“Our robust technology platform is an end-to-end SEO software solution that allows our partners to service tens of thousands of customers,” stated Travis Thorpe, CEO of Boostability. “By partnering with ClickFuel, our technology can help even more business owners who will benefit from
high-touch program management that ClickFuel provides.”

In addition to partnering with Boostability, ClickFuel also announced the availability of three new products designed to help SMBs manage all facets of their online presence. New products include a website analysis tool that provides an instant summary of site performance across major search
engines, an affordable and easy-to-use website builder to help companies establish an online presence and a new social media monitoring tool to help manage their online reputation.

Since its launch, ClickFuel has remained committed to delivering innovative Internet marketing solutions designed with the unique needs of the small and mid-size business in mind. As part of its mission, ClickFuel not only designs these solutions, using its own robust technology resources, but
also partners with technology product and services firms that are leaders in the SMB ecosystem.

“Working with customers, we have identified a number of key areas where local businesses need support in managing their online presence and reputation,” said Steve Pogorzelski, ClickFuel CEO. “With our suite of new products, we are
delivering affordable and easy-to-use solutions that allow business owners to effectively execute an integrated online marketing strategy that they can track — without the need for expensive agencies.”

New Product Overview

FuelSites: ClickFuel’s website design builder, FuelSites, provides business owners with an easy-to-use tool to create professional quality Websites in a matter of minutes. With FuelSites, users can increase business
opportunities, accelerate brand recognition and convert visitors into repeat customers. FuelSites offer elegant designs, comprehensive branding options and interactive features — a one-stop solution to create stylish and engaging websites. Users can choose from over 150 professional design templates and simply point, drag, drop and click to edit and manage websites instantly. All FuelSites come with built-in SEO features and offer advanced add-ons for image galleries, forums, Web forms and mailing lists, blogs, hit counters, email accounts and more. ClickFuel is offering
a free Build Before You Buy 14-day trial of FuelSites. Sample templates can view viewed at FuelSite.

ClickFuel Website Analysis Tool: The ClickFuel Website Analysis Tool provides an at-a-glance analysis of your website. Measuring the search engine effectiveness of your site, this tool helps businesses fine-tune SEO
strategies to gain more traffic and leads online. The ClickFuel Website Analysis Tool provides keyword grading and a snapshot measurement of Alexa and page ranking, the number of inbound links, number of pages indexed, overall SEO score, Google page ranking and a variety of site metrics.
These reports are free for a limited time. A sample report is available on ClickFuel’s website.

Social Media Chatter Box: Leveraging ClickFuel’s robust FuelStation technology platform, Chatter Box is a monitoring tool that helps companies track conversation and “chatter” related to their brand across a wide range
of social networks including Twitter, 5m Blogs, news sites and many video sites.

“FuelStation provides a robust engine for continued product development and innovation,” stated Brian Farrey, Chief Technology and Product officer at ClickFuel. “However, we also recognize the power and value of partnering with other best-of-breed technology and service providers to expand the ecosystem of organizations committed to empowering small and mid-size
businesses. Our three new products represent our commitment to product innovation and to foster strategic partnerships that deliver unique and targeted solutions for this market.”

About ClickFuel

ClickFuel designs, manages and tracks marketing campaigns that help small and mid-sized companies promote and grow their businesses on the Internet. The company combines expert account management resources with its proprietary campaign tracking tool, the Fuel Station, to help navigate the constantly evolving world of the
Internet and build an online presence for businesses that can generate new business opportunities. With a wide range of service options that includes website design, search engine marketing and social media strategies and tracking, ClickFuel works with small and mid-sized businesses across many industries and all stages of Internet adoption.

Steve Pogorzelski isn’t zipping around the world in a corporate jet anymore or kicking back in a huge office like he had as president of Monster.com, but he’s having a lot more fun.
He’s gone from running a company with a massive marketing budget and hundreds of employees to one that has just 20 employees locally and very little money for advertising – and he couldn’t be happier.

Pogorzelski is pouring his energy into building ClickFuel, a small business that helps other small and midsize businesses navigate the complex world of Internet marketing. It reminds him of the early days at Monster; shortly after, the Web site exploded into the public consciousness with an attention-grabbing Super Bowl ad.

Monster has become one of the top job-search sites in the world and one of the most recognizable brand names on the Internet. Pogorzelski has similar dreams for ClickFuel.
Pogorzelski left after more than a decade at Monster following management changes. He spent some time reconnecting with his family, working with charities and doing some consulting work.
Then he got bored. Real bored. Bored enough to hunt around for another corporate job. That was until he met Colby West.

