WebFX

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and owner of The Whiz Cells, which is a re-commerce website for recycling and re-selling old cell phones and tablets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebpageFX?

I needed SEO expertise so our site could move its way up through the ranking on Google’s organic search engine.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They optimized the site by using meta tag descriptions, creating blog content and doing link building. They were especially integral in coming up with blog topics that would boost our site visitor count.

What is the team composition?

I interact primarily with Kate-Lynn [Internet Market Specialist, WebpageFX].

How did you come to work with WebpageFX?

I began by researching what SEO is, as well as which firms specialize in it. I read reviews and online forums to gather information, and noted that WebpageFX was well-received throughout, so I decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve invested about $36,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with each other in 2015, and I continue to keep them on monthly retainer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Before working with WebpageFX, we were getting between 800 to 1,000 visitors on our site monthly. Currently, we just eclipsed 30,000 visitors in December 2017. Our goal to get more visitors and conversions on the site has been accomplished at this point.

How did WebpageFX perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is great. We have regular phone calls with Kate-Lynn to go over Google Analytics. Based on that, we’ll come up with a variety of marketing strategies and blog content ideas for a particular time-frame. Aside from that, I’m able to get in touch with her or anyone else on their team when needed either via email or WebpageFX’s communication system.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication is particularly good. If anything comes up or I want to share an idea with Kate-Lynn, I’m always able to get in touch with her.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m not well-versed in SEO, so it’d be nice to get more clarity on how various SEO-related tactics have an impact on the performance of my site. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a goal in mind, but be willing to trust WebpageFX’s insight. They are experts in their field, so they have great input that can help get you where you want to be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner/owner of a law firm that handles employment, personal injury, tax, and corporate law.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebpageFX?

We were looking for them to help us market the firm through the website and SEO.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They took over our firm's website. We had a site that was up and running. They started with what we had and redesigned, reduced, and reformatted it. They’re constantly updating the site to keep it relevant and current.

They do SEO for us including backlinks. They manage our blog, sometimes writing content or reviewing what we develop.

What is the team composition?

We usually interact with one project manager.

How did you come to work with WebpageFX?

We had found them online and worked with them on an unrelated project probably 10 years ago. They were local to us at the time and a relatively small business. We kept in touch with them over the years until they had pitched for us to invite them take over our law firm’s website.

How much have you invested with them?

We have a monthly retainer. The amount is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this work with them probably 3-4 years ago. It’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The internet is our primary source of advertising. Since they've taken over the site, we've been very pleased with the flow of prospects coming through. The results are empirical – we’re getting inquiries through our website and we’re getting phone calls. That’s what we’re looking for.

How did WebpageFX perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager has been very responsive. We’re local to them so they come into our office and review things at least once a month or every other month. They provide us with reports every month or so through a proprietary project management system.

We've always been pleased with how they've run things and how they've communicated with us. It’s visible in the ultimate product and results.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their attentiveness. The company we were with for years before them was more of a national company, at least for us. It was a lot less personal. Since we moved over to WebpageFX, I feel like we're really getting paid attention to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not off the top of my head.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Not really.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Business Consumer Alliance is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote business self regulation by resolving consumer and business-related disputes through complaint handling. We then use that information, along with other relevant information such as customer reviews to forecast the reliability of a business. We also offer a variety of benefits and services to small business owners to help them be successful in their business endeavors. I'm the president/CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebpageFX?

We were rebranding our organization – for decades we operated as one of the chapters of the Better Business Bureau, but in 2013 we became independent and expanded the services we provided to consumers and businesses. We wanted to get the word out about our mission and the services we offer to the public, so we started looking for a company with marketing expertise to help us with our marketing campaigns, particularly Google Pay Per Click campaigns.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We mainly use them for PPC [Pay Per Click] campaigns. We needed a campaign that would focus on the searches of those consumers who intend to file a complaint. WebpageFX did an initial keyword research and suggested some creative ways to infer that someone is doing that type of search. They also help us keep our costs down.

What is the team composition?

We work with a marketing manager, who is in charge of our account.

How did you come to work with them?

