Denver Website Designs

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

American Arbor Care is a locally owned and operated full service tree and lawn care company that has been in business for 23 years. We service residential clients mainly, along with a few commercial clients. I am a sales representative, but wear many different hats to help run and manage the company along with our CFO. We have roughly 22 employees who work five days a week, year round.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Denver Website Designs?

We needed to move away from our previous partner because they were not being honest with their advertising policies or putting their best foot forward in promoting our company. We wanted to retain our online presence and wanted someone local who was familiar with media and advertising. Denver Website Designs had told us a year or two ago that they also did SEO, and we were at a point with the other company where we could no longer afford them, and they also weren’t keeping us up to date on our phone data.

I reached out to Denver Website Designs and asked them if this were something they could assist us with, and they said they could. Their biggest role in this piece of the puzzle was synchronizing everything together to flow seamlessly from Facebook, to our blogs, to GoogleAds. We needed everything, including wording, to be consistent.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Denver Website Designs to rebuild our website 7 years ago. About 4 years ago, we had them rebuild it again to optimize the site for smartphones and tablets. This year, we got rid of the other company for our online advertising and let Denver Website Designs fill that role as well. They are now responsible for the entirety of our online presence, optimization, word syncing, and SEO. They also do our Facebook advertising and write our weekly blogs.

We started out having a couple meetings about our plan to move forward, including increasing our online presence using Facebook Ads and moving away from print, RTD, bus ads, and billboards. Many of our customers are referred via Facebook, so they put together a proposal with budgets and a phased approach to implement that.

Kelsey [Customer Service & Marketing, Denver Website Designs] and I meet monthly to discuss services to be highlighted and the overall plan. I send her pictures, then she puts together a carousel ad and emails me the screenshots. We have photo and comment areas where clients can submit things such as estimate requests.

Denver Website Designs can also implement online shopping features, but right now they are working on creating a cloud based customer database for us that will tie into our current website.

What is the team dynamic?

We have a good relationship with Mark [Founder & CEO, Denver Website Designs] and the staff, which means a lot to us. Mark has met with us several times while we redesigned the website, reworked our marketing and media approach, and created the new database. We worked with him directly on some things, and indirectly on others.

Erin [Senior Project Manager, Denver Website Designs] and their new member, Clayton, work predominantly on the blogs. Erin is also now spearheading the database conversion. Kelsey works with me on the Facebook ads.

We speak at least 2-3 times a week, and we trust them. They’ve done a great job for us, and they’re good communicators. I’m not sure about the team size, because I just know the people I have spoken with.

How did you come to work with Denver Website Designs?

My boss and owner made the decision to hire them while I was still relatively new to the company. I’d assume he and Mark had a good connection, and that Mark really delivered what he had promised for the website. Denver Website Designs was our website hosting partner, so after we laid out the plans for our most recent engagement, we felt they were the best choice.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $1,700 on a monthly basis for our website and marketing. It fluctuates somewhat depending on the plans for the month, and this doesn’t include the database because that’s a separate project that has its own budget.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together 2010-2011, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our business model is strongly driven by client referrals, and we run roughly around 85% of those referrals for new clients that we gather. It’s hard to tell if they came from a click or from something else, but as far as our Facebook results go, we’ve gotten quite a few clients since we started 3 months ago. I get roughly 3-7 emails a week from the Facebook ads asking for estimates, but some of them don’t align with our core services.

Denver Website Designs lays out the data reports so I can see where certain things are coming from, but sometimes there is some overlap. One of our clients may refer somebody to us, but then they don’t contact us until after seeing a Facebook ad or doing research online. We have to go off impressions with some clients, and inquire about how many times they’ve seen things such as our logo or trucks.

I’m an arborist, so I’m not an advertising or media guru by any means. That’s the reason we hired Denver Website Designs to do this for us, because it’s just not the core of what our staff is capable of doing.

How did Denver Website Designs perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve been really happy with them. There have been a few errors within the blogs, but as soon as I catch them, I can email either Erin or Clayton and let them know, and they’re very responsive in resolving it.

They have very good, open communication. They send me a lot of weekly reports regarding data, such as how many people are looking at our website and Facebook.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive thing is that they’re building this amazing database for us. It’s like going from the late 1980s into the 22nd century. It’s mind-blowing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Erin has been really great with the blogs, but as her career has progressed and she’s moved into other areas, this has been delegated to other people. I’ve mentioned some quality issues to them regarding consistency, but mainly that the writing needs to stay the same no matter who is doing it. Grammar and the correct conveyance of technical language have both been issues. If something is not conveyed to a client, potential client, or another colleague in our industry, correctly, this can be detrimental to us. We have since changed the process, and they now send me the blog post in advance so I can ensure we are not portraying or conveying incorrect information.

I would suggest good and open communication. They are open to honesty and questions, and they understand what they’re doing may be unfamiliar to businesses they work with. They are willing to explain everything, and they understand a good product means clear and concise communication.