After six awesome years with my design Agency paid digital we are finally Making some really difficult but much Needed changes so I'm going to share all Of those changes with you here during This video but to give you a little back Story on paid digital it really just Started with me as a solo freelance Designer back in 2018 I was just Finishing up College trying to figure Out what I wanted to do and so I was Taking on a couple side projects as a Designer and I thought that it would be A good idea to establish my business and I didn't know what to name it and so I Chose the name pay digital which was Just short for my name and it was an Easy way out so I didn't have to Determine some fancy new business name Right so in 2018 I got things started in 2019 I found webflow and this completely Changed the way that I was designing Websites I was able to increase my Prices my work got better and this was a Real game changer for me also that year I started offering SEO services to my Clients and helping them get ranked on Google and this was a huge year of Growth it was really exciting and this Was the point where I really started to Morph into this full service business Now in 2020 we started to scale and I Started to hire a lot of new people I Hired designers and developers and a
Full SEO team and we began to scale Really really quickly we were reaching New clients we were building a great Presence and a great reputation and Things really started to take off now During this time I started connect with Other designers like myself and I Thought it would be a good idea to start A Facebook group and I started this Community which now has almost 8 000 Members in it and this was a really cool Opportunity for me to start connecting With other people like me and around This time I started having these people Reach out to me and ask me hey what are You doing and how do you do this and how Can I start my own business and this Started to shift my mindset so in 2021 I Decided to start taking Consulting calls With people and I started to gather all Of the questions that people had and I Turned this eventually into a course and So I launched my first course which is Called SEO and webflow in 2021 and this Was probably the best decision I made Because I was able to create another Source of Revenue but also transition All of my focus from just working with Clients to providing educational content Which was really really fulfilling for Me and in 2022 which was last year we Made some additional improvements to our Agency paid digital and I launched a Portion of this which is called Paint
Pro which is a membership for designers Where I do more coaching and Consulting And offer trainings and then also we Launched what I believe is the biggest Thing that I've ever done up to this Point in my career and that is the Webflow Chrome extension called semflow And this plugs right into webflow and Does all of your SEO for you so this was Kind of the progress of how I went from A solo agency to hiring people to Starting to Branch out and do things Other than client work and as things Evolved so did my long-term goals of What I wanted to do you not only one Year from now or five years from now but What I wanted to be doing 40 years from Now and as I've started to make these Adjustments I found that paid digital That original solo agency if you want to Call it that that has slowly turned into A sort of umbrella company where we've Got paid digital at the top and then We've got paid Pro and Sim flow and SEO And webflow the community and SEO and Webflow the course and for the longest Time I've tried to keep all of these Businesses separate and at times I've Even thought about completely sunsetting Paid digital and just focusing on these Other projects but I just have not been Able to let go of it it's been my baby Since the beginning and so these new Changes are going to be really huge
Because we are finally bringing Everything together Under One Roof so Starting today pay digital will no Longer be known as a web design agency Instead we're going to shift our Focus To an SEO agency offering different Products and education additional Services to help other webflow users Learn and Implement SEO and so this Shift is going to be really difficult Because we're going away from design and Focusing more on marketing and building Products and coaching and Consulting and It is scary because I'm leaving what was Originally my bread and butter but I Truly feel like this is where we're Going to be able to provide the most Value for our clients and our users and Our students and I could not be more Excited about the future of pay digital So I know that the next question you Probably have is Peyton why are you not Going to offer web design and webflow Development services and the quick Answer to this is we still will but on a Very limited basis so first off we're Not going to be marketing this as a Service anymore because our Pipeline and Our connections have have grown so much That we are going to be able to find Clients that we can consistently work With but we are going to only be Bringing on probably one client at a Time and these are going to have to be
Higher budget clients the reason that I Want to do this is number one I I still Just love design and development and Number two I want to make sure that as I Teach my students inside paint Pro that I'm not being a hypocrite I want to make Sure that I'm still a practitioner I'm Still working with clients I'm still Designing developing seeing what works And what doesn't and progressing as a Designer and an agency owner and so this Is going to be really important to Continue on that path but also the whole Model of our agency is not going to Market design development but instead we Will focus purely on SEO so the way that We're going to do this is number one We're going to be offering SEO as a Monthly service to SEO clients now the One difference here is we are raising Our minimum budget so we will not be Working with smaller businesses anymore And also we will only work with websites That are built in webflow this will Allow us to maintain our Niche and make Sure that we are working Within These Boundaries where we can use all of our Trainings resources and our Chrome Extension and to get the best results For these clients and so working with us Will not be as easy because we're going To have a pretty strict process to apply To work with us but those clients that Do end up working with us we're going to
