The growth of Optiweb

Our story literally began at the bottom. The first Optiweb office was located on the ground floor of an office building at Capuchin market 8 in Škofja Loka.

It was the year of 2009

Domain sold for € 2,000

Practically before it all began, Miha was already doing some business in the field of website development and search engine optimization. The greatest achievement was the sale of a domain for € 2,000 due to very good rankings on search engines.

It is time for an independent path

As you have probably already guessed from the name of the company, our story began with search engine optimization for various websites. After a few years of experience on his own projects and a steady job in a competitive company, our CEO Miha Lavtar decided it was time for an independent path.

Small office – big challenges

We cooperated excellently with existing customers, so Miha embarked on a mission to find some new customers with the help of his first employee Luka. Although we mainly dealt with search engine optimization back in that time, we also started to work on a little larger projects – so we launched our first online store called Majice.net at the end of 2009.

It was the year of 2010

First major clients for website search engine optimization

We started to cooperate with Knauf Insulation in 2010. Knauf Insulation is a well renowned company known worldwide for its Insulation solutions. The scope of our cooperation with them increases year by year, and we’re very pleased with that.

First websites and apps

Our primary field of expertise until now was search engine optimization, but in 2010 we also started with web development pretty seriously. The head of website development at the time was Urban; he developed websites based on his own CMS system. That decision didn’t turn out so well later on, but we’ve learned our lesson. The year 2010 was also the year when we made our first web application, which was an edge bandings comparator; the app launched in November of 2010 and is still used today in a slightly upgraded form.

PositionSpider is born

In the middle of 2010, we also launched a new application called PositionSpider. The app is used to monitor the positions of our client’s websites in search engines on a daily basis. With the data provided, we can orientate our work much better and also send reports about specific keyword rankings to our clients at the start of each month.

Our work and efforts started to pay off

This was proved when we did a massive leap in search engine rankings for the keyword “optimizacija spletnih strani” (website optimization in Slovene). As you can imagine, there’s a real struggle going on in the web for these types of keywords between those who are engaged in website optimization business. Up to the present, we’re still amongst the first results in search engines for this keyword.

It was the year of 2011

We become a taxable company

Since our business and income grew, our company became liable to pay taxes.

Increasingly frequent interviews and articles

The year 2011 was the year when we first appeared in a newspaper called Finance (Slovene’s leading finances newspaper); interviews became more frequent as time passed, and we also started to write a lot of articles for various web portals. You can read the article below; unfortunately it’s only available in the Slovene language.

First web domain registrations

Our interest in internet domain names became greater day by day, so we became registrars for Slovene domain suffixes. Just in the first year, we registered over 300 domain names.

New offices two floors higher

In February of 2011, we purchased business premises two floors higher. The premises needed to be renovated so we rolled up our sleeves and used a lot of elbow grease – we moved into our renovated offices by the end of 2011.

First online shop

The year 2011 was a milestone year in many different areas. We developed our first online shop for a major client. The online shop was developed on the platform Magento; even though the design and functionality has changed throughout the years, the shop is still on the web today, accompanied by phenomenal search engine rankings.

It was the year of 2012

Our fields of expertise keep expanding

We constantly acquire new skills and knowledge, so we started with Google AdWords, development of Facebook applications and whole-graphic designs for webpages.

Corporate image renovation

Not only had we moved to bigger and nicer offices, we also refurbished our company logo and whole graphic design of our web page.

Warm feet – happy feet

We first started to give out socks with our logo back in 2012; because the response was excellent, we still delight the small and large feet of our customers with our custom made socks.

Participation in Google’s educational courses

Google organized its first educational course in Slovenia back in April of 2012; it was called Google Engage. Of course, we were there and we also attended four smaller and a little bit more business orientated courses later that year.

We constantly follow online trends

Google’s search algorithms are constantly changing, and we follow them on a regular basis.

Additional offices

Our team grew bigger and bigger, so we rented more offices on our floor.

December’s presents for geeks

St. Nicholas gifted Miha and David with Google AdWords certificates after successfully completing an online course; he also brought a full time job contract for our designer Barbara.

It was the year of 2013

Our website gets a brand new domain name

The negotiations were long and tough, but the effort and perseverance paid off and we finally acquired the domain name Optiweb.com.

First lectures

In the year 2013, our CEO Miha had his first experience as a lecturer. His first appearance was a presentation at Slovenia’s Marketing Society; he managed that pretty well. He did his second lecture at a special seminar regarding search engine optimization; since Optiweb was already one of Slovenia’s top SEO companies at that time.

