I've seen it all. From struggling to get food and rent to driving 7-figure revenues for brands. I'm now an SEO and content specialist at Contact, an SEO agency that makes $20M/yr for clients. 

We've helped companies like Shopify, Kajabi, and beehiiv to turn search traffic into dependable, predictable revenue.

I went from being a broke and confused freelance writer in 2011 to being a top-rated copywriter who's written for valuable brands like beehiiv and Kajabi. 

I'm grateful for so many things...

Grateful to have been featured on TV, the papers, multiple blogs, ProWritingAid, HuffPost, HostAdvice, etc.

Grateful to have been one of the co-founders of a US-based digital marketing agency.

Grateful to have helped multiple clients.

Grateful to have built a site from zero to 3M+ in traffic and a mailing list from zero to 20,000+ engaged email subscribers.

I've been working at Contact, the most innovative SEO agency, since March 2023. One of my most satisfying things has been seeing valuable companies multiplying their revenue through SEO.

If you want to increase your revenue from SEO and content marketing, email me at walter@contactstudios.com.

Walter Akolo

SEO is dying. Again.

I've heard this claim at least 50 times in my career.

Every new technology is supposedly the final nail in the coffin.

Web 3.0 was going to kill it.
Google Ads was going to kill it.
Social media was going to kill it.
Voice search was going to kill it.
AI Overviews are going to kill it.
ChatGPT is going to kill it.

See, people love predicting the death of SEO.

It makes for great headlines and hot takes.

Here's what I've learned working in an agency that drives $20M/year in revenue for clients:

SEO doesn't die. It evolves.

- People still search 14 billion times daily on Google.
- Businesses still need to be found online.
- The fundamentals still work.

Instead of worrying about the next "SEO killer."

Focus on adapting to what actually matters.

- Understanding search intent.
- Creating content that serves users.
- Building authority in your clients' industries.

The noise will always be there.

The doomsday predictions will keep coming.

But I'm staying in the game while others panic and quit.

If you're in SEO or content marketing, take my advice:

- Block out the noise.
- Keep learning the fundamentals.

The industry is alive.

Your approach needs to evolve with it.

PS: What's the wildest "SEO is dead" claim you've heard?

SEO leader turning content into $20M+/year revenue engines | SEO Expert and Content Specialist @ Contact | Managing SEO across 10M+ monthly impression sites | Taken 100+ BOFU pages to page 1 of Google

I started as a LinkedIn ghostwriter for a CEO.

Three months later, I was running their entire digital marketing operation.

Here's what happened:

The CEO hired me to write LinkedIn posts. Simple job.

I delivered PURE GOLD. They performed well. Engagement went up. Everyone was happy.

But I noticed something.

Their blog hadn't been updated for a while. Their email list was sitting there collecting dust. Their website copy was barely converting.

I could have kept quiet. Just collected my cut and stayed in my lane.

Instead, I sent a message:

"Hey, I noticed a few things that might be holding back your growth. Can we jump on a quick call?"

That video call changed everything.

I walked them through what I saw. The gaps. The missed opportunities. The revenue they were leaving on the table.

They asked: "Can you fix this?"

Within a month, I went from LinkedIn ghostwriter to leading their content strategy, email campaigns, blog optimization, and conversion rate improvements.

The retainer multiplied several times over.

Here's the strategy I've used over and over since then:

Your first project is a lead magnet, not the end goal.

Some people think: Get hired. Do the work. Wait for the next project.

I think: Get hired. Do the work. Find the next problem. Solve it.

Always be looking for what else is broken.

When you're inside a client's business, you see things they don't. Blind spots. Inefficiencies. Untapped potential.

Point them out. Some clients have no idea these problems exist.

Video calls close deals.

I can't count how many times I've gotten on a call to "discuss ideas" and walked away with expanded scope and more ka-ching.

Why? Because when you show genuine interest in their success and can articulate solutions clearly, they want to work with you more.

Don't just stay in your lane.

If you're good at one thing, you can probably learn adjacent skills fast. For this client, I started with LinkedIn. Added blog writing. Then email marketing. Then SEO. Then full digital strategy.

Each skill opened the door to the next upsell.

Deliver value first, then expand.

I never pitch upsells before proving I can deliver on what they hired me for. Once they trust you with the small thing, they'll trust you with the big thing.

