NOVOS

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a direct-to-consumer starter that creates and manufactures sofas in the UK. We’ve launched online 12 months ago, and I serve as the chief marketing officer.

What challenge were you trying to address with NOVOS?

We brought in NOVOS to help us with SEO.

What was the scope of their involvement?

NOVOS provides us with on-site and off-site SEO. We’re currently in the process of implementing the structural changes they made to the website to help with SEO. They put together a very detailed technical order with about 30 recommendations around speed and code quality. The implementation is on a 6-week time frame.

They also work closely on keyword research. We’ve got a target of a couple of buckets worth 50 keywords each. They also help us with link building, on-site optimization, and tech optimization to help us improve it.

Additionally, they also provide us with digital PR. which has been the most impressive thing they’ve done. This typically includes copywriting, and journalist outreach which generates lots of stories for us every week.

What is the team composition?

We check with Tom (SEO Manager) for his technical SEO expertise. And from a digital PR perspective, it’s Olivia (Head of Digital PR).

How did you come to work with NOVOS?

They were recommended on a WhatsApp group I’m on, for people who are doing similar work. We spoke to them and found out that they worked for a really successful European furniture business. They served as an internal team and ran their SEO. They left, and we hired them. I think they’re relatively new, only being in business for a year or two.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in November 2020, and it’s still ongoing.

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

We’ve had search visibility improvement, which has doubled in the last couple of months, as well as search traffic and revenue improvement — which has also doubled since we started. Moreover, they’ve hit the target for the number of links they built from digital PR.

How did NOVOS perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through Slack and video calls. We have weekly calls, but we just chat with them when we need to.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very committed. They agreed to a really stretching plan, and they’re really going for it, which is great. They give a lot of effort and attention to details, and that goes above their technical ability to do what they said they’re going to do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No there isn’t. They’re really good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

People who want to work with them should turn up knowing what they want. We got along because we really care about our objectives, and they responded really well to that. I’ve seen previous engagements in the SEO world where I think people were less clear on the objectives up front. However, they’re a good team. We’ve got a lot out of our engagement because we were specific about our objectives.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a marketing agency that focuses on branding services. We have a remote team for lots of different businesses and we manage all their marketing functions.

What challenge were you trying to address with NOVOS?

SEO has always been a gap for us and we don’t have anyone in our team who can do it. We recognized that it’s probably much more technical than what we have in-house. We needed someone with SEO expertise to support us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

NOVOS has become our company’s internal and external SEO arm for our company. We brought them in on a monthly basis and they’re managing the technical side of the business reporting every month, making sure everything happens on time.

They do a lot of SEO-related projects for us. They did an audit, a website site map, a content plan, and they worked closely with the developers because the technicalities are not something that my team and I have enough knowledge of — so we don’t know if it’s being done right or not.

We also recommend them to a number of our clients to work with them. They help them with growth strategies, research, and manage all their SEO efforts.

What is the team composition?

I’ve had contact with Antonio (Co-Founder), and then there’s Tom (SEO Manager) who is in a lot of our calls, and was super helpful in the beginning. We also work with a fantastic account manager, so I’d say we work with about 4–5 people from their team.

How did you come to work with NOVOS?

They were recommended to us by the developers we’re working with. I had a call with them and we got on quite well — they understood my business and it sort of felt quite easy. We also found out that some of the clients that they’ve worked with are very relevant to some of the clients I’ve worked with. Moreover, it felt like they have experience in high-end luxury fashion, and that’s the main reason we hired them. Their client portfolio aligned with us on a personal and professional level.

How much have you invested with them?

By the end of the contract, we’d have invested around $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2020, and we’re still working together on a retained contract.

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

The brands that we work with show up higher in search results from certain keywords. However, we’re still in the early stages of a six-month growth engagement. We’ve been watching our developers get the fundamentals in place, and we don’t really expect to see big results until the machine is working well.

The team is incredibly thorough and they go above and beyond in terms of deliverables. Whenever there are questions from clients, they make sure to reply and give details whether it’s in or out of the scope.

How did NOVOS perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management point of view, it’s very efficient and clean. It’s always very clear who’s leading the project and the feedback is always on time and done quickly — we’re happy with it.

We have bi-weekly meetings through Zoom but we normally communicate through email. Although if I ever ask for a call, they’re quick to give me a Zoom call.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their SEO approach feels more human compared to other agencies. I worked with a lot of agencies in the past, which is why when I was starting my own, I was determined not to behave like any of them. I don’t think it’s right to watch the clock or invoice a five-minute telephone call. 

I can say that I share a similar approach with NOVOS. I’ve got a service as well as an amount of time or a number of deliverables, which a lot of agencies don’t do. NOVOS has always gone out of their way to be accommodating and that’s something I really value as a customer.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve definitely not been disappointed, so I can’t think of anything they need to do differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be sure of your brand objectives and key markets. Make sure you have a solid brand DNA so you’ve got enough information to give them. If it’s not there and it isn’t clear enough, it comes over in dribs and drabs and that’s going to be tricky for anyone.