Video production is added to our list of services

We carefully prepared to establish a new set of services – video production, which could be found under the brand name Videa. Arranging exceptional promotional, introductory or animated video for you is no longer an obstacle.

Special celebration of our fourth birthday

Limousine rides, massages, cottage cheese burek with birthday candles… What else would you want for an extraordinary celebration?

Successful cooperation with Google

We diligently attended all of the interesting workshops Google prepared for us; we also visited the pre-premier of the movie Trainee, of course with glasses that were predecessors to today’s Google Glass. Since our web traffic was large enough and our employees successfully passed different courses, Google awarded us with Google partner status. Not only events hosted by Google made sure that we weren’t bored, but 2013 was packed with algorithm changes with which we coped very well.

We got the Certificate A rating for excellence

Rating certificate A for excellence is rewarded to those companies that adhere to the principles of fair cooperation; no need to explain how happy we were.

The first 
working
day in the open air – Picnic

On a beautiful day, we decided that we would spend one work day 800 m above sea level instead of working in our offices. The only problem was, our internet connection did not want to cooperate so the planned day of working turned into a picnic.

December gifts for geeks

Since we worked hard all year around, we were awarded by St. Nicolas and Santa Claus with a new responsive website design on our new domain www.Optiweb.com.

It was the year of 2014

Even better websites and online stores

Our big goal for 2014 was to further improve the quality of our websites. This trend was already started with our revamped website. And we are pleased that the site also received a lot of your commendations. This gave us an additional impetus for the development of new websites and stores for our clients. But we didn’t stop there; by the end of the year, we also finished two of our biggest projects so far: rls.si and pricaraj.si.

We successfully tame Google algorithms

Google’s Panda and Penguin algorithms make us work very hard, but we’re successful at taming those little beasts. Both algorithms require constant monitoring of optimization trends, result analysis and error correction. So far we’ve domesticated them well; this also shows in very good rankings of our clients’ webpages on Google even for keywords that have a lot of competition in SEO fields. For example, the Slovene keyword “prevajanje” (translations) is always amongst the top five search results on Google.

We still participate regularly at social events

Miha joined the network of BNI (Business Network International), which brought him new skills, interesting acquaintances and some exciting new projects. He has also lectured at the annual seminar on website optimization, organized by well-known Slovene company Nasvet. We regularly participate in the Google events and Magento and Wordpress meet-ups.

Even nicer and more sophisticated graphic design

After we renovated the graphic design of our website, it was time to finish the image. We got new business cards and a new display ad outside the building our offices are located at.

Half of the second floor bought

Tuesday, 26/8/2014 was the D-Day when a public auction for the second floor of the building we work at currently took place. With a little bit of luck, we bought the entire second floor of the building in conjunction with a partner company. With this step, we moved one step closer to the goal, which is to provide a superior working environment for our employees. Of course, when the deal was made, champagne was obligatory :-).

Miha became BNI marketer of the month October

BNI is a network in which entrepreneurs help each other to create more business with the help of recommendations. Our CEO Miha helped to acquire new deals for quite a few fellow co-members, and in October he earned the title of Marketer of the month, thus further displaying that Optiweb and its employees not only care for themselves but are also happy to help others.

It was the year of 2015

The extremely successful year 2014 has ended

If we sum up the year 2014, it was very successful in all areas of work and we significantly raised the quality of our services, which is reflected in our latest projects. In addition, we hired 4 new employees for full time and bought huge premises a floor higher than the present one.

Miha became a BNI networker of the year

Networking and supporting other BNI Carnium members paid off. Our CEO Miha earned the title of The Networker Of The Year 2014.

One of our pages received a CSS Award nomination

On June 2nd, 2015, the website Goolets Cruising received a CSS Awards nomination - a superb acknowledgment for all our hard work on developing this website.

Time to move into our new offices!

After more than six months of extensive renovations, the opening day of our new offices finally arrived. We arranged the last details, invited our friends, Optiweb business partners and supporters. The vibe was great, and we all had an amazing time. The turnout exceeded our wildest expectations. We were delighted to hear that our guests were genuinely excited about our new workplace. Thanks again everyone! Thanks again everyone! You can read more about the opening (or just check the video or browse the pics) in our blog post Our new offices rock!

