The Skinny blog is written by Rick Smith, editor and co-founder of WRAL Tech Wire and business editor of WRAL.com.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – Web.com, a fast-growing provider of Internet and web related services, is taking root in the Triangle.

The Florida-based company has opened a sales office in RTP with a staff of seven people already onboard. Plans are to add more people in the future, but Web.com (Nasdaq: WWWW) has bigger goals for the Triangle office than just handling local sales.

“The eventual plan would be to make Raleigh a regional hub site,” says Robert Wohlfarth, who is the branch office manager for the company’s operation at 4819 Emperor Blvd. in Durham.

Coming to North Carolina is part of a larger strategy to bring Web.com and clients closer together, he adds.

“The RTP office is the first in a major push to move our sales teams closer to the clients,” Wohlfarth explained. “Our primary product provides small/medium businesses with all the tools they need to compete and win business on the web.

“There have been tremendous changes in the way consumers search for service businesses like plumbers, lawyers, dentists. You used to just open the yellow pages and now over 85% of people turn to the web, most often Google, to find what they need.

“Our goal is to assist these clients by providing a comprehensive suite of products that enable their prospective customers to find them on the web.

“While it sounds easy to just put up a web site and clients will find you, it is not.

“Competition is fierce and we work with our client to make sure they are on the first page of Google (and other search engines such as Bing, Yahoo) in all three areas-paid, maps and organic.”

Wohlfarth has plenty of experience of his own in the Internet space, having managed Internet sales at Performance BMW over the past four years. He has worked a decade in digital marketing after 20 years in telecom and Internet with MCI. Wohlfarth is also an entrepreneur, having operated his own business.

“Leads by Web.com” is the company’s primary suite of services. Web,com is a partner with search giant Google but also works to maximize sales leads through Bing and Yahoo as well with search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) tools.

Why the Triangle?

“We chose RTP for a number of reasons,” Wohlfarth says.

  • “We saw it as an underserved market in this space
  • “Access to top talent
  • “The pro-business climate of the area
  • “It has a large number of small/medium businesses which is the focus of our program we represent.”

“Durham was chosen to be the launch market out of 60 cities we evaluated as we felt it hit every one of the parameters we set.”

Web.com now numbers some 1,700 employees after recent deals to acquire Network Solutions and Register.com, Wohlfarth points out.

If the company’s investment here pays off, more jobs could be coming to the Triangle.