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Sherbet Donkey Celebrates Its 5th Anniversary
This year, Sherbet Donkey turns five! It’s been half a decade since our director, Loki, tired of all-talk-and-no-results SEO services, took a leap and founded his own agency.
From an energetic startup with just five staff, Sherbet Donkey has grown to a team of over 45, and is now comfortably one of the largest, most successful SEO agencies outside of London, managing £3.8 million in annual SEO retainers alone. Since it’s our birthday, we thought we’d celebrate with a quick roundup of the last year. So, hold on tight, things move fast here, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover.
Our strongest team ever
This year has seen a real shift in our team dynamic. We’ve strengthened our focus on stable growth, taken time to settle down and further refine the expertise we offer our clients. Our team, now sitting steady at 45, is the strongest, most experienced we’ve ever had.
We’ve been fortunate to hire some exceptionally talented SEO specialists, writers, designers, developers, account managers, a dedicated project manager and an in-house social media coordinator in the last 12 months. We’re also proud to be retaining more staff than ever before, with 44% of us having been with the agency for two years or more.
As we’ve grown, we’ve also been keen to foster internal development, with a series of new promotions within the SEO and content departments. Emily and Nicky are already knocking it out of the park leading their own SEO teams, helping our clients see better results every day. Polly took the helm in content and has quickly flourished in her role, transforming the way the department works and ensuring our clients get the best content possible.
Collectively, we’re now punching well above our weight, with results rivalling the industry’s biggest contenders.
Breaking new ground
The last year saw us take on countless new clients and website projects. We entered into new industries, including retail with Alice Wheeler, food and beverage with the Birmingham Brewing Company and aesthetic health with UKSKINⓇ and Manor Health.
- 430+ keywords in the top 3 positions on Google for Aluminium Online
- 300+ monthly website enquiries for The Events Company
- 1,271% increase in online sales revenue for Alice Wheeler
- 361% increase in monthly website visitors for Nordic Timber Buildings
27 new websites
We’ve built some incredible websites in the last 12 months (if we do say so ourselves), each SEO- and UX-optimised from the ground up. Some of our favourites include:
- Sunsquare – a scalable website allowing our client to break into international markets
- Perfect Portal – a fully editable website with strong branding
- The HEX Group – the foundation for a website ecosystem, built with expansion in mind
- Birch Hill Dog Rescue – a beautifully crafted charity website with custom illustrations
- Aluminium Online – a UX-focused ecommerce site that’s already boosting conversions
Want to take your business to the next level with a new website? Get in touch today to learn more.
More clients than ever before
Hard work pays off. For five years, we’ve dedicated ourselves to achieving incredible results for our clients, and now the word is out: we’re the agency to trust if you want growth.
We now have 108 clients on our books, with a whopping 84% retention rate. 22% of our clients have been with us for more than three years, and we still have our first ever SEO client from five years ago!
Looking forward, our new head of account management, Andy, is determined to push our client retention rate up to 90%, as we strive for even better results and service.
Win after win
We’re proud to say that the power of our SEO services is no secret at this point. By blending a toolkit of techniques, including local SEO, technical SEO and AI SEO, our in-house team has worked some real magic this last year.
Our top five wins include:
- £2 million in new contracts in one quarter for Vanguard
- 110% increase in enquiries for Clover HR
- 1,135% increase in sales revenue for Nordic Timber
- 900+ website enquiries in just 3 months for The Events Company
Fancy some of these results for your own business? Book your free SEO audit now to get started.
Outside of our SEO work, Sherbet also provides a range of other marketing support services, including print and trade show support, PPC and social media.
Trade show support
In spring this year, we supported our long-standing client, Waste Spectrum, with their stand for the Pig and Poultry Fair at the NEC in Birmingham. Our stand design featured branded visual elements for an eye-catching presence and an ergonomic layout for maximum attendee engagement.
PPC
Over in the PPC corner, our in-house expert, Vish (one of the original five), has been working his own brand of magic for our clients. Alongside his amazing SEO work, Vish has a knack for turning small ad spends into major conversions.
