Beyond the Bay

Beyond the Bay

Companies by Dave Szymanski | Tampa Bay Editor

Bayshore Solutions, the Tampa-based web development firm, is now in Dallas, Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale thanks to a track record of helping clients grow revenues through the web.

Profits and revenues at 12-year-old Tampa-based Bayshore Solutions, a web development firm, are on track to double this year. That would be impressive enough if it weren't for another statistic: They've doubled the previous two years, too.

What has been the key to this?

"Incredible leadership," chuckles Kevin Hourigan, Bayshore's chief executive officer.

"No, the key is innovation, creativity and delivering measurable success," he says. "Things change quickly. We have to remain creative."

The Internet market has also helped.

"Consumer confidence in the Internet is at a high now. Bayshore Solutions is poised. We're looked at as a company which can assist businesses. Every company has different messages.

Bayshore attempts to use the Internet to help increase revenues for clients from sales and marketing and other methods.

One example is law firms, Hourigan says. "Not many advertise, but certainly the Internet helps them do it more cost effectively. Look at many, especially e-commerce companies. The Internet can help them generate more client awareness."

Bayshore's growth has led the company to expand beyond its Tampa roots. In 2006, it opened offices in Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta. In April, it unveiled a new Dallas office. It also acquired a Pinellas County web hosting company, Exit Now, in 2006.

It has five people in Atlanta, two in Fort Lauderdale and one in Dallas. Forty-five work in Tampa. Three years ago, Bayshore only housed 20 people in its office. It has moved from Gandy and Westshore boulevards in Tampa to Westshore and Interstate 275. It's Tampa employees commute from seven counties.

Dot com rebound

The web development industry consolidated about six years ago after the dot com boom and crash. Hourigan quotes a telling industry statistic: 97% of the Internet services companies in business by the end of 2000 are no longer in business today.

"There's been significant consolidation," he says. "But the market has been growing now, the entire Internet services market."

Why has the Internet services market done a 180? "Traditional marketing has declined and online marketing has risen," Hourigan says. "Traditional advertising spending has dropped, but the rate doesn't seem like it's dropped overall. It's just the allocation of marketing dollars."

And oftentimes, those dollars go into redesigning web sites. But that needs to fit into the company's business strategy.

"Clients recognize the web as a powerful tool," Hourigan says. "Typically, it means the redesign of a web site. It needs to be the best it can be for its audience. It's more of a strategy. It isn't just a web site design. We plan around that."

The Internet knows no local boundaries, still, 75% of Bayshore's revenue comes from Florida. "We see that diversifying," Hourigan says. For example, this month Bayshore talked to a "large internally branded company" based in Phoenix. It now has clients in 25 of the 50 states.

Client über alles

Despite the demands of running the company, Hourigan is right in the middle of client service work. "I spend 75% of the day talking to clients," he says. "I help them grow their business online."

Hourigan and his staff coach clients on various Internet strategies, including search engine ranking and targeted email campaigns. "Strategies are unique to each client," Hourigan says. "The measure is how much revenue did I bring in this month? Just putting an ad in the newspaper doesn't make a company successful."

Most of Bayshore's clients undertake an intial project with the company, followed by ongoing support.

There's research, then Bayshore and the client develop an Internet strategy designed to grow revenues or profits or cut costs. "If I could communicate quicker and save them money for each message, they'd be saving money over time."

The company deals strictly in business web sites and bills its clients by the hour.

Is there any significance to the company's name, perhaps Tampa's landmark waterfront street, Bayshore Boulevard?

"There's no good story," Hourigan says. Many startup companies Bayshore works with want a URL that matches their new company name. But the domain names are not always available. Bayshore Solutions was.

"We didn't want something (a company name) too limiting down the road," Hourigan says. "Solutions was a very neutral name. We wanted to be flexible."

With each client, about eight Bayshore employees spring into action. They bring graphic, marketing, project management, sales and technical skills to the table.

"With every client and every web site, we need to ask ourselves, 'Is this web site captivating enough?'" Hourigan says. "'Is there something we should be doing for the client to get a larger position in the market?'"

Looking out farther, Bayshore wants to expand its market share in its four markets and it is doing test marketing in other cities, including Raleigh, N.C.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Washington, D.C. It is considering expansion into its fifth market later this year.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Company: Bayshore Solutions

Industry: Tampa-based web development firm

Key: Helping clients grow revenues through using the web.