wukonig.com is an internet agency with a focus on search engine optimization (SEO), search engine advertising and online marketing in Graz, Austria. For over 20 years, Jörg Wukonig and his team in Graz have been offering much more than just web design, namely consulting, conception and marketing of online projects at the highest technical level. We spoke to Jörg about the challenges of SEO and the topics of finance and Cash position .
Jörg, you are the owner of wukonig.com. You are specialists in search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine advertising and online marketing in general. An area that has gained massive importance, especially in recent years. Can you briefly tell us what your focus is?
Personally, I have been involved in the World-Wide-Web (www) since it was first opened to the general public in 1993, when I implemented my first websites as a student. The whole thing developed from a hobby to a part-time job and in 1999 we founded an agency. At that time, the focus was still on e-learning, then we started working on multimedia Flash websites. Later, the topic of findability became relevant.
I have experienced virtually all the evolutionary steps of the www and while it was important to have a website in the beginning, the topic of visibility and performance became more and more important later on. We have evolved along with our client - in summary, I would summarise our focus as follows:
No matter if you're a start-up or a growing company - we help you to be more successful on the web! We ensure more visitors, more enquiries and more sales. So you get more profit.
You could also say: we offer data-driven online marketing or growth marketing.
One thing is important to me: it's always about the triad of traffic-query-analysis. Only those who look at the funnel holistically are successful.
Search engine optimisation alone is not enough.
You've been doing this for a long time and have built up incredible expertise. What tips can you give us for online marketing?
From a helicopter perspective, the acquisition of new customers via website is always about three big questions that you should ask yourself:
(1) Do I have enough qualified traffic, i.e. visitors via a healthy mix of channels (Google Organic, Google Ads, referrals, social media organic & paid)?
(2) Do I manage to generate enquiries or sales from interested visitors?
(3) Can I draw conclusions from correctly recorded data / enquiries?
At the end of the day, it's no use bringing the wrong target group to me from the wrong channel. At the end of the day, a 1st place on Google is only worth something if I can convert this place into a business-relevant target.
Finding out where the biggest bottleneck is in the steps 1) traffic, 2) enquiries 3) analysis is the most important tip I can give. It sounds simple, but unfortunately it's not. But this is online marketing with a system.
And not the pure actionism of using a channel because you like it yourself, e.g. Instagram. Without measuring whether this is effective. Online marketing without goals and key figures is like just driving off in a car. It's fun, but you don't know where and whether you'll get there.
For those who want it less strategic: Get involved with LinkedIn as a content marketing tool. Linkedin offers exciting options depending on the business model: High organic reach & mostly serious users. LinkedIn marketing will be the next big thing!
My tip: Click here for an exciting lecture on profile optimisation on LinkedIn.
Sorry, I just have to ask. Your website doesn't look very attractive at first glance. What is the strategy behind it?
Honestly, it was never planned that way. We always had and still have so much to do that we never had time to make our own site look smart. It is important for us that our clients are successful on the web. The site was intended as "one page tells it all". The client should see at a glance: Who we are, who we work for and what we are currently doing.
We offer a certain amount of information. The site has been around since 2001 and is no longer up to date. But: We have found out that - despite a suboptimal website for almost 20 years - our customers are satisfied and we are doing well in business. Our key figures speak for themselves!
Meanwhile, the website in this form serves as a "hygiene factor". Ideally, the customers who have already asked around in the market or who have perceived us as a recommendation get in touch with us.
That is not a disadvantage! On the contrary! We have developed a sophisticated system for identifying our B2B customers and therefore know in advance who will contact us and why. Therefore, you should not underestimate any website, sometimes the logic behind it is the relevant criterion.
But: We want to relaunch our website soon and are already curious what effect this will have on the number of enquiries. Nevertheless, I would like to offer the following tip:
The most important thing - in my opinion - is to have a thriving business, a nice website can help with that. But it doesn't have to. We are the best proof of that.
You have a small team, but you are owner-managed, so to speak. How do you deal with the issue of finances?
As a small boutique agency for online marketing, we cannot afford our own CFO, controller or business analyst. Just like in many agencies & trades or one-man shows - only with one difference.
I want to have all the financial information available on a daily basis and know how the company is doing.
Since we are constantly dealing with numbers in online & performance marketing, we are not afraid of numbers, data and facts. That's why we started developing our first dashboards relatively early on, which provide us with important data such as the number of enquiries, offers, sales, incoming and outgoing payments, etc. This gave us our first rough picture of how the company is currently doing. This gave us a first rough picture of how the company was currently doing.
Fortunately, we never had "management by account statement". In the end, controlling & co. is also very related to online marketing - it's all about collecting the right data and drawing conclusions from it. But the most important thing is to always look ahead, to the future. If the tax advisor explains to me what I did right or wrong last year or the year before, that unfortunately doesn't help me in the fast-moving age of online marketing. That's why we found out very early on that the topic of finances is a matter for the boss.