Today, most of my highest-paying clients started with a single small project.

The ones who only wanted that one thing? They stayed small clients.

The ones who let me keep solving problems? They became my biggest revenue sources.

Your initial project is JUST your entry point. Go for bigger things. Never forget that.

You quit your 9-to-5 for "freedom"?

Then why are you working 16-hour days for peanuts in the name of a "business"?

I lost EVERYTHING in 2015. 

- Moved from a nice 3-bedroomed house to a low-cost house
- One of my thriving businesses went down
- Had surgery
- Even missed meeting a Facebook VP (was planning a funeral...and yes, that year was that dark)

But here's what saved me...

The people I helped on the way up refused to let me drown.

Before the crash, I'd scaled my income to unimaginable heights. Working just 4-6 hours daily.

With my FREE TIME, I mentored thousands, served on a mental health board, won a "Parent of the Year" award. I even had some leadership roles in church.

When disaster struck? Those same people took great care of me.

As you grow your business, don't forget to be there for people. Always strive to see OTHER PEOPLE succeed.

I give God all the glory.

In case you're struggling after a disaster, here's what can help you start growing back up:

1. Replace cheap clients fast: If you're charging too low, it's time to look for higher paying clients. Let each new client pay DOUBLE the last till you plateau. And whenever you plateau, learn something new and increase your rates further.

2. Write down shower ideas (or random ideas that come at unexpected times): One may be your million-dollar ticket.

3. Build assets, not just income: Passive income = real freedom. Start where you are.

4. Help others while you can: They'll save you when you can't.

5. Always deliver pure gold: Let people know you as the one who always delivers.

You can rebuild from rock bottom. I've done so. Lara Acosta has done so. And many others that you can learn from out there.

But NOT by grinding harder. By scaling SMARTER and being there for people.

Leave everyone feeling "wow" and happy they met you!

My prayer is that one of you reading this will soon 10x your income and live a happy, successful life.

Will it be YOU?

Or will you still be trading hours for dollars, delivering below-average work, and wondering where your "freedom" went?

the responses to ai are funny... we now have people who primarily write in lowercase so that their content looks natural. 

many who loooved the em dash have stopped using it so their content doesn't look ai. 

others are intentionally adding spelling mstiakes to their posts. 

what weird things have you done lately for your content to look natural?

I searched my name on Google and Perplexity today.

My LinkedIn profile showed up #3 on Google, right after my website and FB. And #2 on Perplexity.

That's when it hit me.

AI search engines are treating LinkedIn profiles like authoritative sources. Perplexity ranks them above company sites. Google's AI overviews pull from them constantly. ChatGPT and Claude cite them as primary references.

The reason? LinkedIn's structured data format makes it easy for AI to parse and trust.

If you're not optimizing your profile for AI search, you're invisible to the next generation of discovery.

Here's what you can change on your profile today:

1. Add alt text to every image with clear descriptions and natural keywords
2. Rewrite your headline using service, audience, and expertise keywords
3. Use target keywords naturally throughout your posts
4. Remove hashtags (LinkedIn ranks on semantics now, not tags)
5. Max out your skills section with 40+ relevant skills
6. Publish LinkedIn articles that Google indexes
7. Customize your profile URL to include your name
8. Rewrite your About section with industry keywords (no stuffing)
9. Comment daily using niche language to build topical authority

Soon, people will be focusing on AI-first to discover you. And your LinkedIn profile is becoming your primary search identity on both traditional and AI search.

Make the most of it today so that you can reap the benefits in the future.

Head of Marketing at iCG Pay - HubSpot-Certified Marketer and LinkedIn Sales Nav Whiz

I started my career selling software over cold calls. Every day was a mix of rejection, curiosity, and small wins. Somewhere between dialing the 50th number and closing my first big account, I realized something. Most sales teams don’t fail because they can’t sell. They fail because marketing, sales, and operations don’t talk to each other.

That’s where I decided to focus.

Over the last 7+ years, I’ve helped B2B companies bridge that gap. I work with CEOs, founders, and sales leaders to design demand generation systems that actually move the needle. Some projects are straightforward, like CRM setup and optimization in HubSpot or Salesforce. Others are more ambitious, like building a custom SaaS logistics platform from scratch using React and Supabase to replace 90% of manual processes.

