TWG | A Web Design, Digital Marketing & SEO Firm | Greenville, SC
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Website Launches, Digital Marketing and More. A TWG Update.

September 24, 2013 By Brian Whitaker in Whitaker Group News No Comments Tags: Digital Marketing, eComme, Greenville South Carolina, Responsive Web Design, Search Marketing, SEO, Shopify, Website Design, Website Development, Wordpress

It’s been an exciting time for TWG, filled with lots of website builds, ecommerce development, search and social-centric digital marketing campaigns and a lot of fun, happy clients. If you’d like to see a bit of what we’ve been doing, you can view some of our sites below, read a few of our blogs and learn more how a strong digital marketing presence can positively impact your company.

Web Design & Development

Our recent web design projects have run the gamut from online stores and law firms, to real estate and B to B companies. While the projects vary by industry, size and scope, each share a common thread. We always aim to ensure our client’s story gets told to the people that matter and their prospects take the desired action.

See below for a partial list of websites we’ve recently designed. You can also view our case studies here. And a gallery of our work, here.

TWG - Digital Marketing - Divider

Mayme Baker Studio Website DesignMAYME BAKER STUDIO

eCommerce Web Development, Responsive Design, SEO, Search Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Responsive Photo Gallery Design
View the Case StudyView the WebsiteNET PROFIT ADVISORS

Custom WordPress Development, Custom Application Development, Copywriting, Branding, SEO, Social Media Marketing

View the WebsiteTWG - Digital Marketing - DividerVann & Liv Website Design
VANN & LIV

eCommerce Web Development, Responsive Web Design, SEO, Search Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Copywriting

View the WebsiteTWG - Digital Marketing - DividerBeija-Flor Jeans BEIJA-FLOR JEANS

eCommerce Web Development, Responsive Web Design, SEO, Search Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Copywriting

View the WebsiteTWG - Digital Marketing - DividerBoles Law Firm - Web Design BOLES LAW FIRM

Responsive Web Design, Branding, SEO, Copywriting
View the WebsiteTWG - Digital Marketing - Divider
Savvy - Website Design | Retail TherapySAVVY

eCommerce Web Development, Responsive Design, SEO, Search Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Copywriting

View the WebsiteTWG - Digital Marketing - Divider
Upstate GALUPSTATE GUARDIAN AD LITEM

Responsive Web Design, SEO, Print Design and Development

View the WebsiteTWG - Digital Marketing - Divider
Wealth SolutionsWEALTH SOLUTIONS

Responsive Web Design, Logo Development, Copywriting, SEO, Print Design and DevelopmentTWG - Digital Marketing - Divider

Beyond the Launch

Digital Marketing - Greenville, SC

You Have a Website, Now What?

Providing a fulfilling, rich experience once the user has reached the website is half the equation. But how will people access the site? What keyword phrases will they use to search for the site? Will active social networking components be a significant driver of website traffic? Once in the pipeline, how are the prospects nurtured?

Addressing these fundamental questions (and many others) and the subsequent implementation of strategic digital marketing initiative to drive qualified traffic to your site and social media networks is imperative to the success of your website as a whole.

We provide proactive comprehensive marketing and post-launch digital marketing retainer packages that allow us to work directly with you as a client or as part of your team. We provide regular analytics updates on all of our digital campaigns, and most importantly we provide clarity and direction to our clients that allow them to make data-driven sales and marketing decisions moving forward.

Marketing Services Offered

Internet / Digital Marketing, Marketing, Web Design, Web Development, Search Marketing / SEO, Copywriting / Content Marketing, Graphic Design, Public Relations, Strategic Media Planning/Buying (both digital & traditional), Print Design, Comprehensive Digital Analytics Reporting and Consulting


How We Can Help?

We’re passionate about helping people that are doing great work, leverage digital marketing to reach their sales and marketing goals.

If you’d like to learn how we can help your company, drop us a line by calling us at 864.631.5617, emailing us or visiting our website.


From the Blog

Understanding the Do Not Track DiscussionUnderstanding the Do Not Track Discussion

We provided a brief overview about what information digital marketers are privy to, how it is used, how consumers, publishers and marketers can benefit from the procurement of this data and what the Do Not Track movement is aiming to accomplish.

TWG - Digital Marketing - Divider

Why Email Marketing Still Rules

Marketers and business leaders seem surprised that email marketing (still) tends to trump SEO, Search Marketing and Social Media in many industries, when it comes to ROI and lead generation.

