Search Influence in the News > Industry News

Search Influence, the largest online marketing agency on the Gulf Coast, is holding a contest to honor the hardest working woman in New Orleans in celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2017. The company encourages local businesses and individuals to nominate a woman who either owns her own business or works 40+ hours making a difference with a New Orleans business.

Nominations will be accepted through March 3, 2017, and the winner will be announced on Facebook Live on March 8, 2017. Search Influence will award the winning candidate with a spa package. The goal of the project is to raise awareness about the importance of equal pay for women and company benefits that allow women to succeed in the workplace without sacrificing the responsibilities of motherhood.

“I truly enjoy being a working mom and want the other women that are out there that have the same feelings to be comfortable that they can do it all,” said Angie Scott, the co-founder and chief operations officer of Search Influence. “We all know that moms are serious, playful, organized, and in charge—I know that’s the type of person I want to work with!”

Search Influence supports women in the tech industry with a staff comprised of over 70 percent women and a senior management team that is 66 percent female. The company offers a private breastfeeding room for new moms and was ranked a top place to work in 2016 by New Orleans CityBusiness.

“Search Influence is a flexible place to be a mom or dad, as we do not want our parents to stress about needing to go pick up a sick kid at daycare or school or anything similar,” said Scott.

At the state level, some data places Louisiana at the back of the pack for working women, though there are some signs that the environment in the South is changing. In Louisiana, WalletHub ranks the state 48th for working moms, an analysis that compares 13 key metrics including professional opportunities, work-life balance and child care options. In contrast, Louisiana ranks fairly high for women who want to start their own business. According to a recent analysis by Thumbtack including survey responses from 20,557 women, Louisiana ranks 7th for female entrepreneurs, and the data shows that women in southern states are more optimistic about access to government support for women in business.

To learn more about the International Women’s Day celebration and contest, go to info.searchinfluence.com/hardest-working-woman. Search Influence is located at 935 Gravier St #1300, New Orleans, La. 70112.

Search Influence has promoted a team manager to the job of Director of Account Management. By promoting from within, Search Influence demonstrates a commitment to further developing the skills of its dedicated team members and leaders.

Alison Zeringue has worked at Search Influence for over five years, most recently as Partner Accounts Team Manager. An alumna of Archbishop Chapelle High School in Metairie and LSU, Zeringue has a large extended family and roots in the New Orleans area. Throughout her career, she has worked directly with multi-location businesses and partner companies, making the services of Search Influence more impactful for businesses across the country.

“Aside from seeing the impact that SEO, online advertising and social media can have on a small business, I love that I will have a hand in the personal and professional growth of our employees,” said Zeringue. “I look forward to developing a cohesive team of experts who are passionate about making a difference for their clients and Search Influence.”

With a reputation established over ten years of service, Search Influence has proven that it can flexibly meet the digital marketing needs of a wide range of business clients. Account Managers are critical for keeping open channels of communication with clients and making sure that the Internet Marketing and SEO services are tailored to the unique demands of each industry. “In her new role, Alison is responsible for ensuring that Search Influence has a satisfied client base who are clearly seeing the effects of our marketing efforts in their businesses daily,” said Co-Founder and COO Angie Scott, “The best way to achieve that end is to ensure our internal team is engaged in their work of providing top of the line customer service and online marketing products to our customers.”

To learn more about jobs at Search Influence, please visit www.searchinfluence.com.

Will and Angie Scott, founders of national online marketing company Search Influence, were named to the Silicon Bayou 100 list of most influential leaders in Louisiana’s startup, entrepreneurial, tech and digital communities.

The Silicon Bayou 100 List, published by Silicon Bayou News, recognizes the most active and influential entrepreneurs and technology innovators in Louisiana today. This award recognizes both Will and Angie’s commitment and dedication to progress technology in the New Orleans area. Their achievements over the last 10 years have made them a stand out in the Silicon Bayou 100 List alongside other influencers across the state.

