Through a unique local business partnership, Mequon-based Smart Interactive Media (SIM) is helping Pewaukee-based Broadlook Technologies Inc. sell one of its software products. Broadlook recently designated Smart Interactive as a reseller of its automatic content generator, Content Hound.
Content Hound is a desktop application that allows a web site creator to gain the most up-to-date information on any variety of topics in as little as 10 minutes. The creator is able to define industry- or trade-specific keywords that Content Hound will use to gather information from web sources, including the latest news, blogs, white pages, books and job postings. The creator can then post that information on a web site.
The partnership between Broadlook Technologies and Smart Interactive was initiated when Broadlook Technologies founder and chief executive officer Donato Diorio realized that the product they manufactured wasn’t effectively being sold to Broadlook’s core customers.
“We specialize in enterprise software, mostly for recruiting and staffing purposes. Content Hound didn’t really fit into our sales model,” Diorio said. “We were selling Content Hound as a secondary component, as a kind of an ‘oh by the way…'”
As a company, Smart Interactive deals primarily with businesses looking to build and create web sites. According to Smart Interactive sales, marketing and media expert Kirk Strong, Content Hound is a tool that could be very useful for his company’s customers.
Search engine optimization is a concern for most web site developers.
“People are always asking how they get people coming back to their site, or how they can get more hits off of search engines,” Strong said. “This application, if used correctly, is the No. 1 answer.”
Content Hound can be purchased for $2,000 per year through one of the three current resellers of the product: Smart Interactive Media; Elmhurst, Ill.-based Synergistic Networks Inc.; and Upper Marlboro, Md.-based Unleashed Technologies.
Diorio said he is negotiating with other companies to become resellers of Content Hound.
Since the partnership, sales of Content Hound are flourishing, Strong and Diorio say.
“I’m a big believer in the product,” said Strong, who uses Content Hound on his own SIM web site (www.getsim.com). “When demonstrated, it is very easy to use, and customers can see results right away.”
