E-Coffee with Experts

Digital Web Solutions

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  1. 4d ago

    Brad Casper: How to Scale an Agency Without Trying to Do Everything Yourself

    Brad Casper, CEO of Heart & Soul Marketing, joins E-Coffee with Experts to discuss what it takes to build sustainable growth across consumer brands, agencies, and private-equity-backed businesses. Drawing on more than three decades of leadership experience with companies including Procter & Gamble, Church & Dwight, the Dial Corporation, and the Phoenix Suns, Brad explains why leaders should focus on their strengths, choose partnerships that fill capability gaps, and build the processes and role clarity that make growth repeatable. The conversation also explores what Brad learned from leading across the United States, Japan, and China; why enthusiastic listening can change the way a leader understands people; and how Heart and Soul is using AI to accelerate research, meeting summaries, analysis, and creative thinking without replacing human judgment. Brad shares lessons from private equity, the tension between short-term financial returns and long-term brand equity, and why modern marketers need to balance demand capture with future demand creation. Get Your Exclusive AIO Growth Plan - We’ll kick off with a Live AIO Audit to see how shoppers find you, followed by Competitor Research to steal their spotlight: https://lunacal.ai/team/dws/dws-meetings In this episode, we discuss: 00:00 - 01:43: Introduction 01:43 - 03:41: Principles for sustainable growth 03:41 - 06:04: Scaling through partnerships 06:04 - 07:40: Building repeatable agency growth 07:40 - 10:22: The ingredients of sustainable growth 10:22 - 14:12: Culturally adaptive leadership 14:12 - 16:26: Listening beyond language 16:26 - 20:33: Enthusiastic listening and consensus 20:33 - 23:51: Where AI is earning its place 23:51 - 26:20: AI makes the work faster 26:20 - 30:25: Private equity and value creation 30:25 - 33:25: Balancing brand equity and performance 33:25 - 35:24: Heart and Soul’s national ambition 35:24 - 36:57: Closing thoughts  Connect with Brad Casper  https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-casper/  http://www.gotheartandsoul.com  FOLLOW US Website: https://www.digitalwebsolutions.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digiwebsol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dws_global LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-web-solutions./

  2. 5d ago

    Dennis Lazard: Why Topical Authority and Brand Mentions Matter in AI Search

    Dennis Lazard, Founder of ESA Digital, joins E-Coffee with Experts to unpack how search is changing as brands compete for visibility in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Google AI Overviews. Dennis traces his path from building an early AI project for Google Ads to growing an agency that works with funded and established SaaS, AI apps, and technology brands. He shares what he learned from starting ESA Digital during the UK lockdown, winning its first client, and building the agency largely through referrals. The conversation then moves into international SEO, including multi-language testing, AI-assisted content, human rewriting, and the difference between traffic and revenue across markets. Dennis also explains how he thinks LLMs evaluate brands: topical authority, answers to the questions people ask, brand authority, mentions, and citations. He discusses why classic SEO metrics do not yet translate neatly to LLM visibility, why reliable query-volume and click-through-rate benchmarks are still missing, and how agencies may evolve toward AI-native service-as-software platforms. Get Your Exclusive AIO Growth Plan - We’ll kick off with a Live AIO Audit to see how shoppers find you, followed by Competitor Research to steal their spotlight: https://lunacal.ai/team/dws/dws-meetings In this episode, we discuss: 00:00 - 01:05: Introduction 01:05 - 03:42: From Google Ads AI to LLMs and GEO 03:42 - 05:23: Starting ESA Digital during lockdown 05:23 - 06:59: First client and referral-led growth 06:59 - 08:04: Why specialize in SaaS and tech 08:04 - 09:21: When startups are not ready for SEO 09:21 - 11:18: Building an ROI-led SEO strategy 11:18 - 14:01: What international SEO taught Dennis 14:01 - 16:47: How LLMs surface brands 16:47 - 18:12: The measurement gap in AI search 18:12 - 20:04: Dennis’s favorite SEO tools 20:04 - 22:42: The future of AI-native agencies 22:42 - 23:33: Writing the next SEO chapter 23:33 - 25:36: Final thoughts  Connect with Dennis Lazard  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennislazard/  https://www.esadigitalagency.com/ Check out 155 AI ranking factors list here: https://www.esadigitalagency.com/ai-ranking-factors-2026  FOLLOW US Website: https://www.digitalwebsolutions.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digiwebsol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dws_global LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-web-solutions./

