Priority Credit Recovery or PCR is a fully licensed commercial collection agency with headquarters in Edmonton, Alberta. While they spent substantial money on pay per clicks traffic, their site was dated with minimal content. They had no search engine optimization for natural traffic and lead generation was anemic.

Most of the collection agency businesses have a web site, but like many service industries, a website was viewed as a money pit or annoyance. As a whole, the collection industry uses pay per clicks to generate traffic, which in turn is their collection agency marketing. Most Collection Industry website marketing is based on short term strategy.

The majority of collection agency web sites are ten to fifteen page sites with middle of the road graphics and no optimization processes used. As far as being search engine friendly, many agencies have no idea what search engine friendly means.

Collection agency executives are extremely skeptical of web marketing. For most agencies, web marketing is a digital extension of a phone book. The one thing Priority Credit Recovery wanted was to establish the PCR brand. They wanted clients and prospective clients to automatically identify them as PCR.

After years of weak results from their website using the same marketing strategy over and over, PCR decided it was time to break the cycle and go with optimized web design. Instead of short term thinking, PCR realized a long term approach may work and that is when Elliot Media came into the picture.

The first objective to be established was what did PCR want their web site to accomplish? We worked with PCR to establish a strategy. We came up with the following objectives:

1. PCR needed a site that was pleasing to the eye without overwhelming glitz, to provide crisp and fast loading graphics, while providing easy and intuitive navigation for potential clients.
2. PCR wanted a logo that represents their brand name PCR and instantly identifies their services.
3. PCR wanted more natural, or free search engine, click throughs with optimized web design. They wanted to be able to use pay per clicks to supplement traffic, rather than the sole traffic generator. PCR also wanted targeted quality traffic as PCR is primarily a Commercial collection agency with the emphasis on Commercial.
4. PCR wanted more leads. They wanted a website that would convert website visitors into potential customers and prompt customers to contact them about their services.
5. PCR wanted a larger online presence. They wanted to become one of the dominant Commercial collection agencies on the web.

There were other smaller objectives but the points above were the main ones. The overall objective was, PCR wanted to become a dominant player in their industry on the web.

At the time we started this project Google was beginning to implement major new algorithms to stem abuse and improve relevancy. Basically, instead of looking at single pages and back links, Google began putting more weight on their rankings by judging an entire web site on its own merits.

In order to dominate in an industry on the web a website needs weight. By weight we mean a larger site with more pages and content. Google looks at the entire site and factors it into page search engine results. Each industry is slightly different, but in the case of PCR they needed at least a 50 page site to have a chance to become a dominant player in their industry.

The main visitor demographic for PCR is individuals from credit departments and company executives. The core design utilized familiar black, white and gray to fall in line with business document reading. With this core we then gave the site POP, by adding splashes of color and relevant imagery. Each major section is instantly identifiable by its own splash color (like dividers in a day timer/journal). Splash Section Colors give the end user the intuitive knowledge of which section they are in, and each section breaks the dullness of a constant color tone. Each page also included unique header image to feed the visual appeal and anticipation.

We worked with PCR and came up with a rough site map and then did SEO research to target the real targeted keywords-phrases, or as we say in our business, the money keywords. In the case of PCR this included money terms like:

Links below will open a seperate window with the Google CA Search Terms

• Commercial collection agency
• International debt collection
• Edmonton collection agency
• Insurance debt collection
• Trucking debt collection

These terms are literally the tip of the iceberg and perspective clients using these terms are the type of customers PCR is looking for. There is an extensive set of criteria in determining what terms should be targeted.

We worked with PCR and came up with a logo that represents their company and what they do. Once we had the site map refined we began construction. We built the site so it was pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate. A user friendly site relaxes a prospective customer as they make a decision on their next step.

PCR prospective clients also feel secure when using forms to request information. Unlike 99% of the competition, PCR shows they respect their customer's privacy. PCR respects their clients as opposed to talking about privacy and confidentiality and then expecting a client to use an unsecure form to reveal private information for the entire web to see.

We also implemented Live Chat, which increases lead generation when used properly. After some minor training, PCR caught on quickly and experienced a major jump in leads.

As far as natural traffic and industry dominance, PCR became converts to long term web strategy. It is like one client stated, "You guys are like everywhere". Skepticism turned into enthusiasm as they realized the extra cost in pursuing a long term strategy had cemented their brand, company and presence as a dominant player in the collection industry. The consistent solid results proved the long term strategy works.

There was obviously more strategy and technical details involved but the steps above cover some of the main points.

The bottom line with any web site is results, presence and return on investment. If a company is looking for a collection agency in Canada and does more than a couple of search terms, the odds are they will run across PCR. We will let the comments of the CEO of Priority Credit Recovery or PCR speak for the results in their own words.

"You were able to make our web presence a quantifiable profit center instead of a money pit".

"Getting a lot of hits is nice but converting those visits is what counts and you've definitely accomplished that for us. Our web traffic is up significantly and the revenues attributable to the new site are increasing each day".

"I'm particularly pleased with the quality of the leads coming from the site. Before, we would get all kinds of inquiries that we were not interested in. Our business relies on sophisticated purchasers and the upgrades Elliot Media implemented on our web site zeroed in on the kinds of clients we want to work with".

Brad Lohner
President and CEO
Priority Credit Recovery Inc.