Ignite Visibility

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an art director for a company that has a restaurant and gourmet market in a single location. We also have a patisserie that specializes in high-end, French-inspired pastries, and we have an e-commerce site where we sell our proprietary products and list information about the restaurant’s offerings. My position, alongside the senior art director, is to coordinate all of the visual elements of the brand. I manage our copywriting and manage our e-commerce, packaging, and pay-per-click systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ignite Visibility?

Our business goal for our work with Ignite Visibility was to increase our PPC and our search and remarketing ads. We had worked with another company previously, but we hadn’t seen much success after working with them for about a year.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We ship our products nationwide, so that’s where we wanted to focus our PPC and our search and remarketing ads. We also ran some successful local campaigns with Ignite Visibility, which is also handling our SEO. They’ve been helpful in giving us suggestions on our website design in terms of customer experience and ways to promote purchasing, but that’s not something they primarily do for us.

How did you come to work with Ignite Visibility?

We were referred to Ignite Visibility by our web development firm.

How much have you invested with Ignite Visibility?

We pay Ignite Visibility about $1,250 a month. That includes the budget for PPC, search, and their fee.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Ignite Visibility for about a year now, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Ignite Visibility has improved our ROAS, decreased our spending, optimized our search, and created specific remarketing ads based on our newsletter. We have 35,000 names on our newsletter email list, and they use that to optimize our remarketing ads. When we have special holidays, they use those to target our audience. They’ve also implemented new bidding strategies from which we’ve seen a huge return, so we’re happy with their progress. All of those things contribute to an increase in sales, which we’ve seen continuously over the past year of working with Ignite Visibility. Granted, there are times when sales drop, but they’ve been quick to address the issues that have contributed to the drop and make changes so that our ads are optimized correctly. They’ve been proactive when things haven't gone well, and all of those elements add to our bottom line.

How did Ignite Visibility perform from a project management standpoint?

We appreciate the bi-weekly and sometimes weekly financial updates. Ignite Visibility will send us a document that describes where we are on impressions, clicks, costs, and survey clicks. The report gives us an overview of week-over-week and month-over-month, and then it breaks the information down by campaigns, such as the last two weeks, ad groups, or keywords. The document gives us a detailed analysis, and they’re able to give us that high-level summary on a bi-weekly basis. I think it’s important for us to know where we stand and be able to trust that they’re managing our company properly. We’re happy with their correspondence.

Are there any areas Ignite Visibility could improve?

I think Ignite Visibility could improve on the continuation of optimizing our PPC and search ads. They’re continuing to use our budget, but some months they don't use our entire ad spend. We understand that’s strategic, but that’s probably something we’d like to see completely utilized in the future if we’re allocating a certain amount of money to this kind of marketing.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Ignite Visibility?

I would recommend that businesses working with Ignite Visibility have clear goals and brand awareness. I think that’s always important when working with a company that’s going to give you a lot of suggestions. We have strict brand guidelines, and for better or worse, we do get a lot of suggestions that maybe just aren’t on brand for us. Really knowing your brand and your expectations will optimize what you get out of your experience working with Ignite Visibility.

BACKGROUND

Beauty Bakerie Cosmetics Brands is a premiere cruelty-free, smudge proof, and vegan-friendly cosmetics brand.  Our Lip Whips - Liquid Matte Lipsticks are "apocalypse-proof" exclaimed Allure Magazine. Our products were made for the socially conscious millennial on-the-go who is fed-up with reapplying their makeup 5-7 times a day or concerned with how much lipstick they'll consume when it rubs off on their food. 

In my direct purview as CMO falls Marketing, Technology, Sales, and Customer Service. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Our company was and still is growing at lightning speed. We're a young company, so there's never enough resources or time. As a digital marketing professional, I place a high value on the fundamentals: SEO, paid and organic search, social media, PR, and of course content to gain traffic, brand awareness, and sales. Initially, I went the route of contracting out these various components to many freelancers and contractors.  It was a nightmare to manage. 

SOLUTION

Ignite was recommended to me by a colleague during the summer of 2016.  I remember getting a huge questionnaire.  It appeared daunting at first because I was so focused on getting the work done.  But it ended up being worth its weight in gold.  I had all the data dispersed among multiple documents, spreadsheets, emails, notebooks, and my head, but this helped me organize the information and view it holistically.

