Expert Speaks: In Conversation with Ralph De Groot, Founder of My Codeless Website & Procurement Tactics

Last updated - June 24, 2022

Today, on ‘Expert Speaks‘, we have Ralph de Groot, Founder of My Codeless Website & Procurement Tactics

We are indeed grateful to Ralph, for making time to answer our questions and enlighten us with his thoughts and opinions.

You would definitely love reading his fun-filled informative answers, Here it goes:

Hello Ralph, Welcome to LearnWoo! So, can you please tell us about your journey & experiences so far?

Thanks for having me! It’s an honor!

I am currently on a trip around the world with my girlfriend for over 6 months. I am writing this from Bali – a classic digital nomad place. I’ve been able to support my travels with the websites I have while working 1.5 days per week. Life is good!

So I started my online journey with a blog about startup pitching over 7 years ago. One of the articles I wrote back then was about “cool startup websites”. Without any SEO experience that article ended up ranking on the #1 spot for the keyword “startup website”, which attracted over a thousand visitors per month.

That got me excited and made me want to learn more about SEO.

It eventually got me to launching My Codeless Website and Procurement Tactics.

I have read that you worked in many different organizations & positions, so how was your experience with the employees and how did you handle all the responsibilities?

Yes! So ever since I got into SEO I have worked with a lot of writers. For me, it was really important to focus on managing the website’s SEO and at the same time hiring good writers.

Once I hire someone, I really try to be as good as a boss as I can. My writers have full flexibility in deciding when they want to work. I would say that is a big part of keeping people motivated.

Tell us more about Procurement Tactics & My Codeless Website?

The first one I launched was My Codeless Website. It’s a blog about web design for entrepreneurs and web designers who want to be inspired.

My main income stream comes from a WordPress theme called Divi. I’m a huge fan of their website builder and have generated a decent monthly revenue stream promoting it.

A while ago I also started promoting Bluehost, and it’s been a great source of revenue as well! 

The website is currently attracting over 50,000 visitors per month and keeps growing and growing.

The other website called Procurement Tactics is an online institute for procurement and sourcing managers. Together with my Dutch friend and procurement veteran Marijn Overvest, we help people improve their negotiation skills.

In this company, I am the marketing whizzkid, while he is developing all the trainings and online courses for procurement managers.

What are the biggest challenges that someone in a similar position as yours would face?

So the first 6 months of launching a website you’ll see pretty much zero traffic. It takes a while before Google trusts your website, and this can be challenging.

I remember staring at my Google Analytics every day – only to see 3 visitors coming in that day.

I think many people will stop at this stage, which is a shame. Just have faith and continue. I think it was after 8 months that I started to see a serious increase in traffic.

What part of your current role do you love and can’t stop doing? And what part do you hate doing?

I love SEO! I view it as a strategy board game, and I just love to “beat” the game!

The thing I hate the most is definitely the administration. It just bores me out, haha!

Can you tell when you’ve had the greatest working day of your life? What was it about that working day that made you so happy?

Love this question!

It’s not necessarily a working day – but that makes it even more fun:

So when I started my trip around the world with my girlfriend, we flew from Amsterdam to Curacao. During that flight, which took about 10 hours, I made more money with my websites than I paid for the flights. And I wasn’t even working, I was just sitting in a plane watching movies.

That felt pretty cool!

How would you score the company on living up to its core values? What’s the one thing you’re working to improve?

I am trying to not make it just about the money. Which is interesting, because to a certain extent it’s the results of the work you put in.

I am really trying to help people and make people’s lives easier if they visit one of my websites.

What has been the biggest letdown in your career so far?

Google algorithm updates. For sure.

So every few months Google changes its algorithm, which can be a scary thing. Although I am not doing any blackhat SEO strategies, you just never know what will happen.

Two years ago I lost a lot of traffic in one of the updates. I am still not sure what happened, but luckily all the traffic came back 2 months later.

But that was scary, for sure!

According to you, what will be the new online marketing techniques for WordPress/WooCommerce?

With Procurement Tactics we use WooCommerce to sell our online courses. I think the biggest lesson for me has been analyzing the checkout flow.

This is where money is won/lost, so keeping a close eye on user sessions with tools like Hotjar is a great habit.

Using online advertising to retarget people who got to the checkout, but didn’t purchase is a great strategy!

Outside of work, what do you enjoy the most? And how do you manage work-life balance as it is quite difficult in today’s time?

Traveling! So I am currently traveling with my girlfriend, and it’s just been amazing.

I do find it challenging to manage my work-life, as nowadays it’s just so easy to open your laptop and start working.

My girlfriend is a big help here, she tells me to shut down my laptop and join her for a swim in the ocean!

Another thing that has been a huge help, is to just down my phone after 8:00 PM. Once my phone is off, I can truly relax!

What’s one of the most exciting projects or opportunities you’ve worked on? What is your vision for the company’s future?

I am very excited about Procurement Tactics. We grew our traffic from 0 to 30,000 monthly visitors within 10 months. I am just very excited to revolutionize the procurement world together with my cofounder!

What is the motivation behind your success and what advice do you want to give those who want to follow your path?

My main motivation has always been freedom. I love to be able to do what I want – whenever I want. Thinking back, it was my biggest dream to travel the world while paying for it by working just one day a week.

My advice would be: to create a plan and just follow through. For the first 12 months, it can seem like what you’re doing is pointless. But being persistent will get you far. Success will come, just keep going!

If someone is reading this and wants to ask for advice, feel free to add me on LinkedIn.

Thanks for having me – it’s an honor!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here