Persist Digital

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Rashid Ozdogru, founder and CEO of Home Art Tile Kitchen & Bath, a kitchen and bath showroom in Queens, NY. We offer one of the most comprehensive lines of porcelain and ceramic tiles, kitchen cabinets, countertops, bathroom vanities, and more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Persist Digital?

We hired Persist Digital for the local promotion of our showroom. The main services we expected and got from them are SEO, web design, social media management, reputation management, content writing and management.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to boost awareness about our showroom located in Queens NY, not only for the people living in Queens, but also for the residents of our top neighbor areas -- Manhattan and Brooklyn. Our showroom is located only 5 minutes away from Manhattan but people living there couldn’t know about us if they didn’t pass by or paid attention. Our prices are significantly lower than prices in similar showrooms located in Manhattan, so we really wanted to promote that. We also needed a better designed website, products showcased on the website, presence on social media and Houzz, and someone to showcase our projects. The final goal was earning more business.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Persist Digital and their CEO Eric were recommended to us as a highly reliable and honest team. As we needed to step up our game online as soon as possible without unnecessary spendings, we needed an agency that would give us a piece of straightforward and candid advice, so they seemed like a great choice.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After a few consultations with Persist Digital’s CEO and some of their specialists, we started with basic web design, organic SEO services, content marketing, and social media marketing, but we didn’t want to spend money on paid ads as we believed them that the results we need are possible with organic strategies.

Persist Digital team displayed the products we carry on our website and added informative and valuable content to our website. They optimized our website for SEO and improved its functionalities -- found better solutions to display our products, projects, and highlight the services and benefits we offer. Each project we completed, Persist Digital specialists featured it on our website, Houzz and other social media channels. They pointed out how important are optimized landing pages for target geo-locations and it turned out this was a great way to raise customer interest in our targeted areas -- Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn.

They also created and optimized to perfection our Google My Business profile and still continually and regularly update it with posts and always fresh photos from our showroom or our products and projects. I think we are also very lucky to have them manage and grow our reputation online.

We use their professional review marketing software to invite our customers to review us on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and Houzz. Their team monitors the reviews we get, responds to them, promotes them on our channels, and informs us in case of any issues. For example, if a customer leaves a negative review or a review needs a response from our staff. It’s a great relief and advantage working with them.

What was the team composition?

We mostly communicate with the CEO Eric and the manager of our account (and also SEO specialist) Nebojsa. They are not only highly responsive to our asks and needs, but they also point out new opportunities and new techniques we could apply to improve our strategy. Since we work with Persist Digital for a few years now, we also met their content manager -- Sandra, social media manager -- Nevena, and designer -- Alex. I am so happy to know them all, it makes me really comfortable knowing that we are in good hands.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Persist Digital team ranked our showroom on the first page of Google for the top products we carry in local searches in Queens, NY. Currently, our Google Maps profile shows more than 30K monthly searches and more than 12K listing searches on map per month. Furthermore, we were rewarded by Houzz two years in a row (2017 and 2018) with “Best of Houzz Service” award. Regarding reputation, we gained 116 great reviews across Google, Facebook, Houzz, and Yelp. After they redesigned our website, fixed issues, moved it to a faster hosting, we now get about 3K organic leads per month, with about 8K visits per month and about 280 daily visitors. According to their latest report, we are currently ranking for 6.5K keywords in top 100 results with 344 keywords on the first page of Google. The website SEO score is 94%. But it’s not just numbers in the reports. We witness the growth everyday when people walk into our showroom and tell us they found us online.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. The team reports at the end of each month, providing us with a summary of everything that was done in the previous month, and results achieved. For daily communication we use WhatsApp and we couldn’t be happier with their responsiveness. From time to time, we meet with Eric, the CEO, in person, to go over the timeliness and progress, as well as over the plans for the next period and have a face-to-face catch-up.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their proactiveness and personalized approach to our business and our goals stand out. They always take the time to learn about the changes happening in our business and align goals and strategies. Not to mention the unchanged reliability and dependability over the years of collaboration. We know that we can always rely on Persist Digital for urgent stuff, long-term strategies, and valuable, expert, and cost-effective suggestions for improvement.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We may ask them soon to start with weekly updates, I’m surprised they didn’t already offer it as an option.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am John Baysal, founder and CEO of Maids Prime, home and office cleaning services company based in Bethesda, Maryland servicing the DC Metro area since 2016.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Persist Digital?