We were working with another local marketing firm, but we weren't pleased with their services. I started looking for a new company online and saw their ad, which led me to their website. I called them and explained exactly what we needed – we wanted to get a specific campaign that would give us return on investment for our advertising dollars. WebpageFX gave me confidence in their abilities to manage Pay Per Click campaigns, especially the type of campaign we wanted to run. Also, the strategy they came up with met our expectations.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay them $400 a month for the marketing campaign they're running for us and we spend about $3,000–$4,000 monthly on advertising, which includes our advertising dollars and is in line with our budget. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2014 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

August was our highest conversion month to date in the history of our campaign. We had over 3,600 conversions from our paid ad, which was a 42% increase compared to the previous quarter. At the same time, our average cost per click dropped about 25%. They use their bidding strategies, keeping an eye on what is trending and what can get us clicks and conversions.

Their service fee is nominal for what we get in return and is much less than we paid the other marketing firm we worked with. We're happy with the results.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

If there's a problem, they proactively react to it. After our first marketing manager (who understood our mission as a nonprofit and our objectives very well) transitioned to a different company, they assigned us a new marketing manager. That person wasn't as knowledgeable and we noticed we were overspending and not getting enough conversions. We expressed our concerns to them and they immediately assigned us a senior marketing manager, who understood our needs and got the campaign back on track.

We use Basecamp, which we like – it gives us a better understanding of our goals for each meeting and an easy way to keep track of past meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They keep me in the loop on our current campaigns, being mindful of any other campaigns that may come our way. As they make suggestions and come up with creative marketing ideas, they are not pushy with their marketing strategies. It's always good to have another set of eyes on your business's goal, so I appreciate them for that and the PPC campaign management.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them a chance and express both your short-term and long-term goals. Be open about your budget as far as marketing goes. They will make sure you accomplish your goals, staying within your budget.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Oceasoft manufactures and sells connected monitoring solutions for monitoring physical parameters like temperature, humidity, CO2, etc. Our solutions are for use in for industries like food, pharmacies, dentistry, laboratories, and hospitals, including transport and emergencies. I’m the digital marketing manager. I’m responsible for the visibility of the company on our website, our search engine optimization, advertising, and marketing, and also inbound marketing and digital content marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebPageFX?

We launched our U.S. subsidiary two years ago. We suffer from lack of visibility in the U.S. There’s a lot of competition and our SEO was poor. We tried to improve it with a partner here in France, but it didn’t work. They had satisfying results on the French part, but they couldn’t get the same results with English. We decided to look for a partner in the U.S. with skills in SEO.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with the initial audit. It was a competitive study. Then, we started working on the website optimization. They performed a complete SEO setup including writing our meta description and meta files, working on the pictures, and making sure that once the new website was online, our redirections were okay. They work on the content, writing new pages, proposing new topics for our blog, netlinking, and doing quality-based, white hat link building. The website has been completely revamped. We have a lot more content than before.

What is the team composition?

I am in contact with a project manager.

How did you come to work with WebPageFX?

We looked for a specialized agency. I contacted the top 5–10 best-ranking SEO agencies. WebPageFX was one of the first that answered my request. Their proposal fit what I expected. After reading a few reviews and engaging with WebPageFX a few times, I decided to work with them. The conversation I had with their representative gave me confidence in their skills and expertise. I liked their flexible approach to my proposal and how they accommodated my budget.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They did a complete job of revamping the website. They put in a lot of work in research, writing, and SEO to develop new, high-quality new content. I’m very satisfied with the way it works. The new site has only been online for six weeks, but we already see a boost in the statistics for the number of page views and time spent on the website. Time spent increased by almost one minute more on average with the previous visitor length at 2 ½ minutes and the new visits at 3 ½ minutes. The SEO is progressing already as well. I can see the first improvements coming and they are encouraging.

How did WebPageFX perform from a project management standpoint?

I only have contact with the project manager. She takes care of everything, working with their copywriters and technical team, and answering all my questions. I appreciate that she proposes a lot of new ideas.

The first report was very clear and intuitive. I asked for a few more details about specific data that I want to monitor on a monthly basis so my project manager will make sure that I have that on the next one. She understands that it’s important for me to receive the reports before the fifth day of every month because we have an internal meeting around that time which demonstrates their flexibility.

