SEO for Marketing & Advertising Provider
- Search Engine Optimization
- $200,000 to $999,999
- Jan. 2014 - Ongoing
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 4.5
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"I've appreciated that Searchbloom understands the need for the work to be human-related, not simply technology-based."
- Advertising & marketing
- Santa Barbara, California
- 1-10 Employees
- Phone Interview
- Verified
Searchbloom was hired to help the client's marketing and SEO [search engine optimization] efforts primarily geared toward the medical field, like specialized doctors and surgeons. Work began two years ago and is ongoing.
The client is extremely pleased with Searchbloom's work so far, especially their commitment to white-hat SEO tactics in light of the medical clients' need to preserve their reputations and ethics. Searchbloom was also praised for being a professional yet authentic partner.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
3D Media has been around for 13 years. We started out with search marketing early on with Yahoo search before Google was a household name. I am the owner of the company.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with Searchbloom?
We were ahead of the market, but as we grew, things continued to change in terms of Google algorithms and updates. It seemed that for us, to have people doing everything on the SEO side wasn't as effective as outsourcing. We got into the habit of cooperating with other teams that simply did the work. We brought on the clients, handled the service, and so on; but as far as the actual labor of the SEO work and design went, we outsourced. It worked well for everyone and we built good relationships.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
We primarily focus on marketing for the medical field, mostly doctors, surgeons, and dentists, particularly specialty ones. Most of our clients are local in nature, but many of them are also in competitive cities. It doesn't make sense for many of them to even have Ad Words, given that the keywords are so expensive. Searchbloom has been able to help us provide SEO for these clients. They're not only great in terms of being consistent with a completely white hat approach, but Searchbloom also works very well.
Our clients are patient, but not that patient. Medical specialists want to focus on their procedures and have a company in charge of marketing, instead of figuring out what the process entails.
Since we have a focus on marketing, not just SEO, I've appreciated that Searchbloom understands the need for the work to be human-related, not simply technology-based. When people are looking for a periodontist, they don't type in "periodontist". Most patients wouldn't even know how to spell that. What they're looking for is a solution to their problem, be it missing teeth, bleeding gums, or anything else. A client may type in "fix teeth" or "missing teeth", and they'll sometimes misspell words. Searchbloom is aware of these things more than any other partner we've worked with in the past.
I'm very happy with Searchbloom, and we plan to roll out some additional marketing aimed at attracting new clients. We plan to use Searchbloom with future clients as well. In our business, we have to be very careful about managing expectations. We don't own Google, so we have to operate Ad Words in the right way. From the level of the work itself and the people involved, everyone at Searchbloom has focused on integrity. There are so many companies that can do this or that, but at the bottom of it, what matters is that a provider keeps their promises.
I've found Searchbloom's work to be consistent. They may not always tell me the answer I want to hear, but at least I hear the truth. Many people in this industry simply want to make people happy, but this leads to disappointment when what was said was not really what happened. A company like ours cannot do this. We tell clients what the provider tells us, and the clients end up blaming our team. There have been a couple of companies in the past which left us in that position, and it's not something that we want to repeat. Our clients can turn around and put reviews online that can hurt us, but I don't have to stress about that with Searchbloom.
We've used Searchbloom for web design, specifically lead capture pages. We've found that many of our clients have the same problem: they have a website which someone built for them years ago, which needs to be a direct response. If people already know the business, that can be an advantage, but they still need to aim at the people who don't know them. Those people have a very short attention span, so we need to setup pages which offer all the required info in 3-4 seconds. After landing on a page from a search, the question will be if that's the solution to a problem. A person may have bleeding gums after brushing their teeth and not know why. They don't know that they need a periodontist yet, all they know is that what they're experiencing is not healthy. After typing in "bleeding gums", they will find a periodontist with whom we're working.
It's not enough to find a person on the front page of results or see an attractive ad. What matters is knowing if that service will address their problems by looking at the specialist's site. Mentioning that they're a member of the diplomatic board of periodontists is not going to excite the person searching for bleeding gums. It would have a greater impact to see before-and-after pictures of gums, going from horrible to healthy, along with a call-to-action phone number, and benefits for filling in their information. The person fills out his name, becomes a lead, books an appointment, and the periodontist has a patient. This is the best way of making the process work, but you'd be amazed at how many people don't have this system in place. It's good for us that they don't, and Searchbloom is on the same page in their approach. A few companies that we've partnered up with haven't gotten this. They understand robot-friendly, but not human-friendly. Going through all the tech stuff in order to ensure that robots crawl correctly is great and important, but equally (if not more) important is showing that we can solve a problem to the new user who lands on a page.
Email marketing is great for dentists, and we plan to link together with Searchbloom in this area. Our message needs to be tailored to the client's delivery, instead of offering a generic list of services. I plan to understate how good Searchbloom is in order to under-promise a little. This way, when we are able to deliver a result in 60 days instead of the 90 that we promised, the client will love me. In this hyper-competitive market, even meeting expectations can put us ahead of many people, but exceeding them is something completely different. Since Searchbloom is a direct reflection of our own team, we can be synced-up in terms of timelines and other things like this.
How did you come to work with Searchbloom?