They quickly turned around a report that not only validated the work I had been doing but presented a playbook as to how we could accelerate on what I was building.  They really spoke my language and gave me confidence in what they were bringing to the table.  From organic growth to social, they provided a 360-degree solution.  Not to mention their paid search and PR team has consistently over-delivered each and every month.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

I love the casual feel of the company and my engagements with the staff.  They are easy going and flexible.  I cannot think of a single time where I've asked something of the team, and they have not found a way to accommodate me.  I receive weekly and monthly reports that are ready to share with my executive team, and in the rare event of a mistake or shortcoming, they are always willing to go the extra mile to make it right. Our company has received over 70 PR placements, more than 1000% ROAS on average on Google and 500% on Facebook and the peace of mind knowing someone is in our webmaster tools keeping our site optimized.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I started a business as a women's clothing online retailer. We offer an exclusive line of bras, lingerie, swimwear, corsets, and club wear. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ignite Visibility?

We wanted to improve our ranking visibility on Google to get an organic traffic increase. We really wanted to gain more visitors and customers to boost our sales. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We set up an annual contract with monthly projects to improve our SEO content and ranking and to help us boost our visibility and organic ranking in Google. They only provided SEO work for me—no other services.

How did you come to work with Ignite Visibility?

I browsed through a list of top SEO companies and found that they have very good reviews and feedback. I decided to go with Ignite Visibility. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

So far, we have been with Ignite Visibility for one year, I cannot thank the team enough for helping us improve our rank and many other aspects. They helped us fix so many problems we did not see before.
In the past year, our organic traffic growth has doubled compared to 8–10 months ago. Our keyword rankings continue to go up.

What did you find most impressive about Ignite Visibility?

I'm so thankful I found John and the Ignite Visibility team! We will continue working with them. The owner is an SEO teacher in San Diego, so they are consistently updating their methods to offer the most modern techniques. Ignite Visibility is great. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

SureFire CPR is a CPR training company located across three locations in Southern California. We teach layperson CPR, hospital CPR, and advanced training courses for doctors and nurses. I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ignite Visibility?

Ignite helped us with our pay-per-click for our online marketing. We have three locations, and a lot of people register online. Ignite is working to make sure that we’re popping up first and, from that, getting traffic into our offices.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They do PPC and SEO for us. They’re also helping us out in the online marketing space with writing blogs and publications. We revamped our website a year and a half ago. We knew that when we were live with our new website, we needed our SEO improved with that update. They helped us with the entire process.

How did you come to work with Ignite Visibility?

When we started our company eight years ago, we worked with the owner of the company previously when we first started working on our website. The owner reached out to us later once they created Ignite, becoming one of their first customers to get on board with SEO and PPC. We were excited about what they were working on and what they were able to offer us. It’s an area of expertise that’s not our main focus, so we were excited to have someone who knew exactly what’s going on in that area to be able to spearhead our online marketing division for us.

How much have you invested with Ignite Visibility?

We spend $50,000 annually with them. That’s not including our ads but only the fees for the work that they’re doing, including our SEO.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since 2012. The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We continually get really great results from the PPC work that they do. In the beginning, it was a lot of money for us to be spending. But within the first year, we’ve seen such a huge impact it had on the number of people that are coming in and signing up. SEO and PCC are really growing our presence online exponentially. I got an email from yesterday stating that we had a record month last month: we had a 465% return on advertising on PPC last month—our highest ever— and that’s considering how February is a short month. It’s continually improving. We’re very happy. I can’t imagine doing what they’re doing. It really allows me to run the company and not have to worry about learning the ins and outs of online marketing.

How did Ignite Visibility perform from a project management standpoint?

I have a bi-weekly call with my project manager. She runs my account. We also have other people on our team join the call so that they can really get a feel of what’s going on, what we’re working on, and clear up any questions of when I review the industry blog writing of theirs. They make time for the way they manage it. They send a really organized agenda, and I have a pulse on what’s going on without needing to know all the tiny details that they’re working on. We have an annual contract with them that comes with a certain amount of blog articles, white papers, and press releases.

What did you find most impressive about Ignite Visibility?

They’re really good at making sure we start projects early enough in that year to make sure we can get everything done. They’ve promised us to deliver. They’ve been organized and on top of everything, and I appreciate in getting updates from them.

Are there any areas Ignite Visibility could improve?

I don’t have anything to say that I would want better. I’m really happy with how everything is going. I’ve gone through a few different project managers because things change over time. I don’t mind it—I think it’s been good because new people come in and they see things differently. I’m really happy with our current one.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Ignite Visibility?

