WebFX

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the digital marketing manager at a regional, mid-sized bank. We serve our local communities financial needs and I see to growing new business leads via paid and organic means.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WebFX, and what were your goals?

We wanted to partner with an advertising partner who had expertise in the digital realm vs only traditional advertising. Our goal was to grow new business leads for various business lines through cross-channel advertising.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I'd previously worked for this agency before moving to a larger creative agency and working with several others. A deciding factor for this agency was it had digital prowess, the team was responsive and hands-on with optimization and campaign management, and I knew we'd get our money's worth.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

Our engagement began in the discovery phase then WebFX helped us identify keywords, ad copy, campaign structure, and targeting tactics. We also contract them to build content for our core pages so we're sending a paid audience to a page with enough information to make an educated decision.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

3 team members work with us. One for YouTube advertising, one for copywriting and Google and Bing advertising, and the other for social advertising campaigns on Facebook and LinkedIn.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our paid site traffic is growing quickly since launching campaigns and we generated a triple-digit positive ROI on a checking incentive campaign.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They have a proprietary project management tool similar to basecamp that they communicate through and it gives you visibility into what they're working on and keeps an easy-to-follow log of communication. They are very proactive with ideas and responsive anytime you have a question or need some extra hands.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The bench strength seems to be very deep with each team member having a positive, can-do attitude paired with a lot of channel knowledge.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I'd like it if they came to the table with more omnichannel recommendations or reporting.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a managed IT services firm based out of  Durham, North Carolina, serving our state and beyond. We do IT support, security, and staffing. I manage all of our marketing efforts. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebFX? 

The main reason we were interested in WebFX was that we were lacking in the web traffic we hoped to achieve with the launch of our new website. Guidance was needed around how to tweak our materials to improve our SEO. We weren’t interested in PPC, just in opening the floodgates of organic traffic. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’d just completed our initial phase of low-hanging optimization fruit when we brought on WebFX. They started with ongoing keyword research, and they’ve also recommended certain kinds of content to build around keywords, as well as UI enhancements. These tweaks make the site easier to navigate for humans as well as Google when it scans the website. 

What we’ve learned from WebFX isn’t necessarily new information, but they’ve confirmed a lot of the practices we’d been trying to implement. 

Internally, we were already doing our own reporting on traffic, engagement, and bounce rates, etc., and now WebFX tracks all these metrics for us in their own tool. They’re going to send us a monthly report; we’re set to receive the first report next week, and I’m hoping it comes with recommendations and feedback. Having metrics is one thing, but it’s another to have an analysis of those metrics. We’ve already seen how they’ll most likely deliver this information based on how they interact in our biweekly meetings, so hopefully, the initial report will be just as impactful. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with one individual on the sales front. There were 2–3 meetings with him where he pitched us their services. The information was very comprehensive; it was very helpful for us to know what to expect three months and six months in. When we were ready to take action, those meetings gave us confidence. 

There was good hand-off to our account manager from the sales representative when we started the project. We meet with an account lead weekly, Julia, (Senior Designer) and she has a deep bench of people working on different tasks around website optimization that we can leverage. They have a whole team dedicated to sourcing backlinks and a whole team dedicated to copywriting. 

We appreciate WebFX providing these skills, as it prevents us from having to do all that self-learning internally. If we undertook that process, we’d still have the same problem of not being confident and needing a vendor to confirm that what we were doing was helpful. Their access to subject-matter experts has been great. 

How did you come to work with WebFX? 

We outsource our Quickbooks management to a third party, and we found them on the first page of Google. Their ranking was impressive, so we asked them who their marketing vendor was, and they named 3–4 different vendors they’d sampled. WebFX was one of them. We solicited quotes from multiple options, and WebFX stood out thanks to their in-house tools, which are very similar to Google’s tools. Their interface is really cool, and we were intrigued. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $3,000 per month with WebFX. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since April 2021. The initial contract is six months, so it’s still ongoing.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s difficult to tell now, as we’re in the early days of the relationship; the metrics don’t show WebFX’s value yet. The impact right now is clear in the interactions we have with WebFX every week. Other vendors we’ve worked with have very inconsistent follow-up and speed in responding to questions. Julia is always on the ball. The project is somewhat templatized, as she has milestones that she has to reach for us, but we never feel like her recommendations aren’t customized to our needs. 

