Rank Executives

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company is a Web publishing company. We own and manage several websites that publish information about business-to-business technology products. We publish primarily comparison and review information.

What is your role?

I'm the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with the Rank Executives?

I had launched a new site in a very specific niche, and I wanted them to help me get ranked for link building specifically targeting a group of keywords that I had already identified.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

The purpose of their work was link building and improving the SEO [search engine optimization] of my new site.

What was your process for selecting them?

They were referred to me. I dealt with a lot of Penguin issues in the past. I was impressed with my first phone call with their general knowledge, specifically with the owner of the business, Jesse Leimgruber. After my visit with him, I felt that he was a really sharp guy. I haven't had them address Penguin too much with me directly, but they were sophisticated enough to know how to deal with the Penguin penalty and they were billing links that were quality and weren't creating other issues like Penguin. That's the reason I hired them.

Is this ongoing or are you done?

It's ongoing.

Can you provide a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

They're probably doing between 60 and 80 hours of work per month. We started the engagement last November of 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Are you satisfied with their work?

I'm satisfied. We've had significant increases in traffic and ranking on the site that I asked them to focus on. Also, as we've been continuing to grow and reach better positions on more competitive terms, we've been trying new approaches that I requested specifically for growing new links. They have put together the program that I want. I am happy with their flexibility. I think they have talented people. They're intelligent. They continue to stay on top of changes in the industry and make sure they're current in what the latest and best practices are.

Is there anything unique about Rank Executives that makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

Their pricing is fair. They offer a lot of things such as Web development, content marketing, conversion tracking among other things. They're very accessible. If I have questions or want to talk through different ideas with them, they always take my call. There is never an adjustment for billing for those extra calls. My experience has been very positive. They're a great value. I look forward to continuing to work with them.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

No. We're adjusting our link building strategy, but that's because you should always be adjusting your link building strategy. I think what we did at the time was the right thing to do, and I think what we're doing now is the new right thing to do.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

I own a company that sells swimwear online.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the owner. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Rank Executives?

My goal was to get more organic prospects. They went through my various pages and optimized a lot of elements as far as headers and alternate text. They did a site map for me and did some research in Google Analytics to see which words my competitors were getting traffic from, and started to implement that into my website. That was for the Brazilian bikinis and I saw great results. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They have people on staff that write articles to get natural links to come to my website and they send me a report every month with the articles, so I can actually see what sort of results their content marketing work has produced. They also provide a monthly report with keywords and where I’m ranking on important phrases. The second project they did for me was build a new website for our new [tattoo ] product, and we’re happy with the results.

They use a program called Basecamp where I load the photos and the content and they build it. Included in the website bill, they did all the initial SEO [search engine optimization] work on the pages so that my keywords were optimized. Now, I’ve hired them to do continued SEO work for that website as well.

What was your process for selecting Rank Executives for the project?

I decided to try working with them after another company didn’t work out.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

They do about four or five hours a month for SEO services. Website design and development was a larger project that took a month of hard work. They were good at refocusing their people to get my website done quicker when my product arrived sooner than expected. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

They have increased traffic and keyword optimization to both of my websites. I consider their work to be successful.

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

Before we started working with them, we only had one keyword on page one of Google and now we have at least 10 keywords that are on page one. For one keyword, we’re right behind Victoria’s Secret.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

They go to a lot of conferences and try and stay on top of what they need to do now because it’s such a changing landscape. They even provide me with the information about what they’ve done behind the scenes. If something is not included in their normal work, they tell me how to do it. They do things ethically and I trust them completely. The trust factor is very high compared to the other companies I worked with before. They spent four hours in person training me. I drove to their office and they taught me how to use the website and think about SEO for the new company. 

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

They just moved offices and they only have one phone for the whole office, so when you call it’s not to your direct contact. If somebody is on the phone with another client, you can’t really talk to anybody until they’re done with the current call. It’s only because they are setting up their new office and in transition, I know they’ll improve this logistical detail.