1Mby1M Deal Radar: WebiMax, Mt. Laurel, New Jersey

Following up on my Top 10 Online Advertising Trends of the Decade, Deal Radar will increase its coverage of online marketing and advertising and search engine optimization (SEO) in 2011, beginning with WebiMax. Recently recognized by TopSEOs.com, WebiMax focuses on online marketing specific to SEO, pay-per-click management, social media, reputation management, Web design, and e-commerce functions.

WebiMax is based in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, with offices in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Jacksonville, Florida. The company is launching offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and London in 2011, with plans for offices in Australia and Spain in 2012.

Founder and CEO Ken Wisnefski is a serial entrepreneur who sold two prior companies (VendorSeek.com in 2008 and Impact Direct in 2007). He says he knew little about online marketing when he founded VendorSeek.com and became engaged in the field following negative experiences working with online marketing firms that he felt were not able to provide results.

Forecasters predict that in the United States alone, over $50 billion will be spent in online marketing in 2011. The growth is tremendous as large sites such as Facebook and Twitter are now viable ways in which companies can market their products and services. Says WebiMax, “every month a new ‘craze’ seems to take place and catapults companies like Groupon to fast stardom” – a phenomenon covered by Deal Radar last month. WebiMax aims to help companies harness all of these scenarios into unified and effective campaigns. WebiMax works with companies in all verticals but says it has been especially successful in working with clients that promote e-commerce–based stores and verticals driven toward lead generation efforts for their sites.

WebiMax offers a four-phase SEO process and a number of services surrounding it – an SEO code of ethics, copywriting, consulting and link-building services, and real-time link building. It also has landing page optimization, pay-per-click management, and other services such as social media management, lead generation design, e-commerce design, and an online marketing and and SEO group dedicated to Philadelphia-area businesses.

Typical campaigns range from $5,000 a month to $30,000 a month. Much of that is dependent upon the depth of the campaign the clients wish to work on and the market they concentrate on. The more competitive their space, the more costly it becomes to gain visibility in that space. WebiMax has a range of clients, from Sam’s Club and Marriott to pharmaceutical clients, start-up ventures, and numerous small and medium businesses, including JustWeddings.com, InsideBusiness.com, AllDJs.com, LimousineDirect.com, Greger Max Realty Group, eTemps, Vegan Karma, Kalimex Construction, and Colonial Bank FSB. At VendorSeek, Wisnefski’s first company, he worked with over 5,000 clients, and these relationships helped the new company to gain traction.

There are hundreds of SEO and online marketing firms, not surprising given how the trend has taken off. Web.com, Razorfish, iProspect, Bruce Clay, Increase Invisibility, Brick Marketing, Server Side Design, ArteWorks SEO, WebMetro, SEOP, and Intrapromote are just a few names in this competitive market. TopTenReviews takes an in-depth look at how many of these SEO companies, including WebiMax, are performing. WebiMax’s competitive strategy includes guaranteed results within a specific time, pay-for-performance options, and a proprietary tracking system.

This business is entirely bootstrapped, as were Wisnefski’s first two ventures. Wisnefski says he has had to find financing in numerous other ways – from borrowing from his father and selling his home and renting an apartment to fund the business right down to merchant cash advances, high credit card debt, and a lot of bartering. However, Wisnefski believes that WebiMax is now at the stage at which he would have interest in a strategic investment partner who has media experience and could bring potential large clients into the fold. WebiMax is on pace to exceed $10 million in revenue in 2011 and has just become profitable this year.

WebiMax has about 125 employees and, says Wisnefski, is a tight-knit group. The management team includes a number of close friends. Over the next few years, this team’s goal is to prepare the company for an acquisition target. WebiMax has already had several inquiries, one of which it finds especially intriguing. Says Wisnefski, “Having sold my two previous ventures, I think my ability is to get companies in a large growth mode and integrate with a larger company that can support even more growth.”

Recommended Reading
Building A 10 Million Dollar Search Engine Marketing Business: WPromote CEO Mike Mothner
SEO in 2011: Content versus Links (an informative post from socialmediatoday)

This segment is a part in the series : 1Mby1M Deal Radar