Patrick Gavin Interviews Tony Mandarich

When researching a potential SEO related domain purchase recently I found the owner of the domain to be Tony Mandarich.  It didn’t take long for me to figure out that yes it was the former top NFL lineman prospect, and #2 overall draft pick in the 1989 NFL draft.  After more research I found that Tony is now running an internet marketing company in Scottsdale, Arizona.  How many SEO’s played in the NFL or were on the front cover of Sports Illustrated not once but twice?  Tony recently released a book discussing his life story which is one of steroids, drug and alcohol addiction which caused a shortened NFL career, and ultimately recovery (he is now 15 years sober) and running a successful internet marketing business.  Here is my interview with Tony: 

How long have you been doing Internet marketing and how did you get into the industry?
I personally have been doing Internet marketing for five years, and my partner has over 11 years of experience.  It all started with our webmaster ticking me off…  he seemed to feel that he ‘owned’ our photography business website and wouldn’t allow us access to the back end of the site.  So my wife and I started from scratch, learning the web design and SEO business.   That was five years ago.   I had an above-average understanding of how the Internet worked, for someone who wasn’t doing it full time. Once I committed to learning it and applying it to our own business of photography and videography, within 6 months we were ranked on the first page of Google for the key phrases we were going after. The one crucial piece of literature that helped me immensely in SEO was Aaron Wall’s “SEO Book”.  I applied his principles and – Voila – it worked!

What lessons from your football career have helped you in your business career?
There’s a direct relationship that I carry from my former football career to my current Internet career, work ethic being number one.  Working smart and being able to take a step back and reevaluate every few months is crucial.  And did I mention work ethic?!  To be the best, you need to be the first to arrive and the last to leave.  You have to be willing to do things other people aren’t willing to do (in an ethical manner, of course) to strive for success for your client.

Your Mandarich.com website lists: PPC management, SEO, site design, Social Media Management, and other services.  Does your company specialize more in one of these services than others and where do you see the growth in the Internet marketing space coming from?
We do offer several services and many of our clients choose multiple services due to how we effectively combine them; however, our main specialty is definitely SEO. We follow the trends very closely in SEO but even more importantly we have successfully predicted many of the changes in the industry before they happen. This has allowed us to be more effective for our clients, and also to get ahead of the curve.  The big growth is going to be in mobile devices….but cnet could have told you that!

Internet marketing and SEO in particular still today has a lot of misinformation being published and circulated.  How does your team keep up on the latest news, trends and formulate your strategy for your clients and does anyone from your team participate in the “SEO community”?
We have tested strategies on over 6000 websites, and through trial and error we have formulated several techniques that work. Just as importantly, we have learned things that don’t work, saving us time and efforts on other projects. Over the years we have worked with several leading researchers and that’s how we met our business partner and SEO specialist, James St John.

I don’t know of many former professional athletes who are in the “Internet marketing” space.  Have you been able to use this to your advantage in helping clients that are in sports related niches?
Being able to connect with your clients is incredibly important, so attracting athletes as clients is a natural fit, as we have an already-established bond due to our sports backgrounds.

Disclaimer: I am based in Iowa City, IA and am a big Iowa Hawkeye fan.  I see you are based in Arizona now, is Michigan State still your team?
Absolutely!  I’m a die-hard Spartan and I bleed green.  Our basketball team almost won the National Championship last week – we just ran into a tough North Carolina team.

Your book, My Dirty Little Secrets, Steroids, Alcohol & God: The Tony Mandarich Story, was just recently released.  Is there a message in the book that transcends sports that you can share with other Internet marketers?
As an Internet marketer, if you have never in your life been confronted with adversity, then don’t buy the book, because you won’t be able to relate!  I’ve found, however, that most people have encountered significant adversity at some point, and I think that they may find a powerful message in the book, about how to overcome.  The book is 51% about life and 49% about football; it’s about the ups and downs in life, and how I handled them and how I continue to handle them.  One of the main things I’ve learned is that you get what you want in life by helping other people get what they want in life.

If you want to learn more about Tony Mandarich you can visit his personal website or his company’s internet marketing site.