Derek Leavitt is a partner at Modative, a Los Angeles-based modern architecture firm. Founded in 2006, his company specializes in contemporary residential and commercial projects. With no IT staff and no previous "experience with anything Internet-related," Derek uses HubSpot to turn his website into a lead generation machine. "I saw the results quickly, so it motivated me to engage it more and use it more," said Derek in a video interview.
Challenge
In the past, Modative relied on word of mouth and existing contacts to get its message out to its target audience. "We did have a website but we weren't bringing really much traffic to that website," said Derek. His main marketing source remained business cards.
In order to grow Modative's traffic, Derek invested in Google and Yahoo ads. He soon realized, however, that these marketing tools weren't helping in the long term.
Blogging didn't work for Derek, either. He used the Google's Blogger, which didn't effectively transfer leads or SEO credit to his company's site. "It felt like people would go to it and then leave it," he said about his past blog.
Solution
Derek was looking for a solution to expand online traffic and prompt site visitors to convert into leads and customers. HubSpot's Owner product was the solution he was looking for.
HubSpot transferred Modative's marketing efforts from paid advertising to organic search traffic. Only 15 percent of the company's incoming traffic in May was brought in by advertising (compared to over 80 percent in the past). The other 85 percent of referrals in May came from organic search. "Our traffic is very diverse now, which is what we would like to see," said Derek. HubSpot's search engine optimization tools enabled this change. Modative has now optimized all of its photos and Google Images leads to 18% of the site's traffic.
HubSpot Analytics gave Modative access to measurement tools to track traffic and its sources. "That is something I check several times a day," said Derek. He finds especially useful the keyword analytics, which enable him to monitor the keyword performance of his company as well as that of his competitors.
Modative has also used the HubSpot methodology to improve its lead generation. The company site now has a Resources page from which people can download guidebooks, whitepapers and other valuable information. In exchange for each piece of offered data, Modative asks visitors to fill out a specific form. That helps the company gather contact information of targeted readership. It is a lead generator that the company didn't have before.
Another HubSpot solution Derek finds especially useful is the Website Editor that enables him to easily make changes. "One of the big things is having our website available anywhere. I can be at home on the weekends, I will have an idea and then I will change the site instantly," he said.
Results
"It is pretty staggering, actually," said Derek about the results he has been getting. "We had almost zero search traffic when we started," he said. But only after a month with HubSpot, they attracted 257 referrers from Google only. This number has now expanded to 711.
(Image Above: monthly Google search referrals, Jan - June 2009)
Modative has increased its traffic from 639 visitors in January to 3,670 in June.
(Image Above: monthly traffic and leads, Jan - June 2009)
Derek's blog has increased its performance significantly, attracting 1,063 visitors just in the last 30 days. It has 45 blog subscribers who engage with one another and leave comments. In optimizing his blog content, Derek uses social media sites like Twitter, StumpleUpon and LinkedIn. "People will find an article that we blogged on and then, they will promote it," he said.
(Image Above: blog subscribers, Jan - June 2009)
"I really can't say enough good things about what it has done for us in the short-term and, more importantly, in the long term," said Derek. The HubSpot product pieces have helped Modative successfully optimize search results and generate qualified leads. "We get to do all of that ourselves, which is really empowering," he said. "Things are being done the way you want them to be done."