Businesses need good internet.
It sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s a mantra that Richard Conway, founder and CEO of Pure SEO, attributes to the continued success and growth of his SEO company.
An Auckland-based digital marketing agency specializing in helping small to medium businesses with SEO, SEM, CRO, social media, content and online advertising, Pure SEO was founded in 2009 “with a laptop and a website that looked built it like a kid,” says Conway.
Fast forward from those humble beginnings to today, and Pure SEO has grown to include 96 employees in multiple countries, making it the largest SEO agency in New Zealand. In fact, the company has been ranked as one of the fastest growing Deloitte 500 technology companies in the Asia Pacific region every year from 2012-2018.
What is the secret of such success? Besides a deep understanding and knowledge of SEO and all things digital – which Conway and his team obviously possess – he’d tell you the key to his company’s rapid growth is as simple as having good connectivity.
Why good internet matters
With so much business being conducted online these days, connectivity is critical at all times.
“I have close to 70 people in my office in Auckland,” says Conway, who uses Voyager Internet for his business broadband. “They are all on the internet at the same time. We use web crawlers; we are doing all kinds of very intense stuff. There are constantly large files syncing, lots of data and things like that. If our connectivity wasn’t up to par, it would make my life so much more difficult.”
When Covid hit, Conway saw first-hand the detrimental effects poor connectivity had on his colleagues as everyone started working from home.
“I am part of the Entrepreneur’s Organization, and when Covid kicked in, we had meetings every week. I heard from these other business owners about the problems with their internet at home,” says Conway. “Meanwhile, the Voyager broadband at my house just always worked, so I had video calls and everything without problems. That’s really the point where I became a big advocate for Voyager because I saw what other people were going through, and I didn’t go through it myself. Broadband issues are the last thing you need in that situation,” he says.
Connectivity has real business consequences
Coming out of the Covid restrictions, Conway has a new bigger picture of a business owner.
“The world has changed,” he notes. “It’s not just about having a good internet provider in your office, it’s also about having it at home. As a business owner, if you have crappy internet at home, it affects everything.”
For Pure SEO, good broadband is also instrumental for sales, as fewer transactions take place in person.
“Our salespeople have switched from face-to-face – where you can build a relationship – to video calls. I didn’t think there would be many leads closed on video because you can’t build the same relationship. But having decent internet on video calls made a difference because there’s nothing worse than getting a cold call where someone is cracking in and out and they have to stop the video because the bandwidth isn’t enough. And that has real business consequences.”
To find the right supplier
Conway credits the success of Pure SEO to having Voyager as his provider, both at his office and at home. “Voyager literally helped our business grow through Covid, and we couldn’t have grown without them. That’s why I can’t speak highly enough of them,” he says.
“We’ve been using Voyager for eight or nine years, in both my office and my home. Before Voyager, we used another provider at the office, and we had connection issues. With so much of our business online, this has caused a lot of stress. Since the move to Voyager, the internet has just crushed it.”
Advocacy for New Zealand businesses
Conway has been in the game since 2002 and has a wealth of knowledge and advice to share with Kiwi business owners. Along with providing high quality digital marketing services, he is also an advocate for home and small business across the country, lending his time and expertise to various organizations.
One organization close to his heart is The David Awards, which recognize and celebrate the unsung heroes in NZ small and home businesses.
“Pure SEO won the David Awards in 2013, and that was quite a defining moment for us,” says Conway. “We were nine or ten people at the time, and it really had a massive impact on the business and our people.” Now, Conway donates his time, technical abilities and funds to help grow the David Awards as a pivotal member of the board.
“The David Awards are there to help small and micro businesses because there is nothing else out there for them,” he says. “New Zealand is built on small and micro enterprises; that’s where I started, as a one-man band. It’s the businesses that need the recognition and support, and that’s what the David Awards are all about.”
You can watch an interview with Richard Conway here, where he shares insights and thoughts on being a business owner in NZ, plus more valuable thoughts on SEO and the digital landscape.
For more information about Voyager business broadband (and other business-focused solutions), click here or contact their experts on 0800 4 VOICE or [email protected]
