u/Total-Mention9032

Ok. This is my personal observation. Whenever I see a post from someone with 5,000+ LinkedIn followers, the content seems to attract an audience from the same industry.

For example, someone running a paid-ads agency may create content to attract brands, but most of the people commenting are other agency owners or professionals from the same industry.

I don’t know whether this is limited to a few accounts, but I’ve noticed it across many of them. Around 95% of the comments come from people in the same industry, not from the companies the account is actually targeting.

Are you getting inbound leads from LinkedIn?

Note: Also posted it to r/agency

First, block all YouTube creators who tell you to fire your employees and use AI agents instead. Because if you follow that advice, you'll actually have to fire your people because you’ll lose all your clients and be unable to pay wages. 🤣

Here’s a practical way I recommend to other agency owners that doesn't cost anything extra.

Part I: Setting up

1. Create a  ChatGPT project for every client and select “project only” memory. 
2. Leave the project instructions blank for now. 
3. Upload:
   • Brand guidelines and colors
   • Brand tone
   • Creatives the client loved
   • Top-performing creatives
   • A Judgment PDF (more on this later)
4. Choose the most capable model available with the highest thinking mode. Start with this prompt:

I’ll use this project to create ad creatives for Acme Co. I’m doing this for the first time in ChatGPT, so help me set it up. Before starting, ask me relevant questions in batches of three using the pop-up until you 100% understand what I want. Then write the project instructions for me to review.

Part II: Adding judgment

1. Then comes the most important part I've seen almost all agency owners miss: creating a Judgment PDF.
   • Ask ChatGPT to create one ad creative using your guidelines. Refine with follow‑up prompts until it matches your standards. Be ready to refine it with 20 more follow‑up prompts.
   • A very important point that you may miss is that whenever you ask to refine something, you should explain why you want each change. For example: “Use rounded corners because this brand never uses rectangular ones.”
   • Save the entire conversation in a PDF.
   • Repeat this with several creatives, and merge them all into one Judgement PDF.
   • Upload this Judgement PDF to project sources.
   • This teaches ChatGPT about your preferences, reasoning, and how you think.

    

2. Now test the project with 20 creatives.

Pro tip: connect Canva to ChatGPT. After generating, write,

Use @(nospace)Canva to redesign this image, as I want to make some changes. Keep the Canva design as granular as possible.

Yes, setting up takes time. Think of it as training a new employee. Once trained, your work becomes much faster, cheaper, and requires far fewer clicks. 

Pro tip 2: Regularly upload your top-performing ad creatives to this project.

I wrote a Reddit post here 4 days ago, and it blew up. Received around 8,000 views and over 100 shares. I felt good, so I’m posting one more tip.

It is from a client (now a very good friend) who runs an SEO agency. I suggested it to him this way, and I am sharing it with his permission.

I don’t provide SEO services, so please don't DM me for SEO services.

• Connect Semrush or Ahrefs MCP to Claude/ChatGPT and ask:

Audit [DOMAIN] via Semrush/Ahrefs MCP. Report the crawlability score and blockers. Give the output in a CSV file. Flag indexable pages over three clicks from home. For every blocked/non-indexable URL, state the cause. Review all errors; label urgent, evidence-based fixes separately from minor issues.

• He gets the pages' crawl depth. He says that, unlike ecom websites, if the website isn't the primary source of income, no indexable page should be more than 3 clicks from the home page. He finds some pages, such as “acme.com/tag/best-seo-tool,” that are 3+ clicks away from the home page, but he deletes these pages anyway to save his clients from keyword cannibalization.
• He then manually reviews the pages that are blocked from crawling. Semrush MCP gives you this info as well. 
• He manually reviews all the errors the MCP gave him and checks whether any require an urgent fix. He says he has never seen any major error here that moves the needle much.

 

Then he uses ScreamingFrog MCP and gives it this prompt to remove the keyword cannibalization so that only one page ranks per keyword.

Use ScreamingFrog MCP and audit the website for this [keyword]. Give me all the pages that are showing up for this keyword.

Calculations (tracked using Key Click macOS app):

• 900 clicks: He roughly makes 450 clicks per lead to manually pull the data. He gets ~2 leads per month
• 45 mins: He roughly spends 20-25 mins per lead (excluding reviewing the output).

I’m writing this post because it aligns with my mission. My mission is to free people from the boring parts of their work, so they can do more of what they enjoy.

It is from a client (now a very good friend) who runs an SEO agency. I suggested it to him this way, and I'm sharing it with his permission.

I don’t provide SEO services, so please don't DM me for SEO services.