West had a vision to set up a one-stop Internet marketing shop for small businesses. He envisioned a company that would provide Web sites, help companies get hooked up with online advertising and set up on the appropriate social-networking sites. There’s plenty of competition, but it’s fragmented and there are few recognizable names. “I liked his vision and his enthusiasm for the space,” Pogorzelski said. In fact, he liked it so much that he pulled out of his corporate job hunt to join the company. He brought over talent that helped build Monster and went to work on a plan to differentiate ClickFuel. The first step was to develop a sales team that would help get the word out about the service. The next step was to develop a separate team of account representatives who would be dedicated to individual clients. The intention is to offer the level of service of a larger corporation combined with the personal attention of a smaller shop.

Meanwhile, the company developed proprietary tools such as the “Fuel Station,” which allows customers to better monitor traffic and see where leads are coming from. The goal is to hang on to clients as they grow and need more services. The challenge is standing out in the crowd and getting the word out.

In some ways, the recession has made it harder because some companies are scaling back on all their advertising. Other companies, however, see the Internet as a way to use their advertising dollars more efficiently.

This time, it’s not about building a consumer brand like Monster. Instead, it’s more of a customer-centric approach that relies heavily on referrals.

The team is also working on developing partnerships with big companies, such as Intuit, that can help reach customers. Intuit has added a feature to QuickBooks that will allow users to integrate the information they get from ClickFuel’s Fuel Station.

It might be easier to get the word out with a big ad budget, but Pogorzelski said he likes it better this way. Everyone around him is invested in helping the company grow, and they’re excited about the possibilities.

That makes it more of a mission than just another job.

By Galen Moore
Originally published on www.masshightech.com
Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Former Monster North America president Steve Pogorzelski is working on a new company based in Boston’s South End. Co-founded with AuctionPal co-founder Colby West, ClickFuel Inc. provides online marketing services for the small- to medium-sized business market.

The company doesn’t have any “whiz-bang technology,” says Pogorzelski, who has taken the role of CEO. Account managers buy pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization consulting and custom landing pages. Another feature is designed to provide unique phone numbers on each landing page and automatically record incoming calls for sales training. The customer gets a results dashboard that helps them understand their return on investment, Pogorzelski said.

ClickFuel aims to provide “high-touch” customer service for the 50 customers the 10-person company has garnered since its launch in February. Given the right tools and a manageable workload for account managers, that doesn’t have to mean high-cost, Pogorzelski said. “Monster was able to build a very scalable business around the SMB entity,” he said. “We’ve taken some of that learning and applied it here.”

Pogorzelski said the company hopes an uncommonly high level of service will reduce customer turnover. ClickFuel’s founders are betting the long-term value of retention will offset the high cost of customer acquisition.

“You hear people say, ‘We’ve acquired 10,000 customers,’” he said. “That’s great, but if you’ve only kept 5,000, that’s not a great model. That’s often ignored by people who rely too much on technology.”

The company charges customers – typically companies with about $3 million in annual revenue – between $1,500 and $2,500 a month, plus their advertising spend. The service launched in Boston first, with Kansas City and Philadelphia following in the second quarter of 2009. ClickFuel hopes to be up and running in 12 cities by year end, Pogorzelski said.

Pogorzelski said the company, with $300,000 in angel investment in the bank, is currently talking with venture capital investors about a Series A round of funding.

The list of potential investors undoubtedly includes Spark Capital general partner Alex Finkelstein, who Pogorzelski said introduced him to Colby, after Colby came up with the idea for ClickFuel.

The new company will face formidable competition, Pogorzelski acknowledged. “There are some very well-funded competitors like (Cambridge-based) Hubspot (Inc.) that have a head start on us, but the market opportunity is huge,” he said.

BOSTON, JUNE 25, 2009 – ClickFuel Inc., a Boston-based provider of Internet marketing services to small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), announced today it has raised $2.5 million in a Series A financing, led by Baird Venture Partners..

ClickFuel was founded in 2008 and is led by former Monster Worldwide senior executive Steve Pogorzelski, CEO of ClickFuel. Prior to joining ClickFuel, Pogorzelski spent over ten years at Monster Worldwide, parent company of Monster.com, including stints as EVP-Sales, President of Monster North America and Group President, International. The company was started by the former co-founder of AuctionPal, Colby West. Pogorzelski has assembled a team of several other former executives from Monster Worldwide, including Brian Farrey, former President of Monster Technologies, Rob Hayes, former VP Finance Global Sales, David Lynch, former Director of Sales, and most recently Denise Cautela, former Senior Director of Marketing, Emerging Markets. Leveraging their experience at Monster Worldwide in servicing the SMB segment, the ClickFuel team has developed a suite of solutions that can help SMBs build an online presence and reach more potential customers via the Web.

