cause. The only way to learn is to fail and not make the same mistake again.

What is the single toughest problem you’ve had to face, and how did you get through it?
I always say embrace the problem as it will become an opportunity. For example, leaving a stable income job to start SEO Brand — self funded AND being married with 2 kids could have been considered a HUGE problem but a new company was born. It was a huge risk but if I had to do it again, I certainly would.

Is there anything that you don’t like to do, that you just hate working on?
When I started, I would write ad copy and design pages for hours. Now that I have a team doing it, I would rather do something else.

What is the future of marketing?
It is the future. Internet marketing is going to be the greatest influence on consumer behavior. Technology is growing at such as fast pace and the advertising infrastructure is being laid out on every smartphone. The ability to pump a targeted ad to prospective clients on a device in their hands is more powerful than any other medium.

What have you been up to recently? What projects are you working on?
I have been traveling a lot back and forth to our office in Montreal building a team for a new, smaller SEO package that we are offering. Montreal is a great city and we have great people working for the company there. What problems have you had with those new projects?

I have to be honest, each problem becomes an opportunity so I cant really look at the problems associated with the new project due to the fact each one became a new opportunity. The project has been overwhelmingly positive.

Do you think anything particular in your past prepared you for this industry? Your education? Jobs you’ve held before?
No. Absolutely nothing I have ever done previously in the job industry could have prepared me for this fun ride.

What are your greatest strengths?
Dedication, endurance and public speaking.

What are your greatest weaknesses?
Personal time management. I need to get out of the office more and spend more time with family and friends.

What motivates you?
My family. Period.

What is the best advice you’ve been given and try to apply to your life?
Anything that must be done eventually should be done immediately.

Who has impacted you most in your career, and how?
Seth Godin. I read his blog everyday and have been for years. He thinks in ways that are unconventional and every blog post I have read benefited me in work and personal matters.

What kinds of people do you have difficulties working with? Any good stories?
People that talk– too much. I can tell you that in this business, people talk a lot but not many can back up what they say. I like dealing with professionals who are quiet and don’t brag about how much money they make. Someone that talks a lot is instantly suspect in my book.

What are some of your long-term goals? How much is enough? If money was no object, what would you be doing?
To give my family a life that I never had. To be able to teach my children how to work according to their own standards and not someone else’s. To be able to pass what I have learned on to my children and provide them with the best life possible. If money was no object, I would go full time into teaching internet marketing at a community college. There is not a better feeling than telling someone who would never know or had the chance about the wonderful world of internet marketing. The look on their face when you tell them you can generate a substantial income and never leave your home is priceless.

Where do you want to be ten years from now?
On a beach with my wife — kicked back and relaxing. Oh yeah, and an iPhone : )

How do you like to spend your free time? What doe work-life balance mean to you?
This is an area I struggle with. Work-life balance is important but I check the clock at 6am , 250 e-mails and 10 calls then look at it again and its 6pm.

If you could go back to being 18, what different career choices would you make?
I would borrow every dime I could get my hands on and plow it all into Apple stock.

What is your greatest achievement outside of work? What are some of your unfulfilled dreams?
Raising my daughter and son. Everyday is an adventure and watching them grow up is the best thing ever. No unfulfilled dreams for me Jon — I am living the dream now.

What is your favorite quote?
“just because you ARE a character doesn’t mean that you HAVE character”

Do you have a Twitter account or Facebook “Like” page?
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SEO-Brand-Marketing/109215019118063
http://twitter.com/seobrandmarket