Thrive Internet Marketing Agency

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a manufacturer and seller of a piece of lab equipment used for rub testing. I am the senior partner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We were running into problems with overseas companies using our name with their product. The overall goal was to become more Internet-friendly for our customers.

At the time we had also not done any Google advertising and so our sales had dropped down. Since going with Thrive, our sales have gone back up and then some.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve done pay-per-click advertisements and SEO with Thrive.

They also rebuilt our website and they have been in charge of the “Latest News” section since then. We've discussed creating a blog, but we haven’t had the chance to get started yet.

How did you come to work with Thrive Internet Marketing?

I reviewed several SEO firms that had good reviews by other customers. From the conversations I had with Thrive, we decided to go with them for a trial and it worked out really well.

They gave a bid, as did the other firms. We put a pencil to what we were looking for and chose them.

How much have you invested with them?

Our budget is $2,000 per month with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June or July of 2016, and our relationship with Thrive is ongoing. I have no plans to stop.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're seeing an improvement in contacts, leads, and also in revenue. We’re satisfied with the performance so far, and Thrive’s work has been extremely helpful in achieving our goals.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The current gentleman that's handling my SEO, Mike Wice, has come up with personalized ideas. He seems to have studied our product and what opportunities for other markets are available.

He's had some great suggestions and is continuously in touch, just reaching out with an email to see how things are going. The personal touch has been really great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not that I’m aware of.

Advice for potential customers?

Just to go with a moderate budget and let them do their work, because they're very professional at what they do. They're good and they get results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a smaller company focused on commercial property development and leasing. We also have some higher-end residential lake developments that we’ve done. Our portfolio is in the $30 million-dollar range, and our properties are as diverse as an industrial facility in Dallas to a 300-acre lake development in Alabama. It was that lake development that got us involved with Thrive. We wanted some exposure for that project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Thrive?

Since we were starting a residential development from scratch, our goal was to get the plans of that development disseminated to the proper audience in that area of Alabama. We were really trying to get the information out about what we’re doing and what we have to offer. But the bottom-line goal was to sell lots in this residential development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We went to Thrive for the design, architecture, and hosting for our website. They also did the standard SEO package, but we did most of the copy and images ourselves. We haven’t really delved into the SEO too deeply at this point, but we’re extremely happy with that they’ve done for us so far. I have enough of a systems background that I could help with some of the pieces, but I couldn’t design. That was the big thing they did for us.

How did you come to work with Thrive?

We certainly looked on the Internet to see who had done similar projects, who had done sites that caught our eye. The thing that really sold us on Thrive, once we had determined they were capable of the project, was that their office is close enough to ours that Matt, their president, was willing to come over and visit with us for a few hours. We’re kind of old-school, so if we’re going to spend this kind of money we want to look someone in the eye.

How much have you invested with Thrive?

It was under $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This relationship is definitely ongoing. But I want to say we started working with Thrive in July 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m not easily pleased, but I have been very pleased with what they’ve done and how their people approached it. If you follow their process, you will end up with the deliverables that they committed to delivering. I find them to be very straight-forward. Every individual that I’ve worked with seems to care about what we were getting and how we were getting it and that we were satisfied with it. They were extremely prompt responding to issues. We almost became friends with these people.

I’ve had individuals we do business with comment on the professionalism of the site. I thought that was a positive. We’re handling most of the social media marketing ourselves and right now most people come to our site via our Facebook page. Thrive could provide that service as well if you want to pay them, but we didn’t opt for that. 

How did Thrive perform from a project management standpoint?

I am really impressed with the process that they’ve established and the automation of that process, which allows you to stay on track to ensure that you meet your deadlines and your goals. I can’t say enough about all of the people that dealt with this project: they appeared to have a sincere interest in getting us what we wanted. That, to me, means a lot. Usually you’re fighting to get what you want, and in this case, I felt like we were on the same team.

What did you find most impressive about Thrive?

We’re responsible for maintaining the website now that it’s live, so I had to learn some Wordpress. They have a training course as part of their product and that helped a great deal, but it’s still sometimes hard to remember all the information. I’ve gone back to them for some guidance in technical areas, and they’re still extremely responsive in helping me out. I really have nothing bad to say about them at all. Our company has a wholesale automobile business, and I would definitely use Thrive if we ever decided to make a site for that.