Do a fantastic job for them and get them Awesome results So our second focus is going to be our Chrome extension Sam flow I truly Believe that this has the potential to Be an incredible tool that will Absolutely change the whole webflow Community it already has so many awesome Features to help you do your own SEO Inside the webflow designer but there's A ton more that we want to do with this Tool and so we're going to be focusing All of our time effort and resources Into improving this tool reaching new Users listening to your feedback and Making sure that this becomes the Ultimate SEO tool for anyone that uses Webflow our next Focus will be our SEO Course which is currently called SEO and Webflow we are right now working on the Third iteration of this course and this Is the best way for you to learn SEO Whether you have no idea know nothing About SEO or whether you do know SEO and You're just trying to improve your Processes this is a great course to dive In and to learn and this is going to go Hand in hand with our extension and this Is something that we're probably going To share with our clients and so we will Make sure that this is always updated Information that is top tier training And then you get everything that you Need to learn SEO inside this course we
Are also currently updating our SEO and Webflow website and we're going to be Sunsetting paint Academy which was Previously the place where you could Find all my courses and so stay tuned For those updates all right so let's Talk about our short term and long-term Plans and I'm hoping that this will help You maybe catch the vision of where your Solo business or agency can go in the Future because we've made a lot of Different mistakes and I feel like now Our vision and our direction is clear so Number one we are going all in on Webflow in terms of SEO and I do believe That webflow is going to continue to Grow at a rapid rate and my hope is that We can just grow with them and as more Users join webflow they will also find Our services and I love webflow and it's Something that I'm happy to get behind Along with that I love the webflow Community and so I want to make sure That we're constantly providing not only Paid value but also free value in terms Of content and playing part in the Webflow community and I hope that Somewhere down the line we can either Partner with another agency or with Webflow itself to incorporate Sim flow Into the webflow designer permanently Now if that doesn't happen we of course Always will be open to different Partnerships or even acquisition offers
It just depends on what the future holds Now the thing that I'm most excited About right now in the short term is we Just recently launched our new landing Page for paydigital.com now if you'll Remember or if you've visited my site in The past it was pretty extensive we had Case studies we had lots of things to Look at on there but right now we have Simplified and we will continue to build Out this website based on the design and The structure of the home page we took The design and the ideas from a lot of My current favorite websites pulled them All into one and made a really Simple And Clean way for people to find our Agency and then determine how it is that They want to do their SEO so through all Of this again I'm really excited about The future of pay digital and I've Learned a ton through my journey with This agency and the first thing that I've learned is it's great to have your Baby your thing that you just don't want To let go and that your most important Priority is to see it grow and flourish And this is paid digital for me and and I don't think I'll ever be able to let It go number one because it's got my Name but number two when I started this I had no idea that it would get to this Point and I couldn't be more proud of it The second thing that I've learned is Your Niche will choose you so often we
Want to find the perfect Niche or Industry to work within but oftentimes We just have to work and progress and That Niche will find us and for me I was Lucky enough to find webflow and then to Start working within SEO and meet other Great people that have supported my Progression into finding this perfect Niche of webflow and SEO and so if You're in that position don't rush Yourself don't pressure yourself because Your Niche will find you when it's time The third thing that I've learned is you Should never confine yourself to just One income stream especially as a Designer it can be really difficult to Think about doing anything outside of Design but there are so many different Ways to make money as a designer outside Of just client work and having a Nine-to-five job so I would really Encourage you to look for ways to build Your brand and start offering education And Consulting and look for ways to Provide more value in the marketplace Than just designing and finally I would Really encourage you to do whatever you Can to build some sort of audience or Following because no matter what you Choose to do in your design career Whether that's be a freelancer or build An agency or whatever that might be Having an audience is hands down the Most important part because that
Audience is going to feed everything That you do they're also going to give You the feedback and help you find the Direction that you should take and I'm So grateful for all of you that watch my Videos and that have commented and given Me that feedback because it has played a Huge role in getting me to where I am to Day so thanks so much for watching this Video if you're excited about the future Of pay digital I really encourage you to Go check out my website subscribe here On YouTube if you haven't already and if You have any questions about the Progress or journey in your agency be Sure to drop those down below in the Comments thanks so much for watching and We'll catch you in the next video
