SEOblog Interview: Fresno SEO Expert Luis Chavez from Chavez Web Design, LLC

We’re excited to have interviewed Fresno SEO expert Luis Chavez from Chavez Web Design, LLC for the next installment of our Featured SEO Expert Series!

Chavez Web Design, LLC is one of SEOblog’s Top SEO companies in Fresno.

Luis Chavez graduated from California State University Northridge in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. Soon after graduating, he got a job with Enterprise Rent-A-Car and worked there for several years as a branch manager, eventually making the decision to join his wife’s successful family web design business.

He focuses on results, having taken several courses on HTML, WordPress, eCommerce, pay-per-click (PPC), social media and more. He is Google-certified and has completed over 20 courses on web design and internet marketing and over 1000 hours of training on the services Chavez Web Design, LLC offers today. Chavez is also a consultant with the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and helps small businesses with their online presence.

What would you say is unique and/or challenging about the Fresno/Sacramento SEO industry?

“We have worked with businesses throughout the United States and have lived in multiple cities within California. I have found it easier to work with clients from the Fresno/Sacramento area. People in California’s Central Valley are more interested in building a long-term relationship with their vendors and meeting face-to-face, whereas the large metropolitan areas are more interested in getting it cheaper and faster.

“After analyzing thousands of websites and working on multiple SEO projects, we have found that the Fresno/Sacramento area is not as saturated as other metropolitan areas like the Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego. In other words, there are fewer SEO experts that service this area, giving smaller SEO companies an opportunity to stay competitive. However, one of the challenges in working with businesses in the Fresno/Sacramento area is that there is less overall demand compared to the larger populated areas.”

How does your agency stand out in a crowded market like California?

“We have a very strong niche within the Spanish-speaking community. In fact, every Wednesday at 9 am we offer free webinars on internet marketing. Nobody else in California’s Central Valley offers webinars like us. As a result, Google awarded us as a Grow With Google High Impact Partner two years in a row. We were awarded this badge because we have helped train over 2300 business owners on promoting their business with Google.”

Can you share a success story from a local SEO campaign centered around your area?

“We started working with lifeatthevineyards.org towards the beginning of November 2019. The first thing we did was complete a website audit, during which we found over 45 items that could be improved on their website. The items that had the most impact were as follows:

• Added appropriate alt tags
• Improved website speed by switching servers and optimizing images
• Optimized content with Yoast SEO
• Disavowed bad backlinks by setting them up with Google Search Console
• Used SEMrush’s ‘Keyword Gap’ tool to see what backlinks their competitors were getting. This helped us increase their authority score from 18/100 to 22/100″

“According to SEMrush, they would normally get around 1062 visitors from organic search traffic and now they get around 1502 visitors from organic search traffic.”

What is the best advice you ever received in business?

“My mentor once told me that the goal of my business should be to create systems, controls and teams. He said it was critical that I learn how to automate my business to scale and make my business more valuable. He explained that once a business is automated, it could continue on, even in the event of my falling ill or going on vacation. Moreover, I could start another business if I really wanted to, creating multiple streams of income. I have taken his advice and I am happy to report that I now work less and make more money. In fact, this has been our best year ever in the history of my business thanks to that advice.”

What do you think is the most important quality that makes an SEO agency truly great?

“It’s hard to narrow it down to only one quality because there are so many important things like teamwork, honesty and persistence. However, if I had to narrow it down to only one quality, it’s to never stop learning no matter how busy you are. SEO is constantly changing; therefore, it is critical that our team stay up to date with the latest and greatest. In fact, one out of our eight core values is innovate and never stop learning, no matter how busy you are. Always take time to learn something new and improve your craft.

“As a result, our team is required to study a minimum of 15 minutes every day. Once they finish their 15-minute session, they post a screenshot in a group Skype we have set up. This way we hold each other accountable and live up to this very important core value.”

Any predictions for the future of SEO?

“Google has consistently stated that their number one goal is to provide the searcher with the most relevant results. Therefore, I predict that Google and other search engines will continue with that initiative by using the power of artificial intelligence. I believe artificial intelligence will continue to play a bigger role in improving a searcher’s relevant search results based on location, interest, bounce rate, trustworthy content, recency, user behavior like click-through rate (CTR) and other demographic data.”

What is your reaction when you hear that “SEO is dying”?

“We recently called our competitor’s clients and asked them how they heard about the web design company that did their website. After calling over 100 customers from our competition we found that 62.5 percent found their web design company on Google. Moreover, if you go to trends.google.com, you’ll see keywords like ‘SEO’ and ‘SEO companies’ have been trending up since 2004. However, things have become significantly more competitive in the SEO world. Everybody wants to be on the first page of the search results, but only a few can. As a result, only the strong will survive – companies that do this as a hobby will be the ones saying ‘SEO is dying’ because they couldn’t make it in this very competitive market space.”

What do you think is the most important contributor to keeping clients happy?

“One of my mentors once told me that happiness lies between reality and expectations. One of our founding core values is that completely satisfied customers are the lifeline of our business. Never over-promise and always exceed your customer’s expectations.

“As a result, we make sure we educate our clients on our process and explain to them that’s not about ranking for one keyword, but rather ranking for keywords that show an intention to buy. Moreover, we set realistic expectations based on their current domain authority and their existing web pages.”

Interested in being considered as an SEOblog “Featured SEO Expert”? Reach out to our team at [email protected]! We’d love to hear from you and give you a high-traffic platform to share your SEO agency’s story and insights.