They’re not the least expensive company in town, but you’ll get exactly what they promise you if you follow the process that they’ve got. We knew that there were situations where we might ask for something above what was in the initial scope, and when we broached those situations, I found their people to be very helpful in getting around that and not having to increase the cost. They were very cognizant of our needs.

Are there any areas Thrive could improve?

I fall short on trying to critique what they could do better; obviously, I’m pretty pleased.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a consultant and adviser for Virtual Business Group, which is registered in the UK. It sells digital products like pop-up cards for video games, products for PlayStation, and others.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We needed to enhance our website in order to increase the number of customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They take care of our social network promotion on Twitter and Facebook. They add content, handle advertising, deal with customers, and increase brand recognition. They have good ideas and know what they’re doing. In the future, we’d like to use them for additional services like SEO [search engine optimization] and SMM [social media marketing].

How did you come to work with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We wanted a company who dealt with English-speaking regions and had English-speaking professionals. I searched and contacted several companies over the Internet. After communicating with them, I chose the best option based on experience, quality, and price ratio.

How much have you invested with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We spent between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They provide reports every month, which we appreciate—it helps to understand in figures what is going on. The number of customers is increasing and the target audience is growing. We don’t have any specific metrics yet, but our goals have been exceeded. They understood our idea and thought about our target audience, who are teenagers and young people. The content is well-thought out with a targeted approach. We’re getting what we expected and are happy with their work. We have been happy with the relationship.

How did Thrive Internet Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

We have not had any problems yet. It’s still a new partnership.

What did you find most impressive about Thrive Internet Marketing?

They have a very individual approach. They ask good questions and show that they know what they’re doing. When you talk to them, you understand that you’re talking to specialists.

Are there any areas Thrive Internet Marketing could improve?

I haven’t seen anything yet.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-owner and co-CEO of a specialized plumbing company in the Texas area. We serve a niche market with our main focus being underground and under-slab plumbing diagnosis and repair. We provide cast-in-place pipelining for deteriorating cast-iron sewer systems and old water systems. We do leak location, leak diagnosis, video camera inspection, and so on. We have offices throughout Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio. We’ve been in business for almost 20 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We wanted to accommodate our company’s growth with more presence. While we already had PPC [pay-per-click] and SEO [search engine optimization] programs in place, they had been put together by a much smaller organization who did not communicate as well as we would have liked.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Thrive took over our existing marketing program—our hosting and of all the PPC campaigns and the SEO. They also helped us with social media. The website was built on WordPress and they redesigned it in collaboration with us. We were pretty happy with the imagery and the layout of the website but we wanted to improve on that. Thrive implemented some things we wanted and updated the site to be more user-friendly. They researched our company a lot and learned a lot through designing the website. They also suggested some things that helped us connect with the customers better.

We had a newsletter campaign that we had done for years that they uploaded into our site. This made everything searchable, which also greatly improved our SEO. We then started a blog which made the site less static because we were constantly adding fresh content. That helps the relevance of our site and the SEO ratings. All of this was fed into a newsletter feed automatically each month. We started building a new newsletter client list along with uploading our existing one. We provided things for them to use in the content marketing, but there were times we were behind on that. They created the majority of the content. We took some of our old content and gave them additional information as well. They showed us how to update the blog ourselves.

How did you come to work with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We looked at ten different companies online and checked out their websites. Initially, I spoke with Matt in great detail and felt comfortable about how they were going to address my needs. They are also local to us, which is nice. That would let us talk with them face to face if we wanted to.

How much have you invested with Thrive Internet Marketing?

Over the course of our relationship, we’ve spent between $50,000 and $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October of 2014 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our business is a niche market but we are growing continuously. The website has become more interactive and Thrive can show us each month how much we’ve improved in terms of SEO. We get progress reports monthly in video form. It shows us exactly how much traffic we have coming into our site and where it’s coming from. Adam explains our metrics and we’ve seen continuous improvement in traffic month over month. We can see where we were last year in the same month and can see the increase.