All exchanges, files, conversations, and tasks are through Basecamp. I have clear visibility on everything that happens and everything that will happen in the future.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really appreciate their communication and flexibility.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. It’s been a long time since I’ve been so satisfied with a provider. I would definitely recommend them and do the exact same work with them over again.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t hesitate to work with them. They do what they say they will do. They listen to the customer. They understand what we want and they adapt themselves.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Joe Eskridge: We’re both partners of HSC Wealth Advisors. We help our clients navigate through the process of selecting financial products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebpageFX?

JE: We had a standard prototype Internet website, but we didn’t have metrics or any way to track client contact or conversion rates. We also had no way to tell how clients were finding us or how they were distributed. We were also very new to SEO

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

JE: They helped us write and edit the content for our website, which really helped us present ourselves well. They also executed everything they promised in regards to SEO and driving traffic to our website. In my opinion, they achieved more that what was in the original scope.  

We wanted to make the website accessible via mobile as opposed to just desktop, which has made a big difference. A website’s presentation is vital to leaving a positive impression on customers and eventually closing sales. We found that clients who read what is on our website are pre-qualified. They are almost already engaged with our process by the time they talk to us, and this was without speaking to one of our representatives. It’s pretty amazing.

We write the content for our blog, but they edit it. They also deliver beyond our expectations in this area because not everyone has expressed a desire to help us in this way. It’s been a very collaborative way for them to work with us.

What is the team composition?

JE: It’s a very collaborative approach which started with staff interviews. We then selected team leads from our end through which we now funnel information to WebpageFX.

How did you come to work with WebpageFX?

Justin Victor: One of our employees went to work with them, so we knew about them from the very beginning.

How much have you invested in them?

JV: We’ve spent between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

JV: We began working with them in July 2014, and the relationship is ongoing as they continue to provide us with support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

JV: WebpageFX initially tracked 100 industry keywords and put our rankings next to them, and they now prepare a monthly report that shows our updated rankings. We’re able to see how our website moves up whenever anyone types in one of the keywords.

Once they did their internal work, we saw a significant increase. Website traffic has gone up by 20%–30%, and the contact submissions have significantly increased. Everyone is pleased with the website.

JE: We’ve been able to convert website leads which have paid for our investment with WebpageFX. The website looks clean and fresh.

How did WebpageFX perform from a project management standpoint?

JV: It is one of their strengths. They do a monthly check-in, and we have a dedicated project manager. It’s been really good, and we’ve learned a lot from them in that area.

JE: They’ve done a great job of communicating where we are in the process and what they hope to achieve. If they make a recommendation that isn’t something we’re comfortable with, then they will explain it in a more persuasive way. After a while, we’ve learned to trust them and their good judgment.

What did you find most impressive about them?

JV: The most impressive thing has been the bottom line numbers to me. We weren’t getting leads, and then we started getting them all of a sudden.

JE: I do feel like it’s a partnership. I really appreciate that they take the time to understand our business and help us convert a lot of the language to help those outside our industry understand our jargon and terms of art more easily. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

JE: No. That is the challenge with someone as good as them. They are constantly asking us for feedback via online and verbal surveys. They will be successful if they continue to be so diligent about collecting feedback.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

JE: They are the experts when it comes to SEO, so be sure you listen to what they have to say.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the marketing specialist for a company that manages real estate properties in Central Pennsylvania. I oversee online, print, and social media advertising for the corporate brand, as well as for each individual apartment complex we manage.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebpageFX?

I was the first marketing person at our company, so I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of updating I had to do relating to our website and SEO. I was in need of more capacity and looking for a vendor who could act as an extension of my role.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At first, WebpageFX handled our SEO, did some copywriting for our web pages, and provided some simple back links. They also checked our backend items (i.e., site maps and coding). They went through our website, compiled a list of issues, and helped fix them.

Now, we're at the point where they also provide infographics and write blogs for us. More importantly, they're my go-to whenever issues pop up or I have any questions.

What is the team composition?

I work mostly with an account representative, which is fantastic. He streamlines the communication process and is very communicative when it comes to discussing my needs. He has real conversations with me about SEO rather than the typical sales pitch you'd get from other SEO companies.

How did you come to work with WebpageFX?

I found WebpageFX through a simple Google search for SEO providers in the Harrisburg area. Since their name popped up first, I figured that meant they were the best at SEO locally. Since our business is so localized, it was important to us to work with a vendor who knew the area well.

How much have you invested with them?

One contract we have runs about $1,500 a month. However, we have multiple contracts with them that range in price.

