This article is a case study of Telarus, Inc. which was founded in May 2002 in Huntington Beach, California by Adam Edwards and Patrick Oborn as a home-based venture. Leveraging Patrick’s SEO skills, Telarus, has grown to become the Top Master Agency in the industry; selected by the Telecommunications Association in 2008, 2009 and 2010.  We highlight in this article, Telarus Inc. as a case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of core SEO skills in business success.

I have worked first-hand with Telarus, which powers my own online telecommunications brokerage, since 2003 and had previously known Patrick since 1999 through the Cognigen Networks Agency. Patrick, as Cognigen webmaster, had learned skills in developing replicated agent websites and mastered search engine optimization as a student of Cognigen’s top agent, Joe Kennedy.

Cognigen Networks was well known as a long-distance carrier shopping system and Patrick developed many websites able to attract customers through his internet marketing skills. Patrick’s SEO skills were obvious from his earlier Cognigen days. He shared much of his expertise with Cognigen agents in training sessions. Those that listened and followed his advice literally began to dominate the search engines for telecommunications-related products such as calling cards, long distance, cellular plans, etc.

As the demand for Cognigen’s core long distance products waned, Patrick made a decision to change his focus to commercial telecommunications. This is where the Telarus story begins.

By leveraging what he already knew and his remaining income streams from Cognigen, Patrick and Adam have expanded their business model to expand well beyond using just internet marketing as a basis for their business. How has this been accomplished?

By envisioning a sales process divided into 1) Marketing and 2) Follow-up/Consulting, Telarus created, now patented, “Geoquote” software that allowed this process to take place. Telarus created a system which could generate hundred of new internet leads online each day through a network of agent replicated and hand-crafted web properties. Lead Generators, by using as bait, the world’s first and only real-time quote tool, attract new visitors to their sites. Once the bait is taken, e.g., a real time quote is delivered to an online “shopper,” highly-trained telecommunications sales agents receive the lead and make follow-up to consult with the prospect and close the deal. Having seen the pricing, under-qualified prospects will remove themselves from the system after learning that a T1 line is $350 – $1000/month, a price many businesses can’t afford to pay. This saves countless hours of productivity and allows sales agents to focus their time on customers who are actually ready to purchase service.

After three years of operations in California, Telarus moved to Draper, Utah in 2004. Once here, many new employees were hired to help maintain the complex technology that powers GeoQuote and the agent back offices, as well as agent sales support personnel that assist sales agents/brokers in their day to day sales activities. With these new employees, Telarus has been able to recruit many top Master Agents, individual consultants, network integrators, and VARs into the “family”. In 2006 Telarus agents turned in over $1,600,000 in new carrier contracts. Internet marketing and core SEO skills remain at the core of this highly successful venture.

Additional information is available on the Telarus website, and you may visit our online commercial telecommunications brokerage for live demonstration of quotes in seconds for internet service – T1 and a range of additional services.

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