Igniting Power with Paige Wiese of Tree Ring Digital

Tree Ring Digital is a Denver-based, digital marketing company offering an array of digital services ranging from website design and development and search engine optimization (SEO) to pay-per-click advertising, social media marketing, content marketing, and reputation marketing. This company assists businesses in increasing revenue and brand awareness by collaborating to develop and implement unique strategies specific for your business.

Under the leadership of founder and CEO Paige Wiese, Tree Ring Digital has created and developed hundreds of websites. Wiese used her education and intuition to develop her own, unique vision of website design and digital marketing strategies and leads a team of nearly a dozen specialized professionals who use their individual skill sets to complete the entire picture for successful marketing campaigns.

Tree Ring Digital is certified by the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce as an LGBTQ-owned business. In an effort to give back, Wiese donates her time to the business community by teaching educational workshops and mentoring through speaking engagements. No wonder she was selected to be a 2020 Power Winner.

OUT FRONT chatted with Wiese to learn more about Tree Ring Digital, how she fell into this field of work, and how she hopes to help other LGBTQ businesses.

Hello, Paige! Thank you for taking some time to chat with me. How does it feel to be a Power Winner?
Oh, man. It’s exciting! I was a little caught off guard, but it was exciting to hear the news.

You were selected for your work with Tree Ring Digital, a company you founded. Can you tell us more about it?
I founded the company about 10 years ago. I was doing some freelance work and trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Then, it was kind of another down economy with the 2008 and 2010 piece of it, and I was just trying to figure out what to do during a downward economy.

So, I was looking for some money and income, and I started learning and teaching myself a bunch of website work and learning more and more about it, just using the random experience that I had, playing around on a computer to make stuff happen, and really listening to the clients as to what their concerns and frustrations were. Like, we designed a site, but I don’t think it was the best site that’s even been built, so we started looking at how we can help people with content that would speed the process up and give them a better outcome.

So, we started introducing new services and bringing some contractors on board. From there, we were also just listening to a lot of the ‘Hey, great site, but it’s not doing anything,’ and realizing they weren’t really marketing whatsoever when we asked what they were doing to drive traffic. So, then I started to better understand how search engine optimization worked, how Google ads worked, and just continuing to self-teach.

There are concerns out there. What can we do to help our clients in the best way that we can? We also found it was very frustrating to keep searching for providers. It was very helpful when we started to create a relationship and bond with our clients. We can go to them; they are always there to help us; they are always there to answer questions, and they really understand the full picture. We just kept adapting and now we are about a team of a dozen total.

Why did you want to begin Tree Ring Digital?
Starting Tree Ring Digital, honestly, it just happened. People always ask me what my five-year goal is, especially as I was getting started, and I never thought about it. I never thought I would have employees. I never thought I would offer health insurance to people, let alone 10 to 12 people.

What made me want to start it, at the time, it was just me needing to do something. I took a lot of that energy and focused and found that drive. I have learned, over the years, that I absolutely love doing it. I love working with business owners. I love the creativity and thinking outside of the box.

Tree Ring Digital was more developed out of a need, but I say I am fortunate enough that at a very young age in my career, I stumbled into what I want to do for the rest of my life. You hear a lot of people say that they switched careers when they were, like, 45, but I am just so fortunate. I’m happy with what I am doing.

Igniting Power :: October 1, 2020

Did you always want to be a business owner?
Growing up, I think I had some desire to own a business in some capacity, but I don’t think I totally knew what that was. I don’t really come from a big background of that. My original background was architecture, so my goal was to work my way up the ladder, start at entry level and keep showing them. This is what I do, keep learning everything I can to work my way up to eventually one day own an architecture firm.

Again, this was 2008 when it was like, this is not the time, apparently. So, I think there was always a tiny, tiny bit of it, but did I ever think my life goal was to be a business owner? No. I was just struggling and trying to figure out in general what the heck to do with life.

It sounds like Tree Ring Digital has become a very beneficial company.
I mean, we have helped probably over 1,000 clients between marketing website projects over the years. We have definitely had our impact with local businesses as well as helping streamline the process and helping your website actually make money. In terms of really benefiting Denver, it’s what we have been able to do to keep businesses moving and profiting.

One thing that I learned early was, I didn’t have money. I was unemployed. I didn’t have a marketing budget. I couldn’t grow my business by just dumping a bunch of money into marketing. So, I really take that to heart when working with business owners and understanding that we don’t always have a huge budget to work with. We don’t always need one, and I tell clients that all the time. If I train you how to do this, are you OK with spending your time instead of your money? If I can do this, then it will start to see results where we can then start talking about the next steps of marketing.

We take a unique approach to it. Let’s ease you into what we need to be doing and help you grow. We do a lot of educational training, workshops, and different things to help.

How does this business specifically help the queer community and positively impact LGBTQ Coloradans?
I think about the first seven years of business; I was a very quiet and shy LGBTQ business owner. I was not going to even talk about it. It was a heavily male-dominated industry, so trying to compete with them as a younger generation and new in this area, the last thing I was going to is let them know that I am LGBTQ.

So, with that, I have really taken the last few years to confidently and strongly say yes, I am a lesbian business owner. Yes, this is an LGBTQ-owned business. The first time I think we even put that ad out there was in the LGBTQ Chamber directory. I had that conversation with my team asking if we should mention LGBTQ. We didn’t know what was going to happen, but it’s been welcomed with open arms. There are a lot of LGBTQ-owned businesses in Denver. I just don’t think a lot of them are as open about it.

So, I really tried to take more of an approach of, let’s empower others. Let’s get more people involved. Let’s make it more known that there are a lot of LGBTQ business owners out there. How can we work with them and help encourage them to grow? We have been pretty strong advocates since we joined the Chamber, and we have been well-received.

People will say, ‘I looked at your website, and I love that you are LGBTQ,’ or, ‘I love that you’re involved in the LGBTQ community. It shows that you are a company we want to work with.’ Just helping be present and making sure that people understand and realize that there are a lot of LGBTQ-owned businesses out there.

What are some future goals you would like to see Tree Ring Digital succeed?
Right now, we are fortunate with the pandemic that we are thriving and growing. I say that is always a testament to the work and the quality of what we are doing and the results we are delivering. It speaks volumes. That means we are getting referrals because people know us and trust us. They know that Tree Ring Digital is going to be able to take care of you during this time, that we are going to make sure your money is well-spent and not wasted.

We look at the big picture, not trying to sell you a service. As to where we plan to go from here, I know we are going to be even more involved with the LGBTQ Chamber and trying to figure out ways that we can continue to empower, help, and work with the whole community. I want to see this business continue to grow, and we are working very hard on a nationwide footprint, not just local.

What is your definition of power?
Power is a weird one because I think the first thing that comes to mind when I hear power is someone who has a lot to say. I don’t even know how to necessarily word it. As I sit here and think of the times that we are in and everything that’s going on, I really think it comes down to using the platform that you have to do good.

Not necessarily taking power as this negative thing and being like, they have all this power and control over you, but more so using it as motivation. Staying present, vocal, and encouraging others. Providing great leadership and continuing to support others. It’s using the good that we have, and the more people who do this, they will be able to help others thrive.

For more information, follow Tree Ring Digital on Facebook at
facebook.com/TreeRingDigital and Instagram @treeringdigital, or visit treeringdigital.com.