Search Influence In The News

Prestigious, annual ranking showcases the fastest-growing private companies in America

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Inc. magazine this week recognized Search Influence on its 36th annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. This list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent entrepreneurs. Companies such as Yelp, Pandora, Timberland, Dell, Domino’s Pizza, LinkedIn, Zillow, and many other industry leaders gained early exposure as members of the Inc. 5000.

The Inc. 5000 is a list of the fastest-growing private companies in the nation. Started in 1982, this prestigious list has become the hallmark of entrepreneurial success.

“We’re excited to continue to grow and to have that growth recognized by inclusion on this list. We are proudly based in New Orleans and very pleased Search Influence now employs almost 60 of the area’s best and brightest,” said Will Scott, CEO and co-founder of Search Influence.

As part of its continued commitment to the growth of its team, Search Influence recently announced a revamp of its comp and benefits detailed in the: Search Influence Compensation Philosophy, New and Improved for 2017 which previews some of the biggest changes Search Influence has implemented to improve the employee experience.

“Our employees are our greatest investment and we’re hopeful that with the recent changes, prospective employees and current team members, will see Search Influence as a very progressive employer when it comes to pay, benefits, paid time off, and the ability to work hard, do great work, and take advantage of all of the great things that life in New Orleans has to offer,” said Angie Scott, COO and co-founder of Search Influence.

For more information about Search Influence or for a listing of open job opportunities, please visit www.searchinfluence.com.

About Search Influence

A national digital marketing company based in New Orleans, Search Influence specializes in optimizing potential. Search Influence focuses on clients’ return on investment as a full-service, digitally focused marketing firm offering a range of services that support the customer journey from brand awareness to delight, including search engine optimization, paid digital advertising, social media management, and advanced analytics and tracking.

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, the Gulf Coast’s largest online marketing agency, has earned distinguishment through the recognition of its co-founders, Will and Angie Scott. Will and Angie have been named to the Silicon Bayou 100 Most Influential People of 2016. To be featured, the Louisiana entrepreneurial and technology community at large, casts anonymous nominations; those who garner the most votes are recognized in the prestigious list of 100.

Silicon Bayou News compiles the list of 100 honorees each year in an effort to highlight the most active and influential entrepreneurs and technology innovators in Louisiana today. Will has been named to the list for the last six years, Angie for the last four. This award recognizes both Will and Angie’s commitment and dedication to technology in the New Orleans area.

“We are thrilled to have made this prestigious list again and to be a part of this growing technology community,” said Will. He and wife Angie started Search Influence 11 years ago in a spare bedroom in their New Orleans home. Now Search Influence is the largest online marketing firm in the region 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, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. 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.

Search Influence, the Gulf Coast’s largest online marketing agency, announced its CEO and Sales and Partner Strategist are recipients of two prestigious ADDY Awards conferred by the AAF (American Advertising Federation) affiliated New Orleans Ad Club. Will Scott. CEO and Co-founder of Search Influence, and Gabrielle Benedetto, Sales and Partner Strategist, were awarded Agency’s Executive of the Year and the Online Sales Person of the Year, respectively. The rigorous award competition looks at over 40,000 entries spread across numerous markets each year.

The New Orleans Ad Club, as per their mission, advocates honesty and professionalism in the field of advertising. The organization adheres to the strict submission standards of the AAF when considering its finalist(s). The resulting award recipients are regarded as the best in their respective markets and considered stewards of creative excellence in their region.

“It’s always humbling to be recognized by your peers for doing what you love: helping others succeed, “ said Will. “We value this award for what it represents for our team and the hard work they do for our clients each and every day.”

Search Influence provides 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, 2015, and 2016. 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 entire team contributed to this recognition,” said Gabrielle. Echoing Will’s sentiment, Gabrielle added, “To say this award was a collaborative effort, would be an understatement.”

Search Influence, a local Internet marketing company, has recently promoted Paula Keller French to Director of Sales and Marketing from her previous role as Director of Account Management. In her new position, Keller French will help create digital marketing strategies for businesses that will allow them to find more customers online.

French received a marketing degree from the E.J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University and has worked with Search Influence since 2009 with a wide array of large and small businesses, both locally and nationwide. Throughout her SEO experience, she has learned technical and strategic online marketing strategies to help businesses succeed.

“Paula’s experience developing strategies and running campaigns for hundreds of clients gives her a unique understanding of the marketing and business challenges in today’s changing landscape,” said Will Scott, co-founder, and CEO of Search Influence. “In her new role, she will help even more businesses understand that there are answers and that marketing can be accountable to ROI with the right mix of expertise.”