ClickFuel has developed a holistic suite of Internet marketing solutions to help local businesses drive brand awareness and customer acquisition via the Internet. The investment by Baird Venture Partners will help ClickFuel further expand its sales and marketing efforts and build upon its technology platform and product line extension.

“We secured this funding based on our ability to differentiate our services from those currently offered.” said Pogorzelski. “This not only serves as testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team, but as an endorsement by a leading venture capital firm. We look forward to leveraging Baird Venture Partners’ experience and network in the business services sector as we aggressively expand our industry presence and ultimately our customer base.”

While SMBs are increasingly developing web sites and marketing online, most lack the time and expertise to effectively manage and market online marketing programs.

“Small businesses are facing significant challenges in today’s market.” said Bill Filip, Partner with Baird Venture Partners. “In order to gain a competitive advantage and maximize exposure, it is now more critical than ever for SMBs to implement more advanced, Internet-based marketing programs. ClickFuel addresses those critical needs by offering a scalable, affordable solution to the SMB market. Baird Venture Partners has a long history of investing in the business services sector and we believe ClickFuel represents one of the next big success stories.”

As part of the transaction, Filip and Jim Pavlik, Principal with Baird Venture Partners, will join ClickFuel’s Board of Directors.

About Baird Venture Partners
Baird Venture Partners, the U.S.-based venture capital fund of Baird Private Equity, makes venture capital investments in early and expansion stage business services and life sciences companies. Baird Venture Partners leverages its in-depth sector knowledge, experienced investment team and network of relationships to serve as a value-added partner for its portfolio companies. For more information, please visit www.bairdventurepartners.com.

BOSTON, MA–(Marketwire – October 19, 2009) – ClickFuel, a company that designs, manages and tracks marketing campaigns, today unveiled a full suite of affordable services and technology solutions designed to empower small business owners and help them promote and grow their businesses. Faced with increased competition and a fractured environment in which to find and attract customers, small business owners can now leverage an expert resource to help navigate the myriad marketing options available today. With ClickFuel’s marketing tools, local business owners and managers, from plumbers and contractors to dentists and attorneys, can now easily and affordably launch targeted internet marketing campaigns to drive additional business.

According to a survey conducted by global marketing research firm Issues and Answers, generating new customers is the toughest marketing challenge for small business owners. Other challenges include limited advertising budgets and knowing where to advertise (2008 “Small Business Marketing Poll” from Yellow Pages Association). ClickFuel’s internet marketing tools and services address all of these challenges helping business owners navigate the complex environment of online marketing options.

“Online marketing programs and marketing automation technology have been too cumbersome and expensive for most small businesses to deploy,” said Steve Pogorzelski, ClickFuel CEO. “At ClickFuel, we recognize that dedicated, hard-working business owners are eager to increase awareness and attract more customers, but they are overwhelmed by the complexity and volume of options available. We are passionate about helping small businesses thrive, and have designed technology and service offerings to help business owners maximize the time and money they can invest in marketing.”

In addition to unveiling its suite of services and small business software, ClickFuel also announced a strategic relationship with Intuit. A member of the Intuit Developer Network, ClickFuel’s Fuel Station dashboard is now available as part of the Intuit App Center. Announced with the QuickBooks 2010 launch, the Intuit App Center provides QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2010 users with access to scalable, Software as a Service (SaaS) business applications that make it easy for small and mid-sized businesses to find the right application to solve their business problems.

As part of its strategic channel strategy, ClickFuel plans to announce additional partnerships with leading small business-focused product and services organizations.

ClickFuel Marketing Services

ClickFuel offers a comprehensive suite of marketing services custom designed for each client based on a wide range of factors including business goals, competitive landscape, current marketing investments, level of Internet adoption, geography and seasonality of the product or service, and more. Services include:

--  Web Site Design
--  Landing Page Development
--  Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)
--  Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
--  Email Marketing
--  Social Media
--  Business Directory Management such as Google Local Business Center,
    Yahoo Business Directory, Yelp, InfoUSA, Localeze, Acxiom and others

There are no minimum requirements as to the number of services selected and customers can scale their investment at any time.