The first microenterprise with the Family Friendly Enterprise Certificate

We put our employees before everything else and we're the first Slovenian microenterprise to obtain the Family Friendly Enterprise Certificate.

The most certified Magento team

To prove our expertise in opensource system Magento, which is perfect for larger/high volume e-shops we sent our 3 experienced developers to Ljubljana in order to test their knowledge. We're proud to say that they all successfully passed the test and earned the Magento certificates.

Thus we became the company with the most Magento certified individuals.

It was the year 2016

An exceptional growth in 2016

The year 2016 truly was extraordinary. From 17 team members our numbers grew to 27. Our offices consequently became too small, so the marketing team got a new office. A lot also changed when it came to optimizing the processes, which resulted in improving the quality and range of our services.

Educating ourselves across Europe

We are keenly acquiring new knowledge across the entire Europe. So far, we’ve visited some of the most prominent conferences abroad and some smaller ones at home.

We were teaching and motivating

At Optiweb, we like to share our knowledge, because we believe that is the key to success. We gladly respond to the invitations to various lectures, workshops, conferences, etc.

Optiweb team in action

When we’re not at work, we’re recharging our batteries.

Teambuildings

A few times a year, the Optiweb team joins their forces at teambuildings, where we can additionally bond as a team.

Mannequin Challenge

We joined in on the virtual joke and made a very fun video. #mannequinchallenge

Mannequin Challenge

Our Rok fired himself ...

One of the people who really helped us grow last year was our Rok.

It was the year 2017

Magento team with new certificates

The boys from the Magento team have proven their knowledge at the beginning of March with new certificates – the team now has the highest number of certified individuals for Magento in Slovenia.

The beginning of a business incubator of the Y generation

Since our recently bought offices became too small and we had to move to additional 3 offices, we’ve decided to build our very own building somewhere in the near future.
However, this will be far from an ordinary building; this will a business incubator of the Y generation. There, we wish to connect with other companies with similar cultures and thus create an even better working environment.

You can follow the progress here.

It’s all about cooperation (and learning along the way)

We regularly gain new knowledge at lectures and conferences. Besides the formal ones, we at Optiweb also organize our own internal lectures. With this, the employees broaden their horizons and get acquainted with other areas of work in the company.

New internship program

This year, we’ve successfully started with our new internship program “Let’s boost”, offering students practical knowledge, diligent mentoring and the development of their potential in the digital world.

It was the year 2018

We like to motivate and expand our knowledge

We like to expand our knowledge at different seminars and conferences and in educational institutions.

It’s all about cooperation (and learning along the way)

  • Divante: As partners, we proudly help in creating the best PWA experience.
  • Pimcore: We are proud to be Pimcore’s official Silver partner.

Magento team with new certificates

There’s always room for an upgrade in our Magento team! This year, we got new certificates:

Let’s boost internship goes international

This year, we welcomed even more Let’s boost interns - among them was an international student Christina from Romania who was sharpening her skills with our design team.

    Monday Bluzz

    This year, we decided to spice up our Mondays with Monday Bluzz, a 3pm get-together where we talk through various themes - strictly unrelated to our work.

      Pro bono project

      As a part of the Let’s boost internship, this year’s students successfully finished a pro bono project: in exchange for practical experience, they helped a non-profit organisation by designing a new website for them and by providing them with a long-term marketing plan.

        Optiweb got a new look

        In the year 2019, we also changed the graphic design of our company. We said our farewells to rounded letters and lines, added a new color palette and introduced triangular elements.

          It was the year 2019

          New office space – our 10th anniversary present

          In April, we’ve blown our 10th birthday candle and marked 10 years of hard work and successful projects of our Optiweb team. Since we can’t seem to stop growing, we’ve had another important turning point – moving into new bigger and more modern offices. The new office space really boosts our motivation and productivity and makes sure we’re even more connected as a team.

            An extremely successful internship project

            We’ve successfully finished our “Let’s boost” internship, with which we offer students our expertise, a vigilant mentor and development of their potential in the digital world. In 2019, we had 6 interns; three of them continue to work with us and one being fully employed.

              Miha became a member of the Slovenian Business Club

              Just recently, Miha became a proud member of the association Slovenian Business Club!

                We like to share our knowledge and help others

                At Optiweb, we like to share our knowledge, because we believe that is the key to success. We gladly respond to the invitations to various lectures, workshops, conferences, etc. and we make sure we help transfer our knowledge to others.

