Safeguard—
Custom Coded Website Design, Maintenance & SEO
Safeguard
www.safeguard.ca
Introduction
Safeguard.ca is a B2B business that primarily focuses on offering essential services and products to businesses, primarily in Canada. They are the largest Safeguard vendor in Canada, operating independently from the main business in the US.
When I contacted Safeguard, their website was out-dated and ranking poorly among competitors. Their goal was to have a new website designed and developed, not only to reflect their status as an established brand but also to achieve the top ranking among all other Safeguard vendors on Google.
Goals
- Custom website designed and developed
- On-page SEO
- Rank website above all other Safeguard vendors in Canada
Process: Design & Development
As is often the case, the initial step for most projects involves redesigning a new website, and in this specific case, a custom coded website was also required. While I typically focus more on providing digital marketing services and don’t always undertake custom coded websites, I acquired the necessary skills during my college years. The customer specifically opted for my Gold Package, which included a custom website made from scratch.
The most important steps to in re-designing a website are to maintain the site structure (if they have existing Google rankings). And to extend upon the existing branding. Safeguard wasn’t ranking well among its competitors, and it’s branding needed some work. They expressed wanting the website to look sleek, minimalistic and professional.
Process: Ranking above other Safeguard vendors
As mentioned before, there are many Safeguard vendors in and out of Canada. Even though this client is the largest Safeguard vendor in Canada (and possibly North America!), they were ranking poorly for brand related searches, especially in Canada where most of their sales are made. Safeguard is a internationally known brand, so it get a lot of organic traffic.
Before re-designing the new website, I suggested that we use a .CA domain. Their old domain was something like “safeguard-business-systems.com”. I recommend they switch to “safeguard.ca”, because their goal was to rank high in Canada and appear as established as they are.
With this new domain name they would look like the primary Canadian Safeguard vendor, and generate more favourable rankings within Canada. After setting up the new domain, I implemented the on-page SEO.
This client never hired me for on-going SEO. I was hired only to provide on-page SEO. Often times, doing on-page SEO alone isn’t enough to get a website ranking well. But in the case of local-SEO, it’s sometimes enough if the business has been around long enough and the on-page SEO is on-point.
“I’ve notice lately a lot more people calling me from Google searches all over North America.” – Peter Probst, owner of Safeguard.
Conclusion
Long story short, the website was a success. The client has been coming back for repeated business for years now. And did I mention that they were my first client? And largest one too! It felt incredible when the owner offered me to meet him at a business conference he was hosting, and said yes to my proposal.
They were very pleased with the website, and have sent me referrals from business owners who were impressed by their website.
Safeguard is now ranking #2 in Canada (just below the main Safeguard website) for search terms such as “Safeguard”, which gets ~2,400 searches per month within Canada (and 22,200 searches in the US, which they also do business in).
