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Boostability Inc. |
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October 19, 2015 Issue |
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The Most Powerful Name In Corporate News and Information |
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Providing Internet Marketing Services to Small Businesses |
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Chief Executive Officer
Boostability Inc.
Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – October 18, 2015
CEOCFO: Mr. Thorpe, what is Boostability? Mr. Thorpe: Boostability is an online marketing company. We provide Internet marketing services for small businesses, particularly service-based companies, such as dentists, plumbers, lawyers or other businesses that service the local market.
CEOCFO: How do you service the small business marketplace? Mr. Thorpe: We mostly partner with media providers like yellow page providers or newspaper groups, different companies that already have a large customer base with thousands of sales reps on the street. We provide search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing and websites for their clients. Our services are white-labeled.
Mr. Thorpe: Many of these small, service-based businesses do not understand value of the Internet. Back in the day, we relied on yellow pages or word of mouth to find a plumber or landscaper to come work for us. Nowadays many people rely on Google or any other search engine as their word of mouth. People are really relying on the search engines to find these businesses. If these companies do not have an online presence, they lose business to the competition.
CEOCFO: Do you see a trend to the Angie’s List or HomeAdvisor concept, or can individual service companies stand out with the proper SEO and Boostability help? Mr. Thorpe: Many companies out there are trying to be aggregators, but we are finding that many people do not use them. When someone searches online for home repairs, they are not really looking for aggregators like HomeAdvisor. They are looking for a specific company that does home repairs. It is pretty easy for individual service-based companies to spend a little on online advertising, show up high in the search results and reach their customers directly. Then these listings stand out from the crowd.
CEOCFO: What should a business have on its site? What do people miss? Mr. Thorpe: First, you need a mobile-friendly site. With all the smartphones out there, more people every day are searching for products and services from their phones. Make the phone number prominent. Often people have to scroll down to the bottom of a page to find a phone number, but you should put it right there at the top to make it easy to contact you. Put reviews on your site. Let them see that you have some happy customers and that people like your services and will come back and use them.
CEOCFO: Does it surprise you how many companies do not have a phone number where you can find it? Mr. Thorpe: I was trying to reserve a small bed and breakfast, and it took me probably two or three minutes to even find contact info on their website. It is more common than you would think.
CEOCFO: Are there particular types of businesses that benefit more from your service than others? How do you get through to those who don’t understand the importance of online marketing? Mr. Thorpe: Most businesses will benefit from having a strong online presence. Businesses in small rural markets without a lot of online searches probably don’t need a web presence yet. We do an analysis to determine if online marketing will help these business owners grow their businesses. If we find that it will, we present our findings to help them see how a website, SEO or social media will bring them more customers.
CEOCFO: What has changed in your offering or approach over time? Mr. Thorpe: I think the biggest change we have made is that we now offer social media marketing services in addition to our core offering, search engine optimization. In the last few years, people have turned more to social media to find customers. They still use search engines, but they are also going to Facebook, Twitter or even Pinterest to find businesses that they can hire to do whatever they need to do.
CEOCFO: What is your geographic range? Mr. Thorpe: We operate in the US, Canada and Australia. Just in the last two months, we opened an office in Germany and the Netherlands.
CEOCFO: Why is this the time to start with Europe? Mr. Thorpe: The online search market is really growing in Europe. We have been knocking on their door for years and years, and it seems in this last year that they have finally come back and said that customers are looking for search engine optimization. Up until a few years ago, yellow p-ages were the primary way consumers found local service companies in Europe.
CEOCFO: Do you find that people are looking for different things or different information in Europe, or is it fairly universal? Mr. Thorpe: It is definitely universal. People have used different ways to look for information. In some countries, Google may not be the number-one search engine, but people are still online looking for information. Many businesses are just now getting online. Over the last year, we have seen a huge increase in requests for web design services in Europe.
CEOCFO: How do you stay ahead of changes in Google and technology? Mr. Thorpe: Google’s fundamental search algorithm is based on other people liking your content and linking to it. I do not see that changing any time soon. Google tries to weed out spammy companies that try to beat the system, and we love it. All of our customers benefit from every update Google makes because we employ only the best tactics. We understand that Google wants to see good, fresh content that is useful and engaging. We want the spammers, the black hats as we call them, out of SEO to reward the customers that are doing the right things and to make the internet more user-friendly.
CEOCFO: Are there additional groups that you should be working through? Mr. Thorpe: Most of our partners are yellow page companies. We also work with newspaper groups, web design companies, broadcasters and smaller agencies. We will work with anyone who wants to provide online marketing services to the small business marketplace.
CEOCFO: What words or phrases would a company key in online to find Boostability? Mr. Thorpe: Phrases like “best SEO company,” “small business SEO service,” “local internet marketing” and “top SEO companies.” We mostly work with partners, so we show up at the top for SEO partners as well.
CEOCFO: How is business these days? Mr. Thorpe: We are growing. We have been on the Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies list for two years in a row. We came in at #254 last year and #658 this year. We are always near the top of the fastest growing companies in Utah.
CEOCFO: How do you maintain that trajectory? Mr. Thorpe: The biggest challenge we have is just hiring employees. We have to hire the right employees. We are in Utah, just south of Salt Lake City, and we have two major colleges that we are able to pull an employee base from. That has helped us out quite a bit, but still, finding and retaining talent has always been a challenge for a fast growing company.
CEOCFO: What are the intangibles that you look for in employees? Mr. Thorpe: We want smart employees. We want people who are internet savvy, hardworking and dedicated to their jobs. We want employees who are passionate about servicing small businesses.
CEOCFO: Why is Boostability noteworthy? Mr. Thorpe: Boostability is noteworthy because we have been able to utilize technology to provide cost-effective online marketing solutions for small businesses that work. Our competitors turn away small businesses or charge them thousands of dollars for the same services that we offer for hundreds. We take care of the small business owner, and we do it better than anyone else out there. |
“Boostability is noteworthy because we have been able to utilize technology
to provide cost-effective online marketing solutions for small businesses
that work. Our competitors turn away small businesses or charge them
thousands of dollars for the same services that we offer for hundreds. We
take care of the small business owner, and we do it better than anyone else
out there.”
Boostability Inc.
Contact: Kelly Shelton 800-261-1537
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