Connect Semrush or Ahrefs MCP to Claude/ChatGPT and ask:

Find every organic keyword my client's [domain] ranks for in [country/state/city]. Include the keyword, position, KD, monthly volume and ranking page. Group them by positions 2–15, 16–50 and 51–100. Sort each group by volume.

Now prioritize them: 

• Positions 2 to 15 are the low-hanging opportunities. These pages already rank well, so just improve content, title, internal links, and backlinks to push them higher.
• Positions 16 to 50 are second priority. These keywords need a little more work, but what he has observed is that if the keywords from positions 2 to 15 are optimized, then these keywords also become optimized. More like a domino effect (because these are more or less related to the keywords shown in positions 2 to 15).
•  Positions 51 to 100: These are potential opportunities. Your clients may rank for some of these accidentally by writing these keywords somewhere in the post or page. Better manually review each of them and work on only relevant keywords. For local businesses, ask Claude to filter for keywords containing the city, neighborhood, or service area.

Finally, manually check the intent of each keyword. For example:

”How does a dry freezer work?” It's an informational keyword.

”Buy a dry freezer in NYC.” It's a transactional keyword.

Once you have built a workflow, create a recurring CoWork task to run it every 14 days.

Calculations:

• 675 clicks: He roughly makes 45 clicks per client to manually do this.
• 150 mins: He roughly spends 10 mins per client to manually pull this data.

I’m writing this post because it aligns with my mission. My mission is to free people from the boring parts of their work, so they can do more of what they enjoy.

I hated some of the mechanical steps in my work, and this is what I did to "offload" them.

In simple language, I just hate "clicking." Sounds odd, but it's true.

For example, I had to make too many "repetitive" clicks every time I built a client report, so I built a Claude project to automate the mechanical part.

I did this

• In the desktop app, created a project for a specific client.
• Created five files and uploaded them to the project:
  • brand.pdf: everything about my client
  • service.pdf: everything we deliver
  • contract.pdf: my contract with the client
  • reporting-rules.pdf: uploaded my past reports for training and pattern matching
  • learnings.pdf: my observations and judgments
• Wrote a prompt such as: “Build me a system that pulls data from Meta Ads, Shopify, Triple Whale, and other sources, then shows me what worked and what didn’t. I want to report what moved the needle last month.”
• Claude asked to connect the sources.
• Created a schedule for it to run automatically on a specific date every month.

And I built myself a task agent that pulls data and creates a report for me.

This saves me 24 hours of work over the next 12 months. It’s a small saving, but a meaningful one.

Yay!!!

Hello,

We need to scrape Google Maps.

We need to do it once in a while (like once every 6 months, but could be longer )

So, Apify $29/m is unnecessary.

So, are there any pay-per-use alternatives that don't use my own IP to scrape? Also, there must be an API to connect it to the internal app that we build ourselves.

We scrape around 4000-5000 in one go.

I reach out to my ICP using cold emails.

Always manually for my Dream 100 using HubSpot 1-to-1 emails. Other times, via Smartleads.

I use 2 burner domains to protect my main domain.

In Smartleads, I use "Custom tracking domain" for email open tracking.

In HubSpot, we can't do it except for one setting it up just for 1 domain. And it's already set up for my primary domain.

For the past few weeks, I noticed that my HubSpot open rate is just 10-20%, compared to 80%+ on Smartleads.

I always thought that it's because something is wrong with HubSpot tracking pixels. Because the same email IDs on Smartleads get 80%+ open rates.

But it wasn't.

I ran many inbox placement tests for HubSpot, and they all flagged one thing. The tracking pixels come from "hs-site-engage.com", not my subdomain.

I run EfficiaLabs and provide AI consulting for DTC brands (ecommerce stores).

I don't have a million people to target. Just a handful of 5000 companies. So, each account matters.

Now, I have to again reach out to all of them using Smartleads.

Super boring.

Condition: I get to document and record the work and post it on YouTube.

Of course, your name and data will be blurred/removed so no one knows about you.

DM me your needs.

Because I'm noticing that emails mentioning "AI" rarely get opened. I'm pretty sure they're being marked as spam.

The almost similar email script, without mentioning "AI," gets opened.

Hello,

I use the SimilarWeb Chrome extension to estimate monthly visits and bounce rate.

I use the free plan because it works for me.

But the rate limiting is insane. I guess just 10-15 per 10 mins. It slows me down.

Is there any free alternative that's as accurate as SimilarWeb?

I just need to know the web traffic and bounce rate. That's all.

I'm not sure if this breaks any subreddit rules.

But I'm looking for some advice.

We build AI agents for e-commerce stores. For example, we built an AI agent that works like a sales associate. It increased conversion rates and revenue by 17%. It was trained on support tickets, product descriptions, and product photos. It helps hesitant buyers who want to make a purchase but are held back by a few small concerns.