  3. Sep 21

    Olabinjo Adeniran: Google Still Drives Nearly 98% of His Site Traffic. What About AI?

    What happens after someone finds your product through search? Olabinjo Adeniran, a London-based Product and Growth Marketing Consultant focused on fintech, joins E-Coffee with Experts to discuss how SEO, onboarding, and retention connect. Drawing on his work with crypto and payments products, Olabinjo explains how search strategy changes with product maturity, why first-time buyers need trust and a simple purchase experience, and what writing Bundle’s early app copy taught him about reducing time to value. He shares the early retention signals his team watched and explains why a salary deposit can be a meaningful activation event for a digital bank. The conversation also covers his observation that Google still brings nearly 98% of traffic to his own sites, how he uses AI in marketing workflows, and his interest in lifecycle SEO: content that helps existing customers use a product. Get Your Exclusive AIO Growth Plan - We’ll kick off with a Live AIO Audit to see how shoppers find you, followed by Competitor Research to steal their spotlight: https://lunacal.ai/team/dws/dws-meetings In this episode, we discuss: 00:00 - 01:40: Introduction 01:40 - 04:23: SEO strategy across fintech growth stages 04:23 - 06:50: Building trust with first-time crypto buyers 06:50 - 08:29: Product copy and onboarding for growth 08:29 - 10:07: Early retention signals and repeat transactions 10:07 - 12:29: Choosing meaningful activation events 12:29 - 15:36: Google search versus AI search traffic 15:36 - 18:28: AI tools for marketing and analytics 18:28 - 20:36: Lifecycle SEO for existing customers  Connect with Olabinjo Adeniran  https://www.linkedin.com/in/olabinjo  growthpartners.online  FOLLOW US Website: https://www.digitalwebsolutions.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digiwebsol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dws_global LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-web-solutions./

  4. Sep 18

    Brian McLeod: The SEO Migration Strategy Behind a 150% Click Increase

    Brian McLeod, AI SEO Director of Level Agency, joins us to break down what’s working across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity. Brian shares his unexpected path from theater to enterprise SEO, along with lessons from major projects, including a migration that drove 150% click growth, a 40% search performance lift for TCS Education, and work that tripled a financial services client’s AI visibility against competitors. We get into what makes enterprise SEO migrations work, why client trust matters just as much as the strategy itself, and why consistency and specificity can matter more than simply chasing backlinks. Brian also explains why clicks and sessions no longer tell the full story. In AI search, the bigger question is whether your brand is actually becoming the answer. Plus, he shares how he’s using Claude to build automated SEO audit tools, and why AI can get you 70–90% of the way there, but still needs human judgment to finish the job. If you work in SEO, GEO, or enterprise marketing, there’s plenty to take away from this one. Get Your Exclusive AIO Growth Plan - We’ll kick off with a Live AIO Audit to see how shoppers find you, followed by Competitor Research to steal their spotlight: https://lunacal.ai/team/dws/dws-meetings In this episode, we discuss: 00:00 - 01:03: Introduction 01:03 - 02:29: Brian McLeod's Path Into SEO 02:29 - 04:16: Building Client Trust Beyond the Strategy Deck 04:16 - 06:41: Building SEO Credibility From Scratch at TCS Education 06:41 - 07:52: Why Measurement Matters More in the Age of GEO 07:52 - 10:04: The Operating Model for Enterprise SEO 10:04 - 10:42: The Coca-Cola Governance Framework Results 10:42 - 12:57: What Separates a Successful Enterprise Migration 12:57 - 15:19: Winning AI Visibility in Financial Services 15:19 - 17:04: Strategy for Multi-Category Brands 17:04 - 19:15: Off-Page Signals That Move the Needle in AI Search 19:15 - 21:31: How Social Media Shapes Brand Discoverability 21:31 - 23:49: Google AI vs ChatGPT and Perplexity Retrieval 23:49 - 25:57: When Technical SEO Isn't Enough 25:57 - 29:42: Building AI Workflows and Automations at Level Agency 29:42 - 31:51: Closing Thoughts  Connect with Brian McLeod  https://www.linkedin.com/in/briansmcleod/  https://www.level.agency/  FOLLOW US Website: https://www.digitalwebsolutions.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digiwebsol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dws_global LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-web-solutions./