Our cost structure is pretty simple. When we first started off, the fees were higher since a lot more research needed to be done upfront. The press fee went down after about 4 months and is now consistently the same every month. The money is allocated into their system of points, in which each task accounts for a certain amount of points. For example, copywriting might account for 2 points, whereas an infographic might cost us 5 points.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've probably worked with them for about 1.5 years. Our contract started around October, 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A few of our property websites have increased dramatically in Google search rankings. Where we used to show up on the 10th page, we're now showing up on the first or second page. Our traffic to our property sites has increased by 23% in 2017 alone.

How did WebpageFX perform from a project management standpoint?

I love the way they're organized. The team ensures that I'm in the loop on everything throughout each project. They use their own custom built project management tool that allows us to communicate through instant messages, follow a calendar, send pictures and attachments, and comment on certain tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication impresses me the most. I love that i can go to them with random questions and they'll respond thoughtfully and provide additional feedback.

Their copywriting for the website has also been fantastic. It's the best I've seen from a vendor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't have a single complaint about them. I really like the system they use and the representative we work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go to them with your questions. WebpageFX can provide so much more than just their listed services. You can ask them questions about improving reviews, getting certain codes on websites, and improving management of your Google Analytics.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m head of video business development at NextThought Studios, which is a video production agency and subsidiary of the NextThought parent company. We focus on sales and production, primarily for educational content.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebpageFX?

Although we’ve operated under NextThought for a while, we didn’t have a standalone digital presence or marketing strategy. We wanted to optimize our Google rankings and increase organic traffic while enhancing our domain quality and authority.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We work with them and a local agency, but use their team for higher-level strategy and execution. They did market research on keywords and used the results to implement a digital strategy. The team identified educational and corporate content opportunities from the keywords, which they used to help us to rank higher for those services.

They had an overall tactical procedure to produce a holistic SEO strategy that included 20 unique terms. We also targeted certain keywords to appear in the top search results. Other SEO work has included: onsite and offsite optimization, domain link building, content development, writing, and a competitor analysis.

Last fall marked one year into the engagement, at which point we pivoted to a more executional content-oriented strategy. They now provide us earned media assets that we decide how to spend on various SEO services. We’ve also tailored marketing to fit our dynamic needs and goals.

What is the team composition?

We’ve used the same account representative for each project. We plan to stay with her throughout the engagement.

How did you come to work with WebpageFX?

We conducted an exhaustive online search for SEO companies and invited the five finalists to present pitches. Not only was their pricing fair, but they also offered a thorough digital marketing strategy in addition to robust SEO services. Furthermore, their status as an American company was added value because account representatives would be highly accessible.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $18,000 – $19,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work started October 2016 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have a good structure in place and are very efficient at tailoring their offerings to our needs. At first, we were appearing hundreds of pages down in Google, but now we rank in the top 20 search results. Since video production is not a horrendously competitive industry, they were able to leverage competitive terms and our geographical position to deliver these results. They were not only confident in their potential, but also delivered on those promises.

How did WebpageFX perform from a project management standpoint?

They take care of their clients, putting in extra effort to win business over and over again. They’ll go above and beyond.

Our digital account representative has been fantastic. She’s done a really good job to understand our industry and what sets us apart from the competition. She’s also very responsive over text and email; she’ll let us know whenever she’s out of the office and supply alternative contacts for that period. Overall, we find her transparent and unafraid of challenges.

We use Basecamp, which is extremely valuable for tracking progress and staying on deadline. The tool is also useful for planning future projects and maintaining transparency between the teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very transparent. The team shares the same pricing page, which they also make public. As a result, there’s no cost discrepancy in dealing with a manager, employee, or representative.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We tried to give them more business because we were happy with their service. As a result, another separate account representative took on a content development project. This team said they were proficient in Craft CMS and HubSpot. However, we got into a position where they couldn’t deliver on their promised frontend expertise. We also didn’t know what we wanted, which didn’t help the situation. While customer service was consistent with the main project, work quality appeared more dependent on project management.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do not treat engagement as a fully-outsourced project. Invest time and be flexible to maximize productivity. The information we supplied them increasingly enhanced their SEO work. They’re not mind-readers, so the client’s added effort will increase the ROI.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president of a small business whose primary product is a web-based cloud service.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebpageFX?

