Goleta, California, January 30, 2005
Applied Technology Management today announced
expansion of its service offerings to include website
development.
"An Internet
presence has become crucial to the long term success of many businesses," said ATM's principal, David Welsh.
"Companies must respond to
the changing global economy and to the ways in which potential customers and
clients search for resources. But few small
businesses can afford to employ full time specialists capable of developing an
attractive and effective website."
Traditional Website
Development Resources
Companies desiring to establish an
Internet presence have traditionally used contract
resources to create their website.
Those sophisticated enough to realize that attracting
traffic to their new website will be an ongoing task have then contracted with
search engine optimization consultants for this
expertise. "My experiences in managing
website development projects
ranging in scope from simple corporate presence sites to complex online retail
stores have certainly been a learning experience," Welsh observed.
"The first lesson learned
was that it can be very difficult for an inexperienced project manager to find
the right resources. Most contract website
development firms can quickly create an impressive looking website, at a
reasonable cost, but then the client is left to manage it without any clue as
to what is involved in attracting traffic. It's like opening a store, putting
up a sign and waiting for customers to walk in. After a while you begin to
realize that you must also advertise."
At this point the client is likely
to find that effectively advertising this new website is very different from
advertising in traditional media. The most cost effective form of advertising,
getting references from search engines and from directories whose listings
depend on search engine results, may require that the entire design be
scrapped and a completely new website developed, whose content is optimized
for search engines.
Search engine optimization after a
website is developed can be an expensive process. Those who offer these
services professionally tend to be oriented toward clients with large budgets,
expecting long term contracts at hundreds to thousands of dollars per
month. Many "SEO consultants" offer guaranteed results quickly for a
seemingly reasonable cost. These are likely to be based on practices whose
results may not last any longer than the duration of the contract, and which
may eventually result in a website being banned by major search engines.
"Attracting the right kind
of traffic to a website really begins with the design of the site and the text
content of its pages. In many cases, sites that intially seem very
impressive and visually interesting attract very little traffic. Search
engines ignore them, because they can't see or understand graphics and are
totally focused on keywords."
The ATM Approach mechanical engineering, electronics packaging
ATM's goal is to be a preferred, proven and dependable resource
for companies needing expert technical assistance in developing and
managing an Internet presence. "ATM is not a typical contract agency or
consultancy," Welsh said. "ATM's specialization encompasses the
whole website development process from originating the preliminary concept through
bringing the site online and finally,
long term site management and traffic development. Technical
expertise and support are offered in every phase of
website development."
ATM's strategic objective is to establish long-term relationships with clients,
becoming a trusted partner in the planning and
website development process, working
with the client's management team to provide additional
development capacity when
needed, and supplying intermittently needed resources for
managing the site and attracting traffic. mechanical
engineering, electronics packaging
About Applied Technology Management
ATM was founded in 1999 by David Welsh, a mechanical engineer with
extensive experience in product design and managing product development. Located in
Goleta, California, near Santa Barbara, ATM provides
technical services from product
design to process development and facilities layout, and management services from planning
to project management and now website development. ATM's expertise also includes general mechanical
engineering, manufacturing engineering, and quality engineering, with specializations in
interconnection technology, fiber optics, optical switches and electronics packaging.