  5. Sep 17

    Andrew Mazzonna: Why Backlinks Still Matter for SEO and AI Rankings

    Andrew Mazzonna, SEO Director of VEA Technologies, joins E-Coffee with Experts to share how he got into SEO in a pretty unexpected way, discovering Black Hat World during a rough freshman year of college. What started with teaching himself WordPress and experimenting through trial and error eventually turned into a career spanning self-storage, e-commerce, and enterprise agency work. In this episode, Andrew talks about how VEA Technologies is using AI to build a library of Claude skills for things like location page creation, sitemap monitoring, and content workflows. He also explains why self-storage is such a tough niche to stand out in organically, where proximity and reviews can matter more than keywords, and the difference between brand-level and facility-level visibility in AI search. We also get into entity clarity, topical authority, structured data, and what makes content more likely to get cited by AI platforms. And while AI search is changing the game, Andrew explains why he still sees backlinks as table stakes for both traditional SEO and AI visibility. To wrap things up, Andrew shares his take on learning SEO through trial and error, and one simple reminder: give yourself some grace. Get Your Exclusive AIO Growth Plan - We’ll kick off with a Live AIO Audit to see how shoppers find you, followed by Competitor Research to steal their spotlight: https://lunacal.ai/team/dws/dws-meetings In this episode, we discuss: 00:00 - 01:11: Introduction 01:11 - 02:40: Andrew's Journey Into SEO and VR Technologies 02:40 - 04:34: Lessons From Hands-On Learning and Staying Close to Execution 04:34 - 05:39: Scaling SEO With Claude Skills 05:39 - 06:42: Why Self-Storage SEO Is So Competitive 06:42 - 07:52: Brand-Level vs Facility-Level AI Visibility 07:52 - 08:42: Finding the Right Questions Behind Search Intent 08:42 - 09:13: The Biggest Shift in SEO and AI 09:13 - 10:15: How AI Is Making Long-Tail Search More Accessible 10:15 - 10:45: Andrew's Favorite AI Platforms 10:45 - 11:37: Entity Clarity and Topical Authority for LLMs vs Google 11:37 - 12:24: Are Backlinks Still Dead? Andrew's Take 12:24 - 13:38: What AI Citation-Ready Content Actually Looks Like 13:38 - 14:41: Advice to His Younger Self 14:41 - 16:55: Closing Thoughts  Connect with Andrew Mazzonna  https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-mazzonna-58b60b83/  veatechnologies.com  FOLLOW US Website: https://www.digitalwebsolutions.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digiwebsol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dws_global LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-web-solutions./

