May 12, 2008
Joe Griffin co-founded Submitawebsite.com in 1997. 3 years later, Joe left Submitawebsite to pursue an executive-level opportunity with iCrossing where he led ad agency business development and search engine relationships.
Joe brought the company heavyweight clientele during his tenure including: Cendant Corporation, American Airlines, Shopping. com, Dell Computers, Cricket Wireless (AT&T), Pulte Homes, Wyeth, Glaxo Smith Kline, Robert Half International, Countrywide, Phillip Morris and Exxon Mobile.
In 2004, Joe returned to Submitawebsite where he executed a 3 year game plan to penetrate the small business SEO/SEM sector, quadruple revenue and position the company for acquisition, which happened in April 2007.
Joe successfully negotiated the acquisition of Submitawebsite by Website Pros, a deal which also positioned Joe as a top Search executive.
Tell us about your background and your role at Submitawebsite.
Since Submitawebsite opened, I’ve focused on developing myself and company around the field of search engine marketing and optimization. I manage our product offering, retention model, new business development and overall brand. Additionally, I coordinate with a host of great people at Website Pros corporate (includes several business units including Web.com) to ensure we are doing everything we can, in scale, to provide our 250,000+ customer base with excellent Search services.
We emphasize work ethic, performance and overall results. Our team does an amazing job of keeping up pace. Our business culture is unique and I’ve never been a part of such a dynamic and exciting organization.
What are Submitawebsite’s main services?
Submitawebsite offers a variety of customizable search engine optimization, link building and pay-per-click setup/management services. Recently, we introduced an innovative link service which is safe and scalable.
We view search engine optimization as a process with two distinct components; on-page and off-page SEO. The way we approach these process makes us unique in our field.
We’ve departmentalized the company into process-oriented expertise centers. This structure allows for exceptional and cost-effective output. We have SEO experts at the department level that supplement our SEO gurus that run high-level operations. For example, our copywriting team is comprised of degreed English professionals that understand writing styles as well as working with marketing and copywriting teams. They know how to properly integrate keywords into copy, add more copy to existing pages, or when to edit a website’s existing verbiage to make it more relevant for pre-selected keyword phrases.
While our copy writers’ cross training enables them to perform a variety of other tasks, our differentiated departments are designed to streamline each process. We believe everyone should possess the knowledge and skills to see an SEO campaign through to the end. However, assigning each task to a specialist allows for superior SEO output.
Communication amongst departments is facilitated by our account managers. They essentially play the quarterback role ensuring constant communication and verifying all internal and external work is completed promptly and accurately.
All processes are maintained by our proprietary backend management system which operates at the individual task level.
What makes Submitawebsite different from other companies competing in the industry?
Submitawebsite invests significant human and financial resources into research and development. Setting expectations is the key component in retaining long term customers. Having concrete information heavily aids in setting these expectations. Our one-of-a-kind R&D provides this information.
In addition, we work with companies that are serious about growing their online business. We listen to their needs, make informed recommendations and create a customized strategy. Our “mom-and-pop” customer service leaves the technical jargon behind and focuses on SEO education. Making ourselves readily available, building trust and understanding our customer’s perspective are goals we strive to exceed every day.
What truly sets us apart is the ability to operate as a tightly-knit SEO agency while having the vast resources of a publicly-traded company at our fingertips. Our unlimited access to our parent company Website Pros is invaluable. These benefits include introductions to: hundreds of web designers and marketers, new customers, technologies, partners and overall best practices. This gives us a huge leg up on the competition. Collectively, we represent the 4th largest Search firm in the US according to Advertising Age 2007 reports. We were the largest firm serving the small and medium-business industry on the list.
Tell us more about Submitawebsite’s success story.
My father and I started Submitawebsite in late ’97. Like many entrepreneurs, we struggled with making online sales with a variety of Internet jumpstart projects. Over time, we learned how to improve the rankings of our websites. Simultaneously, Trellian released Submit Wolf Pro. This program allowed us to submit others to search engines and directories in scale. Websites benefited because Submitawebsite did the work and they got submission for less than the price of buying the product themselves. You can see these roots of the company in its name, Submitawebsite.
