Promotion World Interview with Roger Janik - CEO of Server Side Design, Inc.

Interview with Roger Janik, President and CEO, Server Side Design, Inc.

Mr. Janik, could you tell the PromotionWorld readers more about yourself and your responsibilities at Server Side Design, Inc.?
My entrance into the IT world began in 2001. I’ve worked with corporations, both large and small with tasks ranging from web design, flash animation, graphic design and website promotion. After a few years of getting my feet wet and building up a strong portfolio of freelance clientele, I formed ServerSideDesign. I’m the CEO but often act as a project manager for several of our enterprise level clients. I’m also very passionate about the process of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so I often consult and work on the first 1-2 months of project implementation with my staff.

Can you please provide us with a brief history of your company? When was it established and how did it develop through the years?
ServerSideDesign was founded in 2004 with a focus on custom web design, web development, website maintenance and pay per click management. After a short time, I realized that I had a strong passion for search engine marketing, which fit seamlessly into our current operations. SEO was also a much better business model to gain long-term business relationships.

Over the years, ServerSideDesign has grown to a staff of well-rounded professionals that handle tasks such as web design, keyword research, SEO copywriting, SEO programming, link building, social networking, pay per click management, and reporting. We are now a very successful website promotion company that is dedicated to placing our clients on the very top of the major engines. We are extremely ethical, hard working and our customer service is beyond compare.

What is special about ServerSideDesign as compared with the other companies providing web services?
It’s very tough to stand out in the vast ocean of search engine marketers. Many SEO companies will promise the world and never deliver, giving our industry a bad name. ServerSideDesign is one of a handful of SEO companies that actually does the work to provide substantial results, while delivering superior customer support. Customers love that they can reach us by phone or email at anytime of the day and the turnaround for projects is lightening fast!

In addition to being one of the hardest working and friendliest SEO companies in the industry, we differ from most of our competitors because we offer all-inclusive SEO packages. Most companies offer a-la-carte options such as, link building, blogs, articles, site updates, copywriting, etc. This is overwhelming to most customer’s pocket books and their decision making process. Our SEO packages include ALL of these services, so customers know exactly where their dollars are being spent and feel secure because we are doing everything within our power to achieve top results.

Which one of the services you offer is most popular among your customers and why?
Our two core competencies are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click Management (PPC), but our most popular is SEO by far. Smart businesses today realize that the main goal of a successful website is to get top placement on the natural (organic) SERPS (search engine results pages). We explain that natural rankings take time to achieve, so for clients that have the budget we always recommend running a PPC campaign until the organic results begin producing revenue or results.

Could you share your advice on what steps a website owner should take in order to have a successful website?
There are so many factors that can make or break a website. First of all, a website should always focus on the end-user in mind. What is your customer looking for? Is your product/service easy for them to find? Is there a strong call to action? Of course, usability is not enough - the first impression is everything on the Internet. A website must look great, be user friendly, lend credibility, and always be search engine friendly.

A website can be beautiful, slick, user friendly and sell, sell, sell, but if it cannot be found on the Internet then what’s the point? The process of optimizing a website, to the average business owner, usually means nothing more than updating meta-tags. In reality, to program and maintain a truly search engine optimized website takes a team of professionals. A person can always pick up a book and do some research on how to take some basic steps, but it takes years of experience, communication, trial and error, networking and education to launch a website to the top of the SERPS.

For people that do not have the budget or patience for natural search engine optimization to drive traffic to their website, then the best solution is to look into Pay Per Click Advertising. PPC management can be learned fairly quickly and yield extremely quick results. Another great benefit of PPC is that you can target your ads geographically and control your cost per click for each keyword phrase.

Please tell us more about the seminar, which you are organizing for Houston-based SEO companies and which will take place next year. What are the attendees to expect?
We are currently organizing a full SEO conference and seminar for 2008. This conference will be aimed at educating small to large business owners on how to create, maintain and promote a successful website through the use of search engine marketing.

In addition, we will have separate workshops and presentations aimed at educating and sharing the latest trends and techniques of SEO. This will be a great way to network and share ideas with the largest SEO players in U.S. Social networking will be one of the hot topics of discussion and how it is playing a vital role in the complexion of search engine marketing.

More information will be posted and updated at www.serversidedesign.com

Are there other events that you will organize or participate in the near future?
We believe that the only way to get great results for our clients is to stay on top of all of the current SEM strategies. SEO is so competitive that it is mandatory that we continually educate ourselves so that our methodologies do not become stagnant.

We do this by attending local seminars, such as one being held by NetworkSolutions on Dec 6th. Besides attending seminars, we actively participate in the SEO community by sharing ideas on forums and blogs. ServerSideDesign is also a member of SEMPO.org which keeps us up to date on SEO events, news and strategies.

Could you describe your team? What people does an SEO company need and what does ServerSideDesign do to keep its employees happy and hard-working?
We have a wonderful team of professionals with years of experience. Each of our staff is passionate and dedicated to SEO and the success of our clients. We have a diverse staff that handles SEO copywriting, link building, social networking, blogs, web design, website programming, SEO programming, keyword research, customer support, project management and business development.

Our staff is self-motivated because they are all passionate about search engine marketing, but I believe what keeps them motivated is the fact that we all work very well together as a team. We define clear and focused tasks and assign them to the right associate for the job. But each associate has many skills so they often help out one another. This type of team atmosphere works well for the overall happiness of the team and success of our client’s campaigns.

How do you see the development of the Internet marketing industry, and especially of search engine optimization, in the past few years and how do you see its future?
The number of SEM companies in the past few years has substantially risen and continues to rise. Many of the newcomers are from overseas in countries such as India. This flood of new SEM companies has brought in lower pricing, which has somewhat effected the overall pricing of SEO Services. American based companies are now being pushed into lowering maintenances fees or offering pay for performance SEO in order to compete. This trend of lower pricing and outsourcing overseas has also hurt the reputation of the SEO industry over the past few years. Often clients who choose these overseas companies, in order to save money, are left with empty promises and no return on investment. This is unfortunate to our industry, as costs are now expected to be lower while reputable SEO firms must also meet the challenging demands of getting clients to the top of the engines.

The process of SEO has also begun to change and is continuing to evolve. One way SEO companies used to ensure top rankings was to build link-backs through reciprocal linking. Most SEO firms now know that reciprocal linking is all but dead as the major engines are paying very little attention to these types of links. What has been taking the place of reciprocal links as a means to boost rankings is setting up one-way links through means of strategic partnerships or purchasing them outright. SEO companies such as ServerSideDesign, which are on the cutting edge of natural SEO are providing targeted traffic and link building through social networking. Social networking requires a skilled team that writes blogs, press releases and articles that are optimized properly and disseminated throughout the Internet on social networking sites, web 2.0 sites, blogs, and press release distributors.

What do you do in your free time? Do have any hobbies?
Working is my favorite hobby since I am so passionate about SEO, but when I feel like taking a break I love to play tennis, go jogging, lift weights and I’m a huge movie buff.

MEET THE ENTIRE SEO TEAM

Server Side Design, Inc.
5161 San Felipe, Suite 320
Houston, TX. 77056

Toll Free: 888 SEO-ADVICE (736-2384)
Fax: 713-623-1553

Support: support@serversidedesign.com

Sales: sales@serversidedesign.com