SEO Brand

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Financial Services, serving affluent clients retirement and estate planning needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SEO Brand?

SEO and lead generation to grow our top line revenue and client acquisition.

What were your goals for this project?

Save time by having an excellent firm take over our SEO efforts. Increase client acquisition results. Leverage expertise by allocating our planners unique abilities away from lead generations and SEO. Have a modern and user friendly internet client and prospect website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were referred to SEO Brand and a number of other providers. SEO Brand impressed us the most and we are happy that they were the ones we decided to work with.

Describe the project in detail.

We started with a meeting to discuss our goals and objectives with the project. SEO began by helping us focus and quantify the goals for the project. They then designed our solutions and worked with us to make modifications before going live. We are ecstatic with the results already.

What was the team composition?

SEO managers John, Juan and Pollethe worked hand in hand with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have seen an immense increase in traffic and leads, we are in discussion now to increase our planner base to handle this increase.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Effective is a great word to explain our experience. We do not like to waste time and SEO brand was concise, effective and efficient in how they worked with us.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their professionalism was unparalleled. When the team said they would do something it got done without us having to follow up. We were kept abreast of progress and inevitable roadblocks and solutions to them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are happy with all aspects so far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the co-founders of a household appliance company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SEO Brand?

We hired SEO Brand to build an e-commerce site and assist with SEO.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SEO Brand built our e-commerce platform from scratch, involved in all aspects of coding and design. With our help, they also create a lot of copy. Their team focuses on indexing all of the web pages for SEO, performing keyword research. Since they’re new to our business, we work together to craft the right phrases and words.

What is the team composition?

We work with Kelli (Project Manager, SEO Brand), Mike (CEO, SEO Brand), and someone who handles all of the SEO work.

How did you come to work with SEO Brand?

I’ve used SEO Brand several times over my 12 years working in the digital space.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe we’ve invested about $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with SEO Brand began in October 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t launched the platform yet. Hopefully, we will engage with SEO Brand to use their PPC services in the future.

How did SEO Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

Kelli acts as the project coordinator. Overall, they’re fantastic. Their team is extremely detail-oriented, consistently hitting deadlines and goals.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They excel at explaining processes and ideas that might not translate well to the site. Their team knows what’s going to work and what won’t.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. The whole process takes time, but that’s not their fault. Sometimes this type of work takes longer than it should.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clients need to make sure they reply and give them what they need in a timely fashion, so it doesn’t end up taking longer than expected.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of marketing at a health clinic.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SEO Brand?

I hired SEO Brand to replace a vendor that had been doing a poor job. I relied on their team for SEO services, website maintenance, and content creation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In addition to SEO Brand, I also work with another vendor for content creation, but they operate on different schedules. I tend to allow SEO Brand to steer the ship and determine what they think is actionable each month.

What is the team composition?

We work with the digital marketing manager, an assistant digital marketing manager, and a digital marketing specialist.

How did you come to work with SEO Brand?

I found them through an online search. I interviewed several companies, but I felt the greatest confidence in SEO Brand. They seemed to have all the right answers and the capabilities for expansion if I decide that I want to grow my program.

How much have you invested with them?

I prefer to keep that figure confidential. I'm confident that I'm getting my money's worth based on the quality of their work, but they are expensive.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in January 2018 and remains ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My website's traffic has increased, and I’m benefitting from an improved conversion rate because we’re seeing more clients. The website is in better overall condition because they’ve eliminated most of the existing errors. All told, my domain authority is strong and seems to be growing.

How did SEO Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re team players. They work well with my internal staff and with my external vendors. We communicate primarily through emails and phone calls, but we also hold Skype calls when necessary.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I know I’m a smaller client, but they take care of us as if we were long-term clients or friends. They give me a lot of personal attention. I also admire their flexibility and their willingness to think outside of the box.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We initially had some workflow issues because we had never worked together. The use Basecamp internally and with clients, and I didn’t adapt well to that portal, so we had some early frustrations. They have since accommodated me by being open to other forms of communication.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As a client in an SEO project, it’s vital to remain responsive to the vendor so that they can meet expectations. Without clear expectations or goals, it’s hard for them to meet all of the requirements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing for an electronic component manufacturer. We specialize in connectors and cable assemblies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SEO Brand?

