Kern & Co. Joins RefreshWeb

Helping clients get peak performance from their Web sites is the mission of this
Austin-Pittsburgh spin-up, by leveraging existing investment and measuring results

PITTSBURGH, PA – Kern & Co. Design and Brand X Austin, a sales and marketing services network, have launched a new Internet marketing division, RefreshWeb. Bringing together specialists in marketing, search engine methodology, e-commerce, site architecture, content development and design, RefreshWeb focuses on “Website performance tuning,” delivering measurable improvement from existing sites.

“For many companies, the Web has over-promised and under-delivered,” according to Amy Kern, creative director of Kern & Co. Design. “But most companies have yet to effectively market their sites. The way search engines evaluate sites has changed completely over the past two years, and is continuing to change. Designing web sites’ architecture to be more visible in search engines and promoting the site to active prospects are ways to quickly gain a competitive advantage.” According to the industry e-zine Search Engine Watch, there are over 625 million searches done daily; half of those are seeking solutions to business problems. (Feb. 2003)

The RefreshWeb service is already delivering results for companies marketing on the Web. “We are a start-up, entering an established market with new technology,” said Calvin Axtell, president of IronRhino, Inc., a subsidiary of Toledo, Ohio-based Dana Corporation. “We couldn’t outspend the competition, but we figured out how to get equal attention. We used PR and Internet marketing instead of spending money on ads.” Launching their new site in February, Kern & Co. teamed with Brand X Austin to use search-term psychology in developing the pages, promote key pages via search engine submission and pay-for-inclusion, then create a pay-per-click campaign to drive traffic to the site. To date, the Web site has attracted over 2500 unique visitors, and the pay-per-click advertising campaign has delivered half of this amount.

“Getting your solution in front of prospects at the moment of consideration eliminates the cost of advertising for awareness,” according to John Rasco, CEO of Brand X Austin and the founder of RefreshWeb. “Strategic search term utilization and small ads on the search engines have created a steady stream of prospects for less than 10% of an advertising campaign.” Rasco went on to note that optimizing sites for maximum search engine visibility is an on-going process: “Internet marketing is very involving, like guerilla warfare. You watch and wait, making incremental changes. The beauty of the Web is that your results are immediate and measurable.”

RefreshWeb’s service starts with a $2500 site audit, measuring existing levels of performance, doing a competitive assessment, and laying out a plan for improvement. Recommendations can be carried out by the client, or contracted to RefreshWeb’s specialists. Detailed information is at www.refreshweb.com.
Team members include Kern & Co. Design for Web and interactive design, Brand X Austin for strategic marketing, Tom Parish, search engine optimization specialist, Tim Jones, search engine architect and programmer, Tom Bartling, e-commerce programmer and webmaster, Brian Prioleau, content consultant, and other researchers, writers, editors, programmers and designers from the Brand X Austin marketing services network, as needed.

Link to RefreshWeb

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About Kern & Co. Design Specialists, LLC
Kern and Co. Design Specialists is a design firm dedicated to the creation of innovative design solutions to assist clients in capturing their markets, whether it be a new or updated web site design, corporate identity for your organization, print collateral and advertising (brochures, folders, invitations, ads) or an interactive Flash animation. With offices in Pittsburgh, PA and Austin, TX, Kern & Co.’s expertise spans multiple disciplines: print, web and interactive.
About Brand X Austin, LLC
Brand X Austin is a Texas-based marketing and sales SWAT team, started in 2001. Using a unique model for integrating marketing resources into companies, Brand X Austin places expert marketers who are supported by an established network of service providers and vendors, providing best-in-market experience, talent and services in a proven implementation process. “It’s about your brand, times the resources of community.” Clients include Synopsys, Alchemy Semiconductor, Prentiss Properties, Syntro LLC, FireBowl Cafes, IronRhino and SS White Burs.