Right now, their value is clear in our weekly check-ins. Julia delivers a 45–60-minute long presentation deck about the milestone we’ve just completed and what’s coming next. She’s very thorough. 

Another aspect that’s also great is the work they do on educating us about what’s what. They confirm many of the facts we’ve self-learned. We could take a course on these principles, but it’s nice to learn about them with applications on our own website and brand. Having a more experienced vendor affirm our direction has given us a lot more confidence in our day-to-day upkeep work. We didn’t see the results prior to the engagement, but WebFX has made sure we were on the right path. 

How did WebFX perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re definitely setting the bar. After WebFX, I’m going to compare every other vendor to them in this regard. They’re incredibly efficient and responsive. Julia responds to my questions in less than 12 hours. 

They also have a dedicated notetaker in our meetings, which allows them to follow up on ideas we tossed out and forgot about. All our expectations, both implicit and explicit, are addressed. Their communication and execution have been excellent. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their approach of educating and sharing knowledge with their clients stands out. This is determined by the level of engagement they sense from the client, and we’ve been geeking out with them. Because of this knowledge-sharing, we feel that we’re consistently growing our internal marketing strategies. Everything they take action on, we’re absorbing. They empower us and give us the skills that we need to execute ourselves.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

One fact I’ve consistently seen is that our meetings run on the longer side, and we’re often jumping off of calls to get to the next event. I’d rather we just book a longer slot rather than running over a shorter slot. Our president was in the meetings for a time as well, and having those busy decision-makers in attendance requires a stricter approach to timing. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We delayed the beginning of our engagement to take care of the low-hanging optimization fruit ourselves, but we discovered that this approach was a mistake. WebFX would have taken care of those tasks themselves. It would be more of an investment budget-wise, but you don’t have to position yourselves perfectly. WebFX takes you from wherever you’re at to where you want to be. 

You’ll get the most value from them if you’re engaged in the work with them. Being hands-on has gone well in this partnership. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the general manager at SlewMasters Inc. We’re a distributor of slewing products: slew drives, rings, hydraulic swivels, and more. Those are incorporated into any heavy equipment that requires rotation, such as cranes or windmills.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebFX?

I needed someone to take over digital marketing and SEO to generate more traffic to our site, get more leads, and be higher in Google search rankings.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

WebFX did a competitive analysis and has researched keywords. First, I gave them content I had written and 10 application pages with nothing but an image. They rewrote the content to make it more optimized, made structural changes to the website, and created backlinks. They’re now working on typing up pages for those application pages.

They’re currently doing SEO and digital marketing, focusing on Google and Bing. As the collaboration continues, they’ll work on layout, visuals, and more things for the website.

What is the team composition?

I have one main point of contact. Overall, 7–8 people are working on our project, including two frontend and six backend developers.

How did you come to work with WebFX?

They reached out to us. I was seriously considering three companies. However, I chose this team because they seemed to offer a better package than their competitors for the same cost.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $7,000 so far. Going forward, we’ll spend $3,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around April 2021, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We wanted an increase in traffic to the website, and we’ve seen it. We’ve also had 7–8 new leads in the last month, which is good for our business. They’re doing a good job, and they’ve definitely made a difference already. Their team is currently working with our domain host platform to help resolve some issues with emails.

Overall, the time I spent trying to write content and optimize the website on my own wasn’t worth it compared to what they’re doing for me. It took WebFX two weeks to do what took me 3–4 months.

How did WebFX perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re doing excellently. Their platform links to my email, so I’m able to log in and see leads. WebFX meets the milestones, scheduled tasks, and meetings. They send Excel sheets for me to fill in and get my approval and feedback on their work.

Moreover, communication couldn’t be easier. We use email for general communication and updates, and we have weekly video call meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve done a fantastic job with the competitive analysis, including where they’re spending money. Also, WebFX doesn’t push packages they want to promote just for sales purposes; they listen and give me what I truly want and need.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I can think of right now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Tell them what you want and let them do their job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for StockWise Auto. We’re a small online-based auto parts shop based out of Sciota, Pennsylvania. I’m in charge of marketing, but I also do development here.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebFX?