We had performed a mobile-responsive redesign in May 2017. Although we saw a spike in traffic, we reached the capacity of on-page optimization. We were looking for off-page SEO and content creation opportunities—high-domain-authority link building.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their off-page work included cleaning up our backlink portfolio and removing disavowed and spam links. We do a lot of international business and have an offshore factory, meaning there are a lot of unauthorized e-commerce sites distributing our products. Many of these have high spam scores, which can act like anchors for our main site. I handle all the on-page optimization, but I did have a few questions for them related to our high-ranking or high-volume product pages, keywords, title tags, and meta descriptions.

In our case, the hurdle of dealing with outside agencies is that they can’t simply make up content that sounds great. They were less involved in terms of content creation, but, once we got the material refined, they were helpful with the publication of it. At the end of the day, our audience is made up of design engineers, so the material needs to be extremely technical. As far as this was concerned, I had to do a lot of handholding, but SEO Brand definitely was the avenue to release it. We also created two press releases: one for our general product offering and one for a trade show.

What is the team composition?

I was in contact with one of their business developers, a project manager, and an assistant SEO manager.

How did you come to work with SEO Brand?

I saw a “Top SEO Firm” badge from a listings site on LinkedIn. I went to that site and looked at the top 5–6 firms with mid-range pricing. SEO Brand did all its work in-house, which was an advantage. I know that a lot of agencies use freelancers for the actual work. They also had prices in-line with our budget.

John (SEO/SEM Manager, SEO Brand) was the main reason we ended up doing business with them. He got on the same side of the table as us, making sure we were satisfied.

What is the status of this engagement?

We had a discovery call in October 2017. The project wrapped up in February 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our hope was to get our domain authority number up from 33 to 40. We weren’t able to do that, but we have cleaned up our backlink portfolio by disavowing 115 non-valid links.

They increased our ranking for a particularly high-volume keyword from the 18th to the 9th position. I’ve seen a significant traffic bump after the press releases and the disavowing of links. We've gone from 5,000 to 6,000 unique visitors per month after working with their team for a very short period of time. One of the links we acquired had a domain authority score of 81.

How did SEO Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They provided a project management board where we had access to a list of tasks, and through which we could share files.

We would definitely recommend them. We had a 100% satisfaction guarantee and John went above and beyond the scope in order to give us additional intel and on-page auditing. He was was with us to help every step of the way throughout the content delivery.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re not fit to spend $10,000 per month on SEO, so their cost was an advantage.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the co-owner of Perfectly Priscilla, an online women's clothing boutique.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SEO Brand?

We wanted to improve our organic rankings within the searches. We went through three SEO providers in two years, but we were not seeing the results. So we started looking for a new company to help us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an initial conversation with them about the keywords that we thought were relevant and discussed our goals. After that, they created backlinks, added some content to category pages, and managed keyword mapping to ensure our website gets organic traffic.

How did you come to work with them?

We found them through a Google search and read some reviews about them. After interviewing several companies, we decided SEO Brand was the best candidate to help us accomplish our goals.

How much have you invested with them?

We paid them around $1,600 a month, so it was approximately $20,000 in total. 

What is the status of this engagement? 

We worked with them between October 2016–December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They did an excellent job helping us increase organic traffic. They were very proactive and got us on the first page of Google searches on a number of key phrases. 

How did they perform from a project management standpoint? 

They used Basecamp for project management, but I preferred talking to them on the phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They truly wanted to see our company succeed and delivered on promises. Also, they were very transparent with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One thing they could improve is cross-selling. I wish we had known about other services they offered before we switched to a different agency. (If we had known, we would have stayed with them.)

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m head of business development for The Bagel Club. We’re based in Canada and decided to launch a website that sells bagels online, mainly to the United States. It’s a membership-based business. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SEO Brand?