ClickFuel Account Management

ClickFuel’s breadth of custom marketing services and expertise is offered at a never-before-available affordable cost for small businesses. Realizing that most business owners lack the resources and staff to manage marketing, ClickFuel offers comprehensive account management services that provide an outsourced marketing department to these organizations. ClickFuel’s account management team provides clients with hands-on program strategy and implementation, ensuring that business owners are not required to “do it themselves,” but rather have complete insight into the programs and control over the direction and spend.

Pogorzelski states, “Our job is to be the marketing expert with a laser focus on helping new customers find our clients’ product or service. At ClickFuel, we break through the clutter to customize, design and manage affordable advertising and marketing solutions that until now have been unavailable for most small businesses.”

Fuel Station Dashboard

To help demonstrate the success and ROI of ClickFuel campaigns, all clients gain access to the robust Fuel Station dashboard. Fuel Station is sophisticated tracking technology which allows clients to monitor and manage marketing campaigns and sales leads. Clients can access a top line analysis of marketing program results or drill-down into specific new business lead flow resulting from individual campaigns. Fuel Station provides complete transparency to give clients confidence that their investment is delivering results and helping to grow their business.

For more information about ClickFuel’s services and pricing, please visit www.clickfuel.com.

About ClickFuel

ClickFuel designs, manages and tracks marketing campaigns to help small business owners promote and grow their businesses. The company combines expert account management resources with its Fuel Station dashboard that provides a robust tracking technology. Together, they deliver unprecedented levels of insight and assistance to help clients navigate the confusing world of marketing options. ClickFuel’s’ mission is to remove the complexity of marketing from the hands of the business owner, allowing them to focus on what they do best and providing the global resources needed to remain competitive. At ClickFuel, we are laser focused on breaking through the clutter to customize, design and manage affordable advertising and marketing solutions for a wide-range of businesses.

Steve Pogorzelski and Brian Farrey

Steve Pogorzelski, formerly group president-international at Monster.com, found a new calling when he met Colby West, an entrepreneur looking to get a startup funded. West, 30, had co-founded AuctionPal, a Web-based company that helps people sell their belongings online, but wanted to shift his focus from consumer-to-consumer transactions to business-to-consumer. He saw an opportunity in helping small and mid-sized enterprises—dentists, plumbers, salons, electricians, law offices, and so forth—market themselves online. West founded ClickFuel in Boston late last year. Pogorzelski became ClickFuel’s first investor by putting up $250,000 and last January was appointed chief executive. The company raised an additional $2.5 million in June through Chicago-based venture capital fund Baird Venture Partners.

To build the startup, Pogorzelski, 48, recruited old colleagues from Monster.com: Brian Farrey (president of Monster Technologies), Rob Hayes (vice-president of finance-global sales), and Denise Cautela (senior director of marketing-emerging markets). “At Monster, we were able to take customers and put them on the Internet, which was transformational at the time,” says Pogorzelski. “Now we’re looking at the migration from the Yellow Pages to the Internet.”

ClickFuel, which has 20 employees plus outsourcers in India, Ukraine, and the Philippines, builds Web sites and manages online marketing campaigns for a monthly fee, typically between $1,500 and $2,500. Fuel Station, a Web-based ClickFuel application that was recently included in the QuickBooks app center, tracks results such as leads generated, clicks on a company’s site and advertisements, and consumer calls made to a phone number listed online only. So far, ClickFuel has attracted 400 clients, mostly with 10 to 15 employees, and expects numbers to skyrocket in 2010 as it partners with such companies as Intuit.

Why is search engine optimization important?

Usually a person runs a search by using keywords that he thinks will help him find a
particular product. If your website or blog is not found in the first few pages, your
client is lost forever. It is to tap this client base that one has to invest in Search
Engine Optimization.

How is it done?

Keywords are what search engines look for. By having blogs with the right keywords
iin the right density, you can help make the post visible to the search engines. Old
posts are not displayed in the first page. So one should update blogs with dedication
and new articles should be posted regularly. By balancing what people look for against
what search engines look for, you can achieve search engine optimization and get
more sales prospects.

Types of SEO

There are two basic types of SEO, one method is according to the guidelines and the
other is not. The first is called as white hat and the second black hat. The first
method is the one that is actually helpful and is user oriented and don’t trick the
search engines. The second method involves a lot of deceit like writing texts in the
background color, having texts off the screen, etc. Such Search Engine Optimization
is often tried by small business owners and should be avoided as it can get you
banned from the search engines.

