A year ago, in February 2023, we decided to start an online adventure full of hopes and dreams. It’s been 365 days of ups and downs that led us here, to this post. Tears, laughs, discussions, wins, and failures. We’re proud of what we’ve built so far, and we’d like to share what we’ve learned with you, our experiences, and some metrics.
EspEng Language Solutions has a special meaning to us, it’s not just a job, and we want it to succeed the right way. We want to show the world that we’re skilled professionals who have something different to offer. So, stick around because this won’t be one of those boring annual reports.
Experience and Metrics
We live in a world where metrics define success. For those of us who spend time doing marketing research to find new ways to improve our visibility and engagement, the goal is always to reach the so-called industry standards. In our case, Consulting and Professional Services.
EspEng Language Solutions’ first year was a success in many ways, but it was also full of challenges. The biggest challenge being learning how to interpret the metrics in terms of our goals, instead of our initial expectations. Despite our previous work experiences, when you start a project of your own, one that has a special meaning to you, your expectations can be unrealistic. A year ago, we considered the possibility of having more work than we could handle, but that never happened. So, let’s review what did happen.
Creating an engaging website
It all started with our website, which we launched on February 20, 2023, the date that marks our anniversary. We had experience creating and managing website content, but we had never created one from scratch. In a few months, something that was supposed to be simple and informative evolved into much more. Theme changes, a lot of editing and optimization, hours of “add this, delete that, what if…”
So, what about the metrics? In our first year, we welcomed 1.6k visitors, who viewed our site 2.7k times. (By the way, if this is your first time here, welcome!) These numbers may not be too impressive, but we’re proud of the fact that we managed to reach thousands of you in a purely organic manner. That means that you found value in our content and services. Besides, as former academics, we know that what matters the most is reaching the right audience; the one that will appreciate and value your work.
Entering the organic search race
Nowadays, everyone wants a spot on top of search results. After all, according to Smart Insights, the top 5 results get about 80% of clicks. Some pay for a spot, others, like us, fight with all our hearts and Search-Engine-Optimization (SEO) wisdom. Still, ranking high organically, that is, without paying for it, takes time and a lot of expertise, and there’s never a guarantee.
How did we do on Google? Well, in its first 365 days, our website showed up 15.1k times on organic search results in 171 countries. While these results aren’t completely satisfactory, there’s a much more important metric in which we did particularly good, the so-called Click-Through-Rate (CTR).
According to Databox, the average organic search CTR in the Consulting and Professional Services industry is 1.35%. Our CTR during this first year was 1.41%, a result of which we’re enormously proud!
How about our performance on social media?
Getting your attention on social media is a tough game. First, you need to figure out where your audience is, and then decide whether you want to be there. People do different things on different platforms, businesses too, and you might even learn that social networks aren’t your thing. That’s perfectly fine! So, although we have a presence on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, we figured out that our best chances of getting your attention are on the latter.
Since February 2023, our LinkedIn page has allowed us to connect with incredible people and share our experiences with over 480 followers from all over the world. It’s been a great challenge with positive results. For instance, our Engagement Rate during our first year was a healthy 10.4%, while our CTR was a very decent 2.9%.
Are these results satisfactory? Consider that, according to Databox, the LinkedIn ads average CTR for our industry is 0.69%. That means that paying users need 4 times our impressions to get the same number of clicks.
Lessons Learned
Starting an online journey can be overwhelming when you don’t know what to expect. Regardless of your skills and experience, the digital arena is constantly evolving, and keeping track of all the moving pieces is a full-time job in itself. We’re extremely proud of what we’ve achieved in our first year, knowing that we can do a lot better. Now, we’re ready to face a new year with fresh ideas and new lessons learned.
Stick to your principles, experiment with everything else
From the very beginning, we’ve known exactly what we want EspEng Language Solutions to be. We want to provide high-quality language solutions by employing our best skills, leaving all corporate vices aside. Our website may change, our marketing strategies could vary, we might add more services or stop offering some. Our mission will remain.