We needed our name and brand to be more widely known on the web. The challenge was getting the first 1,000 memberships. The main focus was to get a website built. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built and designed our website, including the credit card platform and the shopping cart. They helped with the business because we receive orders on a daily basis and recurring orders. They gave us a few designs and we had some brainstorming sessions. We decided on which look we wanted. Then we sent emails back and forth with some screenshots and Dropbox links. We took a few weeks and then we decided on exactly each page. 

They wrote a marketing plan and designed the marketing strategies. Now they’re doing all our SEO [search engine optimization] and managing the whole marketing platform. We’ve been doing some pay-per-click [PPC] campaigns. They helped us do an analysis.

I rely a lot on their expertise. They provided us some keywords that were particular to what we want to do. It was a little bit of back and forth of a list of keywords and cost. They also did a cost analysis. We mainly took a lot of their propositions because of their experience. They’re in the United States and they know the market well.

How did you come to work with SEO Brand?

They were referred by a friend. I also did an online search and looked at their website and portfolio. I had a few contacts with them and decided to hire them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together December 2013 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The first test we did was conclusive: we saw that the market is there. It’s something we’re going to continue working on. The work has produced good results. We have a report of the keywords and SEO and the impact is great so far. We’re satisfied with the quality. 

How did SEO Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

When we started the project, they assigned 2 people for project management. They have a platform through which all the emails are sent and they use Basecamp for the work. 

We have weekly conference calls where they give us feedback on what they’ve done. They send me reports and we talk about what they’re going to do in the next week. There are always 2–3 people on the call. Once the website was launched, they sent us some analytics. They’re great with follow-ups and when we’ve had a few issues, they always answer fast. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of service and efficiency is impressive. If we email them, we get an answer within 48 hours. Their knowledge of marketing has helped us a lot. I've discovered a lot of things that I didn’t know because of them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. It’s been a great experience so far. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’ve recommended them to a few customers already as there are so many companies out there and when you find a reliable company, you stick with them. I have only good things to say.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m Director of Brand Development at a 20-person strategic brand consulting and design firm. I oversee the strategy team and vendor relationships.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SEO Brand?

We had a very large enterprise-scale web development and redesign project. The client wanted to increase their conversion rates from 1% to 3%, which required modeling with a new CMS system. We decided to engage strategic partners with the necessary experience to handle SEO strategy and clean up using that system. Additionally, some analytic issues arose with migrating data out of the client’s old site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SEO Brand was one of multiple vendors on this project. All played some role in advising the client on structuring and conversions.

With SEO Brand, we created wireframe and design concepts. The team used Google Analytics to do clean up and migrate data out of the existing system to set a performance baseline. Creating the baseline allowed us to strategize keywords and categories in client’s market. In meetings, they recommended new keywords that would rank higher than the competitors’.

They were committed to working in a team setting with everyone, making recommendations that aligned with others’ UX and UI designs. Mike Salvaggio [CEO, SEO Brand] consulted on structuring pages to generate higher conversion rates. They also advised on conversion models, the sitemap, and backend server settings to assess the model’s performance.

Most of their work is scheduled for the January 2018 launch when it’s possible to test the conversion models they implemented. Currently, they’re ramping up by improving metadata and streamlining redirections from the old site.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with Mike and 3 members from his team.

How did you come to work with SEO Brand?

Originally, I learned about them through colleagues and our managing director. We worked with them on a technology symposium for another client. They were the natural choice for this project. Other vendors had comparable capabilities, but their expertise eclipsed the competition.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $20,000 - $30,000 to date. We expect the final cost to be $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work started May 2017 and should be completed January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While their commitment is very high and we appreciate the team’s dedication, their initial recommendations were too high-level for the tech-savvy client. We had them refine deliverables and this advising. The team responded well to this miscommunication by providing great follow-up answers.

In total, the work is very good. Their overall advising on best practices and specific solutions matched the client’s needs. I’m looking forward to the launch and am confident in those results.