Understand the process of how SEO and PPC work. Especially on the SEO side, it takes a lot of time to build all the pages and presence. It took us a few years before that took off, and it actually outperforms our PPC sometimes. It takes time and patience to look at the big picture of what you’re trying to do and where you’re looking to get. It’s not a short-term goal but an overall big picture goal in working towards that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is small; we only have three employees. I’m the operations manager, which means I manage our relations with suppliers. My background is in web developing, though.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ignite Visibility?

Our goal is to grow our business with the help of Ignite Visibility through their SEO [search engine optimization] services. We're looking to grow our website’s presence in search engines, primarily Google.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

So far, it’s been all about organic traffic. On one occasion, we did do a web development project with Ignite Visibility, but the goal of the project was still increasing organic traffic. They also might have outsourced that development work, I’m not sure.

How did you come to work with Ignite Visibility?

The owner of my company found Ignite Visibility. He was looking for a good SEO company that we could build a relationship with. We wanted a long-term relationship with our SEO company. We had an initial interview, which I was involved in, and we decided to go with them. We had a good feeling right from that meeting, and it lasted.

How much have you invested with Ignite Visibility?

Per year, our investment would be approximately around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It’s an ongoing project. We started working with Ignite Visibility in May 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I’m very satisfied. I wouldn’t share the numbers here, but I can tell you that we’ve seen a significant improvement in organic traffic, which was the initial goal for us. It’s definitely helped our business. We got more people coming to our site, and more of those visitors converted. That increased our revenue directly.

How did Ignite Visibility perform from a project management standpoint?

I work with one of their project managers on a weekly basis, and we keep in constant contact over the week. Ignite Visibility proved to be really reliable. They stand behind what they promise. They’re very detail-oriented and professional; they know the job well. They try to stay at the top of the industry.

What did you find most impressive about Ignite Visibility?

What I really liked about Ignite Visibility team is that they’ve very flexible. They’re not strict. They came with their suggestions for the contract; we came back with our contract, we found a middle ground, and it worked out for both them and us. Ignite Visibility met us with open arms. I think they’re a mature company, and that shows in their everyday business.

Are there any areas Ignite Visibility could improve?

I can’t think of anything. Ignite Visibility is really well organized.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Ignite Visibility?

I would suggest the approach that worked for us. Our belief is that the relationship between two companies is the most important point, so just trust Ignite Visibility, be honest, and it will work out.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is a digital agency that does a lot of software development. I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ignite?

We worked with them on a project. We did the software development, and they were executing the marketing and traffic for that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re not doing SEO or pay-per-click for us personally; we work with them on our project. We both have the same goal for our client. Ultimately, we drive conversion rate and return on investment, and they drive traffic itself. We’re both working pretty tightly together to make sure that the client's goals are achieved. We’ve worked with several SEO companies before, and one of the reasons we’re working with Ignite is that they do such a good job. For this specific client, Ignite is doing SEO and paid media.

How did you come to work with Ignite?

We were looking for somebody with specific thought-leader representation that we knew qualified them as industry leaders. When it comes to SEO, John and his team have deep experience in that space and are constantly ahead of or equal to algorithm changes in the Google areas. We were looking for a depth of client relationships and the ability to deliver scale over time. We were looking for someone who provided excellent service, great account management, and great customer support, and they check all those boxes.

How much have you invested with Ignite?

I don’t know how they’re charging because I’m not privy to the contract, but it’s got to be $7,000–$10,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work is ongoing, and we’ve been working with them for about 6 months now.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

They’ve crushed it, and we’ve got data to show it. Overall traffic has quadrupled, and we’ve seen an increase in sales on the paid media side of around 400%.

How did Ignite perform from a project management standpoint?

Their account managers are more than just account managers: they definitely have strategist skills as well. It’s nice that when their account managers jump onto calls, they get the strategy side of the execution and are not just managing desks.

Are there any areas Ignite could improve?

I don’t think so. I’ve worked with probably 20 SEO companies in 10 years, and they’re definitely the best I’ve worked with.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Ignite?

The biggest thing is collaboration, engagement, and being involved in the process.

