27 July 2021
By Roger Jones
roger@TheCork.ie
When Cork native Ian Carroll launched his own digital marketing agency in April of 2019 he couldn’t have imagined the major obstacles that would’ve presented themselves so early on.
Less than a year after beginning operations, the Coronavirus hit Irish shores and completely changed the landscape of the business world in a matter of weeks. With bricks and mortar businesses shuttered, the already rapid shift to online shopping accelerated.
SEO Services Cork
A digital presence was now more vital than ever, that’s where Ian Carroll and Digital Funnel stepped in
“We are proud to be regarded as the leading Cork SEO service provider – Search Engine Optimisation, which in layman’s terms means the process of improving your websites visibility when people search for it online. It’s a complex field, but ultimately the end goal is to make your website, or a specific page on your website, rank highly on online search engines and appear at the top of the search results.”
The vast majority of people don’t know how SEO works – Or how an SEO Agency can benefit your business. People within the SEO industry have warned for years that if you’re not ranking on the first page of the Google search results, you’re losing money –
“There is some truth to that yes, we would say if you’re getting little conversions from your website it means people can’t find you. Less than 2% of visitors will click to page 2 of Google so page 1 rankings are imperative. We often see businesses splash out on these lavish, gorgeous websites that have zero SEO optimisation. It’s like building a massive, state of the art boutique for your new clothes shop but having it located at the bottom of a cul-de-sac in the middle of nowhere, who is going to find it? SEO improves your online visibility, which in turn drives traffic and then, conversions. When we build a website it’s crafted in such a way to be functional, fast, aesthetically pleasing and fully optimised for SEO purposes.”
Business in Cork & SEO
Working with a number of different organisations from widely different fields, Digital Funnel has seen its client list and employees grow in the past 12 months. Ian Carroll said:
“Right at the beginning when I founded Digital Funnel I began working with a small handful of clients – O’Flynn Medical, Russell & Co Chartered Accountants and Wood Flooring Ireland, all fantastic Cork based businesses who’ve been with me since the outset. It’s a hugely satisfying process to work alongside these fantastic businesses and assist them especially through what has been a crazy year.
One client of Digital Funnel is John Russell, Founder and Partner at Russell & Co who said:
“I started working with Ian and the Digital Funnel team in late 2019 with a view to overhauling our online footprint, which, at that point was non-existent. I found the team to be great to work with. All aspects of the project were outlined from the outset, and I was updated as and when each milestone was achieved. The results for Russell & Co. have been nothing less than fantastic”
Despite the impact of Coronavirus, Carroll says that business is booming in Cork, with a number of clients actively expanding their businesses and taking on new challenges – “A real Cork success story is that of Wisetek, who we’ve been working with for over a year now. They are an IT Asset Disposition company with offices all over the world. They’re a truly global solution but we have primarily focused on assisting the organisation with their SEO strategies in the hugely competitive US market. They’re constantly evolving and growing the company and it has been fantastic working with them. Similarly, we helped the Cantec Group launch 3 new websites in recent months. Cantec is comprised of three separate businesses, Docutec, Promotive & SmartOffice AP and were recently in the news for launching their fantastic customs-clearance software which will significantly reduce the Brexit induced customs processing time.”
Expanding The Business
The growth isn’t all with the client list however, as Carroll has brought on 4 new full-time staff in the past 6 months.
“As the business began to grow it was time to scale it out and introduce some new team members. We specialise in SEO, but we’re also a complete Digital Agency. We offer PPC services, Web Design services and also are delighted to be now offering a great new Digital PR option. When all of these limbs of the same body work in tandem you can create huge results. For example, we’re delighted to work with a great, family-run, Cork business JK Electrical Services. Recently we blended our SEO strategies with some traditional social media campaigns, Digital PR efforts and email campaigns to great effect – The effort led to an inbox full of leads for the Solar Panel side of their business and a slew of customers signing up for their email newsletter.”
The Future of Digital Funnel & SEO In Cork
What’s next for Digital Funnel? The sky’s the limit, with a move in premises on the horizon and an exciting new offering.
“We’re currently in the process of transitioning into a bigger office, obviously once restrictions allow for it! As mentioned before, we recently began offering a Digital PR service for our clients and this is something that really sets us apart from the competition. Digital PR is much like your traditional PR, but far more geared towards the digital world. We’ve had some great success so far with the service, with a number of clients featuring in big online publications like The Journal.ie, Yahoo News, and Business.com.”
If you’re looking to increase your online presence the best way is to get in touch with an expert SEO Company. Digital Funnel specialises in SEO in Cork and all across Ireland. SEO can aid all types of businesses, from B2B, B2C, eCommerce sites and everything in between. If you’re looking to get ahead of the competition you can order a Free SEO Audit today.