How did SEO Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

Everyone is highly communicative and transparent. They’re accessible via phone, email, and in-person meetings. The leadership team makes themselves available nearly 24/7.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their guidance humanized a very complex project for the client by making the technical details relatable. They are goal-oriented, aligning processes to the client’s success benchmarks.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Some deliverables to do not match the quality of their presentations and communication skills. They need to deliver assets that are as clear as what’s being communicated to the client.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust the process and stay in contact with them because of course it will be as collaborative as possible. It's a great way to work with them and it's made all the difference in our project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a marketing director for R.J. Soens Group, the top-producing group of Long and Foster in Avalon, New Jersey. We're comprised of 15 real estate agents from our 100-member branch.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SEO Brand?

Our group had commissioned a new website three years ago, prior to my employment. Veteran employees told me it had low traffic, and produced fewer leads than its predecessor. While the older site might have been a bit prehistoric, it had gotten us more business. SEO Brand helped us understand why we ranked lower than our competitors for topical keywords and searches. We discovered that our website was too big and cumbersome to navigate effectively. Their team is helping us divide our current site, and write new blog copy to drive web traffic up.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first element of their work focused on search engine optimization. They used a keyword strategy to place us in higher rankings within relevant pages, especially ones we know our clients visit online. Secondly, they helped us with our copywriting and blogging efforts. Our newest project together has been a complete website redesign. Their work has been integral to changing the face of our web presence. They articulated exactly what steps I’d thought and felt were necessary, but hadn’t been able to pinpoint.

What is the team composition?

I've met and communicated with almost everyone involved. Specific staff handle the web design, SEO, and web maintenance, respectively. Each branch has equal status, and I know I can reach out to any of their staff.

How did you come to work with SEO Brand?

We initially interviewed a local company, which was not the right fit. R.J. Soens, the leader of our group, actually knows Mike Salvaggio, the owner of SEO Brand, through mutual friends. After a phone call, we met for lunch, where Mike explained how the engagement would work. We’d been at our wits' end with the website's lack of conversions, so we decided to give them a try.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay $1,700 monthly for search engine optimization, and $400 for blogging. With the website redesign and maintenance, our costs totaled $43,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since December 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen a 700% increase in web traffic since we hired SEO Brand, which is exemplary. We're still struggling to capture leads, however, which was our biggest motive to embark on this line of work. The redesign had made our site more navigation friendly, which we hope will produce more business imminently.

How did SEO Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been excellent to work with in this capacity. We have a collaborative online form which makes communication easy and effective. They're very responsive, and we hold frequent telemeetings and conference calls. No more than a week tends to go by without us speaking, if we have the need. We communicate on nearly a daily basis, or every other day at minimum.

What did you find most impressive about them?

SEO Brand has made better progress with technological advances than the company who previously hosted and maintained our website. They’ve homed in on our specific business niche. We kind of got lost in the shuffle with the larger company that we had been working with prior. I'm not regretful about hiring them; all members of our group are happy about our choice.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Anyone starting a website redesign needs to express a clear vision for the desired changes. It’s useful to be willing to take advice from their staff, who are more well versed in their field.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Raining Colors LLC, which is a visual design and user experience firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SEO Brand?

We’ve partnered with SEO Brand several times in the past, but our most recent project with them was assisting the human capital management brand Ceridian in creating a seamless user experience on their website. Our goal was to help Ceridian gain new customers through conversion while also retaining current customers. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first step was to find out the client’s goals. Typically, after discussing goals, SEO Brand does what I call a “reality check” with the client, in which they discuss the website’s current analytics, the client’s budget, and a plausible timeline for the work that needs to be done. Unfortunately, the client had no analytics available on their website, so SEO Brand collected site analytics for a month while we interviewed the client’s customers to further our research on the site’s current user experience. When we compared the site analytics with the customers’ anecdotes, we found nearly identical results. It was then that we were able to return to our client with a proposal based on the data we collected.

After the client agreed to the proposal, we utilized SEO Brand’s expertise to ensure the site’s wireframe optimized user experience. For example, we created a brief customer questionnaire as opposed to a more time-consuming one to ensure the customer isn’t inundated with too many questions and in turn navigates away from the site.

What is the team dynamic? 

We worked with Michael Salvaggio [CEO, SEO Brand] most directly.

How did you come to work with SEO Brand?

