Kern Media

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the e-commerce director for a house plan boutique that specializes in high-quality house designs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kern Media?

We hired them for their SEO services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dan (Founder & Principal Consultant) serves as our SEO consultant. He provides us with a checklist to improve the SEO of our website. This involves creating a list of items that need to be cleaned up from a technical standpoint, disavowing crummy links, conducting keyword research, and making new pages and blog posts that can help our site rank better for specific keywords.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with Dan and another person.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000–$75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2021, and our engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Thanks to Dan’s recommendations, we’ve seen improvements in terms of website traffic and SEO rankings. Overall, he’s been a tremendous help since the beginning of the collaboration.

How did Kern Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management style has been great. They’ve created an editorial calendar that we work through together along with a separate document indicating the things that need to be updated. They’ve also shared with us a spreadsheet that’s used to keep track of our links.

For communication, we use email or interact by commenting through our shared documents. During times when we need something done immediately, we text them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Dan’s attention to detail is very impressive. Also, he’s really an expert in his space, updated with current trends, and boasts vast knowledge that we’re blessed to have access to.

Are there any areas they could improve on?

I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I definitely recommend working with Dan. He’ll work wonders for your website and SEO presence.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and sole employee of a company called Tall Friend Productions. We offer SEO and content strategy as well as services in content, onsite, offsite, technical evaluations, and optimization. I work with mid- to large-scale businesses, helping them create and curate content for their websites. These include product descriptions, blog posts, etc. I work across all the different departments within a company in order to help them realize their goals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kern Media?

I pull in Kern Media whenever I’m overwhelmed by my current workload and I need Dan’s expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dan does a lot of in-depth analysis for analytics and conversions, helping me identify technical errors I haven't seen before. Some of my clients have five million website visits a month, and he’s done everything from one-off gigs to full-blown audits and evaluations for different sites. He has done both at-large and issue-specific work.

How did you come to work with Kern Media?

Dan and I have been colleagues for a long time. I’ve learned a lot from him. I worked with him probably four or five years ago, and then I went my own way and started a company and he went to work with a different company. Once he hit the freelance market, I snagged him as quickly as I could. I brought him on as a second set of eyes for my own company.

How much have you invested with Kern Media?

He did about $3,000 in consulting work for me last year, and I’ve contracted him to do another five hours this week. I didn't use him as much as I wanted to last year because he came onto the market so late. I think 2017 will be a more profitable year for him, at least with my business.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2016 when he came onto the freelance market, and we continue to work together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m not sure how to quantify his success because I bring him in to do technical evaluations. There was an instance with one of my clients where the organic traffic completely flatlined on a website that was getting five million visits a month. The sky was falling, essentially. The website had a lot of issues and a lot of changes had been made to it at random points in time. Dan was able to dig around and find the glaring issue. When we remedied it, the traffic went back up. It would have been catastrophic had the problem gone on for three or four days beyond what it did.

How did Kern Media perform from a project management standpoint?

He’s extremely organized and that’s why I like working with him. He uses Google Docs like a pro, which is good because that’s where I spend half of my life. He puts everything together in nice, pretty summaries, and he gives me just the right amount of information organized in beautiful folders. The data is presented where it needs to be and it’s all linked to the executive summaries. He’s always very good with communication and he’ll get back to me quickly if I have an issue. He’s honest about when he needs more information. Once I give it to him, he’s off and running.

What did you find most impressive about Kern Media?

Dan likes to teach people about what he does for them and why, and I’ve always enjoyed that. A lot of people treat SEO like it’s witchcraft. I always walk away from working with Dan feeling like I know more. He and I both try to empower our clients so they understand why things are going the way they are and why they’re important.

Are there any areas Kern Media could improve?

I honestly can’t think of a way Kern Media could improve, and that’s not me trying to suck up to him. A few weeks ago, I asked him if he could do something for me and he outright told me he couldn't because it was just completely out of his skill set.

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

Have a clear set of questions prepared. Like any business, try to come to the table with as much information as you can provide. Try to be defined in what you’d like to do. Come knowing your problems and state them clearly in numbered or bullet-point lists. Then let Dan digest it and get back to you with questions and thoughts after that. Be prepared to answer his follow-up questions and be prepared to empower him with the information he needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are Costa Rica Explorations & Escapes, a leisure/travel service that hosts people on trips to Costa Rica. I am one of the co-founders, and I direct and manage the Escapes to Costa Rica side of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kern Media?

We reached out to Kern Media because we decided to go down the path of organic SEO [search engine optimization]. The ultimate goal was to generate more online organic-based leads without pay-per-click or having to invest more money in paid advertising.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started from ground zero. We let them go into the website and analyze every page. They conducted an SEO audit indicating what fixes they requested, what problems they saw, and why they were problems. They created a plan to attack the incorrect elements of our website. Furthermore, they wanted to build content and work to stay ahead of the curve when it came to SEO.

How did you come to work with Kern Media?

Dan [Founder, Kern Media] and his team published some articles that were of interest to us. With follow-up conversations and a few interviews with them, we felt as though they would be able to fulfill our needs, and they definitely have.

How much have you invested with Kern Media?

We were one of the first clients of Kern Media. I found that his value tends to far exceed the money that you pay for him. His continued value and desire for continued improvement is something that is hard to find out there with a lot of these companies. We pay upwards of $15,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe we started working in the summer of 2012. I don’t even remember a time without Kern Media. They’ve been such an integral part of the development of our company since they were pre-Kern Media.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When they initially started the work and developed the website, built content with blogs, revised things, and added more content to make our website stronger, it was going to take a while. I know it’s not a short-term, instant gratification type of a thing. We’ve steadily improved sales results with the time they have worked with us. This past year, we grew sales by 20%. That was great because good things come to those who wait and are patient. While we did, fortunately, see some pretty immediate results, we weren’t expecting them. Kern Media did everything possible within the contractual terms to grow traffic and leads as quickly as possible.

How did Kern Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They do a great job with project management. They’re very good at explaining in layman’s terms what’s going on and why things are happening the way they’re happening. They go over the plan with you and revise and explain it. They talk through the budget when it comes to certain projects. It’s all very transparent. They’ll hold you accountable, which is also great. They’ll want certain things from you in order to keep the project flowing, and they’ll be on you to do that. It’s a good thing to have as a reminder. When it comes to getting things done, they do it.

What did you most impressive about Kern Media?

Ultimately, Dan and his team were hired to generate more leads. It’s something that’s pretty cut and dry—either there are leads or there aren’t, and there were leads and they have made continued growth in leads. If you boil it down, this was the basic principle behind why we wanted a guy like Dan, with a company like Kern Media, to head up this initiative. They’ve done it, and they continue to do it, and it continues to get better.

Are there any areas Kern Media could improve?

No. I wish I had some more resources and time to invest and do more of what he’s telling us to do and what Kern Media is capable of doing for us. There's no pressure either. They want to do a lot and they definitely know a lot. They can really help the right client to develop an online presence. Dan has so many ideas that I wish I really could do them all. They’re all broken up into nice, simple projects where you can just take a bite here or a bite there.

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

I can tell people just to listen to what he says and trust his knowledge. If it feels good to you and you like what you’re hearing, go for it. Kern Media is very flexible in the way they present as well, so asking for things in ways that work for you and your organization is important too since they’re very flexible and versatile in providing that.