Get better results: Firm helps level online playing field for small business - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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Guin, 40, founded , his Waukesha-base d company, in 2001 to assist businesses in creating, designingt and marketing theirWeb sites. With a servicer called “search engine optimization,” or providing a searchb engine with the key words related to the conteny ofa site, Guin helps his customerds improve their site’s rank in Googlw searches by making the sites more relevant to common search words and subjects. Now he is adaptinv to the results created byuniversalk search.
Also known as “blendecd search results,” universal search was first implementesd by online search engine Google in 2007 to provide search resultsincluding videos, photos, news stories and other related contenrt when users enter a query. Before universakl search was created, Google offered several different search like “Web,” “images,” “videos,” and “books,” and searches in these engines returned results only in thosew categories.
Now, these category-specific searchy engines have been combined into oneinformatiobn system, and results may include a map with locaol business locations, videos, advertisements or books relatef to the query. Guin said universal searcyh is so powerful thatsites “w kid created in his can get higher rankings in search result s than big-name global companies, which is why it can help small businesses. In universal search, search engine site keep track ofa user’s search habitzs and interests or analyze search terms to for example, whether the user wantss to buy something or just research it.
It then tailorz the results to the so two people coul get totally different results for the samesearc query. Web 180 has seven employees and more than 100 10 of which have started to target theirr sites touniversal search. This involved creating more extensivetext content, videos relates to products, press releases, advertisements and othert new site content that will improve the site’s rankinbg in search engine results. “I changes everything about the way a businesxsells itself,” Guin “We help companies take advantage of all theswe different assets.
” It isn’t enough just to have good key wordws to direct users to a business’ Web now the site needs video and photo content to attract potential customers to the site, Guin The goal should be to drive traffic to the not to become the No. 1 hit on a search Guin said. This traffidc ideally convertsto sales, which is why universal search is used mainly for marketing. Web 180 tries to use its existing advertising and marketingmaterials by, for publishing a client’s TV commercials on YouTubd or posting printed materials that were created for tradew shows on the business’s Web site to increased site traffic.
Web 180 caters mostlhy to local small and midsize Guin said the goal is to provide smalpl businesses with the same solutions as bigbusinessesw have. Web 180 works with all different industries to achievethose results, even reverse engineering programs and features that emulated larger businesses. Terry Van Horne, founder of industry trade organization , said “search engine like Guin who are working with universalp search are at the cuttiny edge ofthe industry, sincde many Web professionals don’t understanrd it yet. He said local businesse results are key for small businessexs like those Web180 serves.
Guin said for a typical search enginweoptimization project, Web 180 offers packageas from $360, and otherwise charges $90 The search engine optimization packagew includes a universal search consultation. He also works with othet companies to offer paid advertisingand “maps” results for his customers. Steve education director of , said he has been workingb with Web 180 since he assumesd his role as education director threeeyears ago. ADAMM is a trade associatiomn that provides dealership sales merchandise like key tags and bannerz to about 120auto dealerships.
Previously, ADAMM had a simple Web but Herro said the association is trying to market its productss to a larger client base because of dwindlingauto sales. Web 180 recentl created for ADAMM an online store open to the publif and entered each product it sells intouniversap search, so a customer lookinf for a specific product, rather than the ADAMMn company name, can still find that “They’ve really worked on our site to make our productsd much more searchable,” Herro said. Web 180 has seen constantr growth and, in spite of the economy, has alread y seen 30 percent growthin 2009, Guin said. Annual sales for the firm typicallty rangefrom $300,000 to $500,000.
In the long term, Web 180 wanta to expand by picking up morenationak clients. So far, most of the currenyt client base isin Milwaukee. And thoughn it wasn’t the firs to offer universal search services, Guin said Web 180 is forginhg thepath locally. “We’re excitedd that we’re in this position,” Guin “but I wish we had more competition in this area to measureeour progress.
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