TWG - Digital Marketing - Divider

5 Traits of a Successful Business Website

It doesn’t matter how big your business is or what industry you serve. Whether small or large, or you’re in tech, real estate, finance, B2B or law, your website needs to do a few things well (and in today’s world, do them quickly)

TWG - Digital Marketing - Divider

Understanding the Do Not Track Discussion

July 18, 2013 By Brian Whitaker in Internet Marketing Insight, The Whitaker Group Blog No Comments Tags: Behavioral Ad Targeting, Behavioral Targeting, Digital Marketing, Do Not Track, How Digital Marketers Track, Internet Marketing, Online Marketing

The ‘Do Not Track’ debate has sparked a lot of controversy the last few years, highlighted by a recent dressing down by Congress a few months ago. Any discussion that relates to one’s privacy and perceived loss of anonymity is an important conversation to have, but like many other hot-button issues that tend to be layered and complex in nature, the national conversation can often be riddled with generalizations, inaccuracies and a bit of scare tactics.  Let me see if I can provide a brief overview about what information digital marketers are privy to, how it is used, how consumers, publishers and marketers can benefit from the procurement of this data and what the Do Not Track movement is aiming to accomplish.

Behavioral Targeting and How it Works

Do Not Track | Digital Marketing CommentaryThe crux of the debate about Do Not Track is centered around the practice of Behavioral Ad Targeting. This practice is used by website publishers and marketers to capture a host of different data points so they can create a ‘profile’ of each user. The data ascertained is often used to establish demographics and geographical makeup as defined by each marketer so they can serve ads and content that they deem relevant to each user and other similar users. When visitors return to this site or other sites on the network, the profile associated with your browser is served ads and content relevant to your profile. In theory, the more we know about each visitor, the easier it is to customize a message that resonates with each user. And the claim of how well a site knows its users, allows them to charge a premium for their ad space.

But who is actually tracking you when you visit a website and how do they track you? Ah, now here’s where it gets a bit sticky. By visiting one large website, you can trigger over 200 different tracking cookies that are actively compiling data on your browsing habits, across multiple websites, which are then shared with a host of third party data collectors.

The Wall Street Journal did an excellent job illustrating just how this process works and how the data is collected and shared. View this piece here.

While the sheer number of companies compiling data on you is certainly eye-opening to most users, fundamentally your information is secure. Your data is anonymous and no one has access to your sensitive information.

What Marketers Know About You

One of the benefits to online marketers in the digital age is the access to information and analytics about our audiences that we’ve never had before. We’re able to glean valuable data from our users and also reach our target market with unprecedented accuracy. Gone are the days of relying on estimated media reach, eyeballs on commercials or media plans that erroneously estimate offline circulation. We can reach our target and we’re able to gauge views and interaction with advertisements with unprecedented accuracy.

‘Tracking’ and ‘Spying’ often frame the conversation in a way which instills in the layperson fears that Big Brother is looking over your shoulder and that your name, social and general anonymity is somehow ripped from you by visiting various websites.

The truth is that unless you have provided your information to me via filling out an opt-in form or product purchase, I will never have access to the following.

  • Your Name
  • Your Email Address
  • Your Phone Number
  • Your Address or Latitude/Longitude
  • Your Social Security Number
  • Your Gender

What I and Other Marketers May Know About You

It’s important to note that when I say ‘you’, I mean your browser. You, as a person, are actually not tracked at all. If more than one person is using the computer, it’s all the same to most tracking platforms. You are but a faceless silhouette in most cases.

Location: Each time you visit my website or one of my client’s sites, your IP address is likely recorded, which (while not 100% accurate) can provide me your location down to the zip code. Again, not your physical address.

On-Site Behavior: The pages you have visited on my site, the time you have spent on my site are logged and recorded. Also, we can tell the time of day you have been to my site. I am able to record this information and then follow it right up until conversion (usually a purchase or form fill-out).

Browser/OS/Device: I am able to tell what operating system you are using whether it is a phone, tablet or laptop. I can tell whether you’re using a Mac or a PC, and I can tell what browser and version you’re using as well.

Referral Sources: I can likely see how you got to my site. What website, social network or the referral source sent you. And if you found it via search, I have access to the keyword phrase you entered that connected you to my site. (Unless you are part of the dreaded, increasingly Not Provided or Not Set crowd. But I digress.)

By no means comprehensive this does give you an idea as to the fundamental information marketers have with respect to your on-site behavior.

What is Do Not Track trying to accomplish?

