A website is the face of your business on the information super-highway. It’s the first-place people see you… and many times, the last. And if you aren’t Google optimized, you aren’t even online… So, according to the world (wide web) view of today, your business is all about the website. At least that is what the web-consultants say, right?
My firm, the SESCO Group, is an environmental engineering, property remediation, waste management, and compliance consulting firm. We are a client-focused nimble company with over two decades in business and about as many people. Together, we have hundreds of years of real-world experience and most of them are advanced-degreed with extensive experience. Augmenting their degrees, SESCO has multiple staff members that hold professional certifications, I am proud to have Licensed Professional Geologists (LPG/PG), Professional Engineers (P.E.), Certified Environmental Professionals (CHMM) and even a real estate broker with a Master’s Degree from IU’s SPEA (me). Between us, we probably get tens of web hits a month… maybe. I mean, who doesn’t browse the net for trendy environmental remediation websites and check out staff bios?
In your everyday life, you might know an engineer or two. Take a moment and think about them. How do they interact with other people in the outside world? With all due respect, my guess is that your friend, or the person you made up in your mind, is a very smart introvert. Not much of a talker. SESCO was once a sanctuary for that type. Again, not the type of firm that would have a significant web presence; many of our industry colleagues have a poor presence (just like we did). Today our mission is:
At SESCO group, we deliver the best solutions for our clients’ unique environmental engineering, investigation, remediation, compliance, redevelopment, and financial needs. Restoring confidence & providing peace of mind.
I contend that we will not deliver our mission goals of Restoring Confidence and Creating Peace of Mind without having a culture that is supportive, collaborative and client focused. And, you can’t have a website that resonates with clients if the team isn’t on the same page. How do you do that with our kind of employee types? That was my challenge, not theirs, so our departments, Solid Waste, Oversight & Compliance, Remediation, and Redevelopment, sat down together with a goal not just to work together but how to explain how they work together. And not just internally, which they do every day but, coherently externally to our current & future clients.
We were able to work together to define ourselves, our talents and then put that on display on the web. Because of this effort, we know each other better, we have a shared experience of putting our best foot forward.
Then we were all taking the time to look at graphics, look at graphics, and look at graphics. We parsed every word, every consistent use of the Oxford Comma (Insert your own Vampire Weekend joke here about who really cares about that). We even had a big school-style picture day where we wore nice clothes to work and everything. Today,
“We are scientists, geologists, engineers, adventurers and environmental experts.”
So, as we launch, everyone is looking at their picture, cleaning up their LinkedIn accounts, laughing at the pictures their coworkers used as the “Fun” picture (you gotta check that little feature out too) and rallying their industry peers to check out the new site. This team at SESCO now has a place on the internet that they can be proud of, clients can better understand the things we do and our industry can see how much fun we are having along the way.
So, after nearly 7-months of work, the SESCO Group website is live! This has been such a fascinating process. As CEO, I am so proud of my team and our consultants. Through my trepidations and sarcasm, we set a very high bar to meet. I think we have. While being “guided” (read: prodded & pushed) by the fine hands and minds of Valve+Meter Performance Marketing (previously unspoken consultants), together we have created a clean, cutting-edge, user-friendly, informative environmental consulting website that even has some levity. I hope you take a moment to see for yourself.
I hope you enjoy what you find. More so, I hope you find value in the time you spend there. We want to keep you coming back. Please check out the beta version of our secure client Portal. That will be a place where our clients can log in to check the status, chat with the project manager and keep up to date on any other compliance issues that their specific facility needs and I’m really excited about the way that we will… wait… nope, not tellin’… you will just have to stay tuned!
And, oh, the web clicks we are getting are better because we are now google optimized, presenting ourselves as any world-class environmental consulting firm is (if not better), and presenting our abilities as the world-class environmental consulting firm we are. With that, our current and future clients’ confidence is restored and know that SESCO is the firm that will create the right solutions, in the right way to give them peace of mind.
By the way, you know, this project was never about “the website.”
I can’t wait to tell you about our company relocation project that isn’t about “space.” That conversation is coming soon.
Darren Reese, President & CEO
SESCO Group