Cyrus Yung of Ascelade.com has been generating sales & marketing leads using Search Engine Optimisation and Pay-Per-Click marketing via Google AdWords (currently rename to Google Ads), Yahoo Search Marketing & Bing since 2008.
He used to be a naval diver before he left to join one of Asia’s largest seminar organizer company in 2006.
Having worked and organized some of the largest seminars in Singapore, he left in 2008 to pursue his passion for internet entrepreneurship.
With a proven track record of generating more than 32,000 qualified sales leads from 2008 to 2020.
He helps companies in Singapore to build various online properties with high traffic & converting sales.
How did you start out as a marketer?
I started as an SEO marketer when I was a sales executive in an events company from 2006 to 2008.
Back then there were lots of speakers teaching about Internet marketing.
I do my best to attend those events and eventually decided to use SEO and PPC for my online marketing.
I used SEO and PPC to generate leads for my local businesses, like wall painting and house cleaning services.
Looking back what is your hardest struggle when it came to delivering results?
As I do not have any background in web design or web coding, I find it hard for me to create any website.
I was able to get past it with a partner who knows website design and some coding.
How did you get your first client back then, and what kind of service did you do for them?
I used Google Adwords back then to generate my first few leads for my wall painting services.
Someone even called me on my phone, I told them that I will return the call after a while.
The next moment I took up the newspaper and began calling painting contractors.
Asking them what I gather from the call, and ask if they do commissions if there’s any sale.
It took me about 2 weeks to find a painting contractor who’s willing to do the job and pay us a commission.
What do you find most rewarding about what you do?
I became more customer-oriented as I got to find out what their wants and needs are, in the painting business.
We have a lot of readers who are bent on becoming freelancers, aside from freelancing how else can someone earn online, and what is your advise?
I would advise that if possible sell something that you need to create once, it can be an ebook.
An online video course, or even templates of graphics, where you only need to do minimal work (like 10 to 20 mins) when someone buys your service.
The thing is that this type of product needs to be very affordable and easy to edit for you, and it usually takes a lot of effort initially to create.
If you were given the chance to build your career all over again what would you do differently so that you will achieve your dreams faster?
I would simply focus on building my websites, 90% of the time, and 10% on clients who would pay me at least $24k yearly.
Because clients come and go, but your online empire stays with you, till you sell it off.
How is your typical work day structured?
6.15am: Wakey wakey
7.35am: Reach office. Prepare to jog.
9am: Read bible/study Word of God/ Pray
10am to 1pm: Focus on building online assets.
Lunch
2pm to 5pm: Focus on client’s SEO.
Evening: Hangout with family or friends.
11pm: List out what needs to be done the next day.
Can you tell us about a time where you had to put in significant effort up front and then wait a long time for success?
I had a client who is a food blogger, the blog has over 2 thousand posts back then, it took us more than a year to finish up the on-page SEO. The wait wasn’t that long, it took us 6 months to see a significant search traffic increase of 38.69%.
You’ve been tasked with redesigning the company’s brand strategy from the ground up. Walk us through your process.
I am not a branding person, but I can share how you can do that online;
1) Guest posts on lots of relevant sites. Use your brand name to link back to your site. This is your foundation activity.
2) Connect with journalists who have written topics related to your business.
Do not sell them what you do. Instead, help them in what they are doing at that point in time.
For example, you found out that they are writing a piece on “CRM issues businesses faced”, you send them something helpful in their journal.
Only respond to what you do when they ask you. They will remember you when they are writing something related to your trade.
3) Use influencers who are new and have less than 10,000 followers.
Pay them to showcase/talk your brand product or service.
Use only 1 influencer a day, and another the next.
You may consider finding 30 different influencers, if you have more budget, use 60 influencers.
This is to get their followers to search for your brand on search engines and to increase branded searches.
This is the ultimate SEO game that all businesses should strive to.
Can you tell us about a past situation where you had to juggle multiple projects with competing deadlines?
I do not have that situation before as I only focus on getting 2 to 3 new clients a year.
What recently-developed marketing strategy, technique or tool interests you the most right now?
I am currently focusing on question types of SEO content for my online sites and clients.
As I find it easier to rank for this type of content nowadays.
What do you do to stay up to date with new marketing techniques?
I follow the SEO news quite closely.
I even sign up for a few SEO courses to hone my SEO skill.
Another thing is to follow the SEO groups where they share or even ask SEO questions.
Can you tell us about a project you’re most proud of from your past work history?
I am very fortunate to work with a food blogger, MissTamChiak.com. It was fun and learn a lot from a site that has over 15k search traffic a day.
Which one book/blog post would you recommend every Marketer should read?
I would recommend reading or follow Authority Hacker, Neil Patel, BacklinkO & Fat Stacks Blog.
What advice would you share with other Marketer’s who want to become more productive?
Not all marketing skills will suit you, find out the one marketing skill that is you when you use it, and focus on it.
If there’s one Marketing Guru you’d recommend who and why.
I would recommend the Authority Hacker guys, they are upfront, share what they know.
Humble to learn from others who are successful in their fields, and they have 2 great courses which I am learning from too.