As it turned out, the special-education major at Temple University - who had been quickly cured of a desire to teach after trying it for two weeks - was a natural at sales. He won rookie of the year at Donnelly, he said.
Now, at 37, he's a millionaire "a few times over" at the helm of a small Bucks County company devoted to getting businesses noticed without the telephone directory.
His 1SEO, based in Southampton, is what the acronym suggests - a search-engine optimization company. Its specialty is getting businesses prominent positioning on all search engines - Google being the dominant one - without buying ad space on them. Such results - from such actions as article and directory submissions, link building, blogging, press releases, and the addition of fresh, relevant content to the site - are known as "organic."
SEO is a complex marketing tool based in mathematics, the workings of which are largely not understood by the average person but are considered increasingly essential in the crowded world of e-commerce, where more and more business is being transacted.
"I have started to see more blue-chip and Fortune 100 companies reach out to us," said Ken Wisnefski, 39, founder and chief executive of another locally based SEO firm, WebiMax, formed in Mount Laurel in 2008.
He contends that companies well-positioned on search engines through organic means also enjoy higher credibility.
"It seems to be more of a trusted source," Wisnefski said.
