OREM — Many small businesses have yet to tap into the power of the Internet, says Derek Miner, chief operating officer of Orange Soda, a new advertising agency that focuses on marketing over the World Wide Web.

Orange Soda puts the fizz into small businesses with small budgets to help them compete in a technologically savvy world, he said.

Although not originally planned as a Web development business, Orange Soda's Web development side is growing. "Gravity pulled us in that direction," Miner said.

The ideal situation is for clients to come to Orange Soda with a Web site already in place. The company then works to place those Web sites high on the search engines via key words or with sponsored links — those pay-per-click sites that run down the right side of a Web search results page.

Typically the company places the sites where searchers can find them, receives the bill from the search engine company and then bills the client, much like a traditional ad agency works between print or broadcast media and the client. But first, Miner says a client must establish a budget, as little as $100 a month, giving Orange Soda technology folks direction on controlling costs and making sure clicks are valid.

Unlike a traditional advertising agency, creative costs are at a minimum, because the Internet cuts out printing and paper costs.

"(Internet marketing) is not as daunting as it looks," Miner said. "You can track the effectiveness of it (by following) which key words deliver the best return on investment."

Technology also offers the opportunity to rapidly track how well a marketing campaign is going and the ability to marry online marketing with traditional offline marketing, such as direct mail, he said.

The company hung out its shingle last September and just hired its 40th employee, Miner said. It started in a 2,200-square-foot-space near the mouth of Provo Canyon and in early May moved to 8,900 square feet in Building C on the former WordPerfect campus in north Orem.

Jay R. Bean is president and founder. The company has a Las Vegas office but opened its headquarters in Orem because of the large technological work pool, Miner said.

The company's clients — most of whom are outside of Utah — include both service and product-oriented businesses, Miner said. Clients run the gamut from dentists to plumbers and from sunglass folks to Realtors. Some clients are looking just for regional exposure, while others want a national presence.

The company's Web site is www.orangesoda.com.

Orange Soda has about 200 clients throughout the country but is growing quickly, expecting to have more then 1,000 clients by the end of the summer.

"We're practicing what we're preaching," Miner said.

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E-mail: rodger@desnews.com