When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Brian is one of the best in the field, and his blog, Backlinko, is one of the most searched sites.
Brian is famous for his SEO and link-building techniques. And a blogger, there’s so much to learn from him.
Hence, in this post, I will discuss who’s Brian Dean, how he makes money with his blog Backlinko, and some powerful lessons to learn from his blogging journey.
Let’s get started!
But, Is SEO Still Relevant Today?
SEO is an effective way to improve your website accessibility, ranking, and traffic through unpaid results on search engines.
Though SEO takes time, it’s free and gives you long-term traffic and ranking. In contrast, paid ads provide immediate results, but it’s not free, and the traffic is short-lived.
Who Is Brian Dean?
Born in Rhode Island, US, Brian Dean is a digital marketer, blogger, entrepreneur, and SEO expert. He’s the founder of the SEO training blog, Backlinko. However, this was not his first business.
Brian started his online venture in 2008 as a Dietician. He studied nutrition for his undergraduate and master’s degrees and was about to proceed for Ph.D.at Purdeo.
He later changed his mind but created an ebook on nutrition.
After that, he took up a freelancing job on Elance, writing articles for his website and clients.
But that didn’t work out well for him.
Like any other entrepreneur, Brian admitted failing many times. However, he did not hesitate to share his struggles and experience with others.
He said that failure is part of success, and I agree that the key is not giving up until you get what works perfectly.
Then, he started learning about SEO and link building. After some time, he discovered what works for him and has been a success story.
Brian has received many awards to date, but I will mention a few.
- His blog, Backlinko, is acknowledged by Forbes as one of the best marketing blogs to follow.
- Brian is also recognized as an SEO expert by Forbes.
- In addition, success magazine awarded him as an expert on search engine optimization.
- Also, Inc. comes named him as one of the world’s 12 most brilliant entrepreneurs in marketing.
What is Backlinko?
Backlinko is an online marketing and Search Engine Optimization blog created in 2012 by Brian Dean.
It’s one of the most popular platforms for digital marketers and bloggers. Brian shares his SEO, content marketing, and link-building techniques.
Backlinko attracts millions of visitors from search engines every year.
With about ten years as the founder, Brian recently came into an alliance with one of the best online Saas platforms, Semrush, to upscale his business and boost the Semrush Academy.
How Brian Dean Sold Backlinko To Semrush
In January, Brian Dean announced that he sold Backlinko to Semrush.
On his LinkedIn page, he explained how he sold backlinko to Semrush through an email from Max Rosyakov, SVP of marketing.
“Let me be direct to the point, like your famous emails. Backlinko is one of the best resources for content marketing. Semrush is seeking acquisition.
Brian is thrilled to be part of Semrush as one of the best platforms for digital marketers. He said the alliance would present more opportunities for marketers.
He promised to share his SEO and content marketing material library with marketers.
Business wire explains the reasons for the acquisition
“Semrush has aggressive goals to create a tailored and comprehensive online, self-service training platform to set the standard for digital marketing education globally. The Backlinko acquisition is a core component of the overall journey”.
So what’s the gain For Semrush?
Semrush is a leading online saas management platform with over 1 million organic traffic. However, adding over 500,000 organic traffic from Backlinko will boost their total traffic value against their competitors.
Here is the breakdown of the alliance in terms of traffic and authority
Backlinko
- Backlinks – 480k
- Referring Domains – 43k
- Keywords – 269k
- Organic Traffic – 597k
- Traffic Value – $816k
- Domain Rating – 89
Semrush
- Backlinks – 54M
- Referring Domains – 107k
- Keywords – 429k
- Organic Traffic – 1M
- Traffic Value – $1M
- Domain Rating – 91
Source Foundation
What Is Brian Dean’s Net Worth Now?
Brian Dean is a 7-figure blogger and digital marketer; however, he does not disclose his actual earnings in public.
His YouTube channel is valued at $15,000 and has over 470,000 subscribers and 13 million views since he started in 2013.
But, his net worth went up to over $5 million after Semrush acquired his blog, Backlinko.
How Does Backlinko Earn Money?
Brian Dean makes millions of dollars mainly from his advanced online courses. He has the best program on SEO, blogging, YouTube, and more.
Here are some of his sought after courses
1. SEO That Works
This course is one of the best for intermediate and advanced marketers looking to master SEO, link building, and quality content to boost their organic traffic.
The training is in 3 modules.
- Advanced link building and content promotion strategies
- Real-life case studies o people achieving first page rankings
- Follow a proven step-by-step SEO system
It opens twice a year, and there’s a limit to numbers accepted. And, once it’s closed, you need to be on the waiting list.
Price $497/month
2. Grow Your Blog Fast
This course is ideal for anyone looking to scale your blog and boost your traffic through an engaged audience.
Brian teaches how to increase your site visitors and then sell to them.
There are five modules in the course
Module 1 – How to scale your blog
Module 2 – Publishing excellent blog content
Module 3 – how to promote your blog
Module 4 – building an engaging email list
Module 5 – how to launch a product to your audience
Price – $2000
3. First Page Videos
The first page videos course shows Brian’s YouTube SEO and traffic strategies. The program is ideal for YouTubers willing to attract more subscribers and visitors to their channel.
There are two plans
Standard – 12-month payment @ 199/month
Complete Package – 12-month payment @ 299/month
What Is Brian Dean’s Content-Led SEO About?
On March 4th, 2022, Brian, in alliance with Semrush Academy, launched a new online course, Content-Led SEO.
As a blogger or marketer, this is one training you don’t want to miss. And good enough, it’s completely free.