A lot of the focus of our site came to the technical and development aspects. We realized that we were hitting a lot of the marks on the technical side, but when it came to the content and the granular aspects of SEO, it was out of scope of our ability. We didn’t have the time or manpower to dedicate somebody to keep up with Google’s constant changes and take care of all those little nuances.

Therefore, we decided to bring in a third-party marketing agency to give us a hand with all of the other things that were past technical development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After we decided we were going with WebFX, we went through the entire boarding process, which was pretty seamless. We kind of talked about a few different avenues, but the major aspect we’re leveraging of their company are their SEO packages. When we started, we signed up for six months, and we’re still ongoing.

Our rep has definitely gone the extra mile a few times. For example, we had issues last week. There were a couple of outages on the West Coast with the data centers. Our site was down for an hour, and after just 15 minutes, I got a call from our WebFX representative to check on us.

What is the team composition?

We haven’t worked with a million people, which is great because we don’t have to re-explain our industry ten different times. It’s been very consistent and concise.

Robert (Digital Marketing Specialist) got us on board and then handed over to Peter (Internet Marketing Specialist). Peter is our rep, and he’s a great guy. He’s very in tune with our industry and is always providing us new information.

How did you come to work with WebFX?

I was approached by a colleague, and his fiancee actually worked at WebFX. She had talked to me about it probably two years ago. When it finally came to the point where we were looking for marketing companies, WebFX came up because I had spoken with her.

However, the decision definitely came down to their pricing and willingness to work with us on a smaller scale. We’re definitely not a new startup, and we have considerable traffic to the site, but a lot of the issues we were running into with other companies were because of our perceived size on the Internet.

WebFX gave us the biggest breakdown, with details and outline. Since the beginning, they showed that they were willing to give us as much information as we needed. They didn’t really play it close to the chest, so it was kind of given that they were here to help and were going to lay it out exactly how it was.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent nearly $10,000–$15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in March 2020, and the project is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The first two months were a lot of preparations and setting up to continue to enhance the site. At first, we didn’t know how to quantify the cost to the ROI, and that’d be by the amount of organic versus paid traffic.

Recently, we've started to get notifications that our organic traffic has increased by 4%–5%, and we haven’t even made the biggest changes yet. Since we’d been stagnant in the same low percentages for such a long time, it's a big deal for us. We definitely have something going on.

How did WebFX perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s been awesome. They have this whole proprietary client backend that outlines our project. Peter has a calendar with the points that he’s working on and his deadlines, and we can see it. They also have a built-in messaging portal that can be used either in email or their site, which is phenomenal.

Everything is very clear and transparent. I’m never wondering what Peter is working on, and it’s usually him who approaches us to set up meetings. It’s been great so far; they’re really good with information.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The one thing they’re great at is being very clear and concise about what they’re doing, especially in an industry that’s so shrouded in mystery. In general, not many details are provided to the public, but WebFX is very detailed in their explanations.

In our first meeting, I was impressed with the amount of information they were willing to share before we even had signed any contract or NDA. It was probably a way to flex their muscles a little in order to show that they knew what they were talking about.

Then, after the first month, I was blown away by how detailed they were in the initial overview of the site. That’s when I knew they weren’t messing around.

Also, their use of Google Studio is quite impressive. Overall, WebFX stands out for the way they easily convey data to us without us having to do all the heavy lifting.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything to complain about. Everything has been prompt, clear, and concise since day one.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They offer a ton of services, but their bread and butter is SEO. If I were to advise another company, I would tell them to start with SEO and their packages. Then, if you’d like to move on to more services after you’ve integrated into their environment, I’m sure it would make things a lot easier down the line.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a B2B organization and we provide software that helps businesses connect, manage, and execute their key plans and initiatives. Instead of leveraging disparate systems, spreadsheets, and tools to track their activities, companies can use our system to automate a lot of those processes and, ultimately, have better visibility of how they’re progressing on results.

My role is to facilitate. On one side, I head up our revenue operations, functions, systems, data, and processes. On the other hand, I’m the head of marketing and much of my function is with creating marketing strategies. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebFX?