I met Searchbloom's owner prior to the start of that company and was impressed by his follow-up. He was one of the higher-level managers of his company at the time and offered to set up an appointment and determine if they could help us. I remember putting him off a lot, but he remained persistent in a nice way. The best waiters in a restaurant are never really seen, yet they make sure that the customer’s needs are addressed without being intrusive. Over time, I became friends with Searchbloom's owner, the company was started, and he aligned himself as a partner, staying up-to-date in terms of algorithm changes. The collaboration has been great ever since.
At the time, I had a very large SEO company as a partner, and we were hitting completely different markets than what Searchbloom's owner was handling, but we became very good friends. I was excited about the few hundreds of clients I had, but he told me that they were working with thousands of clients, even though they were generally contractors and micro businesses. My focus was still local, but it was a higher ticket, comprised of medical professionals.
How much have you invested with Searchbloom?
We've spent between $200,000 and $1,000,000 on Searchbloom's services.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Searchbloom shortly after they opened, around 2 years ago.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
We've only used Searchbloom for around a dozen clients so far. We add new people slowly and have a lot of long-term business, up to 9 years. Because we're so careful on the direct response side of the work, we don't lose many people, and even then, many of them hop back with us after working with a competitor.
Since we do business all over the US but are based in California, we've sometimes run into local competition in a market area. For example, we were working with a dentist in Orlando who was getting courted by a local marketing company. They would visit his office frequently, promising a third of the costs we were charging. He took a shot with them but came back after a couple of months when they stopped generating leads. This is the good thing about bringing in clients the right way. We're currently in a position of wanting to open up our marketing more, so it's a good time for everyone, including Searchbloom.
Searchbloom has assured me that we'll be able to keep our clients for a long time by showing them real improvements every month. Our approach is working better than ever before, which is exactly what I want to hear when outsourcing work. Even though I'm friends with Searchbloom's owner, if his results were average, I'd look for another option.
Google Maps has changed a lot recently, incorporating a lot of paid search. There were some clients who were stuck in lower spots, even though they'd been doing good marketing. One of the things that we've been able to do together with Searchbloom is moving some of those clients to the A box. Even though it was only a step up of 1-2 positions, the perceived credibility is much better for the client. It speaks for the company before someone even makes a call. If something goes wrong, people won't ask about the least qualified specialists for that problem.
Local search in our case has become more and more about building quality links and reviews. The services provided by Searchbloom for both of those categories have been very effective. Google and the market, in general, keep changing, but as long as I know that we're doing the right things, we'll see an upward movement. Since our clients are local, rankings are the results I've noticed the most.
How did Searchbloom perform from a project management standpoint?
As the owner of the company, I've tried to be knee-deep in everything done by our team, but there are too many changes to keep up with. On a couple of occasions, when there were specific things to be discussed, Searchbloom had one of its account executives step in and answer on behalf of our company for the client. They were able to address specific issues and keep us on the white label side. Searchbloom could have trained one of our reps to answer the question, but it was simply easier to have their own person step in and handle it.
What did you find most impressive about Searchbloom?
In terms of ethical link-building and getting results that will last for a long time, there are many different ways of doing it, and everyone claims to have the magic fat-burning pill. We want to stay current, but we also need a way to keep within the legal and ethical parameters. If there's any client base where playing around with credibility is ill-advised, it's doctors. I'm glad that Searchbloom is sensitive to that, and it's one of the reasons that we'll continue our work together. Some companies, when trying to scale their business, won't be very careful in this area, and only a few mistakes are required to screw a lot up.
I would prefer to have faster timeframes, but I know that the job will get done right. As a CEO, I'm always pushing for faster and anyone else would do the same.
I know that many things in search will be changing, and social media will become more prevalent. Searchbloom is a young team just like us, and they understand that it's important to have fun with your partners. Because their owner is a friend, I can call him up and talk sports, for example. I prefer to have business partners as friends, being professional and real people at the same time. The key word is authenticity.
Are there any areas Searchbloom could improve?
Many times, when bringing in new clients, we will utilize an audit tool for generating a report showing pain points. Searchbloom does have something similar to this in place, but we would like something that integrated to our systems and be a more white-label version of what's on their site. Searchbloom has worked on this and told us that it would be rolled out by December. It's not as fast as I'd like, but again, it will be done right.
In terms of improvement on general quality, I have no issues. I'd rather get a slow answer than bad work. Zig Ziglar said something along the lines of "It's better to pay more than what you'd expect, or wait longer, than less than you should and get the wrong solution." It can have an impact on reputation and future business.
What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Searchbloom?
The more that other white label SEO companies can focus on their target, the better it will be, and the better Searchbloom will work for them. It's much better to have a focus on one main industry because it offers a chance for the people involved to learn everything about the area, including terminologies and market identifiers. Being an SEO agency for every kind of business will get good results, but it won't be ideal. Marketing is better done by a sniper than by a guy with a Gatling gun. At the end of the day, the client matters most. Whoever can provide the best user experience, will handle marketing work the best.
RATINGS
-
Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
-
Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
"My experience is a little one-sided, given that I'm good friends with Searchbloom's owner, but he was always responsive, even as a rep for another company. I've never had to call Searchbloom and talk to an account executive."
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Cost
4.5Value / within estimates
"Searchbloom stuck to our agreements, but I wish they were a little cheaper. I'm sure I could ask for better numbers if I brought in more volume."
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Willing to Refer
5.0NPS