Online reputation management, social media management, SEO, website redesign, those were all challenges for us and we needed professionals to handle these for us. Our website traffic needed to increase so we could get more leads and more customers. That's why we have hired Persist Digital.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to increase our online presence via Internet Marketing services and to improve our online performance and bring in more leads which is exactly what happened during that 8 months period that we have worked with Persist Digital. Having organic leads on our website was also a priority where Persist helped us achieve that too.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We started working with Persist Digital through a referral. It was important for us to hear first-hand about their performance and collaboration manner.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We started with web redesign not to completely replace previous design as it is a special WordPress template for cleaning service provider companies, but to make it more intuitive, more modern, and appealing. After redesign, the Persist team started with SEO -- optimizing pages, fixing internal broken links, blocking spam pages, improving website speed, etc.

At one point, our website even got hacked, so Persist Digital worked over the weekend with Godaddy and cleaned the site thoroughly. Our website had a lot of security issues before Persist started working with us -- they rebuilt the website from scratch, added SSL and moved the hosting.

They added relevant and optimized content to all the pages on our website and created new pages, including long, very informative and engaging blog posts that helped our customers understand our services better. Adding dedicated pages for areas and towns we cover with our services was an excellent idea from Persist because it helped more customers find us.

Persist Digital increased the number of reviews we received and managed them on multiple platforms. Their social media management helped us create profiles on multiple social media platforms, optimize them, and build social proof.

What was the team composition?

We mostly communicated with Eric, the CEO and founder of Persist Digital but we got to know other team members as well and soon realized how all of them are committed to learning about our industry and business and deliver great results -- often not just what we asked for, but much more than that -- ideas that helped us improve more than we hoped.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We are so happy with the results achieved -- most importantly, since website redesign, SEO efforts, and social media promotions, we have more customers calling us -- both businesses and residential, and we have more sales. Organic traffic spiked and surpassed our goals. With about 50 leads and more than 300 visitors per month, we are very happy, but we’re hoping to achieve even more when we continue working with Persist team.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We are very happy with how promptly they responded to our requests. I have personally worked with Eric, the CEO, and he made sure that I understood the overall process from start to end. The team managed all our asks exceptionally and was available whenever we needed them. Monthly reporting is something I was really happy with because I could clearly see the results achieved.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their passion and initiative. A tremendous experience they have combined with their ideas to achieve more was an amazing experience for us. I don’t think we could have gotten any better results with any other agency.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Persist Digital always delivered on time and even more than we asked for. We do feel they could do more in video production and I hope they will.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Serkan Yapicilar, founder and owner of Flowerbox Wall Gardens, an innovative and ecological company that offers moss signs and decor, and wall gardens made of preserved plants, located in NJ.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Persist Digital?

When we approached Persist Digital, we already had a strong brand and great products as well as service, but we needed a better online presence.

Our website had terrible navigation so we needed to make it intuitive and enjoyable to navigate with a better experience in exploring products. Traffic to the website was low as well, and we also needed more conversions.

Persist Digital offered outreach services and we wanted to try that out as we needed to connect with more interior designers in the U.S. especially in NJ and NYC areas.

What were your goals for this project?