  6. Sep 16

    Ben Kalkman: How This CEO Built 10-Year Client Loyalty by Saying No

    Ben Kalkman, CEO of Rocket Media, started his agency as a side hustle while working as a handyman. 23 years later, it has become a leading home services marketing agency, and he has intentionally kept the team capped at 50 people. In this episode with our host Dawood Bukhari, Ben shares how one repeat customer taught him the difference between selling a quick fix and building real trust, why he narrowed Rocket Media’s focus from more than 100 home service categories down to just five: HVAC, plumbing, electrical, solar, and security, and why he believes going deep beats trying to do everything. We also talk about how AI and answer engines are changing home services marketing, from why Google Business Profile and solid SEO still matter to why customer conversations are one of the biggest untapped content sources. Ben also breaks down why PR and reviews are becoming increasingly important, and shares his “onion” framework for helping agencies actually adopt AI instead of simply handing everyone a ChatGPT license. Ben also gets into why his average client stays with Rocket Media for 10 to 12 years, how he decides which “shiny opportunities” to turn down, and why he believes every business has a “truth teller” niche worth owning. Get Your Exclusive AIO Growth Plan - We’ll kick off with a Live AIO Audit to see how shoppers find you, followed by Competitor Research to steal their spotlight: https://lunacal.ai/team/dws/dws-meetings In this episode, we discuss: 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction 01:00 - 01:54: The Moment Ben Realized He Was Selling Trust 01:55 - 03:52: How Rocket Media Started as a Side Hustle 03:53 - 04:51: Supporting Family Through the Early Days 04:52 - 06:28: How Word of Mouth Evolved With AI Search 06:29 - 07:22: Rocket Media and TikTok 07:23 - 08:39: Making Home Services Marketing Interesting 08:40 - 09:44: The Hardest Period in 23 Years 09:45 - 10:53: Why Systems Matter More Than Founders 10:54 - 14:43: The ToFixit Story and Narrowing to Five Trades 14:44 - 15:21: Becoming a Truth Teller in Your Industry 15:22 - 16:19: Consistency and How Answer Engines Perceive You 16:20 - 17:48: The 80/20 Rule for Saying No 17:49 - 19:37: Why the Office Was Designed for Exactly 50 People 19:38 - 21:17: Why Clients Stay 10 to 12 Years 21:18 - 23:17: Building In-House AI Tools and Teaching Transparently 23:18 - 24:25: Educational Content vs Selling an Offer 24:26 - 25:40: What Makes Content Citable by AI 25:41 - 27:40: Where to Invest Next After SEO Basics Are Done 27:41 - 32:06: The AI Adoption Onion Framework 32:07 - 33:40: Measuring Authority and Attribution in AI Search 33:41 - 35:22: What's Next for Ben and Rocket Media 35:23 - 37:08: Closing Thoughts  Connect with Ben Kalkman  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalkman  https://rocketmedia.com/  FOLLOW US Website: https://www.digitalwebsolutions.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digiwebsol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dws_global LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-web-solutions./

  7. Sep 15

    Carl Poxon Explains Why Search Intent Beats Keyword Volume

    What happens when you stop looking at SEO through the lens of keywords and start looking at it through the lens of people? Carl Poxon, SEO Director Reflect Digital, joins E-Coffee with Experts to explore exactly that. Carl takes us through his unusual journey into SEO, from biomolecular science to hosting, media, and agency life, and shares how Google’s Panda and Penguin updates helped push the industry beyond the days of keyword stuffing and link spam. A big part of the conversation is about understanding what people actually mean when they search. Carl shares a fascinating example from a UK building society, where the team was targeting a valuable mortgage term but discovered that first-time buyers weren’t searching for it because they didn’t know the terminology. It’s a simple example, but it highlights a much bigger point: search data can tell you what people type, but it doesn’t always tell you why they’re searching. We also get into zero-click searches and why not every valuable search needs to result in a click. Carl explains how seemingly non-commercial searches can build familiarity and brand recall over time, using the “We Buy Any Car” campaign as a great example of how brand awareness can influence future search behavior. And, of course, we talk about AI. From AI Overviews to LLM visibility, Carl shares how the shift toward AI-powered search is making traditional attribution harder, why branded search share is becoming an increasingly useful metric, and how SEOs can prove their impact when clicks and rankings no longer tell the full story. If you’re trying to understand where SEO is heading, and how to build a strategy around real human behavior rather than just search volume, this episode is definitely worth a listen. Get Your Exclusive AIO Growth Plan - We’ll kick off with a Live AIO Audit to see how shoppers find you, followed by Competitor Research to steal their spotlight: https://lunacal.ai/team/dws/dws-meetings In this episode, we discuss: 00:00 - 00:51: Introduction 00:51 - 03:38: Carl's SEO Journey & Reflect Digital 03:38 - 06:07: Panda & Penguin: SEO Becomes a Proper Trade 06:07 - 08:41: Marketplace SEO: Lessons from Car Mats to Fit 08:41 - 13:10: Bringing Behavioral Insight into SEO Strategy 13:10 - 19:18: Understanding True Search Intent vs Keyword Volume 19:18 - 24:13: Zero-Click Search and Commercial Value 24:13 - 30:00: Favorite AI Platforms & Advice for New SEOs 30:00 - 31:15: Closing & Thank You  Connect with Carl Poxon  https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlpoxon/  https://www.reflectdigital.co.uk/  FOLLOW US Website: https://www.digitalwebsolutions.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digiwebsol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dws_global LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-web-solutions./

