Kutenda, which specializes in online marketing services for managed service providers and their end customers, is launching a special offer for MSPs. According to a press release that should surface this week, the Broomfield, Colo.-based company says Kutenda now offers MSPs a free, ready-to-go web site built for lead generation. But there’s a bigger story here. And it involves simplified, automated online marketing for MSPs and their customers. Here are the details.
First, let’s start with the vision: Imagine if you had a single, simple Web tool for building and managing your corporate Web site plus customer web sites. Now, imagine if that tool also allowed you to manage Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google Adwords campaigns and other lead generation programs for your business and your customers’ businesses.
In the traditional world you’d need:
- A tool to build and manage your own site.
- Accounts across Google Adwords and other paid advertising systems to launch and manage your own lead generation services. Plus, you may need to log into your customers’ accounts to manage their Google Adword campaigns.
- A search engine optimization (SEO) expert who knows how to design HTML pages with the most ideal keywords placed in the most appropriate areas.
Marketing: Simplified
Kutenda takes away all of that complexity with a simple Web development tool that covers everything: Site development, SEO optimization, online ad campaigns, keyword recommendations, and so on.
Please note: I haven’t directly tested the tool. Nor can I say if it fully works as advertised. But Kutenda gave me a demo on Oct. 23 and I was impressed.
As you may know, I live in WordPress, Google Adwords and other SEO services. I log in and out of different tools much of my week — sprinting from one system to the next to help ensure our SEO remains top-notch. Kutenda reminded me of all the tools I use — wrapped into one.
Assuming it works as advertised it could be a way for MSPs to improve their visibility on the Web. But more importantly, Kutenda could be a simple way for MSPs to charge their customers for SEO and online marketing services.
That Special Offer
As you may recall, Kutenda was launched by Mike Cooch (CEO, Everon Technology Services) and Akash Saraf (CEO, Zenith Infotech). A mid-2009 Kutenda beta received overwhelming response from MSPs.
Now, Cooch is cranking up the marketing buzz a bit by offering that “free, ready-to-go web site” to MSPs that want to improve their own marketing, lead generation and SEO efforts. This type of freemium buzz has been spreading across the managed services market in recent months — including a freemium offer from Ingram Micro Seismic for its Global NOC.
According to the draft Kutenda press release:
When an MSP signs up for Kutenda’s Online Marketing Suite — which includes email marketing, SEO and online lead-generation tools, plus best practices training and a library of ready-to-launch managed services campaigns — Kutenda provides access to a catalogue of professionally-designed web site templates and professionally-written content for managed services. This is in addition to the ready-to-launch email campaigns — from BDR to Help Desk and more — that MSPs can already take advantage of with a Kutenda account.
I must concede: In some ways Kutenda sounds too good to be true. If you test it for yourself please tell me what you think. Is Cooch onto something here? Is Kutenda about to solve some of the oldest, most frustrating challenges facing VARs and MSPs: Effective marketing and lead generation?
Let me know your thoughts.
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Tags: Akash Saraf | Everon Technology Services | Freemium | Global NOC | Google Adwords | Ingram Micro Seismic | Kutenda | Mike Cooch | Online Advertising | Online Marketing | Search Engine Optimization | SEO | WordPress | Zenith Infotech
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Joe,
Thanks for the coverage. Online marketing is such a huge opportunity that continues to grow and become more powerful, and yet most MSPs aren’t taking advantage of it.
Our experience with most of our MSP customers so far is that their website is a big roadblock in their attempts to develop business online, and it’s also surely hurting their offline sales efforts as well.
Today, your website is the foundation of your marketing efforts. It’s the first place people go to evaluate your business when making a buying decision. Without a well-designed site, all of the lead generation efforts an MSP makes are going to be ineffective.
Kutenda allows us to solve that problem for MSPs.
By building a professional, optimized site for them – and then providing them with the additional marketing tools and services of Kutenda – we believe we can put them on the road to greater success.
Mike Cooch
CEO
Kutenda
Mike: You raise a key point about an MSP’s website being the “foundation” for a company’s marketing efforts.
In recent months I’ve heard from MSPs who want to build out their Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn communities. But many of those same MSPs have horrible corporate web sites.
Focusing on Twitter/FaceBook and LinkedIn before fixing a web site would be like building beautiful highways that lead to a horrible house.
MSPs: Fix your house first. Correct problems with your own web sites. Then focus on social media. Don’t build social media highways until you have a destination — a web site — that you can promote with pride.
Mike Cooch and plenty of other folks across the industry are standing by to help. I’m not endorsing any one service or approach. But take action. Dump those 1990s web sites and build a modern, simple Web site with SEO at the heart of your efforts. Then do the same for your customers.
That’s exactly right! And thank you for mentioning “Then do the same for your customers.” Such a big opportunity. Just read some research the other day (sorry, can’t recall source) that said they expect SMB spend on websites to triple in the next 3 years!
Mike
I watched the demo today, seems like a great tool for centralizing all your online marketing efforts. Unfortunately the price per month is a little steep for those of use spooling up a new MSP practice. It does look good however, wish I could afford it. =)
Congratulations Mike. I hope people start paying attention. The web is a hard place to give away free things, no one believes you anymore when you say free.
I loved the demo for Kutenda when I saw it.. it finally brings all the marketing tools together in one place.
Thank you Cathie and Jeff! Jeff – I’m sure you’ll be able to afford it soon – best of luck!
Mike
When evaluating a provider I always look at the quality of their Web site. Not just the look and feel but also the underlying code.
For example, the source code for the Kutenda home page has the following repeated 19 times, all incorrect for XHTML 1.0 Transitional: . This isn’t an isolated occurrence. None of their pages validate to standards.
It seems that they need to work on their own “foundation” before selling it to others.
Sorry, the html wasn’t allowed in my post. I’m referring to the charset meta.