In short, Do Not Track is based around the concept of giving users the ability to understand that they are being tracked, but also provide the user to opt out of being tracked by websites that they do not visit and stop third party collectors from tracking their browsing habits through the web. The proposed regulations are layered and certainly too much to cover in this blog,

While I am ok with being ‘tracked’ on the web, I understand the unease felt by some and I support giving users the ability to opt out. While your anonymity is upheld, a lot of your data is seen by a lot of different people.  As a marketer, I of course don’t want to lose valuable data on my target markets, but as a user, I like having the web as personalized to me as possible. And I absolutely agree that regulations need to be enforced to ensure that private customer data be kept that way. But I also am hopeful users understand a few key things before they make the decision.

What Users Should Understand About Do Not Track

The idea for this blog came upon reading polling data which showed the majority of people are against wanting to be ‘tracked’ on the web. But does the layperson understand what being ‘tracked’ really means? A few things to consider:

  1. Opting in to Do Not Track does not mean that you will stop seeing ads. You will just see much less relevant ads to your profile.
  2. Aggregated consumer data does have value. The web is still a largely free place. And it is kept that way through valuable data collection and targeting. Reducing this means you’re reducing the ability for companies to reach their target market, which will mean companies will have to make their money in different ways. (I LOVE not having to pay subscription fees for the majority of my content online.)
  3. The web will be less relevant to you as a user. Personally, I like that I am not going to be inundated with ads highlighting women’s shoes and apparel while surfing the web. Gone will be the geo and demo data profile on you, so if you think ads are annoying now, wait until you are faced with ads that have absolutely nothing to do with your profile. As a marketer, it is of great value to me to target my prospects precisely and I truly believe the user benefits as well.
  4. Offline targeting has been doing this for years. Way before the internet.  Credit card and Mortgage companies have been selling your contact information and accessing your demographic data for years. And these include names, addresses, buying habits and a lot more. The “yeah, but HE’s doing it as well” argument is pretty weak, but where is the outcry with these practices?
  5. You are under no threat of your anonymity being infringed upon. Ok, I am sounding like a broken record.

Anyway, I hope this was helpful. It’s certainly a complex issue in nature, and I think education and information will go a long way in shaping this issue as we move forward.

Announcing Two New Website Launches | Vann & Liv and Net Profit Advisors

April 7, 2013 By Brian Whitaker in The Whitaker Group Blog No Comments Tags: Digital Marketing, eCommerce, Facebook Marketing, Keyword Buys, Net Profit Advisors, Responsive Web Design, SEO, Shopify, Vann & Liv, Web Development, Wordpress

We’ve been super busy since the new year, but we’d like to take a moment to announce the launch of two new client websites. Vann & Liv and Net Profit Advisors are both live and we’re very pleased with the outcome of each.

Vann and Liv | eCommerce Web Design, Development & Digital Marketing
Services Rendered
Responsive Web Design | Web Development | eCommerce Development | SEO | Keyword Buys | Re-Targeting Banner Ads | Social Media Marketing | Shopify eCommerce Development

Vann & Liv

Vann & Liv, a dynamic online retailer for chic children’s clothes and apparel, is a business crafted by three Greenville sisters that has generated quite a bit of buzz in their time on the web. Limited on many fronts with their old eCommerce infrastructure, they sought a new website that offered a more progressive, aesthetically pleasing design that rendered capably on all devices. They also needed a system to better manage their inventory and a comprehensive, full-scale digital marketing plan to drive buyers to the site with a focus on product purchase and conversion.

We migrated nearly 250 products and over 1,000 SKUs to the Shopify platform. With an enhanced, responsive design, their website has been transformed into one that is reflective of both their choice service and premium products.

We’ve recently implemented a full-scale digital marketing campaign addressing social media, search marketing (SEO and Keyword Buys) and provided an infrastructure where their products are seamlessly pushed to Google Shopping, Amazon Products and many other online shopping platforms, straight from their eCommerce store.

Our social media campaign has resulted in nearly 2,000 new Facebook fans, and overall web traffic has nearly tripled in the course of the last three months. Since site launch, they’re on record pace with both web traffic and online sales. We’re sticking around with Vann & Liv as their digital marketing partner to ensure their momentum continues into the next phase.