“We are thrilled to have made this prestigious list and to be a part of this growing technology community,” said Will. He and wife Angie started Search Influence 10 years ago in a spare bedroom in their New Orleans home. Now Search Influence is the largest online marketing firm in the Gulf Coast with more than 80 full-time employees and 125 contract writers supporting direct customers and reseller partners. “It is exciting that Louisiana has become a hub for creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation.”

Will, Angie and their team provide a full-service approach to search, social and online advertising having helped nearly 30,000 clients with 47 resellers and was New Orleans’ only Inc. 500 honoree in 2011 and an Inc. 5000 honoree in 2012 and 2015. Search Influence is a Flyover 50 Winner, Winner of the American Marketing Association’s 2012 Marketing Awards of Excellence (MAX), and has 5 in-house Google Adwords, Google Analytics and Bing Ads Certified representatives.

“Our future has never been brighter, and we are excited to be a part of it,” Will added.

For the fifth time, tech company Search Influence has made the just-released Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Only a tiny fraction of the nation’s companies demonstrate such consistent high growth, particularly in the difficult economic environment of the past few years.

Search Influence is the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast and is located in the thriving New Orleans technology sector. In fact, the company is helping to shrink the gender gap in tech. New Orleans—not Silicon Valley—is one of the best cities in the nation for women in tech, according to a new survey from SmartAsset analyzing data from the U.S. Census Bureau. New Orleans has the second highest percentage of women in tech—36.5 percent—of any city included in the study. At the downtown offices of Search Influence, females make up an astounding 65 percent of workers as of August.

“We’re excited to be included again in the Inc. 5000 list. Our growth is a testament to our focus on cultivating the best and brightest. This year we’re particularly pleased to be among New Orleans tech firms that are leaders for women in tech with 65 percent female staff,” said Will Scott, CEO and co-founder of Search Influence.

“Over the last 15 years in the tech industry in New Orleans, I always felt supported to have a family and be successful at work and we, at Search Influence, find this to be an important balance, too,” said Angie Scott, COO and co-founder of Search Influence.

Search Influence was founded in 2006, by the husband-and-wife team in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The couple bootstrapped the company from the ground up rather than funding the company through outside investors. What started in a spare bedroom has now grown into one of America’s fastest-growing private companies.

“The mission of Search Influence is the same as it’s always been. Regardless of our growth, we’re still focused foremost on helping businesses succeed online. In the beginning it was search engine optimization, but our tools have grown over time to include content, social media, online advertising and more,” Will Scott said.

About Search Influence

Search Influence is a national, full-service online marketing company based in New Orleans, La. The only New Orleans firm on the 2011 Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, Search Influence is the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast. It has hundreds of direct and partner customers, including local merchants and clients in the automotive industry, law, plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry and dermatology industries as well as publishers and Yellow Pages companies who provide SEO and other online marketing products for their advertisers.

The effort to get more young people to choose careers in the booming New Orleans technology sector is getting a boost thanks to a new initiative by Greater New Orleans Inc. and help from local tech company Search Influence, the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast.

Representatives from more than eight New Orleans charter management organizations will visit Search Influence May 8 from 2:30 to 4 p.m. as a part of GNO Inc.’s Future Building Fridays. In partnership with GNO Inc. and New Orleans Business Alliance, Search Influence’s offices at 935 Gravier St., Suite 1300 will host an interactive demonstration where educators will learn about the variety of jobs and talents needed in the online marketing industry.

The group will also hear candidly from real employees who took different paths to become Web developers, Internet marketers and online marketing account managers.

“Contrary to popular belief, not everyone who works in tech has a computer science degree. Of course some do, but Search Influence hires phenomenally talented people from all sorts of backgrounds—those with marketing degrees, communications degrees and even mathematics degrees,” said Search Influence CEO Will Scott.

“Tech is a big driver of the New Orleans economy. We want to show teachers and counselors in a tangible way the many job opportunities available in tech and the multitude of ways their students can get their foot in the door,” Scott said.

The new initiative, Future Building Fridays, seeks to educate counselors, STEM and career and technical education teachers about regional workforce trends, aligned with the Louisiana Department of Education’s Jump Start pathways, through site visits and first-hand exposure to employers. The Future Building Fridays series is just one part of GNO Inc.’s World of Work programming, which offers and promotes high-quality career awareness and exploration opportunities for regional schools and businesses. Through GNO WOW, as it is known, the organization is committed to raising educator and community awareness of the key sectors that drive the Greater New Orleans economy.