As a cloud-based tool, it is a necessity for us to be able to sell our product and services online. At the time, we had a certain amount of pay-per-click (PPC) through Google AdWords, but we needed to do more organic search engine optimization (SEO).

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the outset of our engagement, WebpageFX assigned our account to Catelin [Internet Marketing Specialist, WebpageFX]. We wanted her to take a look at our product, get a thorough understanding of it and our business, and then start looking at keywords related to our product. Her goal was to ensure that when people searched for those keywords through Google, our company would have a high ranking. Alongside that work, she took a look at our website and gave us instructions on what to clean up or adjust in order to make it easier for the search engines to pick up the keywords.

Together, Catie and I did a full assessment of our keywords, planned content updates to take advantage of specific keywords and keep our website fresh, and conducted a thorough analysis of the entire website to see what changes she recommended. Under her direction, we finally followed through on what had been a long-term line item for me and started building a blog for our site. Catie helped to clarify the best approaches to blogging for a business. We also discussed at length how to use social media to our advantage, including identifying which sites and tools to use, and at what frequency to implement those posts. In general, Catie became my consultant on anything to do with the internet.

During the course of this work, WebpageFX also produced a certain amount of content for us, like webpages and some long form content. We engaged them to help us build appropriate links and figure out how to get linkbacks from high-domain-authority websites. Any individual project that Catie led for us involves coming up with the content, editing it, approving it, and updating it on the website at a predetermined time. It is complicated and time consuming, but she handles all of that for us.

What is the team composition?

Although I have interacted with both their sales specialist and Catie’s boss at varying times throughout the engagement, the latter of whom provided me with some social media strategies, I have primarily collaborated with Catie. Sometimes she needs to go back to her internal team to get answers for me, but usually we work together directly.

How did you come to work with WebpageFX?

I conducted research to source the right partner to achieve our PPC goals, and through that process I went through four or five different businesses. Some of them solicited me for our contract, some of them I found locally, and a couple of them were national companies. Within that research, I stumbled upon WebpageFX.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we have spent close to $100,000 annually with WebpageFX, and we pay using a monthly fee structure that usually increases every year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in 2012, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within the first year of working with Catie, our business took off. We had somewhere between 40-50 percent growth in those early days, and we are now approaching 5,000 customers. Certain keywords that we identified during the aforementioned work essentially belonged to our website on search engines for a couple of years, which was essential to our success. Last year, we grew at 23 percent, which is still great for a more established company. We get somewhere in the range of 35,000-50,000 visitors a month on our site. I attribute a lot of that overall growth to our engagement with WebpageFX.

How did WebpageFX perform from a project management standpoint?

WebpageFX uses Basecamp internally for their project management, although Catie and I primarily email each other on a regular basis. Through Basecamp, Catie sends us monthly updates with a series of metrics to demonstrate the results and analysis of our SEO work. She provides excellent project management, and has always been there when I have needed her.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I would single out Catie. She is an outstanding support person who is responsive, intelligent, and simply nice to work with. Additionally, everybody who works at WebpageFX is of an age that generally makes them both professionally hungry and overall tech savvy. They are also largely very positive, meaning that when we ask them questions, they respond with possibilities rather than negatives.

Are there any areas they could improve?

WebpageFX’s price structure is limiting and often quite expensive. Certain parts of it at this point are so pricey that we have had to consider taking our business regarding linkbacks specifically to another contractor who can find a cheaper means for that tracking and analytics. I do not want to go elsewhere, however, because I have so enjoyed our working relationship to this point. I would like them to take a look at our needs and build a custom price structure so that there are more options for us, perhaps on a bulk basis or something similar.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

SEO overall is not intuitive, and you need to make sure you hire someone who can help you understand all aspects of it in a way that is not overwhelming. It requires a level of communication and comprehension that not all places have, but WebpageFX does.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union. We have just over 40,000 members, and I'm in charge of promoting the credit union and our offers, letting the public know that we’re an option for them versus banks, explaining how we give back to the community, etc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebpageFX?

Initially, we were looking for search engine optimization [SEO] help. We know we have some of the best products in the market, but if no one else knows, then that’s not too useful. We wanted the public to know not only the services we offer, but that we offer some of the best rates.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mainly we use WebpageFX for SEO. They've taken a thorough look at every single one of our pages on our website, which has about 150–200 pages beyond our landing page. They've helped us create the tags and titles, label the images (altext, metatags, etc.), write content, and connect links back to our site from external sites.

