For the second consecutive year, Active Website made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing privately-held companies in the nation. This year I was lucky enough to go to the annual Inc. conference held in Washington D.C. to accept our award on behalf of Active Website.

The Inc. 500|5000 Conference & Awards Ceremony is a three day event that brings the nation’s brightest, most innovative business minds together to celebrate the remarkable achievements of the companies that appear on the 2011 Inc. 5000 list.  In true Active Website style, there were great parties, great people and most importantly, great information.

The people that attended the conference, as well as the keynote speakers, were inspirational. What I found most interesting, was that the conference’s materials and the other attendees seemed to have a lot in common with Active Website and what we believe sums up our keys to success. In fact, it almost mirrored Active’s official response to making the Inc. 5000 list.

Gary Vaynerchuck, author of The Thank You Economy, spoke about how the rise of the internet has given way to a shift in power to the consumer and the humanization of business. The empowered consumer now has options on where to go to spend their money, and it they don’t like your services, they will take their money somewhere else. Not only that, but through the power of social media, they can now tell hundreds of people what they think about your services.  This makes a high level of customer service crucial to your success.

As an employee of Active Website, I can attest to the fact that Active Website prides itself on treating its clients like family and, in turn, instilling that into the way they treat us, their employees. With so many competitors out there, a new focus has emerged to develop brand loyalty from the ground up. From the beginning, Active Website has been focused on providing a high quality product while providing a very personal level of service as well.

(more…)