I try to cover this in the area of sales, controlling & Cash position . Without a business degree in the background. With common sense and street smarts. I believe that many managing directors know too little about the financial status of their company because they rely too much on external service providers. But numbers can be fun.
And how important is the topic of Cash position for you?
We are owner-managed and self-financed - I am very proud of the fact that we have never taken out a loan since we were founded. This may be unimaginable for some, but the key lies quite simply in Cash position.
I always say it like this: the tax advisor has the view in the rear-view mirror, the controller the view ahead!
Without Cash position , I can't seriously say how long I'll get, how far and no one would undertake a long journey without knowing whether the tank is full or half full. The concept of Cash position is very simple, but in everyday life there are always so many excuses why you don't bother with it.
I sat down countless years ago and, after a bit of research, tried to build a system that was practicable. I ended up with Excel. For decades, I have had one thing in mind: our financial future.
In our conversations, you told us that you had been looking for software for Cash flow planning for a long time. How do you use COMMITLY in your company?
When I heard about Commitly, I tried countless solutions. Most of the solutions had more disadvantages than advantages, so at the end of the day I ended up back with Excel. With Commitly, I thought to myself, that would be too good if they could only deliver half of what they promise. I was pleasantly surprised and today I can say one thing: I no longer use Excel for Cash flow planning.
Commitly has replaced Excel and I have finally found a tool to carry out my Cash flow planning online. In the past, I had to invest 1-2 hours to enter and transfer posting lines to Excel, but now I can do it in a matter of minutes. Error-free, as it is very easy to run the risk of entering the wrong things in the wrong places in Excel. Subsequent errors are almost inevitable in Excel and from today's perspective, I have to honestly say that it is almost negligent to entrust Excel with the most valuable data you have, i.e. financial data.
In a recent lecture I was confirmed - It was about how "Excel is probably the most dangerous software in the world" because it can quickly lead to errors and much more.
My personal liquidity workflow looks like this: Through the regular emailings, I am gently reminded to take a look at Commitly. Then I log in and get the current bank movements, which are sorted correctly in a few moments.
A quick glance at the burndown chart shows me immediately when Cash position is heading into the red. This allows you to take countermeasures in good time by increasing your income or reducing your costs. The nice thing is that you can play through the scenarios and if you choose a conservative scenario as your plan, you have a kind of safety buffer.
Since I am not a full-time CFO, I only use a fraction of the functions, but that is exactly the strength of Commitly. The software seems to be made for beginners like me. I can enter all the data within a short time and know more than my tax advisor & my bank.
In addition to the burndown chart, the insights are always relevant for me, e.g. which clients generate which turnover. Of course, you always have to ask yourself the question here: What if I only have a few clients who are responsible for a large part of my turnover? The loss of 1-2 of these relevant clients can lead to a situation of imbalance in many companies. Unfortunately, my bank account doesn't show me that. Commitly does.
I also regularly take a look at the income to find out which services or products have developed particularly well and, of course, I also try to see if everything is on track in terms of costs.
As with Google Analytics, the following applies in financial planning:
You have to ask the right questions in advance, then you can get the right answers.
And: I know that - since I'm not a professional CFO - I'm certainly not using Commitly 50% or even 100% of the time yet, but in my case I'm already doing much better than with my old Excel solution and 100% perfectionism is laudable, but if the big picture is right, I'm happy too. And I can say one thing: even people who are still a bit shy about Cash flow planning will be happy with Commitly's solution. I have tried many solutions and remain loyal to Commitly because it is user-friendly, cost-effective and innovative.
As one of the early COMMITLY customers, you have always given us great feedback and thus also helped to develop our tool further. Where do you see the next improvements?
The big plus of Commitly was and is that they took a lot of time to take on board user feedback and incorporate it. Anyone who deals with financial planning tools will realise that this is unfortunately not a matter of course. That's why I'm very happy that they are exchanging ideas with the Commitly community and developing a tool that solves the problems that exist on the market.
I believe that the market for Cash flow planning is huge in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Unfortunately, it is not served by banks, tax consultants or accountants and that is a great opportunity. At the same time, I also see 2 large user groups for Commitly: beginners and advanced users, and perhaps they will manage to pick up beginners and offer flexibility to advanced users as well. Not an easy step.
I see the next improvements in the dashboard area of Commitly and also in the fact that Commitly helps me even better to draw the right conclusions from the correctly collected data.
In other words: Commitly collects a lot of data and the next step is to visualise it and to take the necessary steps for the company's daily routine. Experienced controllers can see at a glance that there are unnecessarily high costs in one area, but beginners may overlook this.
For me, it would be ideal if certain financial routines and optimisation suggestions could also be created for beginners. This does not always have to be fully automated, but can also consist of only
tips in the first step.
Commitly replaces the CFO and controller in some small businesses and if it could provide tips in one or two places, that could be a great relief. In any case, I'm very glad that Commitly exists and I don't want to go back to the time before!
Thank you very much for your time!
Credits: Photos by Wukonig