Educational Training Company Online Marketing
- Other Digital Marketing
- $10,000 to $49,999
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 4.5
- Cost
- 4.5
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"I’m hard to please, but [Be Locally SEO] have done a good job. That’s why I stay with them."
- Education
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- 51-200 Employees
- Phone Interview
- Verified
Be Locally provides SEO for a medical education institution to improve search ranking. The team also occasionally works on content creation, website design, and updates.
The search ranking has noticeably improved, resulting in more students and revenue. The website design loads quickly, has all relevant information, and looks good. Be Locally SEO consistently responds within 20 minutes of being contacted and makes great recommendations.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
BACKGROUND
Please describe your organization.
I started a for-profit post-secondary education institution. I have three different brands under that umbrella, so I have a college that does medical assisting, [another that] provides EMT training, and can[and some] training centers that provide CNA training.
What is your role and responsibilities?
I’m the owner.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What was your goal for working with Be Locally SEO?
They do work for all four of the entities. I’ve hired four other SEO [search engine optimization] companies prior to Be Locally to increase my organic ranking, particularly in Google, but also Yahoo and Bing. I also need somebody who can do website maintenance and upgrades to the back-end and to WordPress. I also need my vendor to do website design, design makeovers, and facelifts.
SOLUTION
Please describe the scope of their work.
The actual engagement is for them to provide SEO organic ranking improvements for all of my locations. I have five locations in Utah. They do maintenance and add to the website. I’m in the process of taking all of my websites, giving them a facelift, and making them mobile friendly to fit with Google’s new algorithms about how they rank sites.
They also send me a lot of advice for things. I hired them to build up my hardest entity and get our name out there. They do all my blogging and article submission for back links, plus the SEO for that. They manage my Google AdWords.
When I managed Google AdWords myself, I wanted to be number one. They came and said I was spending a lot of money to be in the number one position when being second or third would suffice. They helped me save money. They hooked me up with someone to do video production also.
What was your process for selecting Be Locally SEO with which to work?
I was dissatisfied with the other companies I was working with. I think it might have been an Internet search. I was ready to fire the company I had at the time and when I first met with them, they came here to my building. I hired them initially to do SEO for another company I had at the time. I added more work and services as time went on.
Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?
Between $10,000 and $50,000 is my annual average spend. I started out paying them $400 to $500 a month, and now I’m paying them $3,000 or $4,000 per month.
When was the work completed?
It’s ongoing work. I started with them in May 2012.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?
My ranking for the hardest entity has gone from page four to the top of page two or bottom of page one on some of the keywords since January. I just got funding for that in November, so we really started pushing that in January. For the other entities, including the nonprofit, for every conceivable important keyword, I’m number one. I’m not only on the first page, but I’m number one on the first page consistently through the years.
That has been a dramatic contribution to my success. I fill my classes. We’re very successful. I give a lot of credit to the SEO work. They have a good design on the website that loads quickly, shopping cart, newsletters, or blogging. They helped me cut my Google budget in half without sacrificing any profitability or enrollments or contacts.
Are you satisfied with their performance?
Through the years, they’ve really contributed to building out my online presence and building up additional revenue streams by setting up e-commerce so I can sell shirts and various things. If they hadn’t been performing and building my brand and my Web presence, I would have moved on to the next company and given them five months of my money until I found somebody who consistently performed. I’m hard to please, but they have done a good job. That’s why I stay with them. They are a great company.
Is there anything unique or special about Be Locally SEO that really makes them stand out compared to other business partners?
I didn’t have high expectations and they started doing only website design, and I was impressed with the quality of work, but also the availability of the team. I could email them, and I’d get a response in 10 or 15 minutes.
They also understand the needs of their customers. There are times when they’ll warn us about an update with Google and take proactive actions. They make solid recommendations. They’re very professional and timely.
I feel like I have a company that has my back. I don’t feel that way about a lot of the vendors that I use. They’ve really earned my respect. The accessibility is key. I feel sometimes like I’m their only customer. If I need to have a meeting, they’ll come in.
What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?
I would tell them especially if they’re a single owner or small enterprise to take the risk. To stop doing some of the things that you may be able to do yourself like SEO and blogging and to start with a budget. See what a small budget can produce with Be Locally SEO.
You have to give it five to six months in order to see some change on the Internet. See if they don’t improve your SEO organic rankings. I started with a very minimal budget. I would say give them a shot and see what happens. Be patient. Do what they ask you to do. If they do what you want them to do on that level, take it up to the next level because if you don’t have a good Internet presence, you’re shooting yourself in the foot every day.
Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?
They’re starting to get bigger, and I think when they were smaller it took a little more time to get things done, but I’ve seen that improve. They have a better infrastructure to meet the needs. They put the Zoho project management system in place. For me at the level that I’m at, I’m satisfied.
I think one of the things that they could improve on - sometimes it’s been difficult for me to track what I’m paying for and when. I have so many entities. They’re a little bit informal in their contracting. I lose track of billing since I have several brands. I think they pay more attention to the work than their books in a way. That’s not an issue for me because I know I can trust them. It’s always the amount we agreed on, but it’s hard to decipher it all.
RATINGS
-
Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
-
Schedule
4.5On time / deadlines
-
Cost
4.5Value / within estimates
-
Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
"I’ve recommended them to 30 people. Just not my competitors. I highly recommend them.
