How a Denver solar startup built a conversion machine from scratch — and cut cost per acquisition by 32% while scaling 45×.
Solid product. Decent referrals. Invisible website.
CAM Solar was a small Denver-based installer doing about $200K in annual revenue when I joined as Director of Marketing. The product was solid. The referral network was decent. But the website was doing nothing — a digital business card with no conversion path, no trust signals, and no visibility in local search.
For a solar company in a growing Colorado market, that was a missed opportunity of the worst kind: demand existed, and someone else was going to capture it.
Rebuild the funnel end to end.
I rebuilt the funnel end to end, using the discipline that would later become the Website Optimizer methodology.
01 · AuditConversion audit first.
Every page got scored on one question: does this help the visitor make a decision? Most pages failed. The homepage talked about the company instead of the customer. Services pages read like brochures. Contact had a generic form and no reason to use it.
02 · RebuildHomepage rebuilt around the decision.
Hero that named the visitor's question ("Is solar worth it on my house?") instead of the company's positioning. Three clear next steps. Social proof above the fold.
03 · EngineerThe quote flow, engineered.
The "contact us" form became a short qualification flow — address, roof type, monthly electric bill. By the time a lead hit our inbox, we knew if they were worth pursuing.
04 · RankLocal SEO, executed properly.
Google Business Profile optimized weekly. Location pages for Denver, Boulder, Aurora, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs — each with real local detail. Reviews generated through a post-install sequence.
05 · TestContinuous testing.
Hundreds of tests over four years. Most did not move the number. The handful that did compounded into a site that converted three times better than the starting point.
Scaling a solar company 45× usually requires a giant paid ad budget or a huge sales team.
We did it with neither. The site did the heavy lifting. The sales team closed deals instead of hunting them.
"Working with Ben has been an exceptional experience. He tells you exactly what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. Ben brings serious marketing expertise while maintaining a sense of humor that makes even complex strategy sessions enjoyable."
"His social media strategies have been invaluable to our sales process, and his ability to streamline our marketing operations through smart tech solutions has saved us countless hours."
The same system, now AI-powered.
CAM Solar's testing program took a team of three in 2017. Today, the Website Optimizer runs AI-powered tests continuously — copy variations, CTA experiments, layout changes — all measured and deployed without manual lift.
Learn how Website Optimizer works →Your website is leaving money on the table.
If your site is not converting the traffic you're already paying for — let's talk. Free 48-hour audit. Keep the report either way.
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