Get your digital marketing score to set your business on the right path
Know what’s holding back your digital marketing. By answering a few questions, we’ll be able to let you know if you have the right website and online marketing foundation to compete online.
Cut through the noise of online marketing gimmicks — take actions that matter
Don’t get caught up in the latest marketing buzz, which may be entirely irrelevant to your company’s target audience or simply out of reach due to a lack of budget. Instead, focus your digital marketing efforts on building a robust online foundation that enables you to grow a sustainable and profitable business.
Pronto’s Digital Marketing Scorecard is not a random assessment. It’s built on over a decade of helping thousands of small businesses market and grow their company online. Our scorecard provides a transparent and detailed explanation of why each metric matters and what you can do to fix it.
Assess your ability to execute impactful online marketing campaigns
The scorecard will help you...
- Identify strengths & weaknesses
- Put together an action plan for marketing your brand online
- Understand how your website and SEO impact your brand and performance
The small business marketing experts behind the scorecard
Chris Thomson
Head of Marketing Services
Chris is Pronto’s head of marketing services, a team dedicated to helping website clients edge their online competition on Google.
Adam Porteous
Head of Sales & Partnerships
Adam is Pronto's head of Sales & Partnerships and manages all website marketing sales activity across the comapny.
Pierre Mol
CRM & Marketing
Pierre is Pronto's senior marketing manager, a job that brings Pronto's services from conception to execution for clients.
What your custom digital marketing report covers
A holistic view at the foundation and performance of your online marketing
- Brand Online Performance
- Technical Website Performance
- Website Conversion
- SEO Performance Score
- Lead Generation Score
How it works
1Complete the short assessment
Fill out the form
2Get your scorecard
Download or share your results
3Fix your digital marketing
Implement recommendations
FREE DIGITAL MARKETING SCORECARD
Take the Assessment Now
It’ll take less than 3 minutes to complete and get your score!
Frequently asked questions
Yes! But you will have to take action on its recommendations. The scorecard will provide you with actionable steps you can take towards improving your lead generation efforts
Generating leads requires you to have two key elements working at their full potential: Marketing campaigns that are geared towards driving qualified traffic to your website and a professional website with quality content that will convert that traffic into leads.
In other words, a lead generation campaign alone may not be enough to produce the number of leads you need. Similarly, your website alone won’t convert the desired amount of leads if you aren’t driving traffic to it with marketing campaigns. We recommend taking a holistic approach that focuses on high value tactics and channels that fit your business type and budget.
This scorecard is primarily designed to help small to medium-sized professional services firms improve how they build, maintain, and promote their online presence.
Whether you’re an in-house marketer or small business owner, the scorecard should provide you with a helpful compass to cut through the noise of low-value online marketing tactics.
The digital marketing score represents your company’s ability to build the right foundation to promote your business online. It combines both technical elements that pertain to your website and the fact that your company is actively executing digital marketing campaigns.
A low score means that your company doesn’t meet the digital marketing foundation that an established small business needs to compete online.
A high score means that your company is actively engaged in establishing its online presence and marketing. It doesn’t, however, reflect the quality of your campaigns or website.
No, this isn’t the intent of the digital marketing scorecard. Strategy is about deciding what to do and what not to do. For example, you may decide to actively serve a certain industry such as law firms in Southern California instead of law firms in Northern California.
The scorecard focuses on how to effectively do online marketing. For example, if you’ve decided to go after law firms in Southern California, the scorecard will help you think through all the relevant online marketing tactics that will be helpful to make your brand relevant, attract and convert this market segment through digital marketing.
In other words, you may find the scorecard useful to assess the strengths and weaknesses in your online marketing and as a way to identify valuable activities to implement to fulfil your marketing strategy.
Think of the scorecard as a SWOT analysis of your digital marketing foundation. It should help you identify gaps and opportunities to improve how you promote your brand and website online.
This information should help you put together an action plan that even a small but ambitious business can put in place.
What the scorecard doesn’t do:
It doesn’t cover traditional offline marketing channels nor is it a complete SWOT analysis of your online and offline marketing capabilities.
Why our scorecard metrics matter
Understand the different elements that go into our scorecard and find out how to improve your results
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a web technology that helps encrypt data when forms are submitted to your website. Over five years ago, Google decided to consider it an essential feature of any trustworthy website.
In other words, having an SSL certificate installed on your site won’t give you an edge, but it will make sure that you’re meeting the standard benchmark. Installing and maintaining an up to date SSL will ensure that your website doesn’t get downgraded.
These days, most website platforms include a free SSL that you can turn on by the switch of a button. Hosting a WordPress website will bestow this responsibility on you, so make sure you activate it ASAP.
Where does SSL fit in your digital marketing score?
- Technical Website Performance
SSL impacts the security performance of your site. Think of an SSL certificate as the equivalent of having a security door at a store. It provides a visual indicator that this location has a security system and a technical mechanism to identify fraudulent activity.
It’s an absolute must-have for any website with form submissions, but it’s even more crucial for eCommerce, medical, legal, or any website where confidential and personal information is submitted.
Considerations for Website Conversions & SEO
Websites without an SSL certificate will trigger a warning message to their visitors. This will decrease the amount of traffic and your forms’ conversion potential.
As mentioned above, Google has made SSL an essential website feature. This means that without an updated SSL certificate, your website will be penalized in Google search results. No one wants to start a race 10 meters behind the starting line, so adding an SSL is not something to overlook.
Score Note: We count SSL only under the Technical Website Performance score because installing it won’t have a direct impact on your website’s conversion or SEO score. Its value is truly technical first and foremost. You shouldn’t expect it to be enough to convert visitors or rank in Google.
Although we attribute SSL as the lowest value of all, SSL is a necessary action to take when launching a new site or maintaining one. Top web hosting providers will send you reminders if your SSL certificate expires and require that you update it.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
- Digicert’s SSL status Checker
- For more in-depth security analysis, Pronto’s Website Performance Review
SSL setup and maintenance is part of Pronto’s Managed WordPress Hosting service and included in all Support plans.
This is another technical website feature that Google has made a requirement. The reason behind it is the global increase in mobile devices and traffic. Having a mobile-friendly, also known as mobile-responsive, website means that your web visitors will enjoy a positive browsing experience no matter the device they’re using.
This matters the most for websites running eCommerce but also for businesses running ads on social platforms that are more likely to drive mobile traffic back to your website. You want to make sure your website represents your brand as best as possible, no matter the device your visitors are on.
Most modern web builders will provide a mobile-friendly website option, but it will still require you to review and adjust your mobile version to get the best layout possible. This is why professional developers have adopted a mobile-first design approach. The more complex your design is, the more likely it will require customizing the code for different screen sizes.
Where does mobile-friendly fit in your digital marketing score?
- Technical Website Performance
- SEO
Making a website mobile-friendly requires coding knowledge. Even if your design was made to look great on a mobile device, you’ll still need the technical skills to make it happen. Do believe us when we say this is easier said than done (we’ve built over 3,000 websites).
While mobile traffic may seem less important for B2B marketing, you’re still marketing to people who use multiple devices to conduct business or who may interact with your brand on social platforms using their mobile devices. Given this consideration and that Google will prioritize mobile-friendly sites in search results, optimizing your site for mobile directly impacts your SEO score.
Consideration for Website Conversion
Optimizing your site for mobile will improve your conversion rates and even purchases if running an eCommerce site. However, the focus of this scorecard is on B2B marketing, which corresponds less to buying behaviors.
Also, conversion optimization takes a lot more than just having a mobile-optimized website. It’s an entire specialty known as UX for user experience and includes copywriting and design. Mobile-friendliness is merely part of the technical implementation of a UX strategy.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
Mobile-friendly page development is part of Pronto’s Website Build service and is included in all Support plans.
When website visitors first arrive at your site, they want to see your site’s content right away. They truly have a short attention span. According to Google, no more than 3 seconds. That’s it.
