How I Built A $10K/Month SEO Link Building Machine

Andrew Dunn

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Published: December 1st, 2022

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Andrew Dunn

Founder, INDMND

$10K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

INDMND

indmnd.com

from

started August 2022

$10,000

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Discover what tools recommends to grow your business!

Gmass

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YouTube

analytics

Google Forms

blog

WordPress

seo

Ahrefs

Surfer seo

other

Grammarly

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Hello! Who are you, and what business did you start?

My name is Andrew Dunn, and I created and still operate a SaaS website called INDMND.com. Today's currency is attention. INDMND.com is a B2B media company specializing in acquiring attention for the world's largest software companies.

I also work with SaaS and B2B companies as an in-house consultant to implement Intent-driven SEO strategies that turn their blogs into acquisition channels. I am currently branching out to several income-generating areas, including a content-writing agency and a link-building service.

I am proud to say that my site has grown faster than I had projected. INDMND’s domain rating (DR) has risen from 0 to over 40. We have over 140 backlinks, it’s getting more visitors every day, and I will monetize with affiliate links very soon.

Through massive link-building efforts and excellent content creation, the site’s DR went from 0 to 40, with over 140 backlinks in less than two months.

What's your backstory, and how did you come up with the idea?

I worked in the content industry in New York for many years, so I knew how profitable and fun working in SEO could be. Working in New York, I had the opportunity to lead paid media for one of the most prominent digital publishers.

Their website was ranked in the top 100 websites globally for traffic, so to say I learned a lot there would be an understatement. Over this time, I learned a lot about content marketing, SEO, and how to make money online.

After New York, I started, ran, and sold several businesses — all in the content marketing field but in various capacities. I love growing a business out of nothing, providing people with content they want, and then helping others scale their own companies 10x.

One day I was doing online research on YouTube, and I came across Adam Enfroy, a massive player in the SEO/blog writing/affiliate marketing sphere. One of the things I like about him is that he posts his financials on his website. Once I saw what he was doing and the money he was bringing in, I knew this would be my next project.

Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.

The first step was getting a website built so that I could showcase my blogs and start getting crawled by Google. The faster you index your content, the better off you’ll be.

Then I began my link-building journey. Link-building is the heart of the success of INDMND.com. Anyone can build a website and add content to it. However, it takes a particular skill set and a lot of effort to get it ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs) and bring in steady affiliate marketing revenue.

Something I did that has helped this whole process tremendously is creating a massive Google Sheet (spreadsheet) with literally everything I have done, need to, or want to do. I haven’t even tried any other way of keeping all this information in one place because a spreadsheet works well (if you know how to set it up correctly), and it’s free.

My one major regret was not building the website myself. There was no reason for me to spend a lot of money on getting a professionally built website.

Two machines operate as one in this business: the link-building and business relationship side and the content creation side.

The link-building side is all about finding and creating relationships with people who run other high domain ratings (DR) websites and leverage guest post opportunities (where I can insert my links to be displayed on high-volume websites, thereby increasing my traffic) and link exchanges (where I can add my links onto other writer’s guest posts, and they can add their links to mine, so we all win).

The other machine is the content creation aspect. I purchased the best software needed to create high-quality, SEO-friendly content in hours. As I said, the key to getting ahead in this business is posting as much content with your links on them as possible.

I have been more successful and gotten results faster than others in this business because I can focus my efforts on the link-building machine while my partner focuses on content creation. Between the two of us, we are a link-building, opportunity-finding, content-creating machine.

Describe the process of launching the business.

The website launch was nothing special. No balloons and confetti were dropping from the ceiling. But once the site was up and running, there was content ready to go for it, and we kept creating and creating until we felt we had enough articles to go to the link-building stage.

The site grew fast. Through massive link-building efforts and excellent content creation, the site’s DR went from 0 to 40, with over 140 backlinks in less than two months. If you don’t know about DR and website building, trust me when I say it is fast.

Link-building is a new area for me, but it is arguably the most important aspect of how INDMND operates. In a nutshell, you need your website to be featured on higher DR sites. This will give your website credibility and more readership. The more high DR sites feature a link to your site, the higher Google will rank you.

However, this is not as easy as it sounds. There are A TON of moving parts with link building. When you reach out to websites and offer to guest post on them (to get a link), sometimes they want an article, and sometimes they want to do a “link exchange.” When websites want a link exchange, they simply want their site linked to yours and vice versa.

