I had no idea what digital marketing was but, boy was I getting ready to find out.

cup of espresso

Random coffee photo

So, I had started my own computer, well actually Macintosh repair company. Yes, this was long before there was even an iPhone or iPad. I had some advertising dollars and wanted to invest it all into a website. Always wanting to support local businesses, I hired a local website company to build a “search optimized” website.

It was beautiful. Fast forward about 6 months and I realized that I hadn’t yet received so much as a phone call. No email. Nothing. So I rang up (that’s using a telephone, I know most youngin’s don’t use it nowadays) the web designer and pondered a question:

“I haven’t received any emails or phone calls from the website yet, is everything O.K.?” To which he replied:

“Yeah, I built the website.”

Erm, I’m thinking I have a bad connection on this phone so I ask again: “But, I haven’t received any phone calls or emails. I was excpecting this site to be “SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZED”” To which he replied:

“Look, I did what you hired me to do, I built you a website”

 

Digital Marketing – Self Taught

Ummm.. Okay. I’m not one to just toss hard earned cash out the window so I gotta figure something out. I start researching what it is that Google is looking for in a website to determine how it shows a website in the search results. After a ton of reading I started trying what I had found on my website. (back then, it was a LOT easier than it is now) Low and behold it was working! After the changes I certainly started to gain some traction and more importantly, found that I absolutely LOVED optimizing the website.

It occured to me that I probably wasn’t the only person who had ever had a website built and was disappointed (putting it mildly) with the lack of results. I did a little and I do mean little bit of research into how many businesses had websites and found that about 50% of business were using them. That number hadn’t changed even as of 2016. I started a new company called, of all things, Renegade SEO by CJ. I know, it’s a shit name but, I wanted it to grab attention and it did.

An SEO Company Is Born

That company started off very well but, I soon realized the negative connotation that the name had. So a rebrand was in order. The new name? Gold Medal SEO. Much better sounding but, still a shit name. The company continued to grow like gangbusters so I closed the Mac repair business. Also, because I realized I hated dealing with the public and really enjoyed helping other businesses. As time wore on we kept getting hit with questions as to whether or not we could or would re-design a clients website. You say no enough and you realize you need to make changes.

A Web Design Firm Is Born

I’ve always been a firm believer in listening to the complaints and requests of our clients. This brought me to the realization that we needed to add REAL search optimized website design into our service offerings. Of course, if we’re going to be doing website design and SEO we can’t very well continue with the Gold Medal SEO name. It’ll need to be changed, again.

My wife and I talk about it and we decide on Heitz Digital. Using our last name and adding ‘digital’ to the end leaves it open for growth as we continue to expand. It’s a great idea and many other successful companies have done the same. The only difference between them and me; you can spell their last name and no one can remember how to spell mine. Can you guess what’s coming next?

HD Marketing – The Final Frontier

yep, another name change. This time, though, we just rebranded the company and filed a DBA (Doing Business As) with the government. Heitz Digital, LLC is still the legal entitiy we just go by the name HD Marketing, which, by the way, is short for: Heitz Digital Marketing. We had thought about using that full name but, it seemed a bit long to me and not as memorable.

As of this post, we now offer 6 digital marketing services that cover just about everything any small business or start up company would need. They are:

  • Website Design
  • Social Media Management
  • SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Basic & Local
  • E-mail Marketing
  • Online Review Management
  • Local Listing (Directories) Service

From our humble beginnings that created a company out of sheer stubborness to not throw away money. My company has grown into a complete digital marketing company that is ‘paying it forward’ to other small businesses everyday. Check out our main site for your self. 

What drove you to find a new process or solve a problem?

You may want to say screw it and sovle a problem.