Why we dropped web design, social and branding
An agency that sells eleven services is often reselling several of them. What we removed, why, and what it costs us in deals we no longer win.
We sell three things: search, paid ads and email, with the tracking and the landing page work that connect them. We stopped selling website builds, organic social content and standalone branding, because they were work we were coordinating rather than doing ourselves. Everyone who works on a client account here is on our payroll (about Mavix), and a shorter list is what makes that possible.
The cost of the decision is real. We lose deals to firms that will quote for everything, and we have to tell some prospects their website needs rebuilding by somebody else before search work can start. This post explains what we removed, why we kept these three, and what it costs us.
The short version
- Mavix sells search, paid ads and email. Conversion work on landing pages and forms is included in every engagement rather than sold separately.
- We removed website builds, organic social content and standalone branding, because we were coordinating that work rather than doing it.
- When an agency sells a service it does not deliver in house, you pay a margin for the coordination, and the person reviewing the work may not be qualified to judge it.
- Search, paid ads and email feed each other: search shows the words buyers use, paid shows quickly which offers get a response, and email follows up the enquiries both produce.
- The cost to us is lost deals and lower revenue per client. The benefit to you is that the people doing the work are the people you meet.
What did we stop selling?
Website builds, organic social content and branding on its own. The about page lists social media content calendars and standalone logo and branding work among the things we do not do. Our search scope names a website rebuild as work where the right answer is a developer rather than an agency.
All three made the pitch easier, because a business with several problems often prefers one supplier. And all three were work we were coordinating rather than doing, which meant we were charging for a relationship rather than for expertise.
| Work | Do we sell it? | What happens instead |
|---|---|---|
| Search | Yes | Run by search specialists on our payroll |
| Paid ads on Google, Meta and TikTok | Yes | Priced per qualified lead, with no monthly retainer (ads pricing) |
| Email flows and campaigns | Yes | Built inside the platform you already pay for, so they keep running if you leave |
| Landing pages, forms and the path to an enquiry | Included in every engagement | Not sold separately (conversion work) |
| Whole-site rebuilds | No | We write down what the site must change, for the developer you choose |
| Organic social content calendars | No | Paid social stays, as part of the ads work |
| Logo and branding on its own | No | Not offered |
Why is a long service list a warning sign?
Because when an agency sells a service it does not deliver in house, three things follow, and none of them are visible from outside. None of them makes subcontracting wrong. It is worth knowing what you are buying.
The margin comes from the gap. You pay the agency, the agency pays the supplier, and the difference is the fee for coordination. That is a legitimate business model.
The person reviewing the work may not be able to judge it. When the subcontracted work arrives, the account manager passing it on may not have the skill to say whether it is good. So it gets passed on if it looks finished.
The incentive is to sell more services, not the right ones. An agency with eleven products has eleven ways to grow an account. Some of what gets recommended is what needs doing, and some of it is what is available to sell.
The simplest check is one Google itself suggests to anyone hiring for search work. Ask to see previous work, ask how you will communicate, and ask whether all changes to your site will be shared with you and explained (Google Search Central). Add one more of your own. Ask to meet the person who will do the work, by name, before you sign.
Why search, paid ads and email?
Because each one produces something the other two can use. They are three views of the same buyer.
Search shows you the language people actually use. The Search Console Performance report lists the searches that bring people to your site, with clicks and impressions for each (Google Search Console Help), and that wording makes better ad copy. Paid ads show which offers get a response much faster than organic search can, because traffic arrives as soon as the ads run. The search terms report shows the exact searches that triggered them (Google Ads Help). Email then follows up the enquiries the other two produce, which is where a lot of value is lost in businesses that answer a form once and never again.
Conversion work sits inside all three rather than beside them. Sending paid or search traffic to a page that does not turn visitors into enquiries is one of the most expensive mistakes we see. Charging separately to fix it would create an incentive not to mention it.
Photo: Thirdman on Pexels.
What does it cost us to sell less?
It costs us deals. A business that wants a new website and a search programme will often choose the firm that quotes for both, and that is a reasonable choice for them to make. Fewer services also means fewer ways to grow an existing account, which makes revenue per client lower and new business harder.
