Young Entrpreneur Builds New Business Model For Website Development And Online Revenue Streams

Nov. 19, 2010 - PRLog -- CEDAR GROVE, N.J., November 19, 2010 – When the Center for Italian and Italian-American Culture, Inc. (CIIAC), based in Cedar Grove, N.J., hired Altum Design to build its new website (http://www.ciiacofnj.org), the organization did not imagine the results would make such a powerful difference so quickly. Altum Design, also located in Cedar Grove, focuses on using WordPress and other technologies to help medium-sized companies grow and non-profit organizations, such as the CIIAC, to better realize their missions.

“Thanks to the enhanced functionality and new features of the site, our membership, revenues and event attendance have all increased dramatically since the July 2010 launch,” said CIIAC Director Rosanna Imbriano. “Altum Design built the site in only two months at a price that was affordable for our non-profit organization, and we are realizing the benefits of that investment in terms of positive member interaction and income stream.” She added that the new website’s interactivity keeps the younger generation engaged and up to date on the Center’s news, provides more convenience for members and prospects, and saves time and money for CIIAC.

Altum Design Studios was founded by William Wnekowicz, a 24-year-old entrepreneur whose firm has created a line of branded products and services for online marketing: aPress, a content management system that combines the firm’s proprietary development checklists and its own unique blend of plug-in applications with Wordpress; aMail, an email marketing system; and aChat, a real-time communications channel for websites. Wnekowicz says that his company’s detailed process made it easy to deliver a fully-loaded web site to CIIAC so quickly and cost-effectively.

WordPress is software, created for and by users, that helps manage websites and blogs. Wnekowicz said he and his programmers build unique WordPress websites using custom implementations to ensure the code is being used to each client’s best advantage.

Benefits gained from the new CIIAC web site include:
•   Three times the organic traffic from Google than before
•   Newsletter subscriptions up 15% over last year
•   Improved cash flow due to the online donation and event registration capabilities.
•   Membership increase through the convenience of downloadable membership forms.
•   A seven-fold increase in Facebook followers since July 2010; enhanced connectivity with the organization’s audience.
•   Full integration with the Center’s Facebook and Twitter accounts; all postings to the site are automatically updated on those social media platforms.
•   Reduced administration man hours due to the ease of content management, online registration and donation solutions.

Entrepreneurship Started in College
While a sophomore at Georgetown University in 2006, Wnekowicz co-founded and developed the wiki technology for Debatepedia, a user-generated online encyclopedia of debates, arguments, and supporting quotations conceived by a Georgetown graduate. Georgetown students and professors contributed to the project while Wnekowicz managed a development team in India to improve the platform. “The end result was a very academic site with well-researched content,” noted Wnekowicz. In 2007 he and his partner formed DebateMedia, Inc. and later merged their company with the non-profit International Debate Education Association (IDEA).

Word spread about Wnekowicz’s technical prowess and he began working on website projects for small businesses in Washington, D.C. While still in college he founded Altum Design. Since graduating from Georgetown with a business degree, he has designed and implemented custom sites for non-profits and businesses; he also developed an iPhone application called RSSpeaker, which translates online news feeds from text to speech into nine languages including Polish.  Wnekowicz, a first-generation American, speaks fluent Polish.

Of the new CIIAC website, Director Imbriano notes, “This project provided us the opportunity to rebrand CIIAC after 20 years, to rethink our mission statement and redefine our target audience. We now have new ways to reach that audience through social media which we could not do before.”

For more information about Altum Design, custom-designed websites or search engine marketing and optimization services, contact William Wnekowicz at (973) 953-3764 or services@altumdesign.com.

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About William Wnekowicz and Altum Design Studios
Weknowicz got his start doing desktop graphic design in high school. While still in college, he developed the technology for the user-generated site Debatepedia; formed a company which was then merged with a synergistic non-profit; and founded Altum Design. The company builds goal-oriented websites for medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations with a focus on online marketing; his firm offers other web-based solutions for online marketing including an email marketing system and live web chat. Altum Design also provides full graphic design, search engine optimization, and search engine marketing services. A licensed pilot, Wnekowicz enjoys flying Cessna 172s in his spare time. He speaks to college and business groups on Online Marketing Strategy, Building and Growing a Business, and Latest Web Technologies