Hire somebody to do it for you

You can get search engine optimization done yourself or you can hire somebody to do
it. Doing this yourself will take a lot of time and energy. You will need a lot of
research and will also have to learn a lot of techniques before you go about it. An
easy way to do it is by getting experts on the job. They will know exactly what to do
and when. They will give you a report of what is being done so you don’t have to
worry about being deceived.

PPC management

Keeping the keywords relevant will make sure you are not paying for nothing and it
will also prevent keywords from becoming stagnant. Every single click will cost you so
keep the keywords specific. Something very broad keywords may be used often and
may not bring you any conversion. Set a limit for a certain period of time and monitor
the results and see if you are having good ROI. There are companies you can hire to
take care of this for you. This will not only save you time but since they know what
they are doing, they will be better at it.

Why hire somebody to do it for you?

Even though you will be able do the PPC campaign monitoring yourself, the companies
who specialize in it will the know-how and a lot of experience under their belts. They
usually give you reports on how your PPC campaign is progressing and if your
campaign can keep continuing or needs and update.

What PPC campaign monitoring will do?

When you hire a company to do the PPC campaign monitoring for you, they will make
sure you have good ROI. They will decide what is bringing you traffic and what isn’t
and this will help eliminate losses. Their charts and reports will make you trust them
because of the transparency. They will also research and find the right keywords for
you.

Search engine optimization

PPC campaign monitoring will also help you find keywords that are relevant and which
will bring you the best results. This is something that will take you ages to research
and therefore, their services have become quite invaluable. In any online venture,
especially if you are a growing business, doing everything right and keeping you
expenses from sky-rocketing is very important. Monitoring the PPC campaign will
prevent you from losing a lot of money. In case there is a click fraud, you will be able
to detect that too.

One way links

A one way link is the link recommended by the owner of the website. This is one of
the most effective ways of getting traffic as the people will trust the link. Since the
link has been displayed by the owner of the site it tells the reader that your products
and services are of good standard. You can also give away online press releases. This
link building strategy will allow you to reach a lot of potential clients. Hosted web
content is where the website owner is paid to display your link. Embedded links have
the highest click rates and bring in a lot of business.

Maintain a blog

A well written blog is not only read often but the writer is almost always trusted.
Having your link in related blogs will also increase the targeted traffic into your
website. If you are a growing business and traffic is only trickling into your website,
then blogs can help a lot. Since people reading blogs are looking for something, the
chances of them using your product and services are higher. Keyword rich blogs are
also loved by the search engines.

Article syndication

Articles have always had a great influence and the leads are very effective. Having an
article in authority sites will give it more weight and is a popular link building strategy.
Quality, information rich posts should be submitted and they shouldn’t look like they
are meant to promote your site. The content should also be well written. Bad
grammar and spelling errors will reflect poorly on your company.

Benefits

Link building strategy has a lot of benefits. While search engine optimization will get
your link displayed, this will get more targeted sales prospects visiting your websites.
The conversion rates are very high when this strategy is used. It is a continuous
process but gives impressive results. You will also be ranked higher in the search
results when your links are used at places with the right keywords.

To decide if the advertising needs to be updated

Most paid search advertising provides you with a clear report on how many times the
search pages have shown your link. The report will also tell you how often it was
clicked on, total number of clicks and the amount that needs to be paid for them. You
will have to pay the previously decided amount for every click. A new paid search
campaign will have to be monitored daily for a short while.

Click frauds

Monitoring the ad will allow the small business owners to find the keywords that are
widely used by sales prospects. Some other keywords that are too broad may result
in a lot of loss. Click fraud often happens when the competition clicks on the links to
increase the amount you will have to pay for the clicks. Monitoring will help you spot
this and reporting it will help you get cancel those clicks.

Spot problems

When you keep monitoring the paid search advertising, you will realize what keywords
are to be omitted and what need to be added. You will see which keywords bring you
results and which don’t. By viewing the reports, you will be able to see the conversion
rate and plan ahead. The ROI should also be monitored. A weekly check will tell you if
you need to update your ad copy. After a month the monitoring will tell you if your
keywords are getting you results. You can delete the ones that don’t.

Budget

Monitoring the paid search advertising allows you to determine the budget for the
future. It also shows the returns you get and how you can better the marketing
methods. The ROI is what needs to be monitored. This will help you decide how much
needs to be kept aside for ads. This is a very important part as this will determine if
you have a profit or are running on a loss.