There are five modules and 28 lessons with actionable steps, guides, worksheets, and examples.
The course covers the following.
- Brian’s 3 step plan for higher search engine rankings
- New link building strategies that are working right now
- How to create content engineered to rank #1 in Google.
However, it’s further broken into five Modules
Module 1- Find your Linkreators
There are five lessons in this module focusing on creating content that gets results, secrets to quick ranking #1 in Google, and finding your linkreators.
- Lesson 1 – Start here.
- Lesson 2 – Who are the linkreators
- Lesson 3 – Find a proven topic
- Lesson 4 – Choose a medium tail keyword
Module 2 – Your Power Page
This section includes seven lessons to create the right content, access Brian’s seven power page content frameworks, and build backlinks to rank #1 in Google.
- Lesson 1 – Share triggers
- Lesson 2 – Trademark technique
- Lesson 3 – Go-To guide book
- Lesson 4 – Awards bait
- Lesson 5 – The industry study
- Lesson 6 – Crowdsourced manual
- Lesson 7 – The detailed checklist
Module 3 – Content promotion and link building
Here, you get access to Brian’s proven content promotion and link-building strategies and the step-by-step process to build links from authority sites. There are four lessons as follows.
- Lesson 1 – Advanced content promotion strategies
- Lesson 2 – Content curator link building
- Lesson 3 – Renovation link building
- Lesson 4 – Roundup link building
Module 4 – User experience signals
This section has three lessons focusing on optimizing your site for user experience.
- Lesson 1 – CTR magnet method
- Lesson 2 – Boost dwell time
- Lesson 3 – Advanced search intent optimization
Module 5 – Scaling up your SEO
This final module teaches how to scale up your business processes and access to sops use in Backlinko.
- Lesson 1 – How to scale up content production
- Lesson 2 – How to scale link building
- Lesson 3 – Your successful website
Bonus Videos
Brian added some bonus videos to help further you scale your business. There are five lessons here.
- Lesson 1 – Small business PR secrets
- Lesson 2 – Advanced outsourcing strategies
- Lesson 3 – The foundation of copywriting that sells
- Lesson 4 – The seven secrets of the world’s most effective copywriters
- Lesson 5 – My all-time favorite copy hacks
- Lesson 6 – Crowdsourced manual
- Lesson 7 – The detailed checklist
What Is Brian Dean’s Skyscraper Technique About?
Brian proves through his blog that quality and actionable content can get you valuable backlinks. One of his best articles is the skyscraper technique which teaches how to outrank competitors through high-quality links.
You don’t just create epic content and expect people will link to it; you also work on promoting your post to relevant sites.
Brian published an article on Google ranking factors using the skyscraper technique.
His backlinks and organic traffic shot up to over 2 million organic traffic two weeks after publishing the blog post.
It took him 20 hours and 10 gallons of coffee to create this post, but the result is well worth it.
Brian summarized the skyscraper techniques into three steps
Step 1 – Find link-worthy content
Step 2 – Write something better
Step 3 – Reach out to the right people.
It means you find content that can generate tons of links and create a better, longer, and more valuable blog post people want to link to.
Beat the existing content on the subject and reach out to site owners already linked to similar content.
6 Blogging Lessons from Brian Dean’s backlinko success
1. Prioritize quality over quantity
Brian Dean became famous because he offers high-quality and actionable information on his blog.
His articles focus on SEO topics, keyword research, link building earning him thousands of shares on social media.
Brian did not create content that appeals to his target audience alone but focused on his linkreators. As a result, he started Backlinko using the linkreator-focused approach, which was a great success.
Linkreators means you connect with people who run sites in an industry related to yours because they are likely to link to your content and even share with their audience.
Note that Brian has just about 100 posts on his blog, Backlinko. However, they are epic, full of in-depth case studies and actionable strategies. Thus, earning him quality backlinks and thousands of shares.
While he creates content that appeals to his target audience, he focuses on his linkreators.
I agree that it takes time to create content worth sharing; you may need to sacrifice long work hours. However, the hard work pays off in the end.
2. Don’t neglect old content
One of the things I learned from Brian is to update your blog post. Unfortunately, it’s something I don’t give much attention to. Now, I know better.
Brian updates his old articles regularly with the latest information, case studies, and examples.
3. Create Great online courses
Brian has excellent online courses on SEO, blogging, YouTube, etc. Here are some you may want to check; SEO that works, grow your blog fast, first page videos, etc.
4. Good refund policy
Even though all his online courses are epic, Brian still guarantees 30-day money back if you are not satisfied with it.
Many people are afraid to include such a policy in their business. However, quality will always sell itself; the key is to ensure you create one of the best courses on the subject.
5. A simple and uncluttered website
There’s no pop-up, banners, or display ads on his website. As a result, you get a good experience reading through his articles.
In addition, it improves engagement which can lead to more conversions.
6. Find out what works best for you
Brian is good at what he does because of his consistency in creating a successful business.
It was not all rosy from the beginning. Brian had his rough times, but that did not stop him from moving on.
He designed the skyscraper technique and made sure any content he publishes is epic and one of the best on that topic.
Therefore you may also have to try different strategies until you discover what exactly works best for you and your business.
For example, Brian uses his social media accounts to promote his blog, Backlinko, which earns him thousands of shares.
Wrapping It Up
Brian built a 7-figure online business because of his consistency and hard work to create high-quality content.
Thus you can do the same if you are ready to put in the hard work, dedication, and time needed to make it work.
Over to you
What do you think about Brian Dean and his blog, Backlinko?
Please share with us in the comment.
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