BACKGROUND

Changes Plastic Surgery & Spa is a prominent and long-established plastic surgery office employing 3 nurse providers and 2 plastic surgeons. Located in San Diego, California. Changes offers a complete selection of plastic surgery procedures, nonsurgical options, and skin care. The practice founder, Gilbert Lee, M.D. FACS, has been recognized as a Top Doc in Plastic Surgery since 2007 by the San Diego County Medical Society. Excellent results and high-level patient satisfaction are hallmarks of the practice. The reviewer is the director of marketing, social media, brand manager, and company blogger.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Plastic surgery is a highly competitive field and the importance of maintaining first page Internet visibility mandatory. Ignite provided a detailed study of competitor performance and laid out a digital marketing strategic plan to help Changes achieve a first-page presence on all associated procedure keywords. Ignite provided an extensive overview of what they intended to provide and to achieve. The analysis they provided was beyond thorough, was understood easily, and clearly showed their expertise.

SOLUTION

Ignite Visibility assigned specific account managers for each phase of the marketing plan. Each manager, from PPC to SEO, was knowledgeable, accommodating, friendly, and inclusive of our ideas and desires – all the while performing tasks consistent with the marketing plan laid out.

Contact was always professional, prompt, and polite. Reports were provided routinely and on time. Meetings between the Changes marketing director and Ignite were performed weekly and on schedule.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In comparison to past SEO companies Changes has employed, Ignite is far superior in results. Our PPC campaign was managed expertly with tenacity to ensure that ads delivered. There was close scrutiny of the ROI and adjustments to ads to improve performance. Keyword analysis was extensive and pages of our website updated and optimized for better performance.

At almost 1 year as a client of Ignite, we have seen a steady rise in our most coveted keyword ranks. Ignite has not only performed as they promised, but have been a pleasure to partner with.

BACKGROUND

We are an online school that mainly caters to high school. We have about 35 employees and are located in multiple areas throughout San Diego County in California. I wear multiple hats at the company with one of them being in charge of the web and much of the company's marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

We were using a pre-packaged solution for our website and marketing. It was a big company that supplied it all. That company did an OK job but was incredibly expensive, and we knew we could find a more cost-effective solution. We were faced with a big dilemma. We needed a new website to maintain all our rankings and then increase enrollment.

SOLUTION

Specifically, they helped us migrate the website, optimize all our pages, and create a plan for growth. My husband is one of the founders of Ignite. The board of my company voted to accept their offer compared to a couple of other firms. They started in spring of 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

I could not give Ignite Visibility a better rating. Our account rep Mitch [Haw, project manager at Ignite Visibility] has been amazing since day 1. They helped build us a beautiful new website, transferred the website with no loss in traffic, and put a plan in place to increase rankings. As a result, we increased total organic sessions 95% year over year for the entire year, increased total organic new users 73% year over year for the entire year, and increased our signups by the hundreds year over year for the entire year. They also were able to get us ranked #1 for 19 of the terms we were targeting, including our biggest term. We did not rank for any of these terms before hiring Ignite.

This was in 2013. We have been an Ignite Visibility client for nearly 4 years now, and I continue to be amazed at their professionalism, willingness to go above and beyond, and expertise. We are now ranking higher than large national companies for extremely competitive keywords. They have earned our trust. Recently, we signed up for pay-per-click as well. Their team on the SEM side has proven to be just as good. You can't go wrong with Ignite. They are a stand-up company and have won many awards for good reason.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a non-profit organization based out of San Diego, California, organizing a 2-day cycling event that raises money for local cancer research within 4 institutions. I am the director of marketing and communications. I handle all the communication intended for our audience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ignite?

We needed help raising the profile of our organization throughout San Diego as well as nationally. Our website, social media and overall digital footprint were limited, confined to the small amount of work we'd done in-house. We had not worked with a digital agency in the past, so we wanted an agency that could help us grow this presence.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ignite has provided SEO work for our web profiles, particularly on Google. On the social media side, they have helped tighten up our profiles and processes, creating a marketing plan for regular content. This included individual posts, blog articles, infographics, and other assets which can be used for keeping our content engine going.

Ignite has also helped us on the structural side, making our backend more SEO-friendly. We're currently undergoing a migration of our site to a new domain as well as performing an entire redesign. Ignite is putting together a plan for that move, making it as painless as possible from an SEO and ranking standpoint.

How did you come to work with Ignite?