One of the key foundations of Search Influence’s client success is consistent, flexible communication on how we optimize strategy to achieve continuing growth in customer acquisition. “One of the biggest frustrations we hear from businesses is not knowing if their marketing dollars are well spent,” said Keller French. “We have a team of marketing experts who develop strategies that optimize our customers’  business potential and proprietary technology that allows clients to clearly see ROI.”

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.

Search Influence, the Gulf Coast’s largest online marketing agency, has been named a Best Place to Work by New Orleans CityBusiness in its 14th annual survey. To be considered, Search Influence had to complete an extensive nomination form disclosing workforce data such as salaries, benefits, retention levels, and employee advancement. Then, company employees had to complete a survey to measure workplace culture.

CityBusiness selected 35 honorees in the large company category (more than 50 employees) and 15 honorees in the small business category (fewer than 50 employees). With almost 80 full-time employees in New Orleans and 100+ contracted writers, Search Influence is an honoree in the large company category. All 50 companies chosen will be honored at an awards event on Friday, Dec. 2. The top three large and small companies will be announced at the event.

This is the second time Search Influence has been named a Best Place to Work in New Orleans; the first time was in 2012.

“While we’re proud of all of our awards and accolades we have received in the 10 years Search Influence has been in business, this is the one we cherish the most,” said Will Scott, CEO and co-founder of Search Influence. “Our goal has always been to provide the best possible workplace for our employees. In order to do that, this year, our team developed a list of core values—collaborative, hungry, agile, reliable, genuine, effective, and dedicated—that we could all embrace, celebrate, and reward. We call it “CHARGED.”

“Every day, all team members have the opportunity through KUDOS cards to recognize their colleagues when they demonstrate a core value,” added Angie Scott, COO and co-founder of Search Influence.

“This daily recognition has created an atmosphere where people feel valued and appreciated. The best Kudos cards are chosen, and those team members get gift cards to area businesses,” added Angie. To keep CHARGED top-of-mind, Search Influence created posters, banners, and mouse pads, which can be found all over the office.

According to Paula Keller French, Director of Account Management, “What makes Search Influence different from other companies is that our core values are known and truly embraced by everyone. We hire smart people who embody our values. There isn’t any ambiguity on if a person would be a good fit or not.”

Search Influence, an internet marketing company based in New Orleans, hired Mildred Padilla as its new product manager. She will coordinate the execution of plans for new online marketing products while improving existing products.

Padilla comes to the company with vast experience across a wide range of industries. She worked in software, commerce, marketing, and media. She specializes in transforming complex ideas into tangible products. During her time at Google, she worked on the YouTube and Android teams, where she helped launch the “Play” store. She devised a plan to effectively fuse the needs of the customers, movie and television studios and the development community. While at Warner Bros. and MGM, Padilla helped launch the latest Blu-Ray products and bring to life the latest installment of the Harry Potter franchise.

“At nearly 11 years old, Search Influence is a maturing company with a considerably more complex offering of services and products. We realize that we need someone whose sole focus is assuring our offerings are up to date and represent our best work,” said Will Scott, co-founder, and CEO of Search Influence.

Padilla will continue to develop the best practices while supporting internal and external customers in identifying new opportunities. “We’re excited to have someone with Mildred’s varied and relevant experiences to assure we’re able to support all of our clients in the manner they deserve as both the organization and our product offerings continue to mature,” added Scott.

Inc. magazine today included Search Influence on its 35th annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent entrepreneurs. Companies such as Yelp, Pandora, Timberland, Dell, Domino’s Pizza, LinkedIn, Zillow, and many other well-known names gained early exposure as members of the Inc. 5000.

The Inc. 5000 is a list of the fastest-growing private companies in the nation. Started in 1982, this prestigious list of the nation’s most successful private companies has become the hallmark of entrepreneurial success.

“We’re thrilled that what started in a spare bedroom after Hurricane Katrina has now grown into one of America’s fastest-growing private companies. We love that we are based in New Orleans and are proud that Search Influence now employs almost 80 of the area’s best and brightest,” said Will Scott, CEO and co-founder of Search Influence.

“We hire smart, local people and train them to be expert online marketers,” said Angie Scott, COO and co-founder of Search Influence. Depending on their role, new employees receive 40-60 hours of training during a 3-month onboarding process. “It is important to us that our staff understands online marketing and can offer true solutions to help grow our customers’ businesses,” added Angie.

For more information about Search Influence or for a listing of open job opportunities, please visit www.searchinfluence.com.

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.