January 8, 2008; 05:10 AM
Minneapolis, MN January 8, 2008 - SlickRockWeb, Inc. (www.slickrockweb.net), a leading Minneapolis SEO firm,
is pleased to announce a ground-breaking collaboration with southern
Minnesota’s non-profit Ability Building Center to train tech-minded
individuals for careers in web development and search engine
optimization. Since April, Ability Building Center (ABC) participants
have worked with SlickRockWeb on a range of web-related projects for
the Twin Cities-based company’s roster of national and international
clients.
SlickRockWeb accessed participant’s skills through an alliance with ABC’s Supported Employment program, which helps persons with disabilities
obtain and maintain employment at a variety of businesses. In recent
months, the innovative program has expanded into the fast-growing field
of search engine optimization (SEO), web analytics, search engine
marketing (SEM), and other internet technologies.
“We have been really pleased with the results from our unique
partnership,” said Eric Nelson, Ph.D., owner and chief technical
officer of SlickRockWeb. Dr. Nelson hailed the seven-month
collaboration as “a terrific way to tap into the underutilized talents
of ABC’s motivated workforce and a great model for future partnerships
with similar businesses.”
Steve Kelley, ABC’s business developer and liaison with SlickRockWeb,
likewise described the arrangement as a boon for his center’s resident
“techies,” who have received valuable training as well as fulfilling
employment opportunities. Reflecting on the non-profit center’s
mission, Kelley said the alliance has helped improve the quality of
life for ABC participants by finding an employment outlet that makes
use of their interests and aptitudes. “I think it’s been a perfect fit
and a nice affirmation of our center’s motto, ‘Everyone benefits when
people with disabilities work,’” Kelley said.
During face-to-face sessions, participants from ABC receive training
from Dr. Nelson and work on current SlickRockWeb projects. Other
duties, include processing raw data from web reporting tools into
useful reports and performing web site quality assurance reporting.
Befitting of a web-focused venture, the team can also communicate
remotely via Microsoft Sharepoint, an online collaboration tool
utilized by ABC.
Dr. Nelson hopes to expand the partnership by training the workers on
additional software applications and web development languages that
will help them hone their programming skills. Much of the training and
guidance will be done over the Internet using Sharepoint and other Web
2.0 technologies that ABC’s Kelley has been instrumental in bringing to
the partnership.
About SlickRockWeb
SlickRockWeb Inc. (www.slickrockweb.net)
is a leading provider of affordable SEO (search engine optimization)
and online marketing services. SlickRockWeb creates and manages
cost-effective PPC (pay per click) campaigns and can improve a
website’s organic search engine rankings through a variety of
proprietary SEO methods. SlickRockWeb also provides a full suite of web
development tools, web makeovers and custom designs, e-business
solutions and web marketing strategies. SlickRockWeb’s clients hail
from across the United States and three foreign countries. For more
information, please visit www.slickrockweb.net or call (651) 698-3998.
About Ability Building Center
The mission of Ability Building Center (www.abcinc.org)
is to improve the quality of life in southern Minnesota by providing
rehabilitation and employment services for persons with disabilities
and other special needs. Since 1956, ABC has been fulfilling this
mission in part by establishing commercial partnerships with hundreds
of businesses in the United States, bettering thousands of people’s
lives through their participation in community employment opportunities
and vocational development. For more information, please visit www.abcinc.org or call (507) 281-6262.
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