We engaged WebFX on the marketing side of our organization, needing their help to expand our bandwidth and results on the marketing front.

We wanted to focus on the better management of our paid campaigns as well as on SEO. Our marketing team comprises only three individuals, being a relatively small organization, and we already knew what we were doing in terms of SEO. However, we didn’t have the time or resources to address our bandwidth.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our original engagement was meant to focus on two primary elements: paid campaigns and SEO campaigns. For the first, we’ve been leveraging a number of different systems. Google Ads was the main one but we never really put much emphasis on the continual maintenance of it. We also do consistent keyword research and strategy optimization for our ad campaigns to ensure we’re getting the best results.

WebFX has come in to take a look at our market, the types of products that we offer, and our search traffic. They’ve also surveyed our entire SEO landscape to figure out where we were performing well and where the gaps and opportunities to perform better lied. 

They’re tasked with building a strategy that not only optimizes what we’re currently doing well, but also enables us to reach further in terms of our target audience. This is something that we’ve always known we needed to do but haven’t put a true effort into. Now, WebFX is in the execution phase where they’re creating and optimizing new content. 

The most important part of this strategy is the technical SEO aspect. We’ve never fully understood our SEO, though we know what it is, so their team is also helping us improve all its technical elements. 

What is the team composition?

We have one main point of contact, Angie (Internet Marketing Analyst), who is essentially our account manager. They have a huge team, so it’s up to Angie to manage the project and coordinate with the content team and technical team.

How did you come to work with WebFX?

I originally found them through Clutch about a year ago, when we were looking for somebody who could provide conversion rate optimization (CRO). I did a lot of research to evaluate WebFX, though at the time, we were already engaged with a CRO agency.

When we needed a partner for SEO work, that’s when I re-engaged them along with a couple of other vendors. We ultimately selected WebFX for a variety of reasons:

1. They’ve built a custom solution that could address our project’s different focus areas;
2. They seemed to have a really strong team that specialized in the different faces of the project; and
3. Outside of their services, they also had a software solution that helps us manage everything. It has great analytics, lead management, and web traffic tracking functionalities. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $10,000–$15,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed the contract and kicked off in March 2021. We’re still engaged with them now.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

WebFX has done a really great market analysis on various keywords and key phrases, which has given us the opportunity to improve our ranking. It’s too early to tell the impact, but the most apparent results are with the Google Ads volume that’s come through. 

I’ve been really happy with the status updates that Angie provides during our calls. She walks us through what they’re doing and how we’re performing. My team and I have learned a lot of information from WebFX that could make us more effective as an organization. We were certain that, in the long run, we would see results in terms of leads and revenue, but we didn’t expect that we would also become a smarter team in the process. 

How did WebFX perform from a project management standpoint?

WebFX’s communication is unlike anything I’ve experienced with other agencies. On our first call, they already had an entire project plan built out for the next six months. I think they probably have a template that they upload right away based on the engagement, and this includes all the different action items and their corresponding overseer. 

Their system is really easy to communicate back and forth in. It gives us notifications and allows us to ask questions, receive updates, and store documents. We’re no longer relying on an occasional email or biweekly call, even though we can still conduct those.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive thing about working with WebFX is the learning element. We could’ve worked with other agencies that could guarantee results, but we might not have understood why or how those results were being produced. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only challenge is that their team is so large. It’s helpful that we have one point of contact, but it tends to slow things down because we’re not actually talking directly with the person who’s doing the work. I can’t recommend a way to improve on this, though, because then it will become confusing if I engage with too many people.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

WebFX is going to do a lot from a communication standpoint. They will make decisions and provide recommendations for you. You can put your best foot forward by going into an engagement with a clear idea of what you want and what success looks like to you. The more involved you are throughout the process, the more ideas you’ll have around what decisions to make and the quicker you’ll be able to make progress.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for Richey May. We’re an accounting and professional services firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebFX?

About eight months before, we had invested in a new website with a different firm. We really wanted an SEO firm that was also able to help us with some content and earned media.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, WebFX basically did a lot of cleanup on our website. It wasn’t obvious to the frontend user, but more for SEO purposes. Now, we’re getting more into content updates and creating new content for our website. This is great because it’s taking a huge workload off of me.

