When Perth-based search engine marketing company ineedhits came on the scene in 1996, 45 million internet users worldwide were searching Alta Vista; Hotmail and Internet Explorer had just been commercially launched, and Google was still two years away.
When Perth-based search engine marketing company ineedhits came on the scene in 1996, 45 million internet users worldwide were searching Alta Vista; Hotmail and Internet Explorer had just been commercially launched, and Google was still two years away.
A pioneer in its field, ineedhits has managed to ride out the dot.com boom and bust to be regarded as one of the state’s IT success stories.
Celebrating the company’s 10th year in operation this month, founder Clay Cook says ineedhits is one of only a few search engine marketing companies with a strong focus on small to medium businesses – helping them get hits on their websites.
“Other businesses found it very hard to service the smaller businesses because they typically don’t buy large quantities of a product,” he told WA Business News.
“They weren’t able to perfect the low-touch approach, and we were one of the first to do that.”
Mr Cook said success for the company, which began offering search engine submission and optimisation, started in earnest when it entered into advertising deals with search engines Lycos, Alta Vista and HotBot, and shortly after began offering a paid inclusion service.
“This was back in the heyday of the dot.com boom, and we were able to get strategic positions with the major search engines worldwide for a reasonable cost,” Mr Cook said.
In 2001, ineedhits became one of only three companies in the world selling paid inclusion into the Inktomi search database. In 2002, the company partnered with Ask Jeeves to become the exclusive producer of its paid inclusion service.
The downturn came in 2004, when Google’s pay-per-click program became the dominant website marketing program, Ask Jeeves was shut down and Alta Vista was taken over by Yahoo.
According to Mr Cook, ineedhits’ main revenue streams were being rapidly eroded, and the company registered a loss for the first time.
“Google changed the landscape with its addition of adwords and pay per click programs. Then other search engines copied them…and eventually some closed their paid inclusion programs,” Mr Cook said.
“The number of search engines we provided that service for went from three to one.”
In mid-2004, Mr Cook appointed the company’s strategic marketing adviser, Jackie Shervington, as CEO to turn company’s fortunes around.
“At the time things were tough, but we didn’t realise how tough they were,” Ms Shervington said.
Ms Shervington spearheaded a rebranding of the company, with a new logo and a new website, which would act as a shopfront to launch new products.
“The website was very old, clunky, it was a daggy brand. We were very tired,” she said.
“The new website gave us a platform to launch new products. It was the initial catalyst to get us going.”
Ms Shervington also implemented a cultural shift within the company, increasing accountabilities and efficiencies.
“To survive we really had to get accountable, and that started with the culture,” she said.
“It’s scary times when your business isn’t making money and you don’t know what’s going to happen.
“Everyone knew what was going on, and [everyone] was committed to its success”.
As a result, ineedhits has experienced a growth in revenue, recording a 360 per cent profit turnaround for the 12 months ending June 2006 compared with the previous financial year.
With this solid base to work from, Ms Shervington said the company’s focus had shifted from survival to building and sustaining growth long term.
“Our challenge now is to invest in the right things that will make us grow.”