My Work

I get approached by many people who ask me to help them to build a new website for their business. Sadly, I have to turn down almost all enquiries because I don't build websites for other people.

And that, inevitably, means I get asked the question,

"Huh? Well, what is it that you really do, then?"

I've often struggled to answer this question in a concise way, because I have a quite unique business model.

I'll try to explain. Sure, I build websites. But I don't build websites for anyone else apart from my own company, CliqTo Media Ltd. In a nutshell, I find a niche idea that I think would work well as an online service, and then I go and research it. If there seems to be a market for that service, then I'll build it. Once it's built I use my SEO expertise to gradually get enough visitors (I benchmark each site differently, but usually aim for 1,000 visitors per day to start with), and then I look at monetising it in some way.

There's lots of ways that I monetise my websites. Each website has a specific goal or objective, so it really does depend on that. But most of my websites utilise revenue streams including Pay Per Click (PPC)/display advertising, lead generation, affiliate marketing, premium SMS text messaging and a few others.

There's one underpinning requirement for each website that I build (with one exception - ZoomLocal): each one must be able to automate itself as much as possible to enable me to move onto the next project without it taking up much of my time.

This business model has been successful in that each website takes me around 10 minutes each month to manage. That means 99% of my time is available for me to either create a new project, optimise my current portfolio, work on some SEO or spend some leisurely time with my family - or my most recent 'passion': flying my plane.

Despite having so much free time on my hands, I still work a 40+ hour week - often late into the evening or night. A classic example of this was when I build Voter Assistance Application (VAA) www.whoshallivotefor.com for the 2015 general election.

And wow, did that go viral!

On the night of the 7th May (when the votes were being counted), I worked solidly all night, blogging, fixing and optimising. And I loved every second!

As I mentioned earlier, ZoomLocal is my one exception to my rule of automating a website. Although it pretty much looks after itself (it's a self-service application), there's lots of work that goes on in the background, including optimising the algorithms, locating sources of data, marketing and SEO. ZoomLocal is the culmination of more than 15 years collecting data about all aspects of life in Britain, and it's become my passion.

Apart from my websites, I also love helping others to achieve their business objectives too. That's why I try to do my bit by getting involved in mentoring a small business owner to help her grow her business.

Because I really enjoy helping others, that's also why I set up this website - and with it the courses that I provide. I've learned a massive amount of skills in all aspects of not just digital marketing, but in starting and growing a business too. In 2016 I created StartPad, a 100% free platform for budding entrepreneurs to kickstart their business. I worked closely with Fay Easton, a well respected Enterprise Nation Champion to put it all together. Sadly, after the website was launched I had to move quickly onto the next project, but I still intend to go back and give it a proper launch and some decent effort to get it out there where it can benefit others.

Anyway, I hope this has given you a better idea about the work that I do. On this page I've listed some of the 30+ websites that I've built myself, so you can have a closer look at the sort of niches that I've dipped my toes into.