SEOptiks

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the creative director for Massa Products Corporation; we design, manufacture, and sell ultrasonic equipment for industry and sonar systems and components for the military.

What challenge were you trying to address with SEOptiks?

Originally, we just wanted to improve SEO, but we decided to update the website first. I’d been doing it all by myself, but I was busy working on a new project, so we needed someone to create and launch the new website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we had to educate one another on our respective businesses and industries to identify solutions, best practices, and the most effective workflow. They devised a content order system that gathers the necessary information about our products so they can arrive at keywords and determine what approach to take for each page of the website. We’re developing it page by page right now and using some of the old content, but we’re also restructuring the menu system and navigation and using a new host.

The old site was product-focused, but it wasn’t very intuitive or easy to use. The new site will be application based so that someone unfamiliar with our business can focus on what they want to accomplish and find the right product from there. Instead of having to call us to get a quote, visitors will use a quotation request system right on the website. Once the site is finished, we’ll rely on SEOptiks for maintenance, SEO, and an update every two or three years.

What is the team dynamic?

Ang is our project manager, and Matt [Founder] oversees hers. James does dev, and we all collaborate on the design.

How did you come to work with SEOptiks?

I searched online and found about six companies we could possibly work with. I talked on the phone with them and brought three in for interviews. Out of them all, SEOptiks fit our philosophy best and was willing to collaborate, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $3,000 every month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began in April and are still working together.

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

The only thing that’s officially happened is moving to the better host. The website will launch in about a month, and they've cleaned it up and made it much more user friendly.

How did SEOptiks perform from a project management standpoint?

Everyone is very involved and concerned about making the site look and feel great. Ang is fantastic at managing the project and keeping us on schedule. We use HipChat, email, phone, GoToMeeting, and in-person meetings to communicate. We’ve also begun using SOHODOX to collaborate on documents.

What did you find most impressive about them?

From our first meet, SEOptiks immediately understood what we wanted. They even helped me with a few problems before we hired them, and it’s been a pleasure to be partners.

We can often get busy and forget to respond to them, but they’ll take the initiative and continue working without oversight. They know how to make a complex solution work in a specific situation, which can be a hard talent to find. They make sure we have the right solution that fits our unique business, where most other providers just give generic options.

Before them, I had to do everything by myself, and I could spend hours or even days trying to figure problems out. Now, I send them a message and it’s solved within minutes. They’re a huge benefit, and I can’t describe how much relief they provide.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re doing their best and I couldn’t ask for more.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of P.H. Koules Consulting, which provides marketing services primarily for manufacturers. We perform a variety of activities, but we mainly function as an external marketing manager or program execution specialist.

What challenge were you trying to address with SEOptiks?

We help manufacturers improve their digital marketing presence, ranging from building a new site to optimizing an old one or even just increasing lead generation. Because our clients are generally small or mid-size companies, there’s no standard practice, so we were looking for a service partner that could supplement our workforce.

What was the scope of their involvement?

SEOptiks works on numerous different projects, depending on which clients want to work with them, so there’s no one rigid workflow to follow. Matt [Barden, Founder] and his team specialize in being flexible and working on an agile basis, so it fits them well. Instead of going away for six months to build a perfect site, they do a quick sprint to develop a basic idea and then either improve, optimize, or redesign the site based on specific client feedback. Their process also includes keyword research and integration.

For example, one site was on an inflexible platform, and lots of content (such as pictures and information) needed to be moved to a more modern platform. SEOptiks managed the move and then built a proper form that improved the performance of the site tremendously, resulting in increased lead generation and the ability to better track analytics. That was just step one, and now we’re redesigning the page to improve usability. SEOptiks workflow allows us to rapidly develop something and then improve it almost immediately through iterations. It’s a very data- and performance-driven process that helps us make informed decisions.

Another project they did was a complete redesign of a site, and they expertly translated a lot of information I gave them into actionable items and goals. They picked the platform, created the site, and now we’re adding features as feedback comes in. If it were any other rigid agency, the process would have taken a lot longer, but SEOptiks is fast, and they’re a joy to work with.

What is the team dynamic?

We don’t have a project manager, so we communicate directly with the whole team. Now that we’ve been working together for a while, I know who to talk to about reporting, design, upgrades, etc. I work with Matt [Owner of SEOptiks] when it involves overall strategy.

How did you come to work with SEOptiks?

SEOptiks came highly recommended from a colleague in the manufacturing space. A client and I vetted two or three different providers, and we thought SEOptiks was the best fit.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, our clients spend over $60,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2016, and it’s ongoing.

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

SEOptiks provides weekly reports that show the increase in specific keywords and how, over time, their performance and ranking has improved.

For one project in particular, website leads doubled after just three months of having a redesigned site. On another, the new site brought in 10 or 20 times the leads of the old site. In general, that company saw around a 30% increase in leads overall.

How did SEOptiks perform from a project management standpoint?

They're responsive and communicative. The longer we’ve worked with them, the better our process has become because we’ve gotten used to how the other operates. We generally communicate via phone, email, Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, text, etc. They're incredibly accessible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re practical and goal-focused; it’s not just about building a pretty website for them, but about really making a marked improvement. They collaborate but also challenge things if they think it needs to change or could be done better.

Matt and his team are generous with their time, and it never feels like we’re on the clock. The work we do can be complex and confusing, but Matt will spend as much time as needed to explain and discuss things. Because of the way they’re structured, the team is flexible, accessible, and quick. They understand that needs change and have built that into their workflow, focusing on doing what’s best for the client.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes it would be nice to have a project manager, but as we work together more, I'm starting to appreciate having the direct communication because things go faster. Also, their reports often have too much information to digest, so we’ve been working on narrowing that down to just the essentials.

Advice for potential customers?

Make sure you understand their process from the beginning. They’re quite unusual compared to other providers, so if you're used to rigidity, it's good to understand their flexible process to improve the communication flow.