MoreVisibility uses old-school rules to compete in Web universe

MoreVisibility bases its business on getting Web sites noticed - a simple idea that has delivered in a big way for the Boca Raton-based company.

In 2006, the Web-centric marketing firm squeezed onto the Inc. 500 list at No. 456, and it wasn't a one-time fluke. The firm landed in the same spot the year before on the Inc. 500.

Founders Dennis Pushkin and Andrew Wetzler said they never even knew what a monthly burn rate was when they formed the high-tech startup in 1999. Pushkin had been a dry cleaning company executive and Wetzler had been a direct marketing consultant.

Friends told them the Internet was the coming thing. They thought so, too.

"We were traditional businessmen, new to the high-tech field, and we expected a business to generate cash flow," Pushkin said. "We didn't know burn rate from a barbecue and were amazed that other people would set up or finance a business - and expect to lose money indefinitely."

They learned their old-school business theories allowed them to grow and prosper while dot-coms worldwide with burn rates flashing like lightening bugs were fading from sight.

Those were the days of Foosball, marketing plans on napkins and buzz.

"For a time, we thought we might be wrong and everyone else was right," Wetzler said. "But, as the dot-coms spiraled into debt hell, we stayed profitable and grew."

The two equal partners had figured out how to get Web sites noticed and featured by search engines amid the electronic clutter, noise and vastness of the Internet universe. It is a concern or a problem that most businesses have: making sure their site content is appealing - and that someone searching the Web can find it.

MoreVisibility has since expanded its services to include Web design, as well as advertising, site optimization and related goodies.

In 2005, more than $5.75 billion was spent in Internet advertising and site optimization, according to SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization in Wakefield, Mass.

Lisa Buyer, founder of the Deerfield Beach-based Buyer Group, an interactive public relations, marketing and branding agency, recently added search engine strategy consulting to the firm's tools.

Her firm partnered with MoreVisibility for two of its real estate clients, Worthing Place in Delray Beach and Marlin Bay in the Keys.

"It's a cooperating agency that I can trust not to steal my clients and to deliver what they promise," Buyer said.