“GNO Inc. understands the critical importance of career awareness and exploration programs, like Future Building Fridays, for educators, students and community,” said GNO Inc. President and CEO Michael Hecht. “We must continue to connect the world of work and our industry partners to our K-12 classrooms. We want to empower educators with an understanding of the significant high-wage and high-demand job opportunities that are available throughout the GNO region.”

“A major part of our work consists of resolving barriers to economic growth,” said Melissa Ehlinger, interim president and CEO of the New Orleans Business Alliance. “Ensuring we have adequate pipelines to employment—creating opportunities for students to experience the work world and prepare for it—is imperative to an equitable, sustainable economy for the city. NOLABA acts as the connector between what employers tell us they need and how educators approach career and technical education. Future Building Fridays offers us a great way to make that connection.”

While the tech industry, and other key sectors, will create more than 100,000 high-wage, high-growth job openings region-wide over the next decade, the lead influencers on students’ post-secondary careers (such as counselors, teachers and parents) are often unaware that these careers exist, let alone, how to access needed training.

Educators must constantly update their knowledge and skills about current workplace practices, requirements and tools by gaining an “on the ground” understanding of economic and career trends that will affect their students. This is where Future Building Fridays comes in. Through first-hand interactions with employers in high-growth sectors, teachers and guidance counselors have the opportunity to see, touch and feel the array of jobs available.

About Search Influence

Search Influence is a national, full-service online marketing company based in New Orleans, La. The only New Orleans firm on the 2011 Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, Search Influence is the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast. It has hundreds of direct and partner customers, including local merchants and clients in the automotive industry, law, plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry and dermatology industries as well as publishers and Yellow Pages companies who provide SEO and other online marketing products for their advertisers.

About GNO Inc.

GNO, Inc. is the regional economic development organization, serving to coordinate, consolidate, and catalyze economic development activity. The GNO, Inc. Mission is to create jobs and wealth in the Greater New Orleans community. The GNO, Inc. Vision is for the Greater New Orleans region to fulfill its potential as one of the best places in the country to grow a company, and raise a family.  More information can be found at www.gnoinc.org.

About the New Orleans Business Alliance

A public-private partnership, the New Orleans Business Alliance is the official economic development organization for the city of New Orleans. Its creation resulted from a long-term effort by the business community to adopt national best practices in economic development for the growth of Orleans Parish. NOLABA’s 17-member Board comprises a cross-section of New Orleans leaders, including Mayor Mitch Landrieu and a diverse group of business professionals. For more information on NOLABA and Prosperity NOLA, the city’s five-year plan for economic growth, please visit www.nolaba.org.

Will Scott, CEO and co-founder of Search Influence, the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast, says auto dealers in particular can supercharge content marketing strategies using infographics, compelling photos and videos. Scott will join Mat Siltala and David Mink of Avalaunch Media to detail real-world visual content marketing strategies as a featured speaker at the 18th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition in Tampa, Fla., Thursday, April 23.

Scott’s session, “The Power of Visual Content – Learn to Dominate the Competition with Shareable Visual Content,” is set for 10 a.m. at the Tampa Convention Center.

“With social media sites putting more and more emphasis on visual content, auto dealers have a real opportunity to stand out online using compelling car photos, video testimonials and data-rich graphics to tell their brand story,” he said. Scott has been helping small businesses succeed online since 1994, and now leads nearly 100 professionals at Search Influence who put results first and help businesses successfully market online.

With the Avalaunch team, Scott will discuss the types of visual content that matter most to the auto dealer industry, and will also give tips on social media strategy to make sure compelling visual content is seen and shared.

