Thrive Services Used
Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Marketing
Web Support
Email Marketing
Project Overview
Business Factors is one of the leading factoring companies in the U.S., serving more than 25 locations in North America. The company offers several financing options for various businesses, including contract financing, payroll funding, oil and gas financing, technology and freight factoring.
The client partnered with Thrive Internet Marketing Agency to generate significant gains in funded/booked deals year-over-year (YoY). Since the search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns launched in 2017, Thrive has helped the company boost its funded deals YoY.
From 108 booked deals in 2016, we generated a 41% increase in 2017, a 20% increase in 2018 and a 15% increase in 2019.
Additionally, our combined SEO and PPC efforts significantly increased the client’s digital performance, generating a remarkable 1,118% boost in organic keyword rankings, a 546% increase in conversion rate and a 15% increase in leads.
The Results
+546%
Conversion Rate
+1,118%
Organic Keyword Rankings
+317%
Ranked Pages
+15%
Funded Deals
To track the client’s optimization success, Thrive set key performance indicators (KPIs) for the campaign. We analyzed the client’s keyword rankings, total traffic and top completed goals.
Our SEO campaign has generated the following year-over-year results since its inception in 2017:
- Organic Search: +51%
- Organic SEO Traffic: +43%
- Average Time on Page: +21%
- Conversion Rate: +546%
- Live Chat: +11,400%
From January 2017 to September 2024, Business Factors experienced extraordinary growth in organic keyword rankings, increasing from 169 ranked keywords to 2,058 — an impressive 1,118% increase.
Thrive’s SEO efforts also drove greater online visibility for the client, increasing the number of top pages in the organic search results from only 84 ranked pages in January 2017 to 350 ranked pages in September 2024 – a 317% increase.
From January 2017 to September 2024, the client’s referring domains grew from 114 to 527, marking a 362% increase. This substantial growth in referring domains indicates a stronger backlink profile, which boosted the company’s domain authority and overall search engine rankings.
Social media has generated the highest site traffic, with a 1,175% increase in sessions, 1,070% of which is from new visitors.
We also noted the following paid search improvements in 2019:
- Assignable Leads: +2,721
- Total Leads: +2,970
- Google Ads Leads: +2,088
- YoY Spend Efficiency: +8%
Results showed a drastic decrease in unqualified leads, unassignable leads, cost per assignable lead and Google Ads cost-per-lead (CPL).
Despite keeping YoY ad spend relatively stable, Business Factors saw a notable improvement in PPC performance as well:
- Leads: +15%
- Cost Per Lead: -13%
- Cost Per Assignable Lead (Qualified Salesforce Lead): -3%
These results were achieved without being negatively impacted by the 18.7% cost per click (CPC) increase from 2022 to 2023.
The Execution
After a down year in 2016, Business Factors contacted Thrive to help with its digital marketing strategy. Our SEO team found significant issues requiring immediate action during the initial site audit. These included:
- 250 duplicate title tags
- 43 missing meta descriptions
- 104 meta descriptions that were too long
- 250 pages with duplicate H1 headings
- 11 broken internal links
- 696 URLs producing a 404 error code
- 139 location data errors
Our web support team has also been pivotal in diagnosing issues with web forms posting into Salesforce. We also conduct comprehensive Core Web Vitals (CWV) optimizations on their site every month to maintain peak performance and optimal user experience.
The initial goal was to fix these high-priority issues. Once these were addressed, Thrive’s online marketing strategy revolved around improving the client’s ranking and visibility for top-targeted keywords, boosting site traffic and, ultimately, increasing conversions.
After a thorough site audit and analysis, we found plenty of opportunities for on-page and paid search optimizations. Initially, Thrive’s on-page optimization strategy covered:
- Meta description audit and changes
- Deep page title audit and adjustments
- Factoring directory GEO content strategy for states
- Google Business Profile (GBP) listing
- Weekly keyword rankings review
We also implemented pay-per-click marketing tactics to supplement the organic lead generation. Our PPC optimization strategy included:
- In-depth account analysis
- Reviewing landing pages and organic conversions
- Building new landing pages
- Budget pacing review and adjustments
Each campaign, targeted to a specific state or major city, has a dedicated landing page designed to cater to a particular audience segment. To easily build, customize and manage all 150+ landing pages, we used Instapage, a powerful landing page creation platform.
Additionally, we’ve improved targeting based on their top-converting business development managers in specific geographic areas, refining our strategy to spend ad dollars where the leads get worked by a better business development manager.
Thrive has also set up and optimized the client’s local business listings in the top 67 review sites, including Yelp, Google+, Insider Pages and MapQuest.
Since this is an ongoing campaign, we will continue to claim, optimize and monitor listings and reviews on these relevant review sites. Our team also makes necessary updates as the SEO budget time allows, which helps us maintain a high ranking in search results.
Email Marketing Project Overview
Following the success of the SEO and PPC campaigns, the client contacted Thrive to optimize its email marketing strategy in various stages of its sales funnel. Prior to the consultation, all the client’s communication modes were manual, and no templated emails were used, which took up more time for the sales team.
To streamline the client’s email marketing process, Thrive designed four email templates that match its website branding. Depending on the lead capture stage’s qualifications, each design is implemented in its auto-responses and workflows.
APPLICATION INITIAL FOLLOW-UP EMAIL
TWO-WEEK FOLLOW-UP EMAIL
UNQUALIFIED APPLICANT EMAIL
RE-ENGAGEMENT EMAIL
Executing The Strategy
Thrive met with the client to determine the different stages in its sales funnel once a prospect has provided the details necessary to receive loan information. After identifying the credit approval process, Thrive classified the types of leads reaching out to the client for financing and began the email design process.
Thrive used AMP HTML email code in creating the email templates to facilitate more dynamic and interactive email communications between the client and its leads. This code enables accordion menus, drop-downs and additional elements not previously possible with the old email version.