Expand content, product offerings, and showcase projects, implement a fully responsive solution with navigation and performance established for current mobile best practices, enable easier browsing and more user-friendly experience, improve and nurture organic traffic, and connect with interior designers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We already collaborated with Persist Digital on another project, and I knew exactly what they can do for us.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Persist helped us more than we hoped for, actually. Their team redesigned our website by implementing a fully responsive Shopify solution with smooth and intuitive navigation and optimized it fully for mobile. Pretty soon, we were very happy with results -- a more user-friendly experience, easy browsing, and great design.

Our in-house team worked with Persists’ content specialists on expanding product offerings and projects showcase as well on the website. Persist optimized our website for search engines and nurtured consistently organic traffic, they optimized and grew our social media channels, presence on Houzz, as well as outreach to interior designers.

What was the team composition?

Our main point of contacts were Sandra (account manager) and Eric (CEO). They were very attentive and provided us regularly with monthly reports. We also communicated from time to time with their SEO manager, as well. Indirectly, we got to know the whole team. All of them are great at what they do.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Persist Digital redesigned our website into an elegant, slick, and highly functional presentation of our business, showcased many of our projects, and created landing pages for our products. Also, they showcased each of our projects on Houzz, as well.

They ranked our website on the first page in Google for the keywords important and relevant to us. Right now, we are ranking for more than 600 keywords in total, which is a great improvement from before. Organic traffic increased to more than 7K visitors per month.

We love how they handled and perfected our Google My Business listing which improved our position in Google Maps results. Their outreach specialists connected us on LinkedIn with more than 500 interior designers in NJ and NYC area, which opened up many opportunities for us.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The entire team was very helpful to us. They insisted on transparency, close communication, and regular reporting. This helped us stay on the same page, track improvements, and make suggestions as we progressed.

Their responsiveness to our requests and questions was amazing. We got regular, detailed reports every month, and even more often when needed. The account manager was sending us detailed follow-ups with detailed summaries and conclusions from our discussions, which helped us plan the next steps.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Readiness to pick up the phone or meet us face to face whenever we needed them. Not only following our asks but exceeding our expectations by providing more ideas for improvement.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In the beginning, we couldn’t understand some of the terminology they were using in their reports, so we needed to follow up and clarify. After, they changed this and used terms we are familiar with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Gurgen Bulent, founder and owner of Aqua Kitchen and Bath Design Center, a kitchen cabinet and countertop showroom, and licensed fabricator, located in Wayne, New Jersey.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Persist Digital?

Website redesign, SEO, content, social media marketing, reputation management.

What were your goals for this project?

We basically needed complete digital marketing advertising, along with better website, responsive and optimized for SEO, as well as social media management. We had our old, outdated website and we needed to increase web traffic in order to grow our sales but also to provide a sleek, cutting-edge experience for our customers. Our goal was to decrease paid advertisement budget in time by increasing organic targeted traffic, building brand awareness and reputation on social media, Houzz, and Google, and thus earning more business.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I know Eric, the founder of Persist Digital. Also, we were not happy with our, at the time, existing marketing agency. We felt they were not doing much and piggybacking on the old success of the old Google algorithm. Leads were fading away and we needed a change.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We started with web design to replace the old website and organic SEO. Later, we expanded into social media and also PPC.

Then their team focused on content building: landing pages for product offerings, vendors, as well as informative, long-form, 2,500+ words blog posts with videos and infographics that brought us an incredible amount of traffic.

In time, Persist Digital team also started to manage our online reputation on Google My Business, Yelp, Facebook, and Houzz. With their reputation management system, we gather reviews easier and faster than we would manually and their team manages the reviews, responds to them, and makes sure our reputation is impeccable.

What was the team composition?

We mostly communicate with Nebojsa and Eric. Both of them are really easy to work with, very attentive to all our needs and requests, and highly skilled at what they do. Over time, we got to know the rest of the team too and we saw how each one of them is an expert in their field.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Results are amazing. Just to share some of the achievements, organic traffic surpassed paid traffic and paid advertisement budget was reduced by 50%, which was our ultimate goal. Online leads increased to 400 per month. Then, our organic traffic is now 11,000 visitors per month.

