How to Generate and Convert Web Traffic

Today we sit down with Aaron, one of our strategic partners who specializes in SEO and conversion based website design. Aaron and Cris discuss what business owners should be aware of as they develop the goal of having an effective web presence for their service.

Full Transcript Below:

Aaron:

You know, there’s Facebook Ads, there’s Google Ads, TikTok, there’s all these different platforms.

Cris:

What are your strategies that you’re doing to get more eyeballs in front of your customer’s websites?

Aaron:

Proving to Google that you’re the most relevant and trusted source for a specific topic.

Cris:

We’re going to talk a bit about design. We’re going to talk about marketing.

Cris:

So, Aaron, I appreciate you coming in the studio today. We’re going to talk a bit about design. We’re going to talk about marketing.

Aaron:

Okay.

Cris:

And basically give you the opportunity to introduce yourself and what Amarquez is. So, let’s start there. What is a Amarquez? What do you guys do, and what brings you in the studio?

Aaron:

Awesome. Yeah. For those of you that don’t know, I’m Aaron with Amarquez, originally Aaron Marquez Design, but we wanted to shorten it and make it a little bit more modern. So it’s Amarquez.

Aaron:

We started off doing flyers, print design. I got my first eMac, those little bubble computers-

Cris:

Oh yeah.

Aaron:

… when I was about 12 or 13. Started playing around with Photoshop and doing business cards, logos for family and friends. Of course, it was all very terrible. From there transitioned into website design and a lot of trial and error, but eventually worked with some marketing agencies, got a lot of experience, and eventually launched my own agency. So now there’s a team of us, and our specialty is the local business will come to us. They want more customers. They want to grow, and we use websites and the power of Google to make that happen.

Cris:

Very cool. So, Amarquez, you’re a local entity here in the Central Valley, very similar to Bixly, but again, you focus more on the marketing and design side of stuff. Whereas, we do design work, but we tend to be a little bit more on the backend development and overall stuff. So, it really makes sense for us to obviously be in the studio together talking through this.

Aaron:

For sure.

Cris:

Your customers, they’re coming to you. They’re trying to come up with strategies of how to get more eyeballs, so to speak, on their websites. How are you doing that for them? What are your strategies that you’re doing to get more eyeballs in front of your customer’s websites?

Aaron:

So, the main platform that we rely on is SEO, which is search engine optimization. There’s Facebook ads, there’s Google ads, TikTok, there’s all these different platforms. But what we found is the most profitable and provides the best return on investment is a search engine optimization. So, that’s simply the process of proving to Google that you’re the most relevant and trusted source for a specific topic.

Aaron:

If you type in blue couch into Google, a red couch isn’t going to appear.

Cris:

Right.

Aaron:

So, we applied that principle to plumbers in Fresno, HVAC in Fresno or.

Cris:

All with the goal of hopefully, your customers are going to show up higher up on that list rather than their competitor.

Aaron:

Exactly. They’ll get more traffic, and then with our conversion-focused website design, that traffic will turn into customers.

Cris:

So, with your experience coming from design, pivoting more into marketing and how that fits in the design, are your customers, are they primarily coming to you after they have their design in place and saying, “Hey, optimize this and make it better”, or are you walking them through the whole journey of design and marketing side as well?

Aaron:

Occasionally we’ll take on an existing website and work with it. But usually, we like to control all the different components because if there’s a specific goal of growing a business, sometimes some of the components don’t have that same goal. For example, the hosting could be very slow, and that hinders a website loading fast.

Cris:

Sure. Right.

Aaron:

And customer experience, if there was a website already designed, but it wasn’t built with SEO or conversion theory in mind, then that can also hinder the results.

Cris:

That makes sense. Customers coming to Amarquez looking to build out a design and then a whole marketing strategy with you. What kind of timeframe are they looking at? What kind of a budget should they keep in mind? Because hopefully, from watching this, people are going to say, “Oh, I want to go start working with you.”

Aaron:

Yeah.

Cris:

So, what’s your ideal customer look like? What kind of timeframe can you expect in budget?

Aaron:

Yeah. So timeframe, that really depends on the client involvement. A lot of our clients are busy running their business, their local ma and pa shops. So, we built our processes around that, and we do a lot of the heavy lifting, and it’s more, hey, can you sign this off? Of course, we first meet, determine the goals, usually it’s growing the business and then we present a couple different options for a website. They’ll sign off, we’ll make any edits, any industry nuances, and then we’ll go live and then provide reporting on a regular basis. This is how many leads you got this month. This is how we’re doing better. When someone types in the best electrician in Fresno, this is where you’re ranking.

Aaron:

As far as timeframe. Most of our websites are up within 30 to 45 days.

Cris:

Perfect.

Aaron:

We work really quickly.

Cris:

That’s great. And then from there, is it a kind of one and done and sayonara, or is it more like support term kind of contract stuff of here’s how we check in with you over the next 30, 60 days? What does that look like for your customers long-term?

Aaron:

Yeah. So, we operate on a retainer base. So, instead of charging one large upfront fee, I think our lowest plans 300 a month.

Cris:

Okay.

Aaron:

And what that entails is a website build, support, and then there’s obviously more advanced levels that include SEO.

Cris:

Very cool. For customers, what’s the number one thing that you find if they really understand this coming into working with you, that they’re like awesome clients? And if they don’t understand this one thing, if they’re not educated, what’s that hiccup for you. What’s something that’s really important your customers are educated about before they try and design and go through marketing strategies with you?

Aaron:

This is more theory and mindset, I guess, but if a client comes to me and they understand that marketing’s a more of a long game and it’s an investment, every dollar they spend in marketing, if it’s measurable, it’s not a waste, even if they don’t see instant results. If we did a campaign for six months with a client and they didn’t get out of this world results, they’re still further along than they were before. And there’s still a lot of work that’s going to carry them in the future.

Cris:

That makes sense.

Aaron:

So, just understanding that marketing’s a long game, and it is an investment in your business.

Cris:

Cool. As we wrap up this video, do you have any other final thoughts on either design, marketing, just customers in general, and things that you want to make sure people know when they’re looking into creating a website that gets more eyeballs on it?

Aaron:

I think the biggest lesson that I’ve learned in the last one to two years, especially with clients, and they’ve realized is that having a professional website, an online presence, in general, is key. It’s been key, and it’ll continue to be more important and critical, especially with platforms like Facebook coming under scrutiny. Owning your own space on the internet is just going to become more and more valuable.

Cris:

Very cool. Well, I appreciate you taking time talking with me, and I look forward to, hopefully, collaborations with Bixly and Amarquez as the years go on because we’re both local, we both, I think, can complement each other very well.

Aaron:

For sure.

Cris:

And so I’m stoked to see where this all goes.

Aaron:

Awesome. Thanks Chris.

Cris:

You’re welcome.

Alexandra:

Thank you for joining us for this episode of Bixly Tech Tuesday. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Aaron and Cris, as they talked about how to get more eyeballs on your website and what to do with that traffic, how to convert it once it’s there.

Alexandra:

If you have any questions about what they talked about today, go ahead and leave them in the comments section. And don’t forget to check out the description box down below. We have a couple of really helpful links in there for you, including our free custom software guide, which will walk you through how to plan out building an app or a website for yourself as well as a link to Aaron’s website and our own bixly.com.

Alexandra:

And if you check out bixly.com, you’ll be able to find a button right at the top that says start my roadmap. And that gives you a free 60-minute conversation with Cris to talk all about your app idea, strategize how to build it, estimate it out, and get our expert feedback on it.

Alexandra:

Until next time, this has been an episode of Bixly Tech Tuesday.