If you want to attract and convert new visitors that aren’t familiar with your company, your website has to load fast.
Website speed optimization is usually taken care of when building a new website, but it’s worth reviewing it on a yearly basis. As your website grows over time, new pages, images, videos, scripts, and code are added, and that could lead to slower loading times.
Where does website-load speed fit in your digital marketing score?
- Technical Website Performance
- Website Conversion
- SEO
Your website speed is linked directly to your website’s technical performance. Quality hosting and coding best practices are the keys.
It also directly affects your website’s conversion rate and SEO scores. It should not be overlooked.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
- If you’re a developer, Google PageSpeed Insights or GT Metrix
- For non-developers, Pronto’s Website Performance Review
Website speed optimization is included as part of Pronto’s new Website Build launch process and is included in all Support plans.
First impressions matter. As we’ve mentioned above, for website-load speed, visitors decide to stay on a site after 3 seconds only. Not only does your site need to load fast, but it also needs to look professional.
With whom would you rather do business with? A company that has a professionally-designed website? Or a company with broken images, apparent site issues, or even a logo that looks like it was made in Microsoft paint back in the 90s?
Just like you’ll want to dress up and look your best for a job interview or in-person sales presentation, you’ll want to invest in a professionally designed and maintained website.
Where does a professionally designed website fit in your digital marketing score?
- Brand
- Website Conversion
As a small B2B business, getting brand recognition can be difficult. Easy wins, however, are getting a professionally designed logo and website.
If you want your business to graduate from startup to established business, adding that professional polish will do more than just looking good. It will be the foundation of your brand’s online presence. Even more importantly, it will help you build trust and convert new visitors into prospective customers.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
- Five Second Tests by Usability Hub
- If you go DIY, here are questions to ask yourself or a trusted business partner:
- Does the design look professional?
- Would you want to do business with your company by simply looking at the site and the information provided?
- Is it easy to navigate and find information about how you’ve helped clients succeed with your services?
Ideally, ask a professional or third-party expert whose job it is to build a professional website. Request a consultation with a Pronto website expert.Professional website design is included in Pronto’s Website Build and Website Support plans.
This question may sound similar to the previous one, but don’t be mistaken — they are not. There are differences between getting someone to design a professional website and getting professional pictures of your team and products.
To keep it very simple: Most website design companies focus on designing your site with the images you provide because that’s what they’re the best at doing. To get professional photos done, we recommend working with a local photographer who specializes in corporate photography.
Bigger web agencies that provide bespoke services may also provide photography as part of their services, but you may also find that you need photos taken for other occasions than your website redesign. For small businesses, developing a relationship with a local photographer may be the most cost-effective and flexible approach
Where does a high quality image fit in your digital marketing score?
- Brand
- Website Conversion
The most unique aspect of any company is its people. It’s the one thing your competitors can’t copy.
In B2B and professional services especially, buyers want to know with whom they’ll be partnering and relying upon for their business operations. Investing in professional photos of your leadership team and staff will not only humanize your company but also help your website stand out.
In B2C and retail, website owners should go a step further and include professional photos of their products and merchandise.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
- Lemonlight
- Check your local chamber of commerce’s directory
When starting your business, it’s understandable that you may not have individual service or product pages. A lot changes fast in the startup phase, and some of your services may too. In this case, relying on a single index page for your services can strike the right balance between the amount of time you have and what you’re trying to accomplish.
However, once your business is more established and you want to start gaining traction with SEO, you must build individual pages for each service.
Where do service pages fit in your digital marketing score?
- Website Conversion
- SEO
- Lead Generation
Providing pages for each of your services will help your prospective customers focus on the exact service they’re looking for and get more pertinent information. You’ll be able to highlight the most important benefits each service provides, technical details and pricing, case studies, and testimonials.