It worked extremely well for them.

Because of that, I decided to get into this industry.

A friend told me it's almost impossible to get clients without referrals. He said the best approach is to partner with agencies that already serve e-commerce stores. Then either do white-label work for them or offer a 25% commission for referrals.

I like both ideas. So I want to reach out to agencies that work with e-commerce stores, but I'm stuck.

What do agencies care about the most?

What should I offer so they see it as a win-win partnership?

I'm planning to reach out to them via cold emails.

https://efficialabs.com/ai-customer-support/zendesk-ai-vs-custom-ai-366/

Zendesk customer support AI vs custom AI: real pricing math, brand voice tradeoffs, and a 3-question framework for Shopify brands with 5–50 FTEs.

I sell tech services to Shopify stores and DTC brands that make $1-5 million annually.

My funnel:
I send cold emails after checking their stats on SimilarWeb > When they reply, I send them a 3-4 min Loom video showing their problems > Then I try to book a meeting.

I use the "Challenger Sales" book approach.

After sending 300 cold emails, I booked 7 Loom videos and 2 direct meetings (total 9).

The issue is that when I send Loom videos, I don't get any meetings. People watch the Loom and then vanish. Prospects who were replying quickly before watching the Loom also disappear afterward.

But the 2 clients who booked meetings directly without needing the Loom both converted.

In the Loom video, I show them their problems but not the solution. I end the Loom on a cliffhanger and encourage the prospect to email me or book a meeting to see the solution.

In the meetings, I show them the problems, insights, and then the solution.

The Loom video is basically the first 25% of the deck that I show during the meetings.

How do I fix this? How do I get more people to book meetings?

My ICP is businesses in the UK. I think the issue might be my accent and nationality since I'm from India.

I'm thinking about two things:

• Change the cold email CTA from a Loom video to an infographic that gives them similar insights and shows the problem without my voice. Then encourage them to book a meeting.
• Use “book a meeting” directly as the CTA. I suspect the response rate will drop drastically.

What do I do?

I sell tech services to Shopify stores and DTC brands that make $1-5 million annually.

My funnel:
I send cold emails after checking their stats on SimilarWeb > When they reply, I send them a 3-4 min Loom video showing their problems > Then I try to book a meeting.

I use the "Challenger Sales" book approach.

After sending 300 cold emails, I booked 7 Loom videos and 2 direct meetings (total 9).

The issue is that when I send Loom videos, I don't get any meetings. People watch the Loom and then vanish. Prospects who were replying quickly before watching the Loom also disappear afterward.

But the 2 clients who booked meetings directly without needing the Loom both converted.

In the Loom video, I show them their problems but not the solution. I end the Loom on a cliffhanger and encourage the prospect to email me or book a meeting to see the solution.

In the meetings, I show them the problems, insights, and then the solution.

The Loom video is basically the first 25% of the deck that I show during the meetings.

How do I fix this? How do I get more people to book meetings?

My ICP is businesses in the UK. I think the issue might be my accent and nationality since I'm from India.

I'm thinking about two things:

• Change the cold email CTA from a Loom video to an infographic that gives them similar insights and shows the problem without my voice. Then encourage them to book a meeting.
• Use “book a meeting” directly as the CTA. I suspect the response rate will drop drastically.

What do I do?

I sell tech services to Shopify stores and DTC brands that make $1-5 million annually.

My funnel:
I send cold emails after checking their stats on SimilarWeb > When they reply, I send them a 3-4 min Loom video showing their problems > Then I try to book a meeting.

I use the "Challenger Sales" book approach.

After sending 300 cold emails, I booked 7 Loom videos and 2 direct meetings (total 9).

The issue is that when I send Loom videos, I don't get any meetings. People watch the Loom and then vanish. Prospects who were replying quickly before watching the Loom also disappear afterward.

But the 2 clients who booked meetings directly without needing the Loom both converted.

In the Loom video, I show them their problems but not the solution. I end the Loom on a cliffhanger and encourage the prospect to email me or book a meeting to see the solution.

In the meetings, I show them the problems, insights, and then the solution.

The Loom video is basically the first 25% of the deck that I show during the meetings.

How do I fix this? How do I get more people to book meetings?

My ICP is businesses in the UK. I think the issue might be my accent and nationality since I'm from India.

I'm thinking about two things:

• Change the cold email CTA from a Loom video to an infographic that gives them similar insights and shows the problem without my voice. Then encourage them to book a meeting.
• Use “book a meeting” directly as the CTA. I suspect the response rate will drop drastically.

What do I do?