You can also get link exchanges with other writers when you submit a guest post. I put their links into my guest posts, and in exchange, they will put my link into one of their guest posts. Everybody wins. But this gets very complicated to manage when you’re talking about multiple posts and dozens of links. I created a bespoke master Google sheet with every link I received and am owed to make it easier on myself.

As for content creation, we went hard right out of the gate. When you first get your website going, the best idea is to get some content on there (any content), so Google can index your site ASAP. You can go back later and make the content better, but first, start with MVPs (minimum viable posts). MVPs are articles with all the right keywords but aren’t polished. You just want Google to know you’re alive and becoming an authority in a specific area (your niche).

For INDMND, we knocked out an article a day — sometimes two. I went into Ahrefs and found all the best keywords to rank for, and my partner blasted out as many MVPs as possible. ** ** In the first two months, we created 40 articles on the site and got another 40 published on other websites through guest posts. We worked hard.

As you might expect with results like that, I had my first SEO client about a month into this process. He liked the results we were getting and wanted the same.

This business does not need a lot of funding to get started. You could start just a link-building business with a Gmail account and knowledge of how to write engaging emails. I could finance this venture with my credit cards because the costs were relatively low.

Writing and SEO software: Jasper.ai, SurferSEO, and Ahrefs total about $500 a month.
Mentorship/consulting: I took a course and got advice from the best people in the industry, which cost about $2,000. The course I took was Blog Growth Engine from Adam Enfroy, which also came with one-on-one coaching with some founders.
Website and Other Content Expenses: I had the website built by someone, and other miscellaneous expenses cost about $6,000.

The best (and I think unique) thing I did that worked out well and opened up a lot of new doors was to publicly share the project's growth on social media. It was because I was sharing helpful information about how I was able to get the success that got my first client. They saw what I was doing, liked it, and wanted to have the same thing for themselves.

Here is a screenshot of INDMND’s traffic growth so far:

SEO, when you look at it as a whole, is a straightforward idea: use the correct keywords in your website's content, then Google will read it and rank your site higher, which allows more people to see it and provides more opportunities to make money.

Simple, right?

Well, I found out that there is a lot more to it than that. But more importantly, you must know the processes to succeed in this game. If you get good at the processes that need to be done, you can start building something big that will generate massive revenue in the future. When you know the process behind SEO, then everything gets easier.

Content sharing on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook is the best way for people who are new to this business to find clients.

Regarding the lessons I’ve learned, I have found that my most significant advantage is my link-building machine. Generating link opportunities through my ability to build partnerships and relationships with people who can get our link on high DR pages has been a big reason for the site’s success so far.

Link-building is an evolutionary process that culminates with relationships. That is, I had to start by going through websites with blogs, finding out who runs them, seeing if they accept blogs, putting them all into a spreadsheet, and start emailing them to see if they are interested in guest posts. Then, when you find some friends in this game, you can see if you can purchase or exchange guest posting sites.

Finding a template that has worked with others is best when you reach out to sites. I had some people in Blog Growth Engine who posted their email outreach templates, and then I simply tweaked them until I found one with the best open rate.

You have two choices concerning link placements, link exchanges, and links getting added: paying for them or doing the work yourself. I chose the latter. Money will buy you almost anything in this world, and plenty of domains will add you to their website for a fee. This can be anywhere from $20 to $1000. I think paying for links is not worth it at the beginning. When I am making $20k a week, then we’ll see.

The lesson is that you need to play to what you do best. I am excellent at making business relationships and leveraging them to get more opportunities for the website. Then I found a partner who is fantastic at creating content. If I had tried this venture alone, it would have taken twice as long to get where I am now.

Here is a screenshot of our website. There is still some work to be done, but we are in a lot better place with it than when we started. Everything is a work in progress.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

The best thing I did to attract and retain customers publicly shared what I was doing and how I was doing it on social media. Content sharing on social media is one of the top ways (and free) of letting people know you are an authority in this field and that you have found some success.

Content sharing on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook is the best way for people who are new to this business to find clients. This tactic is free, and people will respect you for providing helpful information and something of high value rather than telling them you know everything and will sell your knowledge to them. Show them you’re an authority, tell them a few secrets (not everything!) for free, and they will come to you for the rest.

