In this Founder Wisdom Podcast episode, host Charles Cormier interviews Bryan Wisotsky, the founder of Sky SEO Digital, a Miami‑based digital marketing agency. Bryan shares his 18+ years of experience in digital marketing, explains how he launched Sky SEO Digital four years ago, and describes the agency’s client mix—primarily local attorneys, B2B service providers, and some B2C businesses. He details the agency’s growth from zero clients to roughly 20‑25 monthly‑retainer clients, highlighting his intensive networking strategy that included hundreds of one‑to‑one meetings and active participation in BNI (Business Network International). Bryan outlines the service portfolio—SEO/AEO, Google and Meta paid ads, website development—and the pricing structure, noting retainer fees typically range from $700 to $1,000 per month for SEO/AEO, with additional costs for paid‑media and web projects. He emphasizes a multi‑channel, integrated marketing approach, arguing that relying solely on SEO or ads is insufficient and that offline tactics also play a role. The conversation touches on the effectiveness of BNI for lead generation, with Bryan defending its value despite criticisms that it yields low‑budget, broad leads, and he reflects on targeting small businesses versus more funded B2B founders.
Chapters
Welcome to another Founder Wisdom Podcast. We have Brian Wiselski with us today. He's helping, uh, small businesses rank number 1 on Google. He has an SEO and AO agency called Sky SEO Digital, uh, down in Miami, Florida. Brian, welcome to the podcast. Tell us a bit more about yourself and what you're up to.
Thank you, Charles, for having me. Yeah, so I'm, you know, trying to network and meet new people and obviously grow and scale the business and talk to people like you that are, you know, in the industry and that work with other, you know, founders. So thank you for having me.
What are you up to? Uh, tell me a bit more about the agency.
Yeah, so I've been doing digital marketing on the client and agency side for over 18 years, and I founded Sky SEO Digital about 4 years ago. I work with a lot of local businesses here in Miami. Many of them are attorneys, but I work with a lot of B2B clients that provide, um, you know, business services. And then of course some B2C and really kind of varied in the industries.
And how has the agency grown since, uh, the time you've started it? Uh, what was it, 18 years ago?
Sorry, so I've been in the business for 18+ years, but I founded the agency 4 years ago. And there's been a lot of growth. I mean, you know, in the beginning I had no clients. I had left, um, my last contract, so I wasn't working. So my full-time job became networking. I'm in BNI, which is a business networking organization, and I really spent a lot of time kind of growing the agency, meeting people. You know, I did a couple hundred one-to-one meetings in the first year. So my job basically became marketing for myself, which I hadn't really done in my career.
Got it. Did you generate most of your leads with SEO and AEO also? That would be the best product promotion, wouldn't it?
Right. I mean, it takes time. I did get leads that way, and many of my existing clients came through those leads, but I think to be well-rounded in you know, marketing, you have to do some offline marketing and they also can't just be ads or just be SEO or just be AEO. So you need kind of an integrated and well-rounded approach and you need to use more than one channel. And I think, like I said, I have gotten clients that way, but I wouldn't only rely on that. And I think any business needs to also Use all the resources they have and all the channels they have available to them.
And in the 4 years you started that agency, to how much clients have you grown to today?
I have about 20, 25 clients.
And they're paying you monthly? How does that work? Like, uh, a couple grand per month, or—
So they're monthly retainer clients, and I have clients that are paying anywhere from $700 to $1,000 a month. for AEO. But if they do Google Ads or they want to run Meta ads or they want to do, you know, websites and other things, obviously that adds cost to it.
And do you find that BNI still has returns? I mean, I did that 15 years ago and it was such a waste of time. First, like, it was like all kinds of random leads, right? I know you target small businesses, but I mean, it's like too broad at first. And then, yeah, small businesses, they don't have much budget. I know they're underserved, but I'd rather serve like a B2B-funded, uh, founder, uh, than a B2C-ish type of business. What do you, what do you have to say about that?
Well, I'm sorry you had a negative experience. Uh, BNI has changed a lot over the years. You know, back then it was all in person and kind of more of that old school approach, and now there's hybrid chapters. So my chapter meets once a month in person and 3 times online. But multiple clients I have currently are from BNI. Multiple referrals I get come from BNI. You know, I'm also referring business to other people, but I think you get out of it what you put into it. You know, if you're somebody that does your one-to-one meetings, if you're someone that goes to all the meetings, if you're somebody that goes to networking events, then it has a lot of potential. Um, you know, I don't disagree that bigger clients are nice. But I think you can go for, you know, high-ticket, higher-ticket clients, or you can go for more volume. So I've tried to go for volume, but I do target some of the larger clients too. Sometimes, not always, the larger businesses