Wordpress Web Design, Development & Digital Marketing Strategy | Net Profit Advisors
Services Rendered
Web Design | Web Development | SEO | Custom WordPress Design & Development

Net Profit Advisors

The design and development of the Net Profit Advisors website, a leading asset based lending & business advisory firm, was one founded on diligent planning, creativity and collaboration with our client. During the process, we immersed ourselves with everything Net Profit to strategize, design, write and develop a develop a new website to meet the expectation of both parties. We designed and developed a custom WordPress website, that included a state of the art, four-tiered application process for prospective Net Profit clients.

Basing our construction on keyword analysis and search marketing research as well as analysis from industry competitors, we delivered a site that was highly optimized, on-time and on-budget. We’re going to hang around with Net Profit as well to ensure all of their goals are achieved.

Please take a look at these sites, and you can also view our gallery and case studies for more examples of our work.

Why Email Marketing Still Rules

January 30, 2013 By Brian Whitaker in Internet Marketing Insight, Whitaker Group News No Comments Tags: Email Blasts, Email Marketing, Fundraising, Obama, Search Marketing, SEO

email-marketing-featured-image

In the marketing world, there has been a lot of talk in the past few years about new channels, specifically social media and search marketing. And with good reason. These are exciting inbound marketing channels that are a boon to lead generation, client acquisition and client retention. I’ve personally seen tremendous return on these channels for my clients and it’s likely that very few marketing plans are complete without competent strategy & implementation in social and search.

But recently, marketers and business leaders seem surprised that email marketing (still) tends to trump these mediums in many industries, when it comes to ROI & lead generation.

(Politics aside, obviously) But if you need proof that email is still alive and kicking, just look at the Obama campaign’s stunning fundraising success using email. This Bloomberg Businessweek article details the extremely analytical testing process that Obama’s email team used to determine which subject lines, content, calls to action, and email formatting would bring them the highest return in donation dollars. The results: “Most of the $690 million Obama raised online came from fundraising e-mails.”

What does Obama’s success mean about the state of email marketing?

“Most people have a nearly limitless capacity for e-mail and won’t unsubscribe no matter how many they’re sent. ‘At the end [of the campaign], we had 18 or 20 writers going at this stuff for as many hours a day as they could stay awake,’ says [Obama campaign email director] Fallsgraff. ‘The data didn’t show any negative consequences to sending more.’”

A recent B2B Marketing Magazine study found that 42% of marketers name email as their one of their most effective channels for lead generation. And, the Direct Marketing Association reports that email has a higher ROI than any other marketing method, at an average of $39.40 in revenue for every marketing dollar spent.

But a sound email marketing strategy doesn’t happen over night & it requires more time to implement effectively than most other marketing channels. It requires:

  • A sound list of attentive prospects, clients & customers procured through organic means. (Anyone who has tried leasing email lists will tell you that.)
  • Equal parts diligence & restraint in nurturing your list.
  • A proficient messaging, promotional & editorial strategy.
  • Clarity on the action you want your recipient to take.
  • QA to ensure your emails are being received, read & are in accordance with all of the email regulations in place.
  • Testing, testing, testing. Clients & marketers alike will often be surprised with the type of messaging that resonates with its recipients.

To make sure that you’re optimizing your email marketing, first focus on building a great list of customers and prospects who have expressed interest in hearing more from your business. Anyone can like or follow you on social media, but if a contact gives you the express permission to be in their inbox, you should consider it a privilege and an opportunity.

5 Traits of a Successful Business Website

December 6, 2012 By Brian Whitaker in Internet Marketing Insight, The Whitaker Group Blog No Comments Tags: Best Practices, Calls to Action, SEO, Website Design, Website Development

5 Traits of a Successful Business Website

Effective websites share a lot of the same key traits. But it doesn’t matter how big your business is or what industry you serve. Whether small or large, or you’re in tech, real estate, finance, B2B or law, your website needs to do a few things well (and in today’s world, do them quickly):

In my experience, effective company websites follow these 5 best practices:

1. Quickly identify your target audience.
Immediately clarify who this business is for and why they should pay attention. Depending on your business, this could mean integrating your customer’s:

  • Geographic location – Are you a local or regional business? Do you serve customers in one specific area? Doing this will also be a boon to your search & local SEO efforts
  • Demographics – Incorporate your customers’ interests, industry or background, needs, age, etc.

Stanton Law Firm's website establishes their target market immediately.

In this instance, Stanton Law has made it clear through its headline, graphics & supplemental copy that they serve high-level executives & business owners. Ideally, you want your customer to know within a few seconds that this website is speaking to them.