One of the leading factors of our growth is how much we put into our online presence. I feel like we’re beating our competition pretty well as far as our visibility online. It’s worth what we’re paying. It’s a vital part of our company and without it, we won’t survive.

How did Thrive Internet Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

Forest was the web design project manager and was in charge in the beginning when we were redesigning the website. Adam has been our main contact since then and he’s been great. He oversees our Google business listings, our SEO, and monthly reports. There’s a different team that works on the social media. They have different people assigned to different aspects of our online marketing. The communication was great and we interact by email or phone.

What did you find most impressive about Thrive Internet Marketing?

The overall project management and communication were a big factor for us. They’re able to take our vision for our company and implement that into what they do. They do their research and put their input in, but they’ve managed to keep it in line with what our vision is. We’ve worked with people who thought they knew our company better than we did, which can be irritating. In contrast, working with the Thrive team was a pleasant experience. They’re easy to work with and attentive to our needs and what we wanted instead of what they thought we should do.

Are there any areas Thrive Internet Marketing could improve?

I don’t have any complaints.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Legacy Plumbing is a residential plumbing company servicing multiple cities. I am the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We wanted to update our website and get better performance on our PPC [pay-per-click] campaign and overall SEO [search engine optimization]. We were ranking OK organically but not in all the service areas in our market. We wanted to partner with someone who would understand all our needs and help us rank organically in all of our market.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Thrive Internet Marketing redid the entire website and also helped build a custom part ordering platform to help our technicians in the field. When they take a part off of their truck, they automatically order it on the iPad, and it flows to our warehouse. That made that whole transaction seamless and amazing. We are now completely paperless, and it’s been wonderful for our organization. Thrive Internet Marketing does all our SEO and social media every month. They post for us daily and do content writing for our blog. The posts are a collaborative effort. I give them some content, and they provide me with enough content for a week.

How did you come to work with Thrive Internet Marketing?

Thrive Internet Marketing came recommended to me by my business consultant who has used them. I really liked what Matt [Web Designer/Developer, Thrive Internet Marketing] stood for. What he stands for aligns very closely with my values. His work ethic is very similar to our work ethic. I knew they would take care of me. Every time my SEO team comes to town, we go to lunch, and it’s very personable. I didn’t have that with the previous company I had used.

How much have you invested with Thrive Internet Marketing?

I’ve spent between $10,000 and $50,000 with them over the course of our relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since June 2015, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All of our positionings have significantly increased since we’ve done business with Thrive Internet Marketing. Our click-through ratio and conversion rates have gone up. Our following on social media has also increased. Once we showed our technicians the technology for ordering parts, they realized how much easier it did their work. Our entire inventory system is accurate since we have this in place. We haven’t had any bugs.

How did Thrive Internet Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They have performed really well. Their communication was great, the timeline was accurate, and the work was done the way it was supposed to. If I was delaying the project, they gave me gentle nudges. They made sure the project stayed on track the entire time. They listened to my feedback and implemented what I wanted and not what they wanted. Jacob [SEO Specialist, Thrive Internet Marketing] was my main contact, and we communicate mostly through video conferencing, emails, and phone calls, and we’ve also met in person.

What did you find most impressive about Thrive Internet Marketing?

They always send me a monthly report of everything that we’re doing. I know Thrive Internet Marketing is looking at the performance of my company and giving it hands-on attention. They are very meticulous about making sure that each of their clients is taken care of. Yesterday I talked to Jacob about our decrease in PPC, and he already had a game plan in place to get it back to where it needed to be.

Are there any areas Thrive Internet Marketing could improve?

No, I have nothing to recommend.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Cosplay House is an online store featuring costumes, weapons, and footwear for Halloween and parties. All of our products are tailor-made for customers. We are located in California with a 5-person team, while our tailor team is located outside of the US. I am the webmaster of the company. I am in charge of our website and SEO [search engine optimization].

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We operate in a niche market and use our website partly as a reputation tool based on customer reviews. People buy our products based on the shared experiences of others. In 2016, our sales started to decline, so we started to look for help with online marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Thrive Internet Marketing has provided SEO and SMO [social media optimization] services. Our website is template-based and we haven't used Thrive Internet Marketing for design yet. The initial process included an analysis of our website and company history. Thrive Internet Marketing put together a background for us while also looking at our competition.