About Search Influence

Search Influence is a national, full-service online marketing company based in New Orleans, La. The only New Orleans firm on the 2011 Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, Search Influence is the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast. It has hundreds of direct and partner customers, including local merchants and clients in the automotive industry, law, plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry and dermatology industries as well as publishers and Yellow Pages companies who provide SEO and other online marketing products for their advertisers.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans are now smartphone owners, and for many, their smartphones are a vital entry point to the online world, according to a survey released this month by the Pew Research Center. That means today’s savvy small businesses are looking for a winning mobile website strategy—a key trend in online marketing, according to Will Scott, CEO and co-founder of Search Influence, the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast. Scott will discuss this strategy as a featured speaker at the 2015 Local Search Association Conference in Los Angeles, Calif., Monday, April 20 at 1:30 p.m.

“Mobile Internet usage is growing at a startling rate. For many of our clients in local businesses, mobile is now approaching a whopping 50 percent of their reported traffic—and that’s just the beginning of this surge,” Scott said. “Coming April 21, Google will focus on mobile-friendly websites, which means small businesses must pay attention to their mobile strategy in order to continue to attract customers.”

Scott has been helping small businesses succeed online since 1994, and now leads nearly 100 professionals at Search Influence, who put results first and help businesses successfully market online.

Scott is speaking as a part of the Local Search Association’s newly launched in-depth workshops April 20. Access is included with conference registration, but space is limited. Reserve a spot online.

About Search Influence

Search Influence is a national, full-service online marketing company based in New Orleans, La. The only New Orleans firm on the 2011 Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, Search Influence is the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast. It has hundreds of direct and partner customers, including local merchants and clients in the law, plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry and dermatology industries as well as publishers and Yellow Pages companies who provide SEO and other online marketing products for their advertisers.

Will Scott, CEO and co-founder of Search Influence, the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast, will share some top strategies for local businesses (and the online marketers who love them) to harness the power of content marketing to attract customers. As a featured speaker at the 2015 Association of Directory Publishers Annual Conventions and Partners Trade Show, Scott will share his tips during a session Tuesday, April 14 at 1:30 p.m. The conference, hosted by an international trade association serving the online directory industry, is held in in Orlando, Fla.

The full agenda is available online.

“Small businesses today must make their online content ‘sticky.’ There is so much content on the Internet and only so many connected hours in the day,” Scott said. He has been helping small businesses succeed online since 1994, and now leads nearly 100 professionals at Search Influence who put results first and help businesses successfully market online.

In order to create content that will engage new and current customers alike, Scott will detail real-world strategies every small business can use, including:

• Focus on what people want to know: Produce online content—whether for a website or for social media channels like Facebook—that communicates what people want to know, from answering real questions and providing product information before a purchase to communicating the latest news and entertainment. This doesn’t just apply to text: Small businesses can use images, infographics and videos, too.
• Get that knowledge to the people: Sharing content begins by posting it online to social media sites, a business website or even a corporate or business blog. In fact, 82 percent of marketers who blog daily gained customers using their blog, according to HubSpot.
• Pay to Play: “Sorry, it’s not all available for free in a content-littered world,” Scott said. “With so much great content flowing online, it can be a struggle to get noticed.” Pay-to-play is a hard reality when sharing content on social media platforms like Facebook. Your fans on social media aren’t really yours, and the network decides what they’ll see. Scott will discuss how small businesses can make sure good content reaches the people who are interested—all on a budget of $100 or less for a promoted post.

The Association of Directory Publishers—serving an industry that mainly focuses on providers of Yellow Pages content—strives to highlight the features, benefits and effectiveness of print and online business directories.

About Search Influence

Search Influence is a national, full-service online marketing company based in New Orleans, La. The only New Orleans firm on the 2011 Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, Search Influence is the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast. It has hundreds of direct and partner customers, including local merchants and clients in the law, plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry and dermatology industries as well as publishers and Yellow Pages companies who provide SEO and other online marketing products for their advertisers.

Will Scott, CEO and co-founder of Search Influence, the largest online marketing company on the Gulf Coast, will prove why social media is still a powerful sales tool for small businesses. Scott is a featured speaker for SearchFest 2015—a digital marketing conference held Friday, Feb. 27 in Portland, Oregon, organized by nonprofit association SEMpdx. At the conference, Scott will detail strategies and techniques small businesses can use to realize a tangible return on investment from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and other social media.