Service pages are also critical for prospective customers to find you through relevant searches. When each of your service pages are strategically focused on targeting one keyword, it increases their relevancy in search results and thus their ranking potential.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
- Ahrefs for researching keywords and your page’s rank
- SurferSEO for right optimized content
- Pronto consultation
Location pages are particularly important for B2B and B2C businesses that provide professional services in specific locations. They allow you to tell a better story for local visitors and for Google to help them find you.
A couple of such B2B companies are local IT service providers or Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). B2C examples are medical clinics and legal practices.
Where do location pages fit in your digital marketing score?
- Website Conversion
- SEO
Location pages help you drive local traffic to your website. If your business has an office location where people drive to, then creating a unique location page and Google My Business listing will increase your visibility.
If your business doesn’t have an office but still serves a specific location, it may be worth putting together a location page after ensuring that there’s enough web traffic to capture.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
- Ahrefs for researching keywords and your page’s rank
- SurferSEO for right optimized content
- Pronto consultation
Just like your location, the experience and expertise you have in a given industry is an effective way to attract and engage a specific audience.
Think about how many sales calls you had during which the prospective buyer asked if you had any experience working with companies in their industry? Do you understand unique requirements linked to HIPAA compliance or Sarbanes-Oxley, for example?
An industry page helps show visitors that you speak their language, know the industry lingo, and answer sales questions before you even get on the phone with them.
Where do industry pages fit in your digital marketing score?
- Website Conversion
- SEO
Industry pages help you put together a compelling message and optimize your website to rank for valuable keywords with a high sales intent.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
- Ahrefs for researching keywords and your page’s rank
- SurferSEO for right optimized content
- Pronto consultation
The proof is in the pudding, and that’s what case studies are all about. But that doesn’t mean you should hide.
On the contrary, you should make case studies available directly on your website so that it can become a salesperson of its own. Remember that 70% of the buying process takes place online before a prospect even reaches out to you.
If you created a case study in a presentation or document format, you most likely already have what it takes to convert it into a web page of its own.
Where does metric fit in your digital marketing score?
- Website Conversion
- Brand
Case studies are another key page that will help you convert more visitors into prospects. They’re so important to the sales process that they’re usually made prominent in your website’s navigation menu. You can link to them from your service, location and industry pages too.
Ultimately, the more case studies and types of case studies, the stronger your brand will be. It highlights your experience and ability to deliver. As such, it positions your company as one that solves problems.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
- (Free) Third party resource/tool
- Pronto consultation
Well-written testimonials are still a must and the right place to start if you don’t already have any displayed on your website. However, if you really want your brand to stand out and impress prospective customers, then video testimonials are the way to go.
Where do video testimonials fit in your digital marketing score?
- Brand
- Conversion
Video testimonials will help elevate your brand not just through your website but through other social media which allow you to post such content.
They’ll also play a key role in convincing visitors that your firm has the experience they’re looking for.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
If you think of your marketing operations as the engine that promotes your business, then the content is the fuel that makes it work. If you want to go forward, then you need some fuel — hence why we recommend at least 2 blog posts a month. If you want to go faster, then you’ll likely need more content.
Small businesses have limited time and resources, so setting a realistic expectation that you can uphold and execute is better than one you can never reach.
It’s also important to notice that this is a recurring monthly task. If you want your marketing to hold the distance, then you need to keep adding fuel in the tank.
Where does blogging fit in your digital marketing score?
- Brand
- SEO
Writing articles, or blogging, is essentially a way for you to demonstrate your company’s thought leadership on a specific topic that will be interesting to the audience you serve. It’s an outlet for you to build your brand, demonstrate your knowledge and show your personality.
Blogging is also a powerful strategy to increase your chances of ranking organically. Seek to answer questions and issues your audience asks regularly about — whether they’re trying to troubleshoot an issue or considering different solutions to solve that issue.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
This is a simple but essential step for getting your business listed on Google and Google Maps with the right information. In fact, MOZ research on Local Search Ranking Factors showed that GMB was the number one ranking factor for Google’s map results (aka local pack).
It’s also where your Google reviews will show once you start collecting them. You don’t even need a website to get listed, so you can start showing up in search results as soon as you’ve created and gone through Google’s authentication process.