Our products and processes have evolved tremendously over the years. In April 2007, Website Pros (name to be changed to Web.com in first half of 2008) acquired Submitawebsite. Joe Sr. left the organization and I stayed on board to run and manage the business. The additional resources of Website Pros and the continued strong work ethic of the organization have allowed us to flourish in a highly competitive industry.
According to you, what are the most important questions a potential customer should ask a company before choosing a vendor like Submitawebsite?
¤¤ May I have access to customer references and/or case studies?
¤¤ Do you engage in any SEO tactics that are frowned upon by search engines?
¤¤ How long does it take to see results from an SEO campaign?
¤¤ What type of reporting do you provide?
¤¤ How do you measure success?
¤¤ How do you acquire links?
¤¤ Where will these links be placed?
¤¤ Do I get reporting of these links?
¤¤ How does your pricing stack up against the competition?
¤¤ How can I leverage both SEO with SEM for my business?
What are some myths about Search Engine Optimization?
¤¤ Many companies offer guaranteed rankings. This is against search engine webmaster guidelines and is used only as a sales tactic. These firms do not guarantee specific keywords on specific engines. They use vague language making it extremely easy for them to fulfill the “guarantees”.
¤¤ Submission companies tend to argue that submitting to search engines is the only way to be indexed. This is simply untrue.
¤¤ Many firms deny the danger of bad link building. Bad link building can easily get a website penalized.
How do you develop your skills in this continually changing environment?
Participating and discussing issues in online forums helps sharpen problem solving skills and increases awareness of industry happenings. Reading Internet related publications and websites also keeps us informed of noteworthy events. Most importantly, monitoring our clients closely helps us gauge search engine algorithm updates and diagnose potential problems.
These efforts are augmented by aggressive research and development. Our SEO experts are continuously searching for and evaluating new strategies. We capitalize on every opportunity to innovate for the benefit of our clients and our industry.
What do you see as the future of the industry; What are the challenges; Do you anticipate any drastic changes?
Local, integrated and vertical search along with more knowledgeable users will play significant roles in coming years.
As more people turn to search engines for localized comparison shopping, more marketing opportunities are presented. Usage of existing technologies like maps, video, and coupons will become more widely used.
Google Universal was a pioneer in fully integrating powerful feeds including news, local and video into the natural SERP’s (search engine ranking positions). Today, Google turns local, video and news results on and off and experiments with their page placement. They are mainly measuring click-through rates and time of day interaction. The measurement of interaction by time of day, region, channel type (video, news, web results) etc. is increasingly sophisticated. This means optimizers and marketing professionals will have to continue diversifying their expertise.
Vertical search will also continue to evolve; the travel industry has already proven the potential for success. The need for more specified search methods will increase as the number of websites, services and businesses on the Internet continues to grow. Isolating results and information from an industry specific source will slowly become the preferred method.
Over the past 2-3 years, the 50+ year old crowd has been the largest growing demographic online. Within the next few years this demographic, along with millions of other Internet users, will become more adjusted to the tools and options provided by the various search engines.
Where do you see Submitawebsite in the next 5 years?
I am confident we will be a top three provider of Search services for small, medium and enterprise businesses. We will likely branch into email marketing and display advertising as well as develop a design and application development arm. We will emerge as a search-centric Interactive agency.
Though it may seem like an oxymoron, we consider many Interactive agencies to be somewhat traditional in their usage and understanding of Search. Maintaining cutting edge SEO services is critical for our growth, and separates us from the pack.
Furthermore, our customer base will likely grow by several hundred percent within the next 5 years as the new businesses currently working with Web.com become ripe candidates for Submitawebsite services.
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
I plan on staying in the thick of Search and will continue to execute on product and new business development as well as retention and overall company management. I hope to continue to innovate Search efforts for Website Pros. In addition, I intend to continue meeting new people both inside and outside the industry to broaden my network of relationships.
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