It’s 3 am and very likely you’re going to see a light on in Eric Erickson‘s office.  Days and nights often blend together in the quest for the gold.  3 am is a perfect time to catch up on client requests. The phones won’t be ringing for a while and everything is fairly peaceful.  The glow of the monitors is what is actually lighting up the room. 3 of them side by side – fat 21″ monitors and the mouse is working feverishly across all 3 of them with an orchestrated flip of the wrist. Emails, web pages, seo reports, social media, misc task reports – it’s all there in the morning review.

Q: So how long does a morning review take before you start your day?

There are so many things that I look at that it varies. Each DAY is varied by the things that I look at as well as client tasks and projects we have going on. Sometimes we’re in the middle of multiple website projects and others we’re down deep setting up Google My Business profiles for clients and on and on.  Checking links or general link flows over on Majestic. And it only takes ONE thing a little out of place to send me off on a “Let’s fix this NOW” run.  On average, my morning revieww will take at least a couple of hours – but occasionally end up stretching the whole day LOL.

Q: Okay, so what IS the deal with the Lizard thing?

When I fired up the company that has become Lizardwebs, I did so in Lizard Lick NC – you may have heard of it. Back in those days it was more of a website only type company. I worked on simple websites and did it really as a side thing. I had a number of positions in the corporate world and various contract positions as IT people often do and didn’t really need to have a massive brand or anything in those days. Just a little pocket change.  But that’s what it ws all about – Lizard Lick NC.  Mayor Charles Wood. A fine man.  And those other Towing people you might have heard of LOL.

Q: I see some of your references are still about computer repair out there. What’s up with that?

We’re still getting those replaced and yes, there ARE still references to the computer repair business out there. In Lizardwebs’ history back to the the mid 2000 timeframe (before Lizardwebs was actually a formal entity), there was a long period where we DID do computer repair.  Computers have been near and dear to my heart since I was in high school back in Smithfield North Carolina. Except for a few years in the sales side of business, computers have actually been floating around me. I didn’t go with that direction specifically after college, but ended up coming back to in in the early 90s. I’ve been there ever since. That said, I sold off all the computer repair side of things in 2015 so I and Lizardwebs could focus entirely on our internet marketing/SEO/Web designing side. We havent’ looked back.

Q: What was the first real SEO client you had?

In all honesty, it was ourselves. That is what got the whole ball rolling. Prior to that, I worked with a local motorcycle manufacturer, Unlimited Dreams, to get them ranking with mixed results. At that time, I really didn’t understand the whole links thing. Google was all about – “Build quality content and you will get the rankings.” Bullsh*t.  YOu can build GREAT content – but if no one ever sees it, you will NOT get the rankings. It was THAT realization that finally propelled me into the fine arts of SEO.  As time passed, with the computer repair side of the business, I had to keep my techs busy – or they would wander off someplace where they COULD get work. And in the beginning, some of them did. So for ME, it was a sink or swim thing learning the whole search game.  And we made some mistakes, but quickly got some footing once we understood a bit more about the whole Google shuffle and what had to be done.

Q: What is the best thing about this kind of your current search optimization business?

Honestly, it’s being able to work anyplace, anytime, any how I choose.  I can work in my normal office with my big triple screens LOL. ON the other hand, I can work off my back porch if I choose. I have spent weekends at the beach (sadly) working away on an old Alien laptop over a wifi connection.  Most of the SEO work really doesn’t rely on customer communication so I don’t really need to worry about being in an office day in and day out. Several customers ARE right here in the Raleigh Triangle area, but many are out of town and out of state even. Phone calls and emails, the occasional Skype.

Q: Do you have a particular target client?

No, not at this time. I think we WILL in the near future, but for right now, we are working with various types of companies. We get a lot of service industry type companies that we work with. I think it’s due to sheer number OF service companies in the area. Honestly, I believe we will end up specializing in the future. It’s just easier if you are really good and strong with a particular kind of website than it is to be pretty good with ALL types. We can do most any kind of work – a lot of it DOES come down to numbers – but being knowledgeable in particular industries may be worth far more to us int he long run.  But in answer for anyone that reads this that is looking for a Raleigh SEO firm, Lizardwebs is open to all. We don’t take everyone for various reasons, but we’re always willing to listen and then decide if it’s a mutually good fit!