How did you come to work with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We researched a few tech companies through Google and found Thrive Internet Marketing. I contacted their sales rep and had an initial video interview. Thrive Internet Marketing showed an interest in our company, compared to the other agencies we contacted. They inquired about what they could do for us and asked for relevant details. That was the most important decision point for us.

How much have you invested with Thrive Internet Marketing?

Based on the initial analysis, Thrive Internet Marketing suggested a 20 to 25-hour monthly contract. The cost for this initiative is around $2,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Thrive Internet Marketing in December 2016. The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since our work was started recently, we haven't seen any significant results; SEO takes longer than 2 months to take effect. After the work was started on our keywords and site structure, I've seen a boost for our site from the 50th position to around the 10th, for a particular case. The traffic for our site has improved a bit as well.

How did Thrive Internet Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

After our first meeting, Thrive Internet Marketing put together a knowledgeable team for our SEO and graphics work. Whenever I have an SEO or website-related question, I can send Thrive Internet Marketing's team an email and get a quick reply. Even though we have a time-and-materials agreement, we haven't been charged for email back-and-forth. I have been exclusively in contact with Thrive Internet Marketing's project manager.

What did you find most impressive about Thrive Internet Marketing?

Unlike Thrive Internet Marketing, other SEO teams we contacted didn't really care about our background, only giving us a list of services provided.

Are there any areas Thrive Internet Marketing could improve?

None. Thrive Internet Marketing should maintain its standard around SEO and SMO.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is a travel-based website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Thrive Internet Marketing?

At that time, we wanted to get some business going.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Thrive built the site from scratch. Initially, they talked to me and got my opinion on certain things. We are now working on social media marketing.

How did you come to work with Thrive Internet Marketing?

I interviewed a lot of people. Out of 7 firms, 6 of them were too expensive. When I talked to Thrive Internet Marketing, I liked the way they sounded.

How much have you invested with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We spend between $24,000 and $48,000 per year with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began the relationship in July 2016 and the site was live in October 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site is amazing. I’ve shown it to veterans in the industry and they think it’s really nice. When our company started, we had 6 visitors in 3 months. Since we started the marketing efforts, we’ve had 8,000 hits. Of those hits, about 100 have engaged.

How did Thrive Internet Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

My contact person was Diana and she was amazing. She was very responsive.

What did you find most impressive about Thrive Internet Marketing?

They get things done. They don’t bother you for things.

Are there any areas Thrive Internet Marketing could improve?

Everything was good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an oilfield repair and manufacturing company. I’m the administrative assistant to the president of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Thrive?

The challenge was to increase sales and awareness of our company. At the time, we needed to promote it more to our overseas customers. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We went to Thrive to help us develop a new website and platform to try to help reach more people in general. They set up our social media and SEO for boosting the company. They built and launched the website for us. The owner of our company, Mike, wants to be very hands-on, and Thrive allowed us to be completely involved in the process.

How did you come to work with Thrive?

We had already seen some of their work where they designed websites for competitors. I happened to reach out to them and they pitched us what we were looking for. We started working with them.

How much have you invested with Thrive?

We’ve spent around $40,000 (or $10,000-$50,000) on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them at the end of 2015 and we launched in May 2016. We are still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are 100% satisfied with their work and we’ve had extremely positive results. It boosted our outreach to overseas markets. We’ve had more people coming straight to us. People have seen our website and really liked the new design.

How did Thrive perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication skills were phenomenal. They kept us in the loop every month. They worked with us and let us be completely involved in the process. I know some places don’t allow that so much. We were allowed to do everything, from helping pick the pictures to doing the wording, looking at layouts, and determining if that’s how we wanted to do it or going a different way. They custom-built stuff specifically for Fitz to make us unique. To me, that was exactly what we were looking for.

What did you most impressive about Thrive?

One of our biggest issues was trying to cut out some of the middlemen orders so that customers would get solely from us. We were trying to get to our end-users versus having to deal with middlemen, and they’ve done that. They’ve really helped us get Fitz out there, in all aspects of our company but mostly on our torque converters, which is what we wanted.

Are there any areas Thrive could improve?

None. They’ve done a phenomenal job.