Along the way, I’ve built full websites and landing pages that not only look good but convert, designed personal branding systems that help founders grow their audience, and developed custom web apps for small businesses — including an end-to-end platform for my dad’s logistics company, complete with official email setup, CRM integration, and automated workflows.

Automation has become a big part of my toolkit. Whether it’s using n8n to route leads, connecting web forms to CRMs, or setting up AI-assisted content pipelines, I look for ways to remove manual work so teams can focus on strategy and creativity.

I’ve led ABM campaigns, scaled SEO-driven content marketing, run Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads, and built email outreach sequences that turn cold leads into warm conversations. I’m equally comfortable planning a GTM strategy as I am getting hands-on with analytics, tracking every click in GA4 to understand what’s really driving results.

Some recent wins:
Scaled blog traffic 50x in six months with a complete SEO and content overhaul using SEMrush and HubSpot CMS.
Built inbound and outbound funnels that generated enterprise-level B2B deals in SaaS and fintech.
Designed conversion-focused landing pages, eBooks, and case studies that consistently hit MQL targets.
Created a fully automated logistics SaaS product from scratch, now live and in active use.

If it’s about B2B marketing, demand generation, performance marketing, CRM automation, website development, app building, or personal branding, I’ve probably built it, fixed it, or scaled it. And if I haven’t yet, I’ll figure it out.

Shubham Garg

5 months off LinkedIn. 

Not because I quit. Because I got buried.


I spent the last 5 months deep inside client work. 

Building AI workflows from scratch. 

Writing brand blueprints and menu engineering reports for restaurants I'd never eaten at. 

Shipping deliverables at midnight, learning new tools by 2am, waking up and doing it again. 



I didn't post because I genuinely didn't have a thought left over that wasn't already spoken for by a deadline.

And somewhere in that stretch I stopped doing the one thing that was actually mine. 


THIS. 

Writing here. 

Thinking out loud in a place that isn't a client doc or a Slack thread. 


I let the work eat the thing that feeds me, and I didn't even notice until I couldn't remember the last time I said something publicly that wasn't for someone else's brand.



So here's what I figured out. 


Building a personal brand isn't some vanity project I get to when things calm down. 


Things DON'T calm down. 

They just keep compounding. 

And if you keep waiting for a gap in the chaos to show up for yourself, you'll wait forever. 

Showing up here is self-care the same way going to the mountains next week is self-care. 

It's not optional anymore. 



It's the thing that keeps me from becoming just a machine that produces work and forgets it has a voice.

I'm not coming back with a content calendar or a strategy. 



I'm coming back because I 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 to. 



Because 5 months of silence taught me that the work doesn't care if you disappear. But I do.

Hoping to post some great pictures from the mountains next week :)

Founder, The Toolkit Co. | Helping Content Creators and Coaches Maximize Their Use of AI Systems

This meme 😂

While it cracked me up, it also made me realist that I've been all four panels at different points.

But there's something real in that last one that I can't stop thinking about. 
Because I don't know when exactly it happened, but somewhere between 1am and the fourth Claude tab open, I started solving problems I'd been sitting with for months.

Not because Claude is magic. 

The thing is, I think I just finally had something that would stay awake with me. 

Wouldn't tell me to journal about it. 

Claude just... stayed in it with me.

I've built more of my actual life at 2am with an AI than I have with anything else.

Workflows that saved me 10+ hrs a week. 

Systems I'd been "planning to build" for months.

And honestly, the ADHD part of this meme is doing the heavy lifting. 

Because it's not just that Claude is useful at 3am. 
It's that 3am is when my brain actually shows up. 
And for most of my life, I didn't have anyone else to listen to me..

I'm still a little suspicious of how much I rely on it. 
That's a separate post, maybe.

But that checklist at the bottom of the meme? 

I'm not going to pretend I don't have a version of it saved somewhere.

I just wish I could fix my sleep now. 😂

taplio

The Battle

Walter Akolo

Shubham Garg

Followers

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Performance ScoreWalter Akolo's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreShubham Garg's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Walter Akolo

Shubham Garg

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Walter Akolo's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreShubham Garg's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreWalter Akolo's LinkedIn Performance