Video Transcript
Nick Bell: Hey guys, I’m here with Shane Liuw, the general manager of First Page Singapore. First Page is a digital marketing agency. Now Shane took over the role as GM roughly 18 months ago.
Shane Liuw: 18, yeah.
NB: Now before he took over the role I was very close to shutting down this business. It was a massive pain in the arse. Since he’s taken over the role, the business has grown 160%. Staff retention is f*cking phenomenal.
SL: Yep.
NB: And mate, the culture is amazing. Mate, what is your secret to building a very, very strong culture?
SL: I mean it’s all about the team, it’s all about the people so for us here at First Page we went through a period of like what 13, 14 months without anyone leaving which is unheard of in agency life.
NB: Especially in Singapore.
SL: Yes.
NB: The thing about Singapore, there’s a lack of talent in digital and everyone is poaching the best possible talent so you need to come up with creative ways to retain people. It’s not about money.
SL: Money is definitely part of the reason.
NB: 100% but you need to get them involved first.
SL: Yeah, you need to get them challenged. You need to get them to be involved in sort of the day to day operations of the business. You know, they need to feel a sense of satisfaction when they actually work on a client’s campaigns because when they see results for the campaigns that they are working on for the clients, when clients are happy, they are happy, and we are all happy, right. So that’s why they feel very satisfied with the quality of works that’s coming in you know. Any sort of challenges, any issues, it’s an open door policy. Communication here is like really open and people help each other so team work here is actually pretty incredible.
NB: One thing I’ve noticed about Shane, he’s very fair, he’s firm when he needs to be. He’s also their best mate. He takes the team out for drinks, for dinner quite often. I think you went out for dinner last night with the guys.
SL: Yeah, we actually had one tech come down from the Australia office so we brought him down to East Coast Park hawker just let him try the local cuisine. So normally for us we tend to go out probably two to three times a week and that’s why I came in at 70 kilos and I’m actually after 18 months I’m actually almost like ten to 12 kilos heavier.
NB: Well mate, it’s a worthy sacrifice.
SL: Yeah it is. I mean I enjoy working here because I treat everyone as family and everyone is family to me and to them as well so that why like you mention people are willing to bleed for each other so um, to me, kudos to the team.
NB: Mate, well done mate and I can see you’re going to kick some arse next year.
SL: Hopefully a bigger and better team.
NB: Hopefully when the team doubles in size and you’re still kicking arse.
SL: Yeah, that’s thing.
NB: Well, cool mate, thank you and there you go guys.
SL: Cheers guys.
We Started as an SEO Agency in Singapore
This year, we emerged the champions of topseo.com’s Best Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Companies in Singapore by coming in at first place!
First Page Digital started out as an SEO agency in Singapore with SEO as our specialty. Since our humble beginnings, we have expanded our portfolio by serving more than 150 clients.
Besides SEO we also provide other services now. Our agency offers social media advertising and management, content marketing, blogging, and online reputation management.
But wait, there’s more.
We also had the exclusive opportunity to talk about the importance of SEO for businesses in Singapore on MONEY FM 89.3!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2d1Cwhg1Xa/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
5 Secrets of Our Success
One might wonder… How have we come so far?
1. Training, training, training (and more training)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0iTbzVnpn_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
When we started out as an SEO agency in Singapore, some of us has neither knew the head nor the tail of other forms of digital marketing besides SEO. In order to become the end-to-end agency we are today, we attended seminars, talks and workshops by various platforms like Google, LinkedIn and Facebook regularly.
2. Constant Motivation
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1xeIxynkMY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Sometimes its hard to stay motivated when you don’t get rewarded for your hard work. We incorporated a rewards system where all team members are rewarded for their hard work.
3. A Kickass Team
There’s a common saying that “Teamwork makes the dream work.”
As cliché as it sounds, we’ve always subscribed to the notion that it takes both sides to build a bridge.
Besides working together on campaigns, we also take time out of our busy schedules to bond. Recently, we tried our hand at rock-climbing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1ORiU9Hizj/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Talk about bringing out company to further heights (pun intended)!
4. Fantastic Clients
Of course, we can’t forget about the wonderful people we had the privilege to work with.
Since our beginnings as an SEO agency, we had the opportunity to extend a helping hand to numerous businesses in Singapore and beyond. They’ve also provided timely feedback that we’ve used to improve!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B098CP2gtko/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
5. Smart Systems
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2YqptHgdyh/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Did you know that you could get a free audit about your Google Ads and SEO under 5 minutes?
Aside from our free web tools, we also have access to a full suite of online tools that help us provide effective and practical solutions to our clients!
What Does the Future Look like For Us?
First Page Digital isn’t your average one-trick-pony.
Digital marketing isn’t about ranking on Google SERPs, it’s about brand awareness and engaging with your target audience.
We’ve evolved from a SEO agency in Singapore to a full-fledged digital marketing agency and we are slowly (but surely) growing our team. You can look forward to a more dynamic and efficient digital marketing agency to drive traffic, sales and leads to your business!
Stay tuned to watch us soar.