We have some earned media credits with them, and they have used a couple of those. We already had a lot of good referrals to our website, so we’ve been focusing more on just the content. However, they’ve also helped us out with off-page metrics and a few earned media spots.

They’ve done keyword research; their onboarding process is extremely thorough. We had already done a lot of keyword research, so they took that, ran with it, and added a lot more depth and expertise into it.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Angie (Internet Marketing Specialist). She’s really great to work with. We basically talk once a week, if not more often. When we first started, it was definitely more often, but now that we’re rolling, we’re able to meet with her whenever we need to.

How did you come to work with WebFX?

One of our clients recommended them to us. They had been using them for their mortgage company, and their marketing director just absolutely raved about them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re going for their standard rate, which is between the $10,000–$50,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in January 2021, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

WebFX actually provides metrics, and we’ve been double-checking them in our CRM system. Obviously, a lot of it is measured by leads and clicks, so we’re measuring that in Google Analytics. They have some other tools in their WebFX dashboard, so it’s been easy to understand what we’re getting.

We just started, so the numbers are a little low. However, they’re still higher than what we would’ve expected.

How did WebFX perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a monthly metrics meeting and a weekly touch-base meeting, which we can either use or not. We haven’t used it recently, but during the onboarding phase, we were definitely talking once a week.

We usually use email, and they’re typically really responsive. If we notice anything, we just shoot them over a screenshot and they will update whatever it is. Overall, they’ve been great to work with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to talk to people of different levels of expertise is great, especially Angie’s. I’m a little bit more advanced in online and digital marketing than other members of my team, and she’s able to talk to me on a technical level without oversimplifying things. Whereas for people who have no understanding of what she’s talking about, she’s able to translate it into plain English really well. In that sense, their communication is really good, which isn't something that you always get from technology service providers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I haven’t noticed anything. I would say that it might be good if they had resources to help sell themselves to high-level people during the first stage. We had to sell this inside the company to get it going, so maybe it'd be good to help CEOs and other people to understand their services. However, I don’t know how often they encounter that; sometimes our firm and industry are a little behind the times.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go ahead and schedule a demonstration with them. If you try to go based on price without seeing the sort of Google deck that they have, with all the different features they’re going to use, then you’re really missing out.

In our case, we looked at a couple of other companies before we knew about WebFX, and after they were referred to us, we were being courted by a few different providers. There definitely were cheaper services out there, but they didn’t come with the features that we really needed for SEO.

Therefore, I recommend watching their presentation and thinking of it more as investing in someone who’s going to have a partnership role with your marketing and technology team, as opposed to just your SEO company. If you’re already doing fine with content, there are other ways that you can use WebFX. Even doing earned media is something that a lot of marketing teams can’t handle by themselves, so I see them as a huge asset, which kind of offsets some of the cost.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the marketing manager for an agricultural company that sells conventional and organic feed.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebFX?

When we went with WebFX, we had a stagnant website developed previously by another company, and we needed something more functional. We were basically starting from the bottom; we had no SEO, backlinks, or anything, so we were looking for a company who could help us with that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

WebX has created all of our site, three pages of the website, and all the keywords that are needed to optimize the page for Google. They’ve focused on updating them because Google continually changes their algorithms, so they make sure that we’re completely optimized.

We had a blog, and they’ve created good content for it, creating backlinks and getting us more views. They've also changed our number on the website so that we could track and monitor if people were calling from the site or from advertising. We’ve had issues with features not working, such as the map or store locator, and they’ve been able to fix them. They’ve even made pages for us or suggestions about what pages or content we should have.

There’s probably more, but they’ve definitely done a lot for us.

What is the team composition?

Zak (Internet Marketing Analyst) is the main person that we work with. He’s helped us with everything. Brianna (Senior Web Project Manager) has been working on our other website, on some e-commerce things. We’ve had calls with multiple other people about projections and so on, and we’ve participated in training with them as well.

How did you come to work with WebFX?

We knew the type of company we needed, so we set out to do research. We were looking at least three different companies, what they offered, how much it cost, and so on. It was a bonus if they were close, had a wide variety of companies that they’d worked on, or had done something related to agriculture. We wanted someone who could throw themselves into our industry, learn, and understand what we needed.

