Website Closers® presents a Website Development and Digital Marketing Agency that has proven to be popular with its eCommerce clients, who have stayed on as repeat customers for several years, trusting this company to oversee the growth of their eCommerce storefronts.
Operating mainly on the Upwork platform, the company has attracted a growing number of clients for a host of projects that are handled by their team of skilled and professional contractors. With an average contract size of $20,000, the company has clients that come back to them repeatedly with new projects and they maintain a strong stream of recurring revenue, with most clients staying on for two years or more. They are now among the top 1% of Upwork agencies in the country.
What that means for a buyer of this business is steady recurring revenues from their onboarded clients, who have been so satisfied with the company’s unique web development, marketing, and design services that this agency has been able to rely entirely on word-of-mouth referrals to drive sales, and that positions this company for tremendous scale opportunities.
The most obvious next step for this business is to launch a new marketing division that could apply the same digital marketing techniques to this agency’s future growth as it has to the growth of their clients over the years.
The firm was successfully built on recurring revenue streams, and the loyalty and commitment of their clients reflect the agency’s dedication to creating elegant, efficient, and creative digital solutions that enable their customers to grow on their own terms. A key aspect of the company’s success has been their experienced team, a group of skilled employees available to stay on post-acquisition.
As more and more businesses come to rely on an online presence to attract customers and drive sales, the market for digital marketing continues to soar. The global digital marketing market was valued at $321 billion in 2022, and the industry is projected to reach $671 billion by 2028, a massive growth curve that demonstrates how many new eCommerce companies are coming online, in need of professional assistance on a host of projects, from designing their website to be user friendly to perfecting their content marketing plan.
This agency is a good example of how a business takes full advantage of those trends, so let’s take a closer look at their history to fully understand how much this organization has accomplished.
They have become comprehensive web partners for their clients.
This agency’s goal from the start was to provide some clarity and direction for clients looking to grow their online business in a highly competitive eCommerce environment. Made up of veteran software engineers, project managers, designers and consultants, their services include providing web development on popular sites such as WordPress, Shopify and Magento, handling marketing services on Facebook and Google and providing clients with branding guides, while also doing design services that include UI/UX audits.
Launched in November 2019, the company has built up its client base so quickly that they now enjoy $137,000 in annual recurring revenue, and they have 10 ongoing client contractors for fixed price work. They have relationships with six other agencies that provide them with steady referrals.
The company also provides white-label development services to five agencies focused on either digital marketing or SEO.
With an average contract size of $20,000, 50% of their work is on building new websites for clients, followed by support and maintenance for those sites (which is 30% of their sales), hosting and page speed packages (10%) and marketing and design services (an additional 10%).
Their work remains steady year-round, although since eCommerce companies tend to see their sales peak during Black Friday or around Christmas, requests for new projects come in at a much faster pace around the fourth quarter.
Their team is uniquely talented at what they do.
The company employs one salaried worker, their account manager, and contractors who handle the projects that are sent to them. The team manages all projects so that the current ownership spends no more than 15 hours per week operating the business, and often as little as 10 hours. The account manager runs the day-to-day operations, communicating with clients and the development team, and the team is ready to stay on after the business is sold.
This agency primarily appeals to small to mid-sized eCommerce businesses that need assistance and resources with projects ranging from web development to marketing, and the Upwork site has proven to be a valuable lead generation tool for them.
Upwork is a rapidly growing platform that generated nearly $500 million in 2021, while employers on Upwork spend a combined $2.52 billion annually. Upwork has been a consistent sales driver for this brand.
This agency’s client base has been highly satisfied with their work. The company has a low 10% churn rate, while the average client stays on for at least two years. The company also runs servers for long-term clients.
Marketing represents a significant growth opportunity for them.
With Upwork proving to be their strongest lead generation tool, the company has not invested much in marketing. At the moment, the company’s own website is getting about 200 unique monthly visitors, but those numbers could skyrocket with an investment in the kind of digital marketing tools they provide to their clients.
That would include running a PPC ad campaign on Google and Facebook, boosting their presence on social media platforms, and investing in video marketing on sites such as YouTube and TikTok.
The company could start collecting email addresses on their website and use that for an aggressive email marketing campaign that promotes upsells to their existing clients.
An investment in an SEO program would also pay off in the long run, enabling the company to use keywords popular in their field to drive up their ranking in search engines. An educational and informative blog on their website would also boost their organic traffic considerably.
In 2022, this company shifted its priorities to focus on growing their monthly recurring revenue through Stripe, the financial service software company, shifting to a fixed-price, high-margin model for any non-recurring revenue. For a buyer, this is an agency with a solid track record, a talented team in place, and some impressive scale options at their fingertips.
Contact Website Closers today to learn more about this offering, and how their demonstrated skills at web development and marketing can put your business portfolio in a highly enviable position.
