Built by someone who
ran businesses, not
just campaigns.
Xpand Digital was founded by Joel House after spending years inside the agency world and realizing it was fundamentally broken. Clients paid for activity. Agencies delivered reports. Nobody measured whether the business was actually growing. The Growth Architecture exists because someone finally decided to fix that.
From importing products
to architecting growth.
I got into digital marketing by accident. Around 2010, I was importing products and selling them online, and I learned the hard way that just because you build it doesn't mean anyone is going to come. I had to teach myself everything: how search engines work, how to write copy that sells, how to drive traffic that actually converts.
That led to freelance copywriting, where I discovered something foundational: words sell. The ability to communicate value clearly and persuasively was the most underrated skill in business.
Then I went inside an agency. For two years, my job was to make sure staff logged their hours. Not their results. Their hours. Clients would ask "Are we growing?" and we'd show them timesheets.
I quit. And in 2015, I started Xpand Digital with one rule: measure growth, not hours.
We started with SEO because it was what I knew best, and because organic search has the most durable compounding effect of any channel. For nearly a decade we crushed it.
But two moments changed the trajectory of the company.
One of our largest clients was a major Australian law firm spending $50,000 a month on Google Ads. I asked their marketing manager for an export from their CRM so we could analyze lead quality. She said, "What's a CRM?"
A business spending $50K a month on ads didn't know where their leads were going, how they were being followed up, or whether any of them were converting to clients.
That's when I realized: lead generation without conversion infrastructure is just expensive noise.
When ChatGPT launched, I was using it within 48 hours. Not experimenting casually. Using it to rebuild how we work. Within weeks, it was clear that AI was going to split the market.
The use case that hit hardest was sales follow-up. My average client is terrible at sales. They don't follow up. They have thousands of leads sitting in a CRM that nobody touches. So we built AI systems to do the follow-up for them.
That's when Xpand evolved from an SEO agency into a growth architecture company. Not because we stopped doing SEO, but because we realized the real value was in connecting every piece into one system that compounds.
Today, the Growth Architecture framework connects everything: lead generation (Foundation), conversion systems (Walls), and customer expansion (Roof). Each layer feeds the others. Results compound month over month. And we measure success the only way that matters: in revenue.
Not a typical agency founder.
Most agency founders came up through marketing departments. Joel came up through running actual businesses. That difference shows in how Xpand operates.
E-Commerce Operator
Built and scaled real online stores, importing and selling products. Knows what drives profit, not just traffic. Understands unit economics, margins, and cash flow because he's lived them.
Direct Response Copywriter
Started as a freelance copywriter. Every asset Xpand produces is engineered to convert because the founder's background is in words that sell, not words that sound good.
SEO Veteran (12+ Years)
Built JoelHouse.com.au into one of Australia's most recognized SEO brands. Deep technical and strategic expertise in the channel that compounds more than any other.
AI Systems Architect
Early adopter from day one. $350K+ invested in mastering growth and automation systems. Built the AI-powered database reactivation, outreach, and review systems that Xpand deploys today.
Small team. Big infrastructure.
Built to compound.
Xpand Digital operates as a lean, high-output growth partner. We're not a 200-person agency selling you a junior account manager. We're a focused team where the founder is in the strategy, the operations are systematized, and the AI does the repetitive work humans shouldn't.
Partnership model, not vendor model
We work on retainers and performance fees, not hourly billing. When you grow, we grow. Every engagement is structured so our incentives are aligned with your revenue, not with how many hours we can log.
You own everything we build
Every workflow, CRM configuration, campaign, and piece of content belongs to you. We don't hold your infrastructure hostage. Our job is to build systems you could run independently. Most clients stay because they don't want to.
Speed as a principle, not a slogan
We build 30-second response systems because the data is clear: the company that responds first wins. This principle runs through everything we do. Speed-to-lead. Speed-to-insight. Speed-to-scale.
Transparency without the dashboard theater
You see every number and understand every move. But we don't bury you in dashboards full of vanity metrics. We report on what matters: leads generated, deals closed, revenue produced, cost per acquisition.
12+ years of building
what actually works.
First online business
Importing and selling products online. Learned the hard way that "build it and they will come" is a lie. Taught himself SEO, copywriting, and conversion out of necessity.
Freelance copywriter
Discovered that the ability to sell with words was the most underrated skill in business. Wrote for businesses across Australia, learning what actually drives buying decisions.
Agency life
Spent two years inside an agency tracking hours instead of results. Watched clients waste money on activity that never moved the needle. Quit in frustration.
Founded Xpand Digital
Started as JoelHouse.com.au with one rule: measure growth, not hours. Focused on SEO because it compounds. Quickly became one of Australia's most trusted performance marketing brands.
Scaled to 300+ clients
Expanded from pure SEO into Google Ads, conversion optimization, and marketing automation. Served businesses across 40+ industries. Hit the $50M+ mark in total client revenue generated.
The architecture emerges
The $50K/mo law firm moment crystallized the need for integrated systems. Began building what would become the Growth Architecture: connecting lead gen, conversion, and retention into one compounding structure.
AI transformation
Among the first to deploy AI for business growth at scale. Built database reactivation, outreach automation, and review management systems powered by AI. The Growth Architecture became AI-native.
Los Angeles expansion
Expanded operations to the US market. Rebranded under Xpand Digital (DirectRank LLC) while maintaining Australian operations from the Gold Coast.
$96M+ and growing
Operating as a full growth partner using the Growth Architecture framework. Writing the book that documents the methodology. Building toward the next milestone: $150M in total client growth generated.
Featured in
Joel speaks on growth systems, AI implementation, and the future of marketing. Available for conferences, podcasts, and private events.
From personal brand
to growth company.
For years, everything lived under the JoelHouse.com.au brand. That site became one of Australia's most trusted names in SEO and performance marketing, and it's where many of our long-term clients first found us. As the methodology evolved from services to complete systems, the company evolved too. JoelHouse.com.au now redirects here, the home of everything we've built. Same founder, same philosophy, same obsession with measurable growth. Bigger structure.
The numbers.
Now you know who
we are and how
we think.
If you're a business doing $500K-$10M+ that's hitting a growth ceiling, we should talk. Book a strategy call and we'll identify which layer of the Growth Architecture will unlock your next phase.
Free strategy call. No obligation. Or email Joel directly at joel@xpanddigital.io