What is the status of this engagement?

It’s been over a year since we started working with them. We expect to continue our relationship because we like to see our improvement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Previously, we appeared on page two and now when someone types us in Google, we show up on the first page, or if they type specific keywords, then we come up. We’ve definitely seen progress and a positive impact on our business. We’re continuing to build and grow our presence, and the process has been clear.

How did WebFX perform from a project management standpoint?

Zak has been a great asset to our team. He is one of those people that just goes above and beyond their responsibilities. We have nothing but positive things to say about him, and we’re really fortunate to work with him, for sure.

They give us awesome analytics every month, and we go over them on a call. Some of them are a little hard to understand, and they’ve been really good at dumbing it down to explain what they mean — if we’re making progress, if it’s good or bad, that kind of thing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re experts in what they do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s not necessarily a downfall, but it would be beneficial to our marketing team if they could explain better the analytics we’re receiving. We’ve hit a block trying to explain them in a way that people who don’t understand the website, social media, reach, and all of those things, can get what they mean. It doesn't have an effect on the website, but it’s the hardest thing for us to do.

If they could find a way to bridge the gap on an elementary basis with people who need a solid answer to what the numbers mean, that would be really helpful for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

What you get out of things is what you put in them, so do your homework, be prepared to listen to what they say, and provide them with what they’ve asked for. To effectively work together, try to learn and grow your knowledge about how Google and all of those things work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the President/CEO of our non-profit. Our mission is to advance marketplace trust by allowing businesses to regulate themselves in resolving disputes with their customers through our complaint and reviews platform. With this information, our organization publishes reports on the trustworthiness of a business based a variety of factors, including how any customer complaints are resolved. This allows potential customers to make informed purchasing decisions before engaging with the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WebFX, and what were your goals?

We have two main objectives:

1. Increase awareness about our brand and services
2. Encourage consumers to file complaints through our platform if they have a grievance with a business.

We hired WebFX to create and manage PPC campaigns to target keywords for consumers looking for ways to resolve a complaint against a business. WebFX is also responsible for SEO to raise brand awareness about our organization and the various benefits that we offer to the member businesses that support us.

SOLUTION

How did you select WebFX and what were the deciding factors?

We had a previous marketing company that unfortunately did not meet our goals. After performing numerous Google searches and having interviews with other marketing firms, we ultimately selected WebFX as our marketing company because they seemed to understand our needs and explained to us in detail on how to achieve those goals.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

We started with a kick-off meeting to go over each goal and answered questions about our services that were related to our complaint conversion goals. Keyword analysis and competitor research was performed and based on those results, various PPC campaigns were set up which allowed us to test and compare the results of each campaign.

Along the way, keyword optimization and negative keywords were managed to optimize our PPC campaigns so we would get the most ROI for our marketing budget.

For SEO, an audit of our current website was performed and suggested edits were made to optimize key landing pages.

For landing pages that enhanced a member benefit, their team provided copy for us to create those pages, complete with appropriate header tags and keywords to use.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We have one dedicated marketing specialist assigned to us and my preference was to meet once a month. During those monthly meetings, we would go over the previous month's performance on PPC and SEO. Suggested changes were made on areas that could use some improvement to keep our PPC campaigns performing at their best.

For SEO, there is a team of copywriters and researchers that would develop the landing pages and copy to use, based on the objectives of the landing page.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our PPC campaigns bring in a steady volume of conversions for us based on our budget. There is constant tweaking each month to keep the conversions at the same level until our monthly budget is met. On the SEO side, organic traffic to our website has increased immensely. This took some time to achieve, we knew going into it because it takes time to grow traffic organically.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

WebFX has been great at meeting our expectations. I prefer a monthly meeting, but I'm sure they can accommodate other meeting timeframes. They have their own proprietary online platform which documents all email correspondences and shows which party is responsible for the various tasks. There's also an area which shows notes taken by our marketing specialist and key action items to perform on the "To-Do" list.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I appreciate their professionalism and attention to detail. With our previous marketing firm, I did not feel they understood our business well. The marketing rep takes time to understand the important aspects of your business and the goals you want to achieve. They are open to suggestions on various campaigns and also have creative ideas on new campaigns as well.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I can't think of any areas of improvement thus far. I am happy with the level of service provided.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager at a SaaS company that makes products for higher education.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebFX?

