Company Folders is one of those Internet firms that lives and dies by Google searches. The Keego Harbor-based company recently had a near-death experience but came back stronger than ever.
The 10-year-old company creates software that helps make presentation folder selection easier to understand and use. You can check out its folder design gallery
here and the freebies it offers
here. Company Folders enjoyed a lot of success because it leveraged good search engine optimization, often appearing at the top of a number of Google searches.
Then Google, which accounts for a vast majority of Internet searches, changed its algorithm in 2012. The new algorithm penalized firms that raised their ranking by linking to websites that Google deemed as low-quality, a practice Company Folders used often.
"When they rolled out this new algorithm all of the websites took a hit," says Vladimir Gendelman, founder & CEO of
Company Folders. "Company Folders was one of those websites."
That meant the Company Folders' revenue plunged. Gendelman retooled its business model to restore its SEO that included getting rid of the bad links, adding a
blog, writing stories for other publications, and instituting a loyalty marketing program. He then jumped through the hoops Google put up to get back in its good graces. The end product was a higher conversion rate from searches, more tools available to its customers and a stronger overall business.
"For the whole year we are up about 15 percent," Gendelman says.
The company has also grown its staff to a dozen people. It is currently looking to hire five people for jobs like account manager, UIX design, social media manager and SEO manager.
Source: Vladimir Gendelman, founder & CEO of Company Folders
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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