- 720% return on ad spend for Drainfast
- £91k in additional revenue for Aluminium Online
- 45% increase in conversions for THS Containers
- 723 conversions in 5 months for A&T Trained Dogs
Social media
Since last year, our now-not-so-new social media coordinator, Izzy, has been helping our clients do the rounds on social media. With her at the helm, we’ve gathered Image Technique over 100 new followers in just four months, which is a 96% increase over the previous period. We’ve also boosted engagement for Intergas by 180% on Instagram and 106% on Facebook.
Work hard, play hard
At Sherbet Donkey, we’re renowned for taking our clients seriously but ourselves not so much. Our office is an ever-changing hub of activity and is never dull for long.
Team events
This year, we’ve had our fair share of work parties and events. In autumn, we mustered the team at the office for a photoshoot in preparation for our new website launch. After the shoot, we all headed down the road to the Queen’s Head for a meal and debrief (thanks, Loki).
At Christmas, the whole team gathered at the NEC in Birmingham for an Après Ski-themed night of food, drink, entertainment and Alan’s captivating dance moves.
In April, we all got together again for an outdoor activity day in the Warwickshire countryside. We were grouped off into teams, mixing different departments and encouraging the kind of collaboration we rely on every day. We tried our hands at clay pigeon shooting, 4×4 off-road driving and hovercrafting, as well as a range of team-building exercises such as tower building, a floor-is-lava challenge and an unexploded bomb task.
To cap it all off, we went for a big team meal at the stunning Saxon Mill on the edge of Warwick, where we basked in the glow of Luke H’s sunburn. Ultimately, it was an amazing day out and all went off without a hitch… apart from Kelly driving a 4×4 into a tree… and then a hovercraft into a bush.
Office upgrades
We’ve owned our office building “Sherbet House” for a few years now, and as we’ve grown the place has begun to look a little tired. So, Loki decided it was time for a refresh.
In the last few years, we’ve created welcoming new meeting rooms downstairs with a comfortable lobby area, the upstairs office space has been completely rearranged for better flow and we’ve even installed two new state-of-the-art soundproof meeting booths.
Website rebuild
In late 2025, we built and launched a brand-new website. The new site represents hours of hard work from every corner of the office and is designed to provide clients with a seamless UX while conveying our more grown-up attitude as the agency expands.
Packed with engaging visual elements, a reimagined user journey, fresh copy and clear CTAs, our new website is an SEO powerhouse, demonstrating the best of what we have to offer.
Workplace mishaps
Life at Sherbet is never quiet. The last 12 months have treated us to some really wholesome moments and some that were just downright odd. At the top of the list are:
- Andrew D graced us with numerous costumes, including his usual Father Christmas outfit and a matching fly and spider getup for himself and his golden retriever, Walter
- Some spectacular secret Santa presents, including an anti-Andrew screen for Katie C, giving her some much-needed peace
- Brad’s fitness dreams were realised when he lost track of his own strength and ripped the door handle off the brand-new (and very expensive) meeting booth
- Polly’s Bake Off-worthy cakes and brownies have kept the team motivated all year
- Matt E continues to astonish and concern with his Monster Energy consumption, emptying more than 200 cans since this January alone
- Dawson’s tinned food reviews have been both fascinating and disturbing, apparently all day breakfast in a tin is worth a go, Fray Bentos meatballs in bolognese sauce are to be avoided, and a whole chicken in a can was a surprise win – most of which he ate cold
What’s next?
Since this time last year, the agency has entered a range of new industries and begun to partner with larger and more well-known businesses. Over the next 12 months, we intend to continue this upward trend.
Loki also plans to drive Sherbet to reach £10 million in annual turnover in the next two years, either through organic growth or by acquiring smaller agencies. If the last few years are anything to go by, that shouldn’t be too tough.
The future’s golden for Sherbet, and our success over the last five years demonstrates the value of sticking to something and working hard at it. We can’t wait to see what’s next for the agency. So, here’s to another five years of Sherbet Donkey! Thanks for joining us for the ride.