  8. Sep 14

    Alistair Knight: How AI Search Is Quietly Reshaping SEO Strategy

    SEO is changing fast. With AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity becoming part of how people discover information, is traditional SEO still enough? In this episode of E-Coffee with Experts, Ranmay chats with Alistair Knight, Founder and CEO of Zionova, about what’s really changing in search, and how SEOs and agencies can adapt. Alistair shares the unconventional path that led him into SEO, from running an iPhone repair business in college to working with enterprise brands like IG Group and Brussels Investments, before eventually starting his own agency, Zionova. One of the biggest themes of the conversation is authority. Alistair explains why he believes technical and on-page SEO are no longer the whole game, and why things like link building, digital PR, brand mentions, and visibility on platforms such as Reddit, LinkedIn, and Medium are becoming increasingly important — especially when it comes to getting picked up and cited by AI. They also talk about the things that often get overlooked in SEO, from making reports actually useful for the business to the lessons Alistair learned from running his own affiliate site, Helping Principles. He shares some practical ways to create content that has a better chance of appearing in AI search, including schema, direct-answer content, and data-driven content that naturally earns links. And beyond SEO, Alistair gets into the personal side of building a business, including the mindset and daily habits that have helped shape his approach to entrepreneurship. If you’re working in SEO, trying to understand GEO and AEO, or thinking about building an agency of your own, this conversation offers a practical look at where search is going, and how you can stay ahead of it. Get Your Exclusive AIO Growth Plan - We’ll kick off with a Live AIO Audit to see how shoppers find you, followed by Competitor Research to steal their spotlight: https://lunacal.ai/team/dws/dws-meetings In this episode, we discuss: 00:00 - 02:28: Introduction 02:28 - 03:40: Alistair's Journey Into SEO 03:40 - 04:50: Why He Took The Entrepreneurial Leap 04:50 - 06:45: Biggest Lessons From His Career 06:45 - 09:10: Keeping SEO Focused On Revenue 09:10 - 11:25: What Running His Own Site Taught Him 11:25 - 13:00: SEO Tactics Losing Value With AI Overviews 13:00 - 14:20: Getting Content Referenced By AI Tools 14:20 - 17:25: How Link Building And Digital PR Have Changed 17:25 - 17:45: Favorite AI Platform 17:45 - 21:00: Rapid Fire Round 21:00 - 21:12: Closing Thoughts  Connect with Alistair Knight  https://www.linkedin.com/in/alistair-knight-859ba529b/  http://zionova.co.uk/  FOLLOW US Website: https://www.digitalwebsolutions.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digiwebsol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dws_global LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-web-solutions./

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Sip & Soar: Welcome to 'E-coffee with Experts' - Brewing Wisdom, One Expert Conversation at a Time. Grab Your Digital Mug, Let's Elevate Together!

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  • Creator
    Digital Web Solutions
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    431
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2023 Digital Web Solutions
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    E-Coffee with Experts