2. Define yourself clearly – What’s in it for your customer?
Name your products and services in the most specific way possible. Do you offer three main services? Do you have a clear set of best-selling products? Define and detail them. Your customers want to know what you can do for them, and they don’t want to hunt through pages and pages of information to find out. Statistics bear this out.

Define Yourself Clearly - Ledbury Makes High Quality Shirts

Ledbury makes it clear on their homepage in the top left corner of the site, (where the human eye naturally starts) that they make quality shirts that ‘fit better, feel better & last longer’. The crisp and classic imagery supports this message.

3. Build your credibility
Think about your most loyal customers. Why do they love you? Whatever the answer, it needs to be communicated on your website. You can show your credibility using your long history of success, testimonials from happy clients, examples of your awe-inspiring work, or a video of your respected CEO. Your website audience probably doesn’t know you already, so give them reasons to trust you.

Miron Properties builds credibility with a page-long list of glowing customer testimonials - for each agent.
Miron Properties builds credibility with a page-long list of glowing customer testimonials – for each agent.

4. Demonstrate your value.
Your website is an opportunity to communicate not only what you do, but why you do it. Explaining the why behind your products and services – your company’s cause – helps customers connect to your business in a real, emotional way. Need inspiration? “How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” featuring Simon Sinek. Sinek demonstrates the importance of working with people who believe what you believe. The first step? Knowing and communicating the important “why’s” that guide your company.

5. Provide clear calls to action.
Any website that doesn’t define what they want their customer to do & also provide a clear path to do it is likely leaving a lot of money on the table. Don’t leave your customers hanging. If you’ve built a great website, you don’t want your customers to click away without taking action. Give them an easy next step to more information, a newsletter signup, a product or property search, or an online purchase. And it’s never a bad idea to incentive them do it.

In this instance, the site owner has defined a clear call to action in the form of a contact form.

This real estate website encourages users to digest information about a property, and then offers them an easy contact form to request more information from the agent.

»»

When in doubt, err on the side of simplicity. Clearly define your company and your customer, but don’t bog your audience down with too much information. If you’re a service-based industry or specialize in offline sales, give your customer just enough information so that they will need to contact you for more. For online sales, provide a clear path for purchase.

Are you looking for help creating, designing, optimizing or promoting your online presence? Let’s chat.

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From the Blog

  • TWG - Digital Marketing - DividerWebsite Launches, Digital Marketing and More. A TWG Update.
    September 24, 2013
    It’s been an exciting time for TWG, filled with lots of website builds, ecommerce development, search and
  • Understanding the Do Not Track DiscussionUnderstanding the Do Not Track Discussion
    July 18, 2013
    The ‘Do Not Track’ debate has sparked a lot of controversy the last few years, highlighted by a recent

The Work


  • 800% Increase in Website Lead Generation

    Southcliff Community in Asheville NC - Website


  • 40% Increase In Online Sales

    Beija Flor Jeans - Greenville South Carolina - Web Design


  • 1,000% Increase in Organic Search Traffic

    The Fitzgerald at Grove Park Inn - Asheville


  • Leads Up 100%
    Cost Per Lead Down 50%

    Reserve at Lake Keowee | PPC | Search Marketing | Google Adwords


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About TWG


The Whitaker Group is a Web Design, SEO & Digital Marketing Firm Serving Local & Global Clients from Greenville, SC. We help companies grow their bottom line by targeting and motivating their customers. We do this by creating progressive, internet marketing strategies backed by years of empirical research and tangible successes.

How Can We Help?


    From The Blog

    • TWG - Digital Marketing - DividerWebsite Launches, Digital Marketing and More. A TWG Update.
      It’s been an exciting time for TWG, filled with lots of website builds, ecommerce development, search and
    • Understanding the Do Not Track DiscussionUnderstanding the Do Not Track Discussion
      The ‘Do Not Track’ debate has sparked a lot of controversy the last few years, highlighted by a recent
    • Announcing Two New Website Launches | Vann & Liv and Net Profit AdvisorsAnnouncing Two New Website Launches | Vann & Liv and Net Profit Advisors
      We’ve been super busy since the new year, but we’d like to take a moment to announce the launch of two new client
    TWG | A Web Design, Digital Marketing & SEO Firm | Greenville, SC
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • Digital Marketing Results
    • The Whitaker Group Blog
    • Contact Us
    540 Chick Springs Road, Greenville, SC 29609 | 864.631.5617 | brian@whitakergroup.net
    The Whitaker Group is a Full-Service Web Design, SEO & Digital Marketing Firm, Serving Global Brands from Downtown Greenville, SC.

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