Michael and I were childhood friends. When got back in contact with each other a few years ago, he told me about his business, and it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for to partner with my business. I was a bit hesitant to work with him because friends and business are often a bad mix, but we started out by partnering on a few small projects. It went very smoothly, so we continued our partnership with larger projects.

How much have you invested with them?

This year, we’ve invested $70,000. It’s fluctuated in past years, ranging anywhere between $20,000 to $100,000, depending on this size of the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with each other since around 2012, and the engagement is ongoing. I have two upcoming projects in 2018 that I’d like to recruit SEO Brand for.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our latest project is still ongoing, but we could not have gotten Ceridian’s business without SEO Brand’s detailed review of their site’s analytics. It greatly aided the client in making the decision to work with us. 

Clients don’t always love reality checks, but Michael’s team does a great job, through comprehensive analytics, of reassuring our clients and making them feel safe in their investment.

How did SEO Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done great. No project goes exactly according to plan, but SEO Brand is capable of pivoting very quickly to ensure we bounce back from any unforeseen conflicts or changes made by the client.

I don’t like to be the middle-man, so I ensure SEO Brand has its own relationship with our client. We communicate jointly with the client, as well as with one another via Skype, Google Hangout, and phone calls. Michael would also accompany me to where the client is based to have in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What’s most impressive is the trust SEO Brand has built with me and our clients. They never flinch when things get difficult — Michael and his team have put themselves on the line for us fare more than I believe most would because they know they’re obligated to keep us happy. We avoid the headache of working with someone that’s perhaps a bit cheaper, but doesn’t provide us with the confidence SEO Brand does.

Are there any areas they could improve?

SEO Brand’s communication between their home-based team and offshore teams could be improved, as it could in nearly every company that uses offshore brands. That could ensure a smoother internal process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a client specialist for CG Mobile America. We create and distribute licensed phone cases and accessories.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SEO Brand?

Our company currently does business worldwide, except in the U.S. We needed an online presence so that the American customer can get to know us and the product, and ultimately purchase from us. We hadn’t worked with an SEO provider before.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

They designed a whole new website, which is absolutely amazing. They introduced us to Magento and helped us work on that. 

In addition to that, they took care of our Google campaigns. They decided which campaign should start first for either new collections, or holidays such as Black Friday, and took care of our promotions to entice people to visit our site as well. They also helped us with AdWords PPC [pay-per-click] which could lead more people to view our products. We will be working together on keyword research in the next phase of the project.

They created and personalized all our social media campaigns for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These solutions are very recent, and in terms of our social media, they have helped us come across as more professional.

What is the team dynamic?

We were assigned a project manager. Jenelle [Operations Manager, SEO Brand] and Melissa were my primary contacts, though I worked with others too. They are very nice and always there to help.

How did you come to work with SEO Brand?

We had just moved to the U.S. and didn’t know of any companies here. We did some online research, and SEO Brand had good reviews on their site. After our initial meeting, we decided to go with them as there was something different about them. We got along from the beginning, and they grasped what we wanted right away. Some of their team speak French, which was also beneficial for us as some of our team only speak French.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent $100,000 so far. It will be approximately $3,000 per month for Facebook campaigns, advertisements, and background work.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship began in March of this year and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As of now, we have been really happy with what they have done so far, their team, and the solution they have brought us. The website they designed works perfectly and looks amazing. We’ve had no bugs or issues, and all the information is accurate. Our customers really like it, and it’s easy to navigate. It has changed our life, and we have been really happy about it.

What they have done for us in terms of Magento is absolutely amazing. It has made our life easier. I believe we will see improvements on a weekly basis, and our business will be great thanks to them.

How did SEO Brand perform from a project management standpoint?

They have been awesome and they answer us in less than 5 minutes every time. They are on top of things 100% and never give up on us. They have an answer for everything and are very professional.

We have a meeting on the phone twice a month to go over all the details. We are looking forward to meeting and going over all the statistics in terms of how the Facebook campaigns have gone, how many people we have touched, as well as the amount of orders we have received.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their capacity to handle any problem is impressive. They always have a solution and are really nice and patient people — they easily understand. This really facilitates the work as there is no time wasted having to explain things.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have anything bad to say about them. They have been, and continue to be, awesome with us.