I had originally talked to a few agencies in town, not necessarily looking to put one on retainer or to set up a long-term engagement, but rather for one-off projects. After meeting Ignite, we had big conversations around what we were trying to do. They were open to the idea of helping us and offered some pro bono work. As a non-profit, we don't have the kind of budget that a typical business might have. Ignite has a program by which a non-profit is selected every year for help on a pro bono basis. They were drawn to our concept and reason for being, and Ignite has even participated in our event. We were thrilled to engage an agency of their stature on that basis and everything has worked out. I'm sure that Ignite offers services beyond what they offered us and I appreciate not being offered more. Our budget is limited, and it may have turned us off to working with them.

How much have you invested with Ignite?

Ignite's work was pro bono, but its annual value is around $45,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our original 1-year term will run out in the summer of 2017, but we plan to keep working together in the same capacity. Ignite is looking to extend that through to the end of the year. Our event is held once every year, with the November 2017 one being our 5th edition. It's been a great relationship and we're happy to count Ignite as a partner.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I come from an agency background and have been the main contact person for our work with Ignite. I'm familiar with how the process works on the other side of things, but I've also worked with many groups on the client side. Ignite has been one of the best agencies I've worked with, not only from a technical expertise standpoint—even though I'm impressed with that side of things—but rather from a service side. Ignite understands our organization and has engaged with us, taking the time to understand our business, audience, and mission. Ignite pitched us a menu of services which they felt would align with our goals, rather than giving a set approach from the start.

It's safe to say that we've doubled our social media presence overall, in terms of fans and followers, likes and views. Ignite was instrumental in helping us have our most successful year to date. We have grown our fundraising to $2 million, up from 1.3 in 2015. More impressive was the number of riders we were able to secure: our participation went from 820 in 2015 to 1,500 in 2016. Ignite has played a huge role in that by helping raise our profile, engage on social media, and connect with our audience. Social media plays a huge role in our activity, given that our model is peer-to-peer fundraising. People participate in our event and spread the word to their friends, basically soliciting donations. Everything is based on volume and spreading the word, and Ignite has helped us craft our approach and use it to our advantage.

How did Ignite perform from a project management standpoint?

Ignite's staff is extremely attentive and engaged, talking to us on a weekly basis or even more. We often communicate via email and Basecamp. There were times when I called on Ignite for tasks which either fell outside of the scope of our engagement or were last-minute. They've always responded to the call with a smile on their face. If every vendor I've used was as easy to work with as Ignite, my job would be a whole lot easier.  

What did you find most impressive about Ignite?

Ignite is a homegrown agency from San Diego, which is great for us. Being based in the same city, it's good to see that all the money we raise stays in San Diego. To have an agency of Ignite's caliber in our backyard has meant that our identity was immediately embraced. I'm sure that there are a number of agencies in town which could do the same job, but not many of them would give us the same level of service.

Are there any areas Ignite could improve?

I couldn't begin to point something out, given how satisfied I've been.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Ignite?

It’s important to be open and upfront about the goal at hand. Clients should put everything out on the table and be honest with Ignite. They're receptive to that kind of communication. Ignite wasn't immediately turned off upon hearing that we didn't have a lot of money to pay them, but that we had some very specific needs. Ignite embraced our project and did what was right for us.

I come from the agency world, so I know what it's like to be driven by big accounts and what that can mean for smaller ones. I've not gotten the sense that Ignite operates that way, at least not with us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a 15-person skin care company based in Beverly Hills, California. I run e-commerce for the brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ignite Visibility?

We needed to increase organic traffic. We also needed to optimize our paid search through Google AdWords and Bing. Overall, our revenue growth goals were very high, and we enlisted Ignite to help us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The overall scope was an aggressive SEO, social media, and PPC package to scale our e-commerce growth. It included everything from content writing to viral campaigns to remarketing. They help us on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They also help with content writing and on-site optimization.

How did you come to work with Ignite Visibility?

Ignite was recommended by my Magento design agency.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have worked together for about 16 months with no plans to stop. It started in July 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Ignite helped us achieve 40% YoY [year-over-year] revenue growth in their first year on board.

How did Ignite Visibility perform from a project management standpoint?

Our traffic dramatically increased via organic search for our relevant keywords. They manage our account very methodically. They send great detailed reports with weekly calls.

What did you find most impressive about Ignite Visibility?

They are very nimble with changing strategies and redirecting efforts to things that work. They use Basecamp for project management, which helps organize things.

Are there any areas Ignite Visibility could improve?

I have no improvements to note and think that they are one of our top vendors.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Ignite Visibility?

Overall, it was a very successful endeavor to work with them. Make sure your team can push forward with them and keep up with their speed and passion. You should have a dedicated project manager for Ignite's campaign.