Yet again, GVATE has been named one of the top SEO and digital marketing firms in NYC, this time by clutch.co: https://goo.gl/iXH6tv. In recent years, GVATE has managed to earn a spot as the best company in its industry as evidenced by its #1 spot on Google as ‘Best SEO Firm in NYC’. GVATE’s success today is without a doubt incredible, however every success story has its humble beginnings. For GVATE, its origins lie with its CEO and founder, OLU Ajanwachuku. I had a chance to sit down with OLU and ask him a couple of questions about him and his business.
Q. First off, congratulations on being named as the top SEO company in NYC again.
A. Thank you very much, it is quite an honor.
Q.So let’s start at the very beginning. What was your early life like?x
A. I was born on January, 1992 in Nigeria. I attended boarding school during my early days. There, I discovered my passion for engineering and my goal was to one day build a flying machine of my own. I’ve always enjoyed R&D related activities. In HS (Aviation High School), I was heavily involved with the robotics team and also once designed a robot using Autodesk Inventor. This robot was fabricated and used to raise money($5,000) for our FIRST robotic’s team.
Q.What did you do career-wise before GVATE?
A. Before GVATE, I worked for a number of companies doing marketing. The first was Massada Homes, a real estate company. Next was 47st Photo(eBay and amazon marketing) and ZM distribution(eBay and amazon marketing).
In addition, I also acted as a freelancer on the side where I managed website development projects for clients from the US, Canada, South America and Europe.
Q. Tell me about how GVATE started
A. The name GVATE was created a long time a long time ago before it was turned into a business name. I’m naturally an innovative person and as a result, I ended up with a name that had a direct relation with this.
GVATE stands for Globally Innovate. We started as a SaaS company developing conversion marketing technologies. A version of this currently lives on the WIX marketplace with over 11,000 downloads. The name of this app is visitor hook.
We pivoted during the first year into a service company with a prime focus on SEO. The first keyword that I ranked for in 2015 was ‘Most Trusted SEO expert in NYC’. Two plus years later, we still rank #1 for this keyword. Next, was most trusted SEO company NYC, then seo expert NYC. Seo Expert NYC led to an invite by the Small Business Expo to present at the Javits Center during our first year.
We’ve gone on to rank for more competitive keywords like Best SEO NYC, won three awards from clutch.co, top seo ranker and upcity.
Q. Can you tell me about your memories and experiences when GVATE finally achieved rank 1 on Google?
A. Achieving the first page result and more specifically number one position was something unique and exciting in itself. You feel like a real search engine guru who’s joined the rank of other SEO geniuses. It’s an amazing feeling knowing that you can manipulate positions of websites either directly or indirectly on the first page of Google.
Q. Wow, sounds like a great memory. Last question, what future plans/hopes do you have for GVATE?
A: Moving forward, our goals are to do the following:
- Refine our pricing model
- Refine our service offering
- Further grow our team
- Refine our sales funnel to attract more preferred clients
- Expand our location to include the West Coast of the US and a location in Europe.