What is the team composition?

Alexa [Internet Marketing Analyst, WebpageFX] is our sole contact, but I'm sure there are other people on the team.

How did you come to work with WebpageFX?

We did an extremely thorough search for the top 50 SEO companies in the U.S. From there, we tried to figure out who could work with us as far as our size and our needs because we wanted more of that personal connection that doesn’t always come with large companies. It was a long process, but we screened it down to about 3 firms, then we set up phone interviews and in-person meetings. WebpageFX came to our office, and their interview made us choose them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $850 a month, so around $18,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since February 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They give us monthly updates on all of our rankings, and it has everything you would want. We can track how we’re doing holistically all the way down to what specific keywords we're tracking (about 100 different keywords or phrases). WebpageFX lets us know if and how much they've gone up in rank, or, if they've gone down, we look at those and redirect our efforts, although that doesn’t happen too often. Our ranking has pretty much been steadily increasing on everything we're trying to accomplish.

For example, we’re currently doing an auto re-financing campaign and trying to get people to the page to refinance their automobile. Year over year, traffic to that page was up 671%. Another example would be our membership application page and getting people to sign up. From the latest report, it had increased by just over 43%. We’re aiming to keep 100 words or phrases highly ranked with Google, and right now 48 of those are in the top three positions of the first page. Those are some real numbers, and WebpageFX is doing a great job.

How did WebpageFX perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re incredibly responsive to all of our needs. We communicate through Basecamp, which allows both of us to track the communications. It's been a smooth process, and they've never not done what we've asked; whatever we've needed, we've received.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Communication with Alexa has been effective. Being proactive and making suggestions comes naturally to them, and we’ve followed almost all of their ideas. We wanted our rankings to improve, and that’s exactly what they’ve done.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their copywrite team and the actual content could be improved. It meets industry standards and the style is fine, but proofing and editing could be better. I’d like for them to hand me something that I can put right onto the site, but we haven’t gotten there, yet. Everything else is positive.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Philadelphia Mixing Solutions is a multimillion-dollar company that provides industrial mixers to municipalities and large corporations that oversee wastewater facilities and production units. I’m the marketing manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebpageFX?

The partnership began before I joined the company, but the objective was a complete overhaul of the website and search engine optimization [SEO].

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed the new site in its entirety, with key SEO aspects. They followed basic standards for website development. Now they manage our web traffic and provide ongoing performance tracking. We get weekly reports on the number of click-throughs, and subscribed to a service that gives us basic IP address information and the companies it’s linked to. They reach out to other organizations on our behalf to set up backlinking, which has been really helpful. We’re planning for them to begin writing blog entries for us to improve SEO.

At my previous employer, they helped us with benchmarking against some of our competitors. I had participated in user testing on the Philadelphia Mixing site before it went live, so my other company brought WebpageFX on upon their recommendation. We relied on them for understanding best practices for SEO, and the design, look, and feel of our websites. They did keyword research and found ways we could best utilize our site content. They did some writing for us as well as page creation.

What is the team dynamic?

I have a couple of contacts who take the lead on their team. I can reach out to either one, and they will handle any issues internally.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $1,150 for their management, and $1,000 for Google AdWords each month.

What is the status of this engagement?

The rebuild started some time before June 2015, and our maintenance agreement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our sales team loves the tracking features. It shows them our existing customers’ traffic, and helps hone our target lists. It gives us more awareness, and allows us to follow up with our visitors.

We will kick off another project in the next few weeks to dig deeper, but we’ve seen an increase in our contacts through our online forms. We have a higher visibility of traffic, but we want to be sure that the traffic is producing value beyond pure volume.

How did WebpageFX perform from a project management standpoint?

SEO is one of their biggest strengths, and they keep us on track. They’re really good at reminding us when something is due, and they send regular updates and status reports.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are really good communicators, and they respond promptly. Even if I have a question during a weekend or a holiday, they get back to me quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our biggest challenge has been our project management software. They use Basecamp, which works well for them, but we don’t use it for any other vendors. It’s not in my regular stream, so it’s easy to lose track of due dates or requirements from there. Other than that, we’ve had no frustrations, and no other pain points.