Beth Guide, president of ACTWD.com, has had a long career in media and marketing that started in traditional print media and transformed into a leading role in Digital Information and Internet Marketing.
Her career in journalism started in the New York Tri-state area. Guide was awarded a sit down interview with Former President Gerald R. Ford as well as other prominent leaders and personalities including 60 Minutes anchor Ed Bradley.
In the early 90s Guide relocated to Houston, and worked in Public Relations for several Houston firms but the growth of the Internet posed an opportunity Guide couldn’t ignore. It quickly became a passion for her and it became clear that forming her own design and marketing firm was really where her talents and experience worked best.
In 1998, with a $150 investment, Guide and two business partners formed a website design company and quickly caught the attention of Grumbacher Paints, which was subsequently sold to Newell/Rubbermaid. To better serve the needs of the design customers, Guide added a webhosting arm to the company’s offerings. In 2001 webhostingforidiots.com was added and the brand quickly caught on, growing to thousands of customers throughout the US.
As the web design business developed, Guide quickly recognized that simply having a website wasn’t enough. “Initially I had to focus customers on getting their website out there,” Guide says. “I had to teach them that their site address needed to be on everything that went out of their office. Just having a website wasn’t enough if people weren’t finding it or using it.” Guide also began looking at search engines, learning about how rankings worked and how to improve placement. She spent years researching, testing and adjusting to find ways to help customers market their sites through search engine rankings.
In 2005 Guide partnered with several other SEO experts and, in 2007, added full-blown SEO, Digital Marketing and Social media agency, Vertical Web. The goal of was to focus on organic Search Engine Optimization and Internet marketing, as well as developing high impact websites. Guide is a pioneer and leader in the space. Locally in Houston, she works with UofH’s Bauer College of Business Small Business Development Center to help teach small businesses how to maximize their online presence.
Guide presently lives in the Houston Texas. She is an avid supporter of animal rescue groups as well as her beloved Houston Texans. She has been very fortunate to have found 2 Dachshunds that have allowed her to live with them.
