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Since 2009, Jason has been an active leader in the New York City digital marketing community, founding two successful firms, Break The Web & SEO Services New York. Since inception, Jason has managed marketing campaigns for some of the most significant brands in the world and carries a unique philosophy when it comes to campaign success. On his spare time, Jason can be found falling from the sky as an amateur skydiver.
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City where you’re from: New York City
Favorite quote:
- “Don’t think, what’s the cheapest way to do it or what’s the fastest way to do it….think what’s the most amazing way to do it” – Richard Brandson
- “People will forget what you said, they’ll forget what you did, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel” – Maya Angelou
Social accounts:
Tell us about Break The Web. How did you come up with this idea?
Jason Berkowitz: I wasn’t always into marketing. At a young age, I was definitely a tech nerd and built a web forum at 13 years of age. It revolved around ‘manly’ things and had threads about Fitness, Martial Arts, Psychology, Vitamins, Movies, etc.. I never had an end goal with it but the oddity it was, it actually got a bit of small traction.
Years later I was working as a personal trainer looking for new ways to gain clientele. Through browsing the web, I stumbled upon SEO, learned the basic strategies, implemented and quickly saw results. As expected, I thought to myself, “wow, I can do this for other websites,” and complete paradigm shift led to where I am today, CEO of one of NYC’s top ranking SEO agencies.
How did you promote your company in the early days?
Jason Berkowitz: The biggest traction-builder for us (me, at the time being a freelancer) was a ‘practice what you preach’ approach. I knew that I had to prove my credibility to gain my first initial clients, so I simply ranked my agency website in the top 5 of Google for various ‘New York SEO’ search terms. It was then that prospects started approaching me for SEO services.
How have you been able to grow your business? Go specific.
Jason Berkowitz: Lacking a complete background in business & marketing made it that much more of a struggle early on. I sought out the advice of other successful SEO agency owners just to learn more about what takes place behind the scenes. I knew how to rank websites but I didn’t know how to efficiently set up processes and perform customer service/satisfaction. Having various mentors in the space has been one of our biggest assets and I’m truly grateful to each one of them.
What are some secrets to virality/sales in your most successful platform (Fb, Twitter, IG, Snap, Ecommerce, etc)?
Jason Berkowitz: Having our own rankings, coupled with case studies and testimonials have been one of our keys to success. Many SEO agencies are scared to show off client successes but in the SEO industry, it’s definitely something to differentiate yourself. It’s an all too controversial industry and proving your white-hat/black-hat classification can be difficult without proof of results.
Teach us something we don’t know about {internet marketing, social media ads, fundraising, volunteering, yoga, sales funnels or another topic you pick}
Jason Berkowitz: Don’t always look at the big players and attempt to copy them. By accident, I actually found a pretty surprising SEO mistake on Overstock.com (blog post coming soon). It’s something so simple but also so bad that I would think they would have known better. While the big dogs may look like they have everything figured out, always perform research and due diligence.
What do you think you do better than most people? How are you able to do it?
Jason Berkowitz: I think explaining proper SEO strategy is my strong suite. Many of our prospects have been burned in the past by shady agencies, and I’m pretty good at analyzing algorithmic penalties, diagnosing issues and explaining the issues to the client in a way that easy to understand yet extremely informative.
What are some of the best books you’ve ever read?
Jason Berkowitz: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini; The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene; Trust Me, I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday; What Doesn’t Kills Us by Scott Carney (learned how to walk outside naked and withstand the cold).
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
Jason Berkowitz: Over the last year, I’ve taken a keen liking to Skydiving and have gone through the process of getting certified. The thrill/rush/excitement/nervousness/freedom is an experience unlike any other.
Where do you see yourself and your product in a couple years? What’s your dream?
Jason Berkowitz: I would like to continue to grow our digital marketing agencies while being able to maintain the ability to provide results. Sometimes growth can lead to a poorer quality of work and I would like to avoid that. I hope that we can be considered one of the ‘go-to’ agencies for a proper SEO solution.
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