SEO is a tough, ongoing task. While I have a background in SEO, we needed an expert to guide us on tricky issues and offer support in execution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have an ongoing partnership with WebFX for SEO. The team helps with link building outreach to generate quality links to our site. They also do keyword research and SEO writing on our content so we can attract the most amount of quality traffic to each page.

We also do a lot of technical work to make sure pages are optimized for performance. They help us ensure the pages aren’t too slow and that all of the plugins are performing well so Google won’t see us as a site with bad UX.

Lastly, WebFX keeps us informed about new changes Google has and what that means for our website. They help us do everything necessary to stay at the top of search results.

What is the team composition?

We work with Sam (Internet Marketing Specialist). We had one account rep before her.

How did you come to work with WebFX?

They were hired before I came onboard. I really lucked out that we had a relationship with WebFX already.

How much have you invested with them?

We currently spent $3,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

WebFX started working with my company in February 2018. I came onboard in September 2020, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen our organic website sessions go up by 20% per month. They’ve also helped us increase our amount of number one search results for relevant terms.

I appreciate that they’re incredibly responsive and supportive to issues we have coming up. They’re very data and detail-oriented. As tricky as SEO can be, they walk us through all the steps we need to optimize our site well.

How did WebFX perform from a project management standpoint?

We have regular reporting meetings. Sam is really good. She’s very clear and lays everything that we need to do. On my end, I manage any stakeholders we need to involve. Anytime WebFX needs to be involved with execution, they do a great job.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re committed to quality work. There are a million things you could do for SEO but they focus on doing a small number of things well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When they report on data, they could show what’s going well and what’s not. I understand what they’re doing, but how they report the value to the rest of the team could use some improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have some SEO knowledge, you can go deep on it with them. Get to know your rep at WebFX and be really involved. Learn from them and ask questions. If you’re involved, you’ll get better results.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

RazorThink is a startup developing software for data scientists. I am the SVP, Marketing responsible for all marketing efforts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WebFX?

We engaged WebFX to assist us in the design, implementation and ongoing support for our PPC, SEO and Social Media efforts.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to build demand through lead generation.

SOLUTION

How did you select WebFX?

I reached out to 5 different agencies based on referrals and reviews and ultimately selected WebFX based on their proposal.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The scope of their work included the following: Technical SEO Checklist On-Page SEO Deliverables Analytics Setup SEO Monthly Optimization PPC Monthly Management Ongoing Campaign Optimization Facebook Advertising Management Linkedin Advertising Management

What was the team composition?

The direct client team consisted of 2 individuals to support SEO/PPC and Social.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had multiple starts and stops due to frequent internal changes of strategy which probably caused some frustration but that can be expected in a startup in a relatively new space.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Day to day workflow was effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The direct client team was fantastic. They had deep domain expertise and responded quickly to issues and questions.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I would be cautious engaging WebFX for your digital marketing efforts. While their client team were rock stars, their leadership team is completely disconnected from reality. We were essentially fired over email from a WebFX employee who introduced himself as a Webfx partner (Trevin Shirley).

He made no attempt to understand our business, had no rationale for terminating the contract and was quite arrogant throughout the process. While we had some starts and stops during the engagement, I had never received feedback at any point in time about our account. The only feedback I had received over the past year was this random email from Trevin who I had never met telling me that we were fired. Here is a direct quote from his email:

"The pace of design and strategy changes have made it challenging for us to establish momentum and drive the results needed for your campaigns. Given your unique needs, I believe you'll find better results with another partner with more expertise in new-to-market tech."

When I asked him about our results or what he met by our unique needs, he couldn't provide any feedback to me. While he did credit us back 1 month of fees (even though we had paused campaigns that month), it's going to slow us down to find another agency and bring them up to speed.

I've worked with dozens of agencies over the years and their arrogance, lack of professionalism from their leadership team should be a red flag if you are considering to engage them to support you.