When you compare that to 300 visitors when we first started in 2016, and take into account it was all organic, you can see why we are so happy with the results. Now we have a little over 100 reviews total across Google My Business, Yelp, Houzz, and Facebook.

On social media, for example, our Instagram following increased by over 150% and Pinterest monthly views grew by more than 100% in a year. Overall, we’re very happy with the results because we actually felt this growth in the showroom.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They are always responsive to our requests. We use WhatsApp on a daily level for immediate requests but we also meet with Eric on a monthly basis to see where we are and discuss some larger projects and plans. We love their personalized approach.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We are impressed by their personalized service and a holistic approach to advertising and growing which is rare to find. We worked with Persist Digital from the very beginning, while both we and they were starting, and we feel like we grew together in a way.

Now they are much bigger and have many more clients, but they still give us the same level and even improved level of service. Close communication resulted in a productive relationship.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They don’t just do their job, we feel they are passionate about our business. We feel they could make their graphic design a bit more current, but overall their service is timely and they deliver always on time, no exceptions.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Serkan Yapicilar, founder and owner of Naturalist, a company that offers sustainably sourced furniture -- live edge and resin dining tables, located in Hoboken, New Jersey.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Persist Digital?

We reached out to Persist Digital mainly for web design and SEO services.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed better search rankings and more leads through our website. Improving paid ad performance and boosting brand awareness were also some of the challenges that we wanted them to work on.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

One of my ex-colleagues is their client and he wholeheartedly recommended Persist Digital. After speaking with their CEO, seeing their work, results, and getting to know the team, I felt they offered the best skillset and that they understood our needs.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Persist Digital helped us create content and provided guidance on topics we needed on our website. They did a complete SEO audit, helped us identify keywords, and made necessary SEO changes to our website to improve performance. Their team revised and improved the user experience on the website to engage more visitors, better. Navigation, personalized content, and slick, mobile responsive website were some of the results they provided fast. All of this helped us emphasize key content, educate our visitors and customers on the uses and benefits of resin & epoxy woodworking, and live edge wood furniture, while raising awareness on the market. Persist also helped us with our PPC strategy, reputation management, and outreach to interior designers.

What was the team composition?

Our main point of contacts were Sandra (Internet Marketing Specialist) and Eric (CEO). Both of them were great to work with, attentive to our needs and skilled at what they do.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Persist Digital connected us with over 1,000 interior designers in the New Jersey and New York area, and opened many opportunities and leads for us. Before Persist, the number of visitors on the website was minimal, almost zero, but they took it to about 1,400 visitors per month. Half of that number were organic visits and we still reap benefits from those. After 8 months, we are ranking with 655 keywords on Google. Their designers and content creators made sure to showcase our products in a compelling and attractive way, and they also promoted us on Houzz to homeowners and other interior design professionals.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was very effective. Persist Digital team is proactive, creative, and has many ideas. They met our goals consistently and everything was done on time. Each change, progress, as well as reports were documented and shared with us each month. Also, whenever we had any new requests, they were very energetic and enthusiastic to start working on them.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They delivered results. Real results and progress that we still benefit from. I also appreciate their professional, but also friendly approach. I know that I can ask them for help at any time and receive honest and knowledgeable advice.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The website design they produced is very functional and effective, but we also wanted it to be a bit more high-end. I’m sure they will improve this aspect.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Alper Tasci, catering manager of SINI, a fast-fine Turkish cuisine restaurant, located in San Francisco’s financial district.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Persist Digital?