Quality over quantity
Numbers are important to big companies, not to us. Quality cannot be measured, only experienced by humans. No algorithm can tell you which piece of writing is good; they can only manipulate data. So, pay close attention to your content’s SEO to improve your visibility, but prioritize its subjective aspects to secure its engagement. Your clients and followers are human beings, so show them you genuinely care.
Automation isn’t always the answer
Throughout the year, we tested many tools and apps, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), to help us with our content strategy. These tools are helpful when you have a lot of content to manage but won’t make it more effective. We found out we prefer to keep control over every detail, which is the principle that guides the services we provide.
Patience and perseverance are compatible
When you start a new online adventure, the first year is critical. Regardless of your previous experience, you can’t know for sure what will happen, especially regarding income. However, your first year should be about getting people’s attention, creating brand awareness, earning trust, and building credibility; which can take some time depending on your industry. Throughout this first year, we focused on standing out as skilled professionals and learning about the audience interested in what we have to offer.
Enjoy every moment
Wins and failures are part of the journey. In the digital world, nothing lasts forever. So, break the rules and show your audience what makes you special. A year ago, we were thinking about how to get everyone to like us; today, we know our clients and followers are those who really dig our work and style.
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Communication Meant for Humans
We’re skilled professionals with an immense passion for language. We’re not marketers. We’re not selling anything. We provide language solutions. Whether you want to learn or improve your Spanish skills, polish your copy, optimize your digital content, or translate your message from English to Spanish, or vice versa, our mission is to help you communicate effectively and authentically.
Over the last year, we’ve witnessed how AI has taken over digital communications in many industries and at different levels. Have you noticed how everyone seems to be using the same words? How phrases keep getting shorter and paragraphs have turned into sentences? What ever happened to stylistic and literary devices? Where did adverbs go? There’s an explanation for all of that: Machines can’t communicate!
Search engines and language models are essentially the same, namely, computer applications that follow sets of rules called algorithms, and nothing more.
No matter how smart they’ve become, they just can’t read. So, we’re told to simplify our language to make it easier for them to inspect and rank our content. This is called Search Engine Optimization. However, readers are, and will always be, humans!
So, for the upcoming year, we’ve decided to adopt a new motto, slogan, or tagline (if you’re into SEO), that manifests the purpose of EspEng Language Solutions:
Communication Meant for Humans
As language professionals, with a strong philosophical background, we’re committed to promoting the expressive power of language and, above all, the true meaning of communication: sharing.
We’re here to help you share your message with the world, human style.
Meet our Mascot
Meet our new team member: Pepe. A toy that reminds us that we’re all made of experiences. Pepe wouldn’t be what it is if it weren’t for those wooden blocks and their connections. Likewise, we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the experiences we had and the choices we made.
365 days of ups and downs that led us here, to this post. Tears, laughs, discussions, wins, and failures. EspEng Language Solutions is embedded in our lifestyle, so we actually enjoy dedicating all the time we can to making it better for you.
From now on, Pepe will be joining us on social media, with helpful tips and advice on Spanish language learning, content optimization, editing, and more. So, stay tuned!
What’s Coming
EspEng Language Solutions’ second year in business will be an even greater challenge. We’ve observed, we’ve learned, and now we’re ready to take action. Although we can’t reveal our strategy and tricks, this is what’s coming in 2024:
- Spanish learning material: guides, infographics, exercises, and more. Original content that we create for our personalized Spanish online lessons.
- Educational articles on how to edit and optimize your digital content. We do professional editing and on-site optimization, but we’re happy to share the basics with you.
- If everything goes according to plan, our website will soon have a Spanish version! We’re all about linguistic inclusion, and we’re also very proud of being Spanish native speakers.
- Thought-provoking articles on language and culture. We’re philosophers, so we’re always thinking above and beyond our daily tasks. If you haven’t already, subscribe to our blog to stay on top of our write-ups.
- Last, but not least, we’ll continue to provide professional, honest language services to the best of our knowledge. We care deeply about the quality of our work, and we’re always improving our skills to give you the best language solutions.
The founders of EspEng Language Solutions, Glory and Luis, would like to thank each and every one of our followers and clients for a wonderful first anniversary. We’re here because of you!
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