When someone is building an ecommerce website at 13 years of age, you know they’re destined for success in the web. Such is the case with Benji Rabhan, CEO and founder of Morris Mediaworks, a web and marketing solutions company that includes the ConversionCore, ClickCore, and InfusionCore brands under its umbrella.
Recently, Benji was included on the Empact100 list of Top American Young Entrepreneurs, which recognizes the top U.S. business innovators under the age of 30. Benji’s wide-ranging experience in the business world has given him the ability to adapt his ROI and conversion rate improvement strategies to any client’s wants and needs. When you think conversion optimization, you should think Benji Rabhan.
Q: Could you give some insight into your professional background and the concept behind ConversionCore?
Benji Rabhan: I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mindset and have run many businesses. Some of them have been web and advertising related; website design, development, graphic design, branding, etc. Some have been physical brick and mortar businesses; restaurant and bar, car detailing products, etc. I discovered that my varied background in both the online and offline world gave me a unique perspective on profitability and ROI. Basically, I saw things other people didn’t see in their own businesses.
The concept behind ConversionCore is conversion rate optimization, which is continually improving web pages and marketing funnels so they become more profitable, often with the same traffic and resources. The company evolved from my ROI-focused web development firm, ClickCore, and my coaching group. So, we’ve moved into conversion rate consulting for existing websites based on our success with building high-converting websites from scratch and advising people on their projects successfully for years.
Q: What were your original expectations for ConversionCore, and what are your expectations for the future?
Benji Rabhan: My original expectations for ConversionCore were minimal. Conversion rate and funnel consulting was just a service we offered as part of our graphic design and web building process. When I split it off as a separate entity, I knew it would be useful and valuable. But I quickly discovered that we have a unique process and higher success rate than our competitors. So what was originally going to be a well-defined side service has very quickly become a service in high demand by a wide variety of clients.
We continue to grow, expand and revise our expectations to supply bigger and better results, even faster. The future is looking very promising for our clients. We’re having a lot of fun!
Q: To provide a service that streamlines ROI, you have to feel confident that it will work with multiple businesses and business models. How have you managed to create a universalized program that is effective regardless of the business in question?
Benji Rabhan: We have a unique discovery process, and we’re constantly refining it. Every customer is different, but there are commonalities and strategies that overlap. So as time goes on, we’ve been able to find those similarities faster and implement successful changes in a more streamlined way. We also take into account what stage a client’s business is at from many angles, so we are able to recommend the conversion strategies that pay off the fastest as well as the ones that can help create sustainable and exponential growth.
Q: What have you learned about yourself as a leader since the beginning of your tenure at ConversionCore?
Benji Rabhan: I’ve learned that I prefer to work with really smart people. So now we try to only hire team members that in the past I might have thought were too expensive. I now know that a smart, successful team member doesn’t cost me money, they make me money. It’s important to surround myself with people who are hyper-intelligent and have a willingness to learn new things quickly. So, I may hire someone even without all the knowledge they need for the job just because they are a great fit for my team. The hiring process has become so much easier now that I know what kind of people I want to work with.
Q: What are some of the most common issues you see with businesses when determining areas in need of improvement?
Benji Rabhan: The biggest issue I see is that people have trouble defining their sales and marketing funnel. They don’t know what the real goal is for their website. So, that’s the first thing they need to figure out. Then they have to figure out what the customer’s goal is when they come to the site. Finally, they have to merge those two goals together so the customer finds what they need as fast as possible; so they don’t need to go visit another competing site to find it. Businesses just have a really hard time marrying their goals with the customer’s goals and depicting that on a website.
Web designers and developers mislead businesses all the time. They sell a package of pretty stuff – buttons, graphics, rotating boxes. But pretty doesn’t work by itself. Pretty can be a piece of the puzzle, but there’s a lot more to conversion than how the site looks. Most businesses wind up with a site that’s either too pretty or too ugly, when the sweet spot is in the middle somewhere. They focus on the design more than helping the visitor find exactly what they need as quickly as possible. That’s a huge mistake. It’s important to hire a designer or developer who truly understands marketing and ROI. So you not only get a nice-looking site, but one that converts well and makes you money.