Make sure you got all of your stuff together before you engage with an agency. One of the clients we worked with didn’t have everything and it just made the process slightly longer and more painful. I think it’s important if you want to get the most out of your investment in an agency, you need to have everything in place to hand over.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SEO manager of a UK-based flower delivery brand.

What challenge were you trying to address with NOVOS?

We’re on an Angular site, which makes it quite difficult for search engines to read. We were looking for help with SEO, technical recommendations, and keyword strategy.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide SEO content marketing services. They did an audit of our site, to see what our weaknesses were from a content point of view. They also work with us on the digital PR side and help reach out to publications that wouldn’t normally write about us.  

What is the team composition?

We work with 5–6 people from their team, including an account manager, technical support specialists, digital PR officers, and a copywriter.  

How did you come to work with NOVOS?

I met their founders at an SEO networking event. We worked with a few different SEO vendors before settings on NOVOS. We decided to work with them because they could fulfill our technical recommendations, on-site optimizations, and digital PR.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019, and our work is ongoing.

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

Our main metric is organic traffic. We especially care about non-branded traffic growth.  After working with NOVOS, our traffic is consistently higher than with previous agencies.

How did NOVOS perform from a project management standpoint?

They do very well. Their account management is really good and they always hit their deadlines. We use Slack to communicate daily, which is much better than the long email chains we had with other agencies. We also have a bi-weekly video call.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication stands out. They also have a lot of SEO expertise within their team. Whenever I have a question, I can get a response from them just as quickly as from my other colleagues.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re great. It doesn’t feel like we’re getting a different service than what we signed up for.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of e-commerce at Diamond Factory. We are a multi-channel retailer within the diamond jewelry industry in the UK.

What challenge were you trying to address with NOVOS?

We saw a dip in our organic visibility on Google. Our keyword ranking also had dropped and it was something we wanted to address through link building, and, digital and content creation.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, the process started with us presenting what drives our business for Google in terms of demand and commercially based on what we want to achieve. That can involve engagement rings, diamond rings, or even our knowledge of the industry. They also check out our competitors, the ones who are doing well in the same space. 

After that, they come back with a content plan, whether it’s monthly, quarterly, or biannually. The main goal is to improve our traffic through the right mediums and increase our visibility. When they create content, they also handle the number of links we need. Furthermore, aside from posting it on our own site, we craft content that can be potentially picked by publications or international press. 

They also spearhead our PR and technical SEO efforts. NOVOS does a lot of on- and off-site work. They’ve also done a lot of restructuring to our blog to enable Google to index a lot more keywords. The same goes for our main site in terms of structure, layout, and updating data. 

What is the team composition?

We work with their founders, digital and PR manager, content manager, and more. We typically collaborate with 5–6 different people at any given time. 

How did you come to work with NOVOS?

We were trying to do SEO on LinkedIn, and when we met them, they specifically said they specialized in e-commerce SEO specifically. That’s not something many digital agencies really say. Other companies just try and cover so many different aspects. I liked the fact that one of their founders really understood what an online business entails. 

They really put their necks on the line by saying that they could deliver what we wanted in terms of KPIs. When I spoke to them, I began to understand how they work and then we realized that they were really good. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably spent close to £100,000 (approximately $138,000).

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in March 2020, and it’s ongoing. 

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

They’ve been transparent about the way they work and what they could deliver. Our overall organic traffic growth has increased 60–70% year-on-year (YoY). We’ve also improved the number of keywords we are ranking for. We’ve really increased in almost all the facets that we had agreed on and all the key performance metrics we have has gradually increased over time. 

How did NOVOS perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a good project management process. We have weekly meetings and all the teams always present during those times. Everybody is dedicated to their work. We have a clear structure on how we work and what we need to prioritize. We collaborate using Asana, Slack, and other mediums. 

We typically work on a monthly basis, so we usually break things down weekly. Since the start, we’ve always been kept up to date. The communication verbally and over email has been really good. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve really shown that they could deliver their promises. Other companies will just make empty promises, but this team has done the opposite of that. NOVOS has a really refreshing attitude, and part of that has been their understanding of our business. Since they understand our commercial aspect, they help us prioritize and make things better business-wise. 

They also do a thorough job of researching every single piece of their work. Moreover, they even have supporting documents to back up what they’re doing. We also like that they’re confident in their methods and always stick to their principles. Most of all, their founders and other people who are holding high positions in their company are reachable. Overall, everyone in the NOVOS team has been super attentive and it has been a joy to work with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that stands out in my mind as they are really a step up to what we had previously. If there’s ever an issue, we always take it up to them. Above all, they’re always willing to be flexible and change tactics. We’ve just been really impressed with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be upfront with what you want to achieve as a business. Communicate that very clearly.