Not having a website for your business is all but unheard of today, but there’s a difference between a website and a good website. What does a good website mean for a business?
“A strong website is the nervous system for any business,” says Adept Marketing Co-Founder Justin Spring. “It’s the central point where new customers are introduced to the company, and it’s also a place where current customers reengage with the company.” No website and neither of those things can happen.
Adept has been helping businesses grow by designing strong websites since 2007.
“We were talking about accountability before it was cool to talk about accountability,” Spring says. It means showing clients that they care, and being accountable for what they say they can deliver.
The firm integrates a number of services to give businesses a strong online presence. Their repertoire includes web design and development, pay per click, search engine optimization and content marketing.
“Our core focus is in trying to integrate every opportunity online to reach more qualified customers,” Spring says.
Their first clients were primarily small businesses, but as the company has expanded, so have the clients. Major corporations and public companies now make the list.
However, it’s a desire to stay in touch with their roots that inspired a recent website giveaway, rewarding the winner with a $20K custom-built, lead-generating website.
“One of the things we wanted to be careful about was not losing our passion for the small biz and entrepreneur,” Spring says. “Doing this website giveaway was a way to kind of invest some time and energy and resources into saying, yes, Adept is growing and the size of the clients we work with is growing, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in continuing to support small businesses that have big dreams.”
When Adept made the call for small businesses to enter, “We were looking for a business that had already kind of proven itself to have strong potential, but could really benefit from a stronger internet presence,” Spring says. They were looking for a company that not only had a solid business model, but one that could potentially have a big impact on the local economy.
Insert obligatory winner, winner chicken dinner reference, but Hot Chicken Takeover was named the inaugural recipient of Adept’s website giveaway. The southern-style fried chicken eatery has had a whirlwind year, growing from a pop-up location in Olde Towne East, to a bustling North Market locale with a mobile venture on the horizon on 2015. It’s popular, it’s got an almost cult-like following – and now it’s time for their website to catch up.
“What was interesting about Hot Chicken Takeover is that they’ve done an incredible job building a loyal and passionate customer base with extremely limited resources,” Spring says.
There were multiple factors that led to HCT’s selection.
“The judges and Adept believe the business has strong potential based on its current standing,” Spring says. “We believe it’s likely to provide a positive impact on the community.” In addition to feel-good comfort food, there’s a feel-good component to the business model, with the outfit employing those that would otherwise have a hard time finding a position.
Also, quite simply, the business wasn’t at a point where spending that amount of money on a website was feasible. Spring says although it wouldn’t have been easy, several entrants likely could have found a way to build a website. He predicts the new HCT website will be valuable in helping them achieve future plans, in addition to providing a platform to interact with customers.
Adept expects the website to be up and running sometime during Q1 of 2015. There’s no definite word on when or if the contest will happen again, but Spring hopes that it could become an annual event.
For more information, visit marketingadept.com.
