Digital Hill Offers Insight Into the World Wide Web and Internet Marketing

Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce

Emphasis Newsletter

Friday, June 12, 2009

By Joanna Jessup

The last 150 years have given rise to an impressive progression in terms of technology and communication. The Internet has revolutionized the way modern man learns, communicates and even thinks. One of the greatest challenges that businesses face today is how to utilize the Web to their greatest advantage.

Digital Hill Multimedia, Inc., a Goshen-based full-service Web design company, knows more than a little about how to effectively develop a Web presence. Digital Hill offers professional Web design and improvements, e-commerce solutions, Web hosting, Flash, 3-D animation and database development. Not only that, but Digital Hill provides Web marketing and promotions strategies, helping clients to discover exactly how they can best reach their customers through the Web. Fort Wayne Web Design Quote

“We’re a customer-focused company,” says Troy Rumfelt, president and founder of Digital Hill. “We design Web sites that allow our clients to easily update and manage their site content. We want to make sure our customers succeed – our success is dependent on their success.”

Digital Hill was founded in 1997, providing Web site solutions and development. Since then, the company has grown into a full-service multimedia agency. When it comes to the Web, you name it and Digital Hill can do it.

“Customer demand was the catalyst for the expansion of services we provide,” says Rumfelt. “Customers needed Web site hosting solutions, so it was a natural progression for us to start offering that. Soon customers needed online marketing solutions to set them apart from their competitors, so we began offering those services.”

Digital Hill’s Internet marketing services include e-mail campaigns, pay-per-click, cost-per-click, cost-per-lead and cost-per-acquisition campaigns, as well as affiliate marketing. The company offers specialized technology for blogging, specialized proprietary customized search engine optimization software, and geotargeted Internet marketing, providing strategies and means for businesses to optimize their marketing for the audience in their particular geographic market. Not sure what all these terms mean? Digital Hill can help you navigate the Internet marketing waters with an appropriate strategy for your business.

“A Web site only gets you to the starting line of the race,” says Chad Pollitt, Web Technology Consultant and Internet Marketing Manager for Digital Hill. “Utilizing other tools such as e-mail, databases and social media are what truly make a company win the race with Internet marketing. One of the greatest mistakes a business should avoid is not having a goal and strategy for their Internet tactics. It’s essential to develop tactics to execute a strategy in order to accomplish a goal. Then, follow-through is required in the form of online testing. Many organizations are unaware that they can do this.”

Digital Hill uses testing methodologies to optimize the number of conversions a Web site
can provide for a company. Testing is done on Web sites, landing pages, ad-words and similar functions to determine the best way to attract audiences. When a new Web site has been designed or an existing Web site improved, the project doesn’t end. Digital Hill continually tracks data from the site and reports back to the client to ensure success and identify areas to develop.

“A Web site should always be going through that process because it can always improve,” says Pollitt. In today’s Internet-driven world, many businesses are turning to social media to help get their message out.

“Social media will work for almost any business,” says Pollitt. “It’s no different today
than it was in the Middle Ages. Back then the town crier rang his bell in the town square to encourage people to go to the blacksmith shop, because that’s where the people were. Social media such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are where people are now. If MySpace and Facebook were a country, they would have the seventh largest population in the world.”

But in order to truly benefit from these Web marketing tools, a business has to go about it
the right way, according to Pollitt. Communicating through social media requires a commitment and just like any other social environment, there are rules. “If someone communicates with you, be sure to communicate back to them. Don’t spam. Provide information that is valuable to customers. If you present yourself as a subject matter expert you will build your brand image and people will be more apt to do business with you.”

Companies can also impact their reach to their customer-base through search engine
optimization, also known as SEO. “Search engine optimization is the most valuable,
cheapest cost-per-lead of any form of marketing you can do, offline or online,” says
Pollitt.

In addition to helping clients maximize search engine optimization through better programming and content, Digital Hill also helps companies stay in touch with their employees and customers through the use of databases. “One of the most tangible assets a Web site can provide a company is an e-mail database,” says Pollitt. “This allows you to actively followup with contacts you make. If you don’t followup with people this way, you are missing out on opportunities.”

Digital Hill also offers application development. “We can take a current process a company is doing and streamline that into an online forum,” says Rumfelt. “We create a central hub for that company, allowing them to interact even if they are all over the state or country.”

In order to provide the best products and results to clients, the staff at Digital Hill are
constantly seeking to learn and stay current with changes in the technology and communication world.

“The Internet is an ever-evolving entity and it takes a lot of reading and research to keep up with the latest and greatest,” says Rumfelt. “It’s an ongoing effort. My employees subscribe to a lot of blogs and RSS feeds, and there are a few Web sites we look at to keep up with the latest trends. There’s such a wealth of knowledge online that it’s easy to stay current that way.”

Digital Hill’s experiences over its more than a decade of providing products and services make the company well-rehearsed in the challenges and opportunities that lie in the Web marketing world. “We’ve been there and done that with a gamut of Web sites,” says Rumfelt. “We understand that anyone can design a Web site, but there’s more to Internet marketing than that. The most rewarding aspect of what we do is seeing the client succeed. I really enjoy sitting down with a client, understanding their challenge and seeing them succeed. I know my job is well done when that is the result.”

To learn more about Digital Hill Multimedia visit www.digitalhill.com or call (888) 537-0703.

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Digital Hill Multimedia, Inc. is a full service web design and Internet Marketing Company serving Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana.