Introducing Solve Web Media

FEATURED

Business name: Solve Web Media

Office location: Higher Trevornick Business Park, Winnards Perch

When was the business founded: 1998

How many employees: 13

Business Cornwall: How is the business best described?

Lawrence Harmer of Solve Web Media:

In a nutshell, we create and optimise websites that are proven to help businesses grow.

Solve is an SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), digital marketing and web design agency based in North Cornwall that helps businesses all over the world to increase their online presence.

The aim is to help clients work their way up the search engine results by implementing proven dynamic SEO strategies. Our hand-picked team of highly-trained SEO experts and creatives apply proven techniques to deliver top-notch results to help our clients maximise their potential. As a business’ visibility increases, so too will the amount of potential customers who click through to their website, and ongoing business success quickly follows.

Solve works mainly with start-ups and SMEs. We love turning the spark of an idea into a successful online business, and turning that spark into online fireworks! If someone has a business that already exists online and is not performing very well, we can turn this around to get the business seen online.

I take a holistic, ‘open book’ approach to business and find that building a relationship with our clients by offering our advice and guidance really works well to help businesses to grow. I am most proud of the fact that 90% of our business comes from recommendation! We also have a very high retention rate; the majority of our customers stay with us long-term.

Business Cornwall: Why was the business founded?

Lawrence: A year after starting my multimedia degree in Wales, I realised that university life wasn’t for me. However, I retained an acute interest in coding and web design, reading everything and putting my new-found knowledge into practice whenever I could. I didn’t realise it at the time, but this was the catalyst which would shape my future. I set off travelling after university and found that I could make websites for people I met whilst travelling to fund my travels. I did this for 14 years before settling back in Cornwall.

The internet is a phenomenon that is constantly evolving and it’s changed wildly since I first started building websites in 1999 (when Google was born). These days, a good design doesn’t only mean how it looks to a user, but also how it performs. I carried on making websites whilst also reading and learning everything I could about SEO and web optimisation and found I had a real passion for online ‘geekery’!

As my own skills developed, I realised that the internet is so big and such a broad range of skills is required to be able to navigate it, that not one person can do that on their own. The breakthrough was when I realised that I could delegate specialist tasks to creatives who were skilled in that specific area, rather than trying to manage the entire workload myself. By enlisting the help of skilled creatives I am able to offer clients a fully-rounded ‘package’ which gives them the benefit of having access to an entire spectrum of talent all under one roof. There’s more to a website than a great look and feel – your website could (and should) work hard to get your business – so I noticed a gap in the market which I leapt on and made my business model. We are able to create video content, design websites, carry out dynamic digital marketing strategies and perform powerful SEO techniques to get businesses the success they deserve.

Solve Web Media, or Solve as the company is now called, has grown to the extent over the past 3 years that we now inhabit an office on the Atlantic Highway. The new office has ample space for the team of in-house digital creatives, who each help to shape Solve into the exciting and vibrant creative digital marketing agency it is today – with lots of exciting plans for future growth too!

Business Cornwall: How does the business compare to competitors in the industry?

Lawrence: Our service is professional, reliable and transparent. We provide an approachable and trustworthy point of contact in today’s modern business world, closing the gap between the online and the everyday. Our personal, dedicated and honest approach provides a solid foundation which sees clients returning time and time again.

We have a proven record of making beautiful websites that perform and work hard to get the business seen. To be successful in the ever-evolving searchscape, we keep up-to-date with the latest online trends and SEO techniques to keep clients ahead of the competition. We fully immerse ourselves in your business and our insightful consultancy exceeds expectations.

We have an affordable pricing structure with a high return on investment (ROI)- we invite clients to choose a package to suit their budget and work accordingly to give them flexibility and choice.

We don’t just make a website and leave you to it. It’s in our interest, as well as yours, that we have a long term relation relationship to help your business grow.

I am passionate about running a responsible company and strive to be as green, sustainable and responsible as possible in everything I do. Clients know that when they work with us, not only will their website create a big impact online but their ecological footprint will be minimal. For example, the websites we host worldwide are powered by 100% renewable energy, and the Solve office is 80% solar-powered too.

Business Cornwall: What are the business’s plans both short-term and long-term?

Lawrence: I am so excited about the future plans for Solve and am bubbling over with ideas!

Being responsible and socially aware is so important to me that I am currently in the process of turning Solve into a ‘B Corp’ organisation (B Corps are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. It is a community of leaders, driving of a global movement of people using businesses as a force for good).

I want to continue using my ‘powers’ for good, so I aim to continue using Solve as a vehicle to help organisations who are striving for a better world.  This will be done by helping to transform the fortunes of worthwhile organisations who could benefit from web design, SEO and online marketing activity to increase their reach. I have already helped Protectors of the Sea, Reef Doctor, LauFest and Surfers Against Sewage (among others) and I hope to expand on this moving forward.

De-mystifying SEO and educating others to help small businesses find opportunities to succeed is another area I want to grow, and there is also a secret plan which I’m currently working on which could shake up how business is done in Cornwall. Watch this space…!

Business Cornwall: How does the business define success?

Lawrence: The runaway success of Solve Web Media is built on the success we bring our clients. If they do well, we do well.

90% of our business comes from recommendation so we know we’re doing well by the level of enquiries we get every day. When we see clients smiling and doing fist pumps at the level of business success we bring them, we know we’re doing something right!

Retaining clients and building a relationship long-term is also an important aspect. We love seeing our clients grow, especially those who have grown from a seed of an idea.

We have numerous case studies of successful campaigns and projects. Every ongoing SEO campaign we have undertaken has resulted in measurable success. (See some of our results https://solve.co.uk/results/) Ambition feeds passion and we love working with companies that excite us. A good working synergy and mutual trust is key to ongoing success.