Hi, I'm Matt.
I hate buying leads.
I hate cold-calling and mass texting.
I hate closing gifts. Signing day should be the start of something, not the end.
I believe most agents spend too much time and money trying to reach people who don't need a real estate agent, and too little time and money trying to reach people who do.
I believe many agents put too much faith in AI and too little faith in themselves.
Everything I offer here at SEO Savvy Agent -- from my newsletter to the SEO Course and everything in between -- is about helping you connect with people who WANT to work with you.
Do we know each other from my time at HomeLight? Or maybe we bumped into one another at one of the big real estate conferences?
In any case, thanks for your interest in SEO Savvy Agent!
Let me share more about my background and qualifications so you can feel more confident about me and the services I offer.
I've been surrounded by real estate my entire life!
My dad began his real estate career in 1953 and owned a small, independent brokerage until retiring in 2001. I have vivid memories of looking at homes for sale in the "big blue MLS book" that he brought home when I was a little boy. By the time dad retired, my sister already had her license and owned a small, independent brokerage.
Then in 2004, my wife, Cari, left her retail management career and became a Realtor®. Today, she's one of the top real estate agents in Tri-Cities, Washington -- the #1 RE/MAX agent in the market, and also a RealTrends Verified Top 150 agents in the state and top 1% nationally.
In 2017, I began working full-time as her Marketing Director, implementing the systems that I'm now teaching in The SEO Savvy Agent. Our two primary sources of leads and GCI are:
Rockstar Rewards -- our client loyalty program that I teach in Forever Clients - A Million-Dollar Client Loyalty System
SEO/Google - what I teach in the Real Estate SEO Course
Powered by these two pillars, Cari's GCI grew 44% in our first year and 82% over three years -- this was pre-COVID. Her closed transactions went up 31% in one year and 50% over three years (also pre-COVID).
These systems work.
(The lawyers want me to point out that your results may vary. 😅)
While working as my wife's marketing director, I also accepted a full-time offer from HomeLight. You might know me as the creator and host of their weekly podcast, The Walkthroughâ„¢, from 2020-2022. Every week, I invited guests like Tom Ferry, Glennda Baker, Brian Boero, and others to help agents "grow your business, stand out from the crowd, and become irreplaceable" (as I said in every episode).
The podcast appeared regularly in Apple's Top 50 charts (Careers category) and had a community of 2,500+ raving fans when I left the show.
I started building small business websites in 1997 and doing SEO a year later when a few clients told me there was a problem: "We love our website, but no one can find it!"
Over the course of ~15 years, I did consulting and client work for major brands like Target and The Weather Channel, while also helping countless small business owners improve their websites and SEO. (The systems I teach in the SEO course actually began with a dermatologist client whom I helped grow from $200/month to $20,000/month in online sales of skincare products.)
In 2008, I began writing for Search Engine Land, the world's #1 resource for SEO and search marketing news and information. I worked my way up from writer to Executive News Editor and, in 2013, I began a four-year stint as the site's Editor-in-Chief.
I'm one of 47 SEOs around the world invited to participate in the Local Search Ranking Factors survey, and the only one who exclusively does real estate SEO.
Since 2006, I've been blessed to teach SEO and digital marketing at numerous conferences across the country:
ad:tech
Search Marketing Expo
Search Engine Strategies
SearchFest
SMX Social Media
MivaCon
Equip
and more
In 2010, I co-founded Local University, a company that offers local SEO workshops and training specifically for small, local business owners (like real estate agents). I was a regular speaker at our Local U events, including when the MetroTex Association of Realtors® invited us to do a full-day workshop for its members.
All of this is why I'm so excited about The SEO Savvy Agent. In many ways, it's the culmination of everything I've been doing for the past ~25 years.
(Thanks to Boise-area photographer Stacie Christensen for the Equip conference photos!)