Right now, I am building up my presence on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is an incredible place for businesses to find clients. I have over 3,000 followers on LinkedIn from my previous ventures, but I need to get back into the swing of posting every day to find clients in my niche. So far, my clients have come from inside the Blog Growth Engine who want link-building services. I want to continue offering those services, but also SEO and SaaS-focused services through LinkedIn.

I recently got my LinkedIn profile going again to find clients looking to get SEO content created and ranked with my link-building machine and connections. The idea is to generate interest in people and show them the true value of doing SEO properly and what they can achieve if they want to scale it massively.

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

INDMND.com is profitable today and growing faster than I thought possible. Our DR keeps climbing, and we get 5 to 10 more guest posts and link exchanges each week. The sky is the limit for growth in this business.

This business essentially has about 85% gross margins because there are only two costs, and everything else is profit. I have the recurring costs of the content and the software, and that’s it.

Our operations today are quite busy, considering we are still in the growth stage. We are constantly adding major SaaS partners and generating sales for them, plus we are also continuously creating content for our site, guest posts, and link exchanges.

The short-term goal is to work directly for SEO clients, create content for their websites and blogs, and take in $25,000 per month in revenue.

For long-term goals, I want INDMND to be the jumping-off point for building a larger portfolio of websites so I can help even more businesses achieve online success.

Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

My one major regret was not building the website myself. There was no reason for me to spend a lot of money on getting a professionally built website. Unfortunately, I started with Elementor on WordPress, which builds custom websites and needs website designers to make them work best.

Now, I have switched over to Cadence, which is drag and drop website builder and editor. Cadence is much easier to use and gives me complete control to customize the site me. Since my website is relatively straightforward, and if I had known about Cadence, I could have built the website myself and saved a bunch of money.

The best decision I have made so far is building my link-building machine. This is the first time anyone in this industry has created a structured link-building content machine that makes content creation easy like we have. I intend to use it to give people the ability to get their content ranked higher and faster, just like INDMND’s content.

The other lesson I have learned is that building a business is more fun (faster and more profitable) with someone rather than doing it alone. I have created three solo businesses, and this is my second partnership, and having someone to share the highs and get you through the lows (there haven’t been many) is way more satisfying.

I recommend you find the right person who compliments and completes your skillset (which, granted, is not easy to do) and take a chance on starting a business together. Great things can happen if you believe in each other and trust each other to do their parts of the business.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

The platforms and software I use are:

My absolute favorite SEO tool is Ahrefs. There is so much fantastic information on this platform it’s sometimes hard to believe it's legal. I have found all the keywords and blog titles from Ahrefs, and I can also do content gaps to find what to write for guest posts. If you want to make it in the SEO industry faster, I highly recommend Ahrefs.

GMass has been a real help in emailing people to start the link-building relationship process. There are many websites to contact, and not all will say yes to guest posting. The more websites you contact, the more opportunities there will be for link exchanges and guest posting. GMass lets me automate that cold email reaching-out process.

On the content creation side, the Jasper AI writing tool integrated with SurferSEO has made creating SEO-friendly content so much faster. Jasper helps fill in a lot of the general content needed for guest posts (you then have to fill it in with accurate facts and figures, edit for grammar and spelling, and give it a more human touch). Surfer gives you all the keywords your article needs to rank higher on SERPs.

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

I love YouTube for finding inspiration. Videos help me quickly see how people have achieved their success if I can duplicate it, and their tricks and tips.

Here are my top inspirations for starting this business:

Matt Diggity: For SEO resources
Adam Enfroy: He is where I got the initial idea for my site and has tons of information on how to scale the business, plus SEO resources
Mushfiq Sarker: A fantastic resource on buying, building, and flipping websites, which is my next project

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?

Business is a game of relationships. Leading with value is the best way to create, foster, and nurture those relationships. People will not want to work with you unless you can offer them something in return. Give away free information and resources — you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

The world of SEO seems to lack people who are good at link-building. There are many great content creators in the SEO space, but they seem to be content just to write content for their blogs. While that is all well and good, you need the other half of the equation — the link-building machine — to get ahead and make some real money.

Relationships are the key to success here. First, you must know how to find these websites and the right people to talk to. Then you have to develop a working relationship with these people so they allow you to either let you add your link to their work or let you write on their website. People and companies are not going to let just anyone write guest posts on their site — you have to be able to offer them something in return.

Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?

I am not hiring at this moment. Still, I will have job opportunities in the future. Specifically, I will eventually need to hire more writers and an outreach specialist to take over finding guest posting responsibilities.