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

The client has to be involved in whatever they are doing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is a non-hazardous trash disposal in West and Central Texas. I’m the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We did our website ourselves. It was terrible and did not look nice at all. We wanted to present a better image to our customers because everybody looks on the Internet now. If you did a Google or Yahoo search, you couldn’t find us at all. I reached out to Thrive so we would be on the search engines, get a better ranking, and improve our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did the website and marketing for us.

How did you come to work with Thrive Internet Marketing?

One of their previous customers told my husband who they were using, and then my husband contacted Thrive and started the process. I got in on it about 2 months into the process to oversee it.

How much have you invested with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We paid $2,200 per month over the year. After that, we own the website and we don’t pay anymore.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them February 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are very satisfied. We love the website. It looks very professional. When we google search ourselves, we can find ourselves now on the first page. A lot of customers come from finding us online. We have on our website that you can get a free estimate. It automatically sends us an email and we get several of those as well, so it’s working. We had an issue with the domain name. We tried to get a new email, and we had to get access to the domain. Thrive immediately replied back and helped us with it.

How did Thrive Internet Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

Jacob from Thrive sends us a chart every single month and shows us how many leads and hits we’ve got and how many people have used that free estimate. He is amazing. He tells us to get in touch with him if we any questions. He usually does the random phone call to check in.

What did you most impressive about Thrive Internet Marketing?

I feel like they are very organized and helpful. We haven’t encountered anything that they haven’t helped us solve, figure out, or change. If I come up with an idea and say I want something else instead, they’re all about doing it. There’s nothing that we have brought to the table that they haven’t been able to accomplish for us.

Are there any areas Thrive Internet Marketing could improve?

No. From my knowledge, they’re doing all they can do to boost us up. I think they’re amazing and we’re happy.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Thrive Internet Marketing?

Be proactive and get more involved in the process. Ask them questions. They’re really all about the customer being involved and teaching and learning. I admit that I’m kind of a slacker, and I have let them do every single thing. They do a blog for us every single month, and they keep those keywords going. If I was more proactive, we would probably boost ourselves even more, but I’m content with the place we’re at.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a community bank in the Dallas, Fort Worth area, and I’m the project manager. I coordinate most of the projects in any area of the bank, bringing the resources we need to get things done.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Thrive Internet Marketing?

Initially, our website had an old-style look and we wanted something more contemporary and technologically advanced. We wanted a fresh look to appeal to customers more. They also helped progress on our marketing.

Currently, we are transitioning into making our website more ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliant. There is software that enables people with disabilities to use their computer and help them navigate a website. There are certain rules to follow to make that software work for them, so we reached out to Thrive. They had to do a lot of research but were able to manage the project in a stellar fashion.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

One of the things they had us do was to take pictures of the employees, and on every page of our website, there is a picture of an employee on the top. On our homepage, we have some marketing content where we intend to put some employees on.

How did you come to work with Thrive Internet Marketing?

I did searches online and found about half a dozen companies. I went to through their websites and narrowed it down to 2. I talked in depth to both, and the reason I picked Thrive is because they have a larger employee base and they come across so savvy, creative, and interested in what you want. They made it abundantly clear that they will make a priority of what we want.

How much have you invested with Thrive Internet Marketing?

We have invested $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with them in February and launched in June of 2014, but we work on an ongoing basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We got great reviews and positive feedback on our website from our employees and customers. People were pleased that it was easy to navigate. They verbally commented that it’s so much nicer and that they enjoy and want to use our website more.

 How did Thrive Internet Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They have the right people with the project management skills to stay on top of things. They were organized and had project plans, timetables, and made follow ups. Thrive is prompt and extremely quick to get things done. They have been amazing; no complaints.

What did you find most impressive about Thrive Internet Marketing?

Their promptness, their ability to stay on top of things, and make a design that’s usable and aesthetically pleasing is impressive. Our website is basic, but they put enough of the modern-day technology in it so that it is easy to navigate, look at, and to find things.

They are also very reasonable on their pricing.

Are there any areas Thrive Internet Marketing could improve?

Honestly, I can't think of anything right now.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Thrive Internet Marketing?

Just pick them. Whatever they do, it works.