24. Marketing Experts

Revenue: Over $11.9 million
Growth: 97.4%
Founders: Nick Bell, 33
Head Office: Victoria
Year Founded: 2008
Employees: 140
Industry: Internet
Website: www.webmarketingexperts.com.au

Nick Bell’s search engine optimisation business has doubled its revenue, and its number of staff, in the past 12 months.

“We’ve just continued to reinvest in our backend and in research and development,” says Bell, who founded Web Marketing Experts from his home in 2008.

The Victorian-based company, which came in at number 16 on last year’s Smart50 and number 45 in 2012, turned over close to $12 million in the 2013-14 financial year. Overall, the business has grown by 97.4% in six years.

Bell says the “smaller guys who haven’t invested in their backend” are struggling to keep up with the rapid pace of algorithm changes and new industry standards in the world of SEO, admitting he “loves updates”.

“Updates benefit our clients, so we love them,” says Bell. “It’s the little guys doing crappy work that find it hard.”

In addition to its Australian operations, Web Marketing Experts has offices in California, US, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Dubai. In November, the company will add China to that list.

When considering where to expand to next, Bell says he is focusing on developing countries.

“The competition is quite low, and they are using Google but not in a great way,” he says.

But the next 12 months won’t be all about international expansion for the Web Marketing Experts team, with plans underway to increase the company’s social media services and offer clients real-time reporting in its custom-built software.

‘Social media will be our core focus over the next 12 months,” says Bell, who says the company is seeing greater demand from its clients for help navigating the world of social media.

“It helps their SEO as well.”