SBA Awards WebAdvantage.net CEO Hollis Thomases 2007 Maryland Small Business Person of the Year

Havre de Grace, MD, March 21, 2007 — WebAdvantage.net, (http://www.webadvantage.net), a full-service Internet marketing and online advertising agency, today announced that the Baltimore District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration, (SBA http://www.sba.gov/sbw), awarded its CEO Hollis Thomases “Small Business Person of the Year” for the state of Maryland. The annual SBA Award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs for their contributions to the nation’s economy and for their personal achievements based upon staying power, employee growth, sales increases, current and past financial performance, product or service innovation, response to adversity, and contributions to community-oriented projects. Stephen D. Merger, Baltimore’s district director, will honor Thomases and other Maryland award winners at the 23rd Annual Maryland Small Business Week Awards Breakfast on Friday, May 11, 2007.

Since 1963, every President has declared National Small Business Week to formally recognize the important role of Americasmall business community. On Tuesday, April 24, 2007, the U.S. SBA will honor Thomases and other state winners in Washington, D.C. during the National Small Business Week at the National Awards Luncheon. At this luncheon, the SBA will announce the National “Small Business Person of the Year,” chosen from among the state winners.

About Hollis Thomases
Thomases founded WebAdvantage.net in 1998, when the Internet was in its infancy and most businesses were primarily focused on building web sites. Realizing that “if we build it, they will come” was not enough, Thomases recognized the secret to success was in generating qualified website traffic and converting those leads into sales.

Thomases pioneered innovative programs that consistently enhanced her clients’ image and bottom line, spearheading her agency’s impressive growth well after the Internet boom and subsequent bust. Thomases started her firm by hiring female professionals who temporarily or permanently left the workforce to have and/or raise children. She developed flexible, family-friendly policies and procedures for in-house employees and telecommuters, building an organization that has grown to 13 employees currently based in Maryland and across the nation. The WebAdvantage.net team is 75 percent female and women hold three of the four senior positions.

Thomases credits a portion of her agency’s success to the growing acceptance of and demand for online marketing and advertising. A 2007 research survey by Forrester and Evalueserve indicate that more than half the corporate marketing executives (CMOs) prefer creative boutique agencies that are proficient in emerging digital media over traditional, larger agencies who “have difficulty thinking beyond traditional print and TV media models, which no longer are effective ways of engaging consumers who now get their information and influence one another primarily through digital channels.”
(http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,41433,00.html)

Thomases has cultivated an impressive client roster and reputation as one of the online marketing industry’s brightest marketing visionaries and gurus. She has actively participated in development and advisory boards for industry, trade, charitable and business organizations, including: Harford County’s Small Business Development Center; Harford County Economic Development Advisory Board; co-founding Greater Baltimore Technology Council’s Digital Bridge Initiative; Maryland Business Roundtable for Education’s Teen Web Project, and the Governor’s Workforce Investment Board Information Technology Steering Committee. Consequently, Thomases and her firm, WebAdvantage.net have garnered numerous awards and accolades over the years, including: Aetna’s Smart Solutions Award for female entrepreneurs; Baltimore Business Journal’s “40 Under 40″ award; and Harford County’s Bush Declaration Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit. A renowned ClickZ columnist on the topic of agency media buying strategies and Internet marketing and ecommerce expert, Thomases frequently speaks at business and trade conferences and with local, business and marketing media.

About WebAdvantage.net
Founded in 1998, WebAdvantage.net is a privately-held, woman-owned agency. Its core competencies include online advertising, search engine optimization, paid search campaign management, and Internet strategy. The WebAdvantage.net client roster includes: Nokia USA, Zurich North America, Nature Made Vitamins, Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University, Blair Corporation, Long Fence and Long Home, SafeNet, Pointsec and Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association. Company president and founder, Hollis Thomases, is a noted industry spokesman who is frequently quoted in the press. Thomases writes a bi-weekly expert column on online marketing for ClickZ.com, (http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3622873), a leading Internet advertising and marketing publication. For more information on Social Media Optimization or WebAdvantage.net, visit the agency web site at http://www.webadvantage.net or call 410-942-0488.

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