Name of your website?Apheus Solutions, LLC
Your name?
Robert Barcus
Your Location (city, etc)
Argos
Please give us a short summary of your company?
Apheus provides website design and PC repair services. Our primary focus is on ecommerce web design and SEO. Our PC repair business has really picked up since the launch of Windows Vista.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
As a web designer, having a website is important. You would be surprised how many website designers don't have their own website. It kind of makes you wonder why, doesn't it?
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
I launched my first website back in 1997. It was for a computer company in Plymouth, Indiana. It was a simple ecommerce website, but it was effective.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
When we first started the company were contemplating that very question! It was a long process, but eventually someone suggested that we use the name "Apheus". It was a name for someone's Unreal Tournament character. It sounded interesting, so we looked into it, secured the name and here we are. Most people think it's Greek - but really it's just made up.
What makes your company different from others?
I think that Apheus is different in a good way. We've stepped away from the traditional corporate structure: we've formed a company with good values and with a firm belief that we can "Awaken the Possibilities". That's our slogan.
What does the future hold for your company?
In one word - expansion! We want to continue growing the company so that we can create more websites, we're expanding into the web hosting market, and we're continuing to increase our computer repair business. The future looks bright for Apheus.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
The one thing that I'm very proud of is that Apheus is very profitable. In our first year of business, we were able to put our company into the black. The investment we initially made has come back ten-fold. Most start up companies can't even come close to our success.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Well, since we're in the website development business, we kind of do that on a pretty constant basis. Our website is always under development.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
We've decided to keep expanding and we've started looking at hiring additional website designers to keep up with the demand. We don't want to grow beyond our means, because we want to stay profitable.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
None really. We've been able to anticipate most of needs. The idea behind Apheus really started two years before we launched the company. We were prepared for most of the problems we encountered when starting up.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Keeping our website design business growing at a manageable rate. We don't want to get too big too quickly. We want to keep focused on the customers we already have, while gaining new web design customers. It's been a difficult balance.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
SEO has been our biggest success. As web designers, good search engine optimization is important.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Initially, we thought that the bulk of our business was going to be computer repair. That's how we setup the business, but things changed and now 90% of what we do is website design.
How long have you been designing websites?
I created my first website in 1997. I joke that I was on the internet before there were pictures. I actually got started in the business because I was running a different business at the time that needed a website and had to hire a company in New York to create it. There weren't any designers in our area, so that's how I got my start.
Do you have any big plans for the future of your company?
Yes! Again, its all focusing on expansion. We want to continue focusing our efforts on our website design services. We want to grow into several other web-related service areas, but it takes time and talent to get the job done.
What is your website address?
Apheus Solutions, LLC
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