Just like on your website, your GMB listing allows you to target relevant keywords, add images, answer frequently asked questions, and promote new content and offers.
Where does your GMB listing fit in your digital marketing score?
- Brand
- SEO
If people can’t find your brand on Google, you’ll lose visibility and credibility. You want to ensure that your brand shows up where it needs to be, with the right information and content when prospective customers start looking for you.
A properly maintained and optimized GMB list will also help attract new visitors to your website. It’s essentially the starting point of your local SEO strategy.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
Reviews are similar to testimonials, but instead of being listed on your website, they’re listed on a specific review site. This adds another layer of credibility since review sites typically require authentication.
How did we come up with the number 10? The truth is that you may not need that many. But you may also need double or triple that amount of reviews in order to truly rank higher in Google’s Map pack results.
The point is that if you aim to stand out online, you’ll want to have more positive reviews than the competition. Getting 3-5 positive reviews is a good start, but most companies are able to collect a handful of reviews. Another thing to consider is that you want to provide recent reviews, so collecting reviews should be an ongoing campaign that you run.
Where do reviews fit in your digital marketing score?
- Brand
- SEO
- Lead Generation
Google Reviews gives businesses a credibility boost at no cost. Not only can it improve your reputation and help you stand out from the crowd, it’s also an important ranking factor for local SEO.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
- How to get more local leads using positive Google reviews
- Simplesat – best for MSPs and Zendesk users
- Birdeye – best for restaurants and law firms
Links (aka backlinks) to your website are a vote of confidence from other businesses. Think of it as Google’s referral program for the internet. Would you trust a business if 100 people were referring to it? A few referrals can be anecdotal, but it’s hard to ignore 100 people.
In fact, research on local search ranking factors from leading SEO software company, MOZ, found that links from other sites were the leading factor for receiving more organic traffic to a given page and keyword.
It’s not just about quantity however, quality still matters when it comes to links. A single link placed on a highly reputable website with lots of traffic could yield a lot more traffic back to yours than 10 sites with zero traffic.
Where do backlinks fit in your digital marketing score?
- SEO
Getting backlinks (or link building) to your website is one of the most valuable SEO strategies. Links send signals to Google and users on the internet that your site is worth citing as a reputable source of information on a given subject.
Links are a major factor for increasing organic traffic and are a great way to enhance your blogging efforts.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
- Ahrefs to analyze and report on your link building efforts
- How to get backlinks with these 12 proven strategies
- Pronto Page Booster service
For your marketing and sales efforts to be successful, you need a list of qualified prospects to be engaging with regularly. One of the ways you do this is by convincing web visitors to provide you with their information when they download an offer such as an ebook from your website.
Where do downloadable offers fit in your digital marketing score?
- Website Conversion
- Lead Generation
- Brand
You can’t expect website visitors to be ready for a consultation or a talk with your sales team on their first visit. In these cases, offering an educational eBook for those who are still researching their options can be a great way to collect their contact information and start nurturing them until they are ready to speak with you.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
- Use Beacon’s WordPress plugin to convert blog posts into eBooks
- What is a “lead magnet” and how can it improve results from online ads?
Another great option for those who aren’t ready to buy from you directly is nurturing those relationships via your email newsletters.
The same goes for nurturing client relationships. This is a great way to keep them informed of what your company is up to, continue to demonstrate your thought leadership, and why it’s a good investment for them to partner with yours.
Also, newsletters can help you extend your reach. When you send out quality newsletters, people on your list are more likely to want to share them with other people in their network.
Where do monthly newsletters fit in your digital marketing score?
- Brand
- Lead generation
Newsletters are typically more about building your brand and educating your audience. However, they also present an opportunity to announce new services or offers that may lead your existing customers to buy more from you or share the news with others.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
If you’re looking for a quick bump in traffic and leads, AdWords is the fastest way to accomplish this. With Google’s paid search advertising platform, you can put your business at the top of the search results right when your prospective clients are looking for help.
