Search Influence promotes entrepreneurship in New Orleans through $10K donations to New Orleans Shotokan Academy and PowerMoves NOLA. The donations helped to expand their online marketing efforts.
In January 2016, Search Influence celebrated its 10-year anniversary and commemorated the special milestone by awarding two local organizations each $10,000 in marketing services. The recipients of the prize money were New Orleans Shotokan Academy and PowerMoves NOLA. Since then, Search Influence has made great strides in implementing these organizations’ SEO and social media packages.
About the Organizations
New Orleans Shotokan teaches the ancient art of self-defense known as Shotokan Karate to both youth and adults. In an effort to serve the Greater New Orleans area, the academy holds classes in four studios across the city including JCC Karate, Tulane Karate Dojo, Broadmoor Karate Dojo, and Newman Karate. Upon being awarded the $10,000, New Orleans Shotokan Academy Owner Dimitri Papadopoulos said, “This is a dream come true. This will bring our program to new heights and give us opportunity to establish our company in the New Orleans community.” He chose to implement a comprehensive SEO strategy and to strengthen his organization’s social media presence so that more people could find his services online. His campaign was a success — after completing a site analysis, doing keyword research to see what search terms people were using, Search Influence optimized the content that was already on his website, as well as added new page content and a blog that would help with search rankings.
Papadopoulos is pleased with the results and Search Influence’s in-depth knowledge of internet marketing. “Each person I have dealt with has been very personable and helpful. If I have any questions, they are there to help,” he said. “What I find most impressive about the service is its flexibility; the marketing package is tailored to your vision of your business.”
PowerMoves NOLA is a national initiative that encourages entrepreneurship among minority communities by providing minority entrepreneurs with access to the capital, advisers and support they need to succeed. To achieve this, they have established a fellowship program, host annual pitch competitions and a put their entrepreneurs through an intensive boot camp. So that several of their participants could get help with their online marketing, PowerMoves NOLA split the $10,000 donation and gave Smart Coos, InstaFunds, and Acrew.com $3,333.33 each.
“When we heard there were going to be three rising entrepreneurial businesses, our team was thrilled,” said Will Scott, CEO of Search Influence. “We know that 85% of searches for products and services now happen online. In order for these startups to have the best chance for success, online marketing is essential.”
Smart Coos is an interactive web-based platform for parents and teachers to help children learn another language. Their goal is to encourage children to master multiple languages through the use of live language sessions, e-books and text nudges. They offer online classes and resources for Baby Sign Language, Spanish, French, English and Mandarin.
After meeting with Smart Coos Co-founders Mirta Desir, Esq., and Harold Jean-Louis in February, the Search Influence team kicked off an SEO campaign with the goal of increasing the company’s website search engine rankings on Google and Bing. To track the campaign’s effectiveness, the team first set up Google Analytics on the Smart Coos’ website. Since then, members have verified credentials among top sites, created and implemented HTML, XML sitemaps and the KML file, submitted robots.txt to Google and Bing, conducted a keyword research, and wrote and posted one blog. Next steps will be mapping and creating content guides for both website and blog content.
Desir has found working with Search Influence to be a satisfying experience, “The tailor-made experience they provide was very much appreciated in a our one-size-fits-all industry.”
InstaFunds, the second of the PowerMoves NOLA companies, is an app that allows users to track their finances without having to provide and sync to their banking information online. The app’s founder Sheena Allen decided to devote her share of the $10,000 to promote InstaFunds on social media platforms like Facebook. Search Influence developed a social media optimization package, audited Allen’s Google Analytics and submitted her app to a download directory found during a competitive backlink analysis.
The final business Search Influence worked with is Acrew. This business’ primary product is an interview software which connects job seekers with businesses searching for employees.
According to Crystal McDonald, founder and CEO of Acrew, “Search Influence helped build the foundation of our marketing efforts.” The team performed keyword research, developed blog topics, claimed optimized major directory listings, advertised on Facebook, and provided best practice recommendations for soliciting reviews. “The deliverables they provided will be used by our team now and in the future to help Acrew achieve their growth objectives.”
Photo caption: Pictured are New Orleans Councilman-At-Large Jason Williams, Search Influence COO and Co-Founder Angie Scott, Search Influence CEO and Co-Founder Will Scott, and New Orleans Shotokan Academy Owner Dimitri Papadopoulos.
