00:01:13 · Ezekiel Iferia, Elias Curtis
[00:01:13] S0: Son, honor. So let's get this started. You know, let's start with the simplest question, Elias. You've been doing digital growth work for over seventeen years. You know, you've seen websites go from simple brochures to complex engines. So what's the single biggest operational mistake you see business owners making, you know, when they try to scale their own presence in this day and age? [00:01:42] S1: I would say the biggest problem that we're facing is fragmentation. So as long as systems are broken, right, and they're not put together properly, then you're going to have issues along the line, especially when it comes to scalability. So we first have to address the fragmentation first, which is what we believe is to be the biggest problem for the systems to grow. [00:02:07] S0: Alright. So you talk about fragmentation. You know? Talk about systems being broken. So could you go into more depth on us? Could you elaborate what what are the systems in concern here that needs to not be broken?
00:02:07 · Ezekiel Iferia, Elias Curtis
[00:02:07] S0: Alright. So you talk about fragmentation. You know? Talk about systems being broken. So could you go into more depth on us? Could you elaborate what what are the systems in concern here that needs to not be broken? [00:02:23] S1: Sure. So when we're talking about business systems, as far as the operating part of it, we're talking about the brand, right? The messaging, and then that flows over into website design and development, as well as social media, online listings, SEO, GEO, and then finally marketing, right? Any of those pieces that are missing, you're going to pretty much be lacking in your effectiveness to grow online and also to gain authority, like a presence that is strong on the internet. So yeah, it's just really just filling those gaps and then making sure that the system is not broken, right? So we have to look at everything and that's what we do. We audit the entire system. We audit positioning of businesses to make sure that they have everything they need to succeed in this space. [00:03:25] S0: Alright. Alright, Elias. Well, I'm a bit curious on this one. What's on the flip side of fragmentation? So is it that they are all working together? Is there a system to make everything flow together? What's on the opposite side of it?
00:03:42 · Elias Curtis
[00:03:42] S1: Yeah. So there's a creative side, and then there's the technical side. Right? So the creative side is what the business looks like from the outside. It has to do with color schemes, logo design, overall feel of the business, the style, the messaging, what is this business getting across to clients or customers, right? Is it a sales based product service business or is it service based business where they offer different services? And so it's really meeting the clients or the customer where they're at to show them this is what you perhaps need or they just don't know. They want something or they may be confused about a specific product and they need more information. That's where search comes in and be able to answer those questions that are very, very important. The technical side of it will just be building the infrastructure. To build a system, you have to have structure, you have to have a strong foundation on which to build your business on. That's why domains are important, the overall branding is important, the consistency. You have to look the same across the board. No matter where someone goes online and they see your business and see what you have to offer, there's no confusion. There's nothing lacking if you will, as far as the brand itself. Then you move into the website and then the website is like the hub, right? Want to build that position up as much as possible because you're going to have the most traffic flow going to your website. And so for service based businesses, leads are very important. That's why when get into lead generation and lead conversion, you want to have those pages specific for that goal. So one of the biggest pain points that service based businesses have is not enough leads. Then when they do get leads, they don't convert. So you can send a bunch of traffic to a site, but if those leads are not converting, then they fall through the wayside and then the business loses revenue, they lose opportunity for sales. And so we go in there, we close all the gaps. We say, okay, you can have a chat bot here, you can have a form over here, you can have your CTA, which just stands for call to action over here, one goal, right? So you don't want to confuse the visitor or the user, you want to just set it up in a way where it's simple enough for anybody to go on your site and know exactly what to do.
00:06:13 · Elias Curtis, Ezekiel Iferia
And then marketing is more paid advertising, but that's a whole another thing. But it's like, you want to make sure everything is built first before you start driving traffic to your site. [00:06:27] S0: Absolutely. Thank you very much. That was a really insightful one, Elias. So, you know, you've said most businesses don't have a traffic problem. They have a conversion problem. They have a conversion problem, like you said. You generate the most leads. You know, you can send the most traffic to your website, but, you know, they aren't really converting, you know, into real leads. So why are businesses bleeding leads without realizing it?
00:06:57 · Elias Curtis
[00:06:57] S1: Going back to that fragmentation again. Right? So you you can have a a nice looking website. I mean, it is very, very high quality. It's polished. It just looks good, right? But yet there's missing parts to it that helps with the conversion process. This is where AI integration comes into now. You're able to automate systems in the back ends, workflows, if you will, and be able to program the AI assistant to act as if it's an assistant or an employee. So for example, you have a chat, right? So chats, I mean, you know, more people are using them today than they did before, right? So the thing is, we're so used to just wanting to talk to real people, which is good. We still want to have that real person engagement, but sometimes people are just not available to answer the right questions. Now it's programming the AI to be able to have a full on conversation with the visitor. So when they go on the website and they're having a whole conversation with an AI that basically has a knowledge graph of everything you're about as far as your business and who you are, then it can answer questions quickly and efficiently so when the person walks away from the site, they got everything they needed to make an informed decision about whatever they're looking for. That's just one example. We have other examples of how this works out, but it's really catching the leads where they're where they're at and making sure that nothing falls through the cracks. And we can set this up where it's SMS text messaging, we can automate it so it comes through an app right up to their phone and get notified of a lead that's real time. And they can actually go on the app and have a whole conversation with the visitor right there on the spot. So we just set everything up in a way where it's almost impossible for you to lose a lead. And if you're getting a bunch of leads and you don't follow-up and you don't engage them, then of course you're going to lose them eventually. But that's more just being active and being ready for when leads come in. So everybody has to be prepared for that.
00:09:09 · Ezekiel Iferia
[00:09:09] S0: Alright. So, you know, you've said that the game has shifted from SEO to GEO, you know, generative engine optimization. So, you know, explain to us what that mean in plain language. How does... You know, how is finding a business through chat, GPT, or Gemini different from finding it through Google?