In our regular feature, we occasionally host leading people in the digital industry and ask them to answer professional as well as personal questions. The purpose of this feature is to provide a stage and a platform for leading people in the digital community, so that they can share their knowledge and experience with others.
Last time we hosted Idan Ben Or, click here to read his answers.
This time on the A-List - Daniel Zrihen!
How did you start your career?
I took my first steps in the SEO world back when I was a student, in 2009. Myself and two other friends from school came up with an idea to sell viewing packages for the upcoming 2010 World Cup. The idea was to earn money from affiliate marketing for streaming services to watch the World Cup in various countries that had no other option. The three of us had zero experience and barely knew what SEO was. We read a lot about the field and learned everything from online guides.
Within 3-4 months, we built a Joomla website from scratch and managed to rank it in Google’s top results for the search term “watch world cup live”, which at the time had over 100,000 monthly searches.
After that project, I decided to enter the world of SEO.
How did you take your first steps in the industry?
Shortly after that venture, I established several other small affiliate sites abroad, which made me a few pennies but were far from the success of that site. After that, I decided to try my luck in the Israeli market and started proactively reaching out to many SEO companies (at the time there were far fewer compared to today). With some of them, I am still in touch to this day regarding various collaborations. That is how I started providing specific SEO services as a freelancer – for example link building, assistance with reports, and things like that.
At the same time, I also launched my website and started publishing blog articles on a weekly basis (which continues to this day), and that is actually how the business started.
What main platforms do you recommend advertisers use?
As an SEO specialist, I often encounter the question “How will I get leads until SEO becomes effective?”. So usually I recommend advertising on Google or Facebook – whatever is relevant to most businesses. There are fields where Google Ads works much better and there are cases where Facebook / Instagram is actually the recommended platform – depending on the nature of the field, the level of urgency, average deal value, etc.
However, organic is relevant, in my opinion, to 99% of fields.
What do you think is the next big thing in digital marketing?
In the field of SEO, I assume Google will continue trying to advance and evolve in terms of schema usage, user experience, reducing dependence on external links, and a more holistic perspective.
What does your daily routine at work look like?
We are a very family-oriented office – I gathered family and friends around me. My wife and sister have been working with me for several years, and some of the employees in the office are friends I know from various settings. So assuming there are no quarantines or any other issues, my wife and I arrive at the office together every morning, after dropping off the kids.
Most of my day is actually answering emails from clients, phone calls, Zoom meetings, and occasionally physical meetings in the complex where I work. Since the first COVID lockdown, I went out to a meeting maybe twice, at most. I really don’t like going out and wasting time on commutes, meetings, parking, and all that mess – it’s simply a waste of precious time and I prefer working during that time. Therefore, 100% of my meetings moved to Zoom, and even that I try to avoid or minimize – the fact that I am a father to young children and also play in several bands requires me to be very efficient and purposeful. My schedule is very busy anyway, so I am very “stingy” with my time for anything that isn’t strictly necessary.
A few years ago, when we had one daughter, there were days when I would get home only around 9 PM and continue working into the wee hours, but today the business and I are in a different place. I hardly do catch-up work at home (just a little sometimes on weekends), and I have outsourced more tasks to the team so that actually my work hours are like those of an average employee.
What was the marketing move you made that kept you up at night for a few days?
Years ago I had a bridal gown client. Back then I had much more free time, and far fewer clients… so I also used to make pretty crazy moves to acquire links and help the client rank higher on Google. In short – they launched a new collection of bridal gowns and asked me to spread the word. In the first stage, what I did was create a huge list of websites and blogs in Israel and worldwide that cover events, leisure, weddings, fashion, etc. – I reached a list of about 400 websites and email addresses.
In the next stage, I drafted a general outreach email with a link to the client’s gallery and Pinterest (which I was also responsible for), and because they did a beautiful job with the design and photography, there was a lot of interest and people were happy to write about their collection and also provide a link to their website (some did so even without me asking).
This generated a massive wave of interest in their product, and they also received tons of links from websites, some of which were super strong, which boosted their site abroad and brought them international recognition. It was completely insane.
What advice would you give to someone just starting their journey in the digital world?
Always be curious, know that there is always something to learn and always room to advance. Understand a bit of everything, but specialize mainly in something specific and do it at the highest possible level.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
Colleagues, competitors, and thought leaders in fields that I follow.
How do you stay updated with everything new in the world and in general?
Mainly through Facebook groups and YouTube channels that I follow.
Did you feel at any stage in your career that you achieved a breakthrough?
Maybe it’s less noticeable as it’s happening, but in retrospect, when I compare where I am today and where I was 10 years ago, that’s quite a breakthrough for me.
How do you summarize the year 2021?
My most successful year in business so far, much better than the year before it, in which the business took (like many, I assume) a few hits due to COVID.
What was one of the biggest challenges during this period for you?
How to continue maintaining and growing the business even in times of crisis and uncertainty. Fortunately, COVID caught me and my business at a time when there was already some established standing – both in terms of SEO and in terms of online branding, so although the hit was quite sharp, it was for a short period, and the recovery was very fast, followed by an uptrend – very similar to what happened in the stock market in those days 🙂
Do you have new tools or activities that you credit to the COVID period? That you might not have implemented otherwise?
Thanks to COVID, I started being much more active on my YouTube channel – there were periods when I would upload a video or two every day. As of writing these lines, I have over 600 videos on YouTube and there is no doubt that from a marketing standpoint, YouTube advertising proves itself.
After the COVID crisis period, what should we take forward with us to preserve?
First of all, I really hope the crazy period is behind us. My general impression is that we won’t return to the days of the first lockdowns, which were truly shocking, because everything was new and everyone was in a panic, and a lot of businesses completely froze marketing activities and the like. In subsequent lockdowns there were still freezes, but on a much smaller scale; people had already gotten used to a sort of COVID routine, and now the public atmosphere is ‘enough, we’re done with this’, and that is also reflected in digital – there are those who even want to invest more because during COVID there are fields that are thriving – for example, the e-commerce sectors.
The most significant shift for me is Zoom – in the spirit of the times, it has become very acceptable to meet virtually and many forego physical meetings. For me, it has done a lot of good, for the reasons I mentioned earlier 🙂
A bit about the interviewee
Daniel Zrihen
Engaged in SEO since 2009, writes a blog in the field of SEO and internet marketing, married with two children, lives in Rehovot.