We have also had to get comfortable saying one thing out loud: your site needs rebuilding before search work will land, and we are not the people to rebuild it. That conversation loses the deal more often than it wins it. It is still the right conversation, because the alternative is taking the money and hoping the site holds up, and that ends in an engagement neither side is happy with.
Photo: Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.
How does the guarantee fit into this?
It makes a short list easier to hold to. On search engagements on the Growth and Scale plans, missing the written target means a refund of every retainer fee plus $1,000 (SEO pricing). An account we cannot move costs us money, so we only take on work we are confident we can do ourselves, and saying no to the rest is the commercially sensible answer.
The bottom line
A supplier is worth hiring for the work its own people do. Before you sign with anyone, us included, find out which parts of the job are done in house, which are passed on, and who you will actually be talking to about each one.
Questions people ask about this
So who does our website if you will not?
We will tell you what needs to change and why, in enough detail for a developer to act on, and we will work with whoever you choose. What we will not do is put a margin on somebody else’s work and call it a service. If you do not have a developer, we can point you at people we have worked with, and we take nothing for the introduction.
Is conversion work not a fourth service then?
It is included in every engagement rather than sold separately, which is a deliberate choice. Sending traffic to a page that does not convert is one of the most common ways we see marketing money wasted. An agency that charges extra to fix that has an incentive not to mention it. It costs us a line on the invoice and it removes an argument we do not want to have.
Does this mean you turn down work?
Regularly, and it is the part prospects find strangest. Carrying financial risk on the search guarantee means an account we cannot move costs us money, so saying no is often the commercially sensible answer rather than a principled one.
How can I tell if an agency subcontracts my work?
Ask to meet the person who will do the work, by name, before you sign. Ask where they sit and who employs them. Ask to see the working files rather than the finished deliverable. Look at the services page: a firm of a dozen people offering twelve disciplines is likely coordinating some of them. None of this makes subcontracting wrong, but you should know what you are paying for.
Is it a problem to use three separate suppliers?
Not if each one is good and someone owns the whole picture. The risk is that nobody joins the data up, so search learns something paid never hears about. Have the three share access to the same analytics and meet occasionally, or pick one to coordinate. The alternative, one supplier reselling all three, removes that effort and can remove the expertise with it.
Why do search, paid and email work better together?
Each produces something the others need. Search Console shows the exact language people use, which writes better ad copy. Paid campaigns show quickly which offer gets a response, which tells search what pages to build. Email works the enquiries the other two generate and brings back people who did not convert first time. Run separately, each has to learn all of that alone.
Which of the three should I start with?
It depends on what you already have. If you have a list of past customers you never mail, email is often the cheapest place to start. If demand exists as searches and you need results this quarter, paid finds out quickly what works. If you can wait for returns that build over time, search. The free review at /contact is where that decision gets made with your actual data.
Can I hire you for only one of the three?
Yes. Engagements often start with one channel, and conversion work on the pages that channel sends traffic to is included whichever one it is. What we will tell you at the review stage is whether another channel would change the result, so that you decide with the full picture. Nobody is obliged to take all three, and the decision stays yours.
Does dropping web design mean you ignore my site?
No. The site is where every channel we run ends up, so it is inside the scope from the first review. What changes is who builds it. We tell you what a page has to do, what is stopping it, and what to change, in enough detail for your developer to act on. Then we check the change landed and measure whether it worked.
Do you still run social media advertising?
Yes. Paid social is media buying, and Meta campaigns are part of the paid work alongside Google. What was dropped is organic social content: the daily posting, community management and page design. Those are a different skill with a different measure of success, and they were the part being coordinated rather than done.
What happens if my site needs rebuilding before search work?
We say so, in writing, with what needs to change and why. Then the search work waits, because building rankings on a site that cannot hold them wastes your money and ours. You rebuild with a developer of your choosing, or one we introduce with nothing taken for it, and the search engagement starts when the new site is live and checked.
Free review
Want this looked at on your own site?
Send the address. A person reads it and writes back with the two or three things that would move your enquiry number first. Free, and yours to keep whether you hire us or not.