We approached Persist Digital to redesign our website, start and manage our SEO campaigns, content marketing, PPC, reputation management, and social media management.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to increase walk-ins, build stronger relationships with catering companies and acquire larger orders.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were looking at our options online and also asked for referrals. From our network, we heard about Persist Digital and how successfully they recently handled a couple of recent projects. Once we got to their website, we were amazed by the vast array of services they offer. We realized that they were one-stop-shop for everything we needed, so we contacted them and soon started working together.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We had a few calls and meetings when we explained our needs and goals. After that, Persist Digital came back to us with a detailed strategy on how to kick off and manage our online marketing. They support us in everything, from website design and implementation of catering apps to SEO, complete content marketing, PPC campaigns on Instagram, social media management and reputation management.

What was the team composition?

Eric (CEO, Persist Digital) and Sandra (Internet Marketing Specialist, Persist Digital) are our main points of contact who manage all our projects. SEO Specialist of Persist Digital does wonders at optimizing our website for local audiences to reach us more easily while their Web Designer makes all our asks regarding the website possible. We are also very lucky to have a specialist manage our social media; she takes client service on social media to perfection.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

ROI is amazing! From $0 in online sales, we got to more than $4300 per month. Currently, our website is ranking for 470 keywords and it attracts more than 700 organic visitors a month. Before Persist Digital, no one was visiting our social media channels; now we have close to 400 visits per month and they also boosted our SEO on a local level, which was one of our most important goals. Now we have close to 30.000 searches from Google My Business and 53.700 total views on search results, 10.900 views on search, 42.800 views on maps, 500 direction requests per month, and 50 phone calls per month.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Persist Digital communicates clearly and expertly with us in a timely manner. They report on results once a month and update us with any urgent matters weekly. This is how we stay up to date with everything that is going on online regarding our business. This proves crucial especially when it comes to reputation management.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Persist Digital is truly passionate about achieving our goals and understands our business. We feel they genuinely care about our success.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We’ve learned a lot during the last 8 months from Persist Digital team and we’re looking forward to learning more. They are diligent in explaining everything to us and they don’t delay projects, ever. We couldn’t be happier with communication, creativity, professionalism, and enthusiasm. However, they could do more videos. Also, we would have been even more satisfied if they were able to help us with branding.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the manager of Eagle Rock Co, a coffee, community, and coworking space in Montclair, NJ.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Persist Digital?

We started working with Persist Digital at the very beginning of our journey. We wanted a clean, modern, SEO- and user-friendly website. We also needed event promotion and reputation management.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to promote the unique concept of our business and multi-location the right way.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our founder was already working with them on other projects, but I was sold on their abilities too. They don’t hesitate to go above and beyond our contract to get results.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Persist Digital created our website from scratch. They optimized it, created content, and did SEO and PPC strategy. They’re also working on email marketing, and event and reputation management. Our website is perfect, and we can’t wait to start adding more locations.

What was the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Sandra (Internet Marketing Specialist, Persist Digital). Eric (CEO, Persist Digital) meets with our team every once in a while, to check our overall satisfaction and long-term plans. Their SEO Manager also attends our weekly meetings and gives us useful insights on new ways to reach local audiences. The PPC manager handles our ads masterfully while the web designer has done a great job of making the website responsive and convenient for users.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

A consistent flow of new leads and increased awareness show the effectiveness of the work they do for us. Our events are well visited (370 tickets sold over the last few months), and we’ve earned loyal customers. New locals keep coming in to check out our space as well. Also, our online reputation is steadily growing thanks to their management and guidelines for acquiring more reviews. The site now has 500 organic visitors per month and ranks for 61 keywords. We receive close to 3,200 searches from Google My Business per month and more than 100 customer leads per month from Yelp.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Persist Digital has a well-organized team. They set up weekly meetings with us so we’re always up to date with everything that's going on. They consistently take initiative and give us helpful suggestions on areas where we could do and accomplish more. Whenever we have requests or new ideas, they are enthusiastic about them and give their best to make it happen.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Honesty, integrity, transparency, and professionalism. They go the extra mile without hesitation, and we know we can always rely on them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Overall, we’re very happy with them. An opportunity for improvement would involve making design solutions for our cards more sophisticated, which I'm confident will improve.