Abalone Designs Inc. optimizes websites to make them search engine–friendly. That means in the search for relevant keywords, the optimized sites appear very high on the list of the results on the major search engines such as Google, MSN and Yahoo!. Search engine optimization (SEO) is done in several ways. One is site optimization; cleaning up a website's HTML code to make it more search engine–friendly. Another is by heightening the user–friendliness and usefulness of the site through the implementation of information services, visitor interaction and overall likeability of the website. And third, there are ways to develop a website's link popularity by enticing other related web sites to link to it. Like all programming companies, Abalone Designs needed to keep track of its clients, the time spent on each website and, above all, billing.

Business Challenge

Courtney Heard, Founder/Director of Abalone Designs, said the company had several challenges in its early days. "I began using FileMaker Pro when I started Abalone Designs Inc. I needed a way to keep track of my clients, time spent on their websites, and billing. FileMaker Pro offered a completely customizable solution to all of these.

"I felt as though our company had some unique requirements. I found that we could start from a template with FileMaker and adjust absolutely anything to our needs. It was the only option available to us that could offer everything we needed and would easily adjust as our business grew."

But there were hurdles as Courtney explains. "The original prototype of our database for linking was designed in Microsoft Excel and we outsourced a version of it to someone to adapt into Microsoft Access. But neither of these was stable or reliable and we quite often lost data and database edits.

"I piped up suggesting FileMaker Pro, as I had been using it for my invoicing. After the two other options failed, we adapted the database to FileMaker and everyone has since been pleased with how it has turned out. It is stable, reliable and the sharing over a network of Macs is invaluable. Not to mention web publishing so that our clients can see the progress being made on their website themselves."

Successful Solution

SEO requires constant updating which, Courtney says, brought its own problems. "One of the largest hurdles we had to overcome was keeping track of our link exchanges. When you contact hundreds of websites a day for several clients in several different industries, you can find yourself disorganized and lost in no time. "Over the course of a couple of years, three of us developed a FileMaker database that can be adapted for any client that keeps track of all of their link exchanges, what stages they are in, and keeps a database of one–click email templates for the more frequently asked questions we find ourselves answering. It now enables us to make sure not a single potential link partner slips through the cracks, all while showing each company we communicate with that we are organized and professional."

And, says Courtney, the master database performs many roles. 'We are using one master database for our billing and invoicing, as well as one for each of our clients. Over the past year or so we have probably adapted the linking database for a new client 14 or 15 times. Each of these has between 200 and 700 records and continues to grow. And yet there are only 5 people sharing these databases at one time."

And those 5 people aren't even in the same place! Truly a global small business, Abalone Designs runs a batch of Macs including two MacBook Pros, one Powerbook, one iBook, two G5s and one G4, in Mexico, Denmark and Vancouver, Canada.

Some of the other programs we tried were DayLite and OD4Contact. The biggest problem was they're not designed for Abalone Designs and we had to learn a new system, train ourselves to things differently. In short, we had to adapt to these programs whereas FileMaker Pro adapts to us.

— Courtney Heard, Founder/Director Abalone Designs, Inc.