A Dedication to Web Design and Support
By Chattanooga Magazine Staff

After 12 years in the business, Greg Pearson, president of Williams Web, knows how quickly the Internet has evolved, and he knows what it takes to thrive on the changes. Williams Web, a subsidiary of Williams Visual Solutions, survived the dot-com bust and economic downturns to become one of the region's premier web developers. Pearson says it's because of Williams Web's dedication to its clients that the company continues to grow.

In 1997, Pearson was invited by Harold Williams to help start a division of the company that would delve into web development. At that time, Pearson had been working with web design as an amateur. The web design division began as an additional service for clients of the Williams Company. Print still reigned as the leading medium for advertising, marketing and information. The web was young, and shopping, networking and marketing had not evolved to the sophisticated level it is on today. A website was, in essence, an online brochure.

"From 1997 to about 2000, our main job wasn't selling people websites," Pearson says. "It was convincing them they ought to have a website. Few were convinced in that day."

Many clients still preferred print marketing or mass mailings, which could target certain demographics, rather than a website that had no way of targeting or even being found easily.

But the Internet quickly changed, and so did Pearson's fledgling development company. The division became its own corporation in 2003, named Williams Web, LLC. The company focused on providing its clients with sophisticated technology and support, while at the same time making it easier to manage their websites. Williams Web created its content management system, SiteNow, to accomplish that purpose. Clients' websites are hosted by Williams Web, and they can use SiteNow to access and change any of the content. SiteNow has many different modules, such as photos, advertisements, blogs and an online store that can be added or removed from clients' sites at no extra charge.

"SiteNow has got that broad recognition as a system that people can use easily. It helps reduce costs and increases online visibility, and has a very robust set of tools built into it," Pearson says.

Williams Web doesn't outsource its business, and all of the site designers, developers and support staff are in house and ready to answer questions quickly and efficiently. Pearson says the clients are happy with the quick response they receive when they have needs, and with the company's commitment to openness.

"Our clients say things like 'I would never use anything else,'" Pearson says "I remember one of our early clients, who said 'SiteNow has turned a one hour headache into a five-minute task.'"

SiteNow reduces initial costs for clients, because the site functionality doesn't have to be built from the ground up. Pearson says the cost of a Williams Web site is less than the cost of other  companies' sites because of the uniformity and ease of working with SiteNow. After the site is created, clients pay a monthly fee that includes hosting, the use of SiteNow, and unlimited support. Pearson says clients are satisfied, and that's a result of the company's devotion to its customers.

"Every business wants to be profitable, but we have not made profit our goal," Pearson says. "We have made customer service and customer satisfaction our goal, because we have said from the very beginning, profit is a byproduct of good customer relations."

With about 200 clients, SiteNow has become the premier site content manager in the region, and Williams Web serves clients from across the nation, as far away as California. Among Williams Web clients are United Way of Greater Chattanooga, Siskin Children's Institute, the Southeast Tennessee Tourism Association, Decosimo, Greenlife Grocery, and Chattanooga Magazine.

The company has expanded its services and now helps its clients create not just a website, but customized online strategies for effective content, search engine optimization, public relations, social media, and blogging. Williams Web is looking to expand its reach into more small business and non-profit companies who "have a small budget but want a big solution," Pearson says. "As well as larger businesses and organizations."

Pearson says with the rapidly evolving Internet and the possibilities of technology, businesses are recognizing the need for a good website, and for a company that will help them create it.

"When it comes to cutting down cost, for a lot of businesses up until now, their web marketing has been one of the first things to [be] cut back," Pearson says. "What people are seeing now in this down economy is that the web is the most cost-efficient way to do the things they've been doing traditionally. We're thinking the web is becoming a priority."