A COUPLE have won customers around the world just weeks after launching their business which pushes a client’s name to the top of the list in an online search.
Sunderland based 4th Aspect was set up by husband and wife team Dave and Claire Glynn after the duo spotted a gap in the market for a programme capable of producing detailed diagnostics of a website with the aim of getting the site as highly ranked in the search engines as possible.
They began work on the business two years ago and raised more than £200,000 in proof of concept funding and consequently for technology and staff to build up the business before its recent launch.
Their technology allows users to input their data and preferred search terms just once. This is then used to semi-automate the process of building strong links on referral websites, something that saves time and can quickly improve a site’s search ranking.
Claire Glynn, joint founder and director of 4th Aspect, said: “Dave and I worked together on a separate web development venture for more than eight years before setting up 4th Aspect together.
“We both felt there was nothing available on the market to provide a streamlined service that would offer a practical way of improving SEO quickly and easily, and that was specifically aimed at digital agencies and professional ‘client side’ marketing or web teams. The response we have had since taking our product to market only a few weeks ago has been very encouraging.
“We have plans to further grow the business.”
The company’s products are designed for businesses operating in the marketing and creative industries and can be white-labelled, allowing companies to offer detailed SEO reporting and practical support to improve the search ranking of their clients’ websites without having to introduce a third party provider.
It already has customers across the UK, including London, Manchester and York-based marketing agencies and has added to this with its first international client, a large web based furniture retail company based in Spain – a company that found 4th Aspect directly via a Google search.
This has allowed the business to increase its head count to seven, and the company is already laying out plans to further add to its number, and tap into the US market over the course of the next 12 months.
Dave Glynn said: “The business is one that we see as being a fast-growth enterprise, and the hours of work that were put into developing the software are quickly coming to fruition with a great early response to our launch.
“We’ve had fantastic support from a number of successful entrepreneurs who have managed to establish their businesses on a national and international stage from their Sunderland base, and that’s been invaluable and really does demonstrate what is possible with the right approach.”
The company was provided with advice from Sunderland City Council’s business investment team.
Council leader Councillor Paul Watson, said: “4th Aspect is a great example of a fast-growth business that is really helping to establish Sunderland on a national – and no doubt, very soon, an international – stage.”