Google Ads is a must-have for businesses with a short product or service sales cycle (ideally under 30 days). That said, it can still be a worthwhile investment for B2B businesses if there’s enough search volume and when taking into account the total customer lifetime value of a single lead.
Building a successful AdWords campaign can’t be done overnight. It’s a continual process that involves analyzing data and making adjustments to your strategy. But when done correctly, it can be a dependable, consistent source of new leads. If that sounds like a lot of work, we can create and manage your campaign with our AdWords Management service.
Where do Google Ads fit in your digital marketing score?
- Lead Generation
As we mentioned above, Google Ads is all about advertising your services to people who are actively searching to buy now.
It’s by far one of the most effective lead generation tools. It’s a hyper measurable tool, so it’s possible to build a leads forecast and continue optimizing your campaigns after they’ve launched.
Considerations for Brand Awareness & SEO
While paying for ads on Google isn’t exactly SEO, it does belong to a broader form of Search Engine Marketing. Our experience at Pronto also shows that our organic tends to correlate positively with our Google Ads investments.
While people may not click directly on your ads, it may still generate some brand awareness and get qualified visitors to look you up.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
For your company to grow beyond referrals, it needs to increase its network and visibility. Although LinkedIn was originally built for hiring and finding jobs, it quickly became a platform to publish and amplify your thought leadership and content marketing efforts.
LinkedIn provides the ability to do both advertising and sales prospecting. It’s a great way to do targeted marketing and sales outreach with other professionals in the industry you serve. For local businesses, it can be a good way to introduce yourself before meeting in person.
Where does Linkedin outreach fit in your digital marketing score?
- Lead Generation
Your business can’t live on an island, and LinkedIn provides a bridge to relevant roads you should take to raise your profile. Most importantly, it allows you to be proactive about the ideal customers you want to attract and include in your network.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
- Zopto for automotive LinkedIn outreach campaigns
Email is still one of the best ways to reach your prospects and customers to provide information about your business.
On a basic level, this means making sure you’re sending out an email newsletter each month. Beyond that, you might also want to send out emails to specific segments of your audience. Maybe you send an email to prospects that have gone cold, encouraging them to reconnect with your sales team. Or perhaps an email to clients who haven’t sent a request to your support team in 90+ days, reminding them that you’re there to help.
Where do email campaigns fit in your digital marketing score?
- Lead Generation
Reaching out to your audience on a more specific and personal level leads to a greater chance of starting a conversation with those people. From there, you can steer that conversation toward a sales discussion.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
Webinars are a great way to create a time-bound event that requires registration. This means that you’ll be able to capture their contact information and start building a relationship with them and promote more relevant content.
This is particularly useful when you have a long sales cycle like in B2B or even complex B2C services that require more in-depth learning.
Where do webinars/videos/podcasts fit in your digital marketing score?
- Brand
- Lead Generation
Webinars and podcasts are first and foremost educational tools that help you build your brand, but they’re also great to use as a way to nurture leads and prospective customers during long sales cycles.
Recommended troubleshooting tools:
For most small companies, referrals are the most reliable and effective source of new business. Whatever you can do to generate more referrals is an important part of the lead generation process.
You may want to include some incentives to further encourage referrals, such as free gift cards, giveaways, or charity donations.
Where do referral incentives fit in your digital marketing score?
- Lead Generation
Referrals can happen without asking, but our experience shows that you’ll get a lot more if you are proactive about asking the right customers at the right time.
If you’re putting time, money, or resources into any sort of marketing, you should also consider launching a retargeted ad campaign.
Retargeting allows you to display banner ads to people who have previously visited your website as they browse other sites across the web. If you’ve ever viewed a product on Amazon and then seen ads for that product on another website, you’ve been retargeted.
Where does retargeting fit in your digital marketing score?
- Lead Generation
Most website visitors don’t convert into leads on their first visit to your site. But with retargeting, you get a second chance at that conversion by remaining “top-of-mind” as they browse the internet.