Today’s Small Business of the Day features an interview with Steven Wiideman. Please find our conversation below.
We’re so inspired by the hard work and creativity of the small businesses that serve as the engines of our communities. Thank you so much for taking the risk and doing what you do. Before we go any further we’d love for you to tell our readers a bit about Wiideman Consulting Group.
We help brands who find themselves challenged with appearing in Google, Bing, and various local search apps, either due to resource constraints or thought leadership. We perform a series of search engine optimization audits and build a strategic plan that can be implemented without the need for expensive agencies or outside vendors.
One example would be during the pandemic when restaurants were closed for indoor dining, we worked with IHOP to deploy both delivery and takeout pages under the location pages for each restaurant, resulting in Google rankings for “breakfast delivery near me” across every location, respectively keeping the kitchen lights on.
Our clients love us because we aren’t a rigid process agency. We’re agile, adaptive, and super easy to communicate with. There are 8 of us now, including former co-founder of Web.com, Will Pemble. We LOVE what we do and the relationships we’ve built with our clients. Helping create peace of mind with all of the AI disruption is also something I’ve heard our clients have appreciated.
Being the co-author of SEO: Strategy & Skills, a textbook and courseware through Stukent, also reassures clients and potential clients that we know our stuff. I heard that nearly 40 universities now use the textbook in their online marketing courses (what a humbling stat!).
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned building your business that you can share with those just starting out in their entrepreneurial journey?
By far, the most valuable lesson I’ve learned in my entrepreneurial journey is the power of relationship-building. This includes relationships with employees, vendors, as well as clients.
When it comes to employees, I’ve always treated and talked about them as teammates, not as subordinates. Listening to their ideas, feedback, and truly caring about them as individuals. A few tricks I’ve learned to create a healthy work environment include creating an accountability program where team members are assigned to another team member to check in and be there for them, with a different team member assigned to them. I’ve also taken feedback and offered the employee who shared it the opportunity to be in charge of making it happen, killing two birds with one stone. Loyal team members will hold paychecks, work weekends when needed without asking, and validate your mission through their actions.
Healthy vendor relationships can be the catalyst to endless referrals, lower costs, and sometimes incredible friendships.
Strong client relationships reduce churn rates and often produce referrals without even asking for them.
Alright, before we go, let’s do a quick lightning round.
Favorite book?
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Favorite movie?
Spaceballs
Favorite genre of music?
80s Rock
Favorite TV show?
Young Sheldon
Favorite cuisine?
Steakhouses
Surprising Fact
I’m a Congressional Recognition Recipient and have an Army Achievement Medal for acts of selflessness in college and in the Army. 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Wiideman.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/wiideman
