Brad Smith is the Founder and CEO of Codeless Interactive, a content production company that specializes in creating high-quality, SEO-optimized content for leading SaaS, service, and affiliate brands in competitive digital markets. Under his leadership, Codeless produces hundreds of long-form articles each month, combining strategy, SEO, writing, design, and video to drive growth for clients such as monday.com, Zapier, and ActiveCampaign. Brad is also the CEO of Wordable and a partner at uSERP, expanding his influence in the content marketing and SEO industries. His work has been featured in major publications including Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, and The Next Web.
About the Episode
Scaling content is the dream for many companies, but as volume increases, quality often decreases. Brad Smith has built a career solving this exact challenge. His perspective? Most businesses don’t have a writer problem. They have a delegation problem. In this conversation, host Tyler Lane and Brad dive into what it takes to scale SEO and content operations without sacrificing quality. They discuss building strong systems, why broken processes kill performance, and how relationship-driven link building creates lasting SEO results. Brad also shares hard-earned lessons on leadership, process alignment, and how agency owners can earn credibility when starting out.
Key Moments
From Real Estate to Digital Marketing
- How rebuilding his dad’s website set Brad on the path from real estate to digital marketing [2:23].
Early Agency Lessons
- Launching Codeless without a plan and taking on initial projects simply to gain experience [4:29].
Scaling Without Losing Quality
- The systems, processes, and delegation strategies that allow content operations to grow without breaking down [10:55], [12:00].
The Long-Term SEO Challenge
- Why smaller companies struggle to invest in SEO and how patience pays off [19:11].
Relationships Over Outreach
- Why authentic relationship building produces stronger links than mass email campaigns [22:34].
Earning Trust as a New Agency Owner
- How credibility, free work, and small wins pave the way for long-term success [28:19].
Leadership and Alignment
- What Brad learned about systems, leadership, and getting teams aligned during Codeless’s growth [34:22].
Top Insights
- Build scalable content systems from the start – Establishing strong processes early prevents chaos and ensures consistent quality as volume grows.
- Separate your service offerings strategically – Dividing businesses with different models allows each to scale with better focus, leadership, and accountability.
- Create detailed documentation for delegation – Clear internal guidelines reduce bottlenecks and help large teams maintain voice, tone, and effectiveness.
- Focus on relationship-based link building – Building trust and real partnerships leads to better-quality links and long-term SEO success.
- Prioritize long-term SEO investments over quick wins – Sustainable growth requires patience, strategy, and understanding that traffic results often lag behind the work.
Notable Quotes
- “People don’t have a writer problem. They have a delegation problem and broken internal processes.”
- “Link builders should be building relationships, not links, because that’s where the best links come from.”
- “If your content sucks to begin with, and your site sucks to begin with, links won’t help.”
- “We actually want people to admit mistakes, surface problems, and discuss issues so we can improve.”
- “The internet eats itself. It’s just a wild place, and we chose to work on it.”
Resources
Industry Experts
Companies and Organizations
Marketing and SEO Tools
The Systems That Scale SEO and Content
Scaling SEO and content isn’t about more writers, it’s about better systems. At Session Interactive, we help companies build operational clarity that allows content to scale without sacrificing quality. From strategy and process design to measurement and optimization, we ensure your growth is sustainable and impactful.
For more insights on growth, strategy, and digital execution, subscribe to the Built to Convert podcast. Ready to scale smarter? Contact Session Interactive to see how we can help you create systems that grow with you.