                • WordPress: Lecture on project management at the forum of the Slovenian association for project management. WP meetup – Presentation of the use of hooks in WooCommerce Presentation of the process of developing a website and our way of work to the students of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences. DMS – E-commerce: How to take a step forward from an online shop? Lecture at the association of “Spletni trgovci”: How to (really) sell on Amazon DMS – Go-to market strategies
                • Design: Career day SPID at NTF Ljubljana GovJam 2019 co-organization
                • Marketing: Growth hacking B2B workshop at Tehnološki park Product of the year Business incubator Perspektiva Postojna SMK – Slovenian Marketing Conference
                • Magento: Diggit

                Who is talking about us?

                We like to expand our knowledge

                • WordPress: WordCamp Europe in Berlin Mastermind with Matej Bešter, Popolna Postava
                • Magento: We are Developers in Berlin PHP Meetup WordPress Meetup Ljubljana
                • Design: Look Around 360 (VR/AR conference) Design Sprint Slovenia Meetups UX Slovenia Meetups ProductTank Meetups Service Design Meetups
                • Marketing: Google Automation Workshop in Zagreb BrightonSEO in England Inorbit Mikrocop conference Mastermind with Simon Belak Google Retail Academy E-commerce mastermind with Matej Bešter SOF SMK – Slovenian marketing conference
                • Administration: Accounting and tax return for the year 2018 Tax deduction Protection of personal data (GDPR)

                2019 – the year of certificates

                Magento: Janez Alič, Klemen Lapanja, Urban Kovač and Tilen Habjan become certified Pimcore developers
                Marketing: Nina Zupančič: Facebook Blueprint Planner certificate

                  Wazzup

                  Another change is reflected in our Wazzup meetings. Since our old way was getting kind of monotonous, we took our weekly meetings to a new level. The routine of every Wazzup meeting (team leads report, what’s new, miscellaneous) got rejuvenated with interesting project presentations. Despite the big number of employees, we are therefore up-to-date with all the achievements and can celebrate new successes together.

                    A project we’re especially proud of

                    Our project #polnaškatla or #fullbox left a very special mark on the year 2019, because with it we got to help those less fortunate than us. We collected food and newspapers, we helped with various donations and – to our great joy – we also got our business partners to join in. Together, we gave back to the community and proven the old saying “there’s strength in numbers”.

                      We became a Pimcore Gold Partner

                      Our successful Pimcore cooperation from the year 2018 was taken to a completely new level in 2019. We are proud to be the company with the only Pimcore Gold Certificate in Slovenia!

                        Optiweb got a new look

                        In the year 2019, we also changed the graphic design of our company. We said our farewells to rounded letters and lines, added a new color palette and introduced triangular elements.

                          The Legend Of Miha

                          To honor the opening of our new offices, we made our very own video game: The Legend Of Miha.

                            It was the year 2020

                            Cyber attack recovery

                            After the first quarantine, there was an intrusion into one of our largest online stores, and then an intrusion into our Facebook business account. The first involved credit card fraud, while the second caused spending millions of Euros of our clients’ advertising money. After helping our clients get their money back and conducting an investigation of our own processes, we designed and implemented advanced preventive measures in cooperation with external partners, thus strengthening our security to an extremely high level.

                              The biggest personnel changes so far

                              In 2020, our teams grew by the largest number of senior personnel to date. Welcome:

                              • Peter Novak, Head of the Magento Development Team
                              • Žiga Brodnik, Business Development & Client Success Manager
                              • Mitja Rep, Marketing Team Lead
                              • Sabina Bevc, SEO Team Lead

                              We opened our books

                              We adopted the so-called “open-book management” approach, whereby we present financial data to everyone in the company every few months. In order for this sharing to be useful, we also educate our colleagues about what the data means.

                                Working from home

                                As the first quarantine hit, we immediately switched to fully remote work and merely adjusted it a bit during “calmer” times to work in the office for 2 days and then switch to working remotely for the rest of the week. For the first time, remote work was also joined by other remote activities, such as internships, onboarding, and team building.

                                  CEO address

                                  Another product of remote work is Miha’s CEO address to his colleagues. At the end of each week, he puts together a video about what’s been going on, to introduce new colleagues and projects, make announcements, give praise, etc.

                                    Improved selection process

                                    With our skill assessment tasks renewed and applicant pool adjusted, our selection of new employees is easier than ever. We also improved our onboarding process by updating our to-do lists, thus making sure newcomers are ready to take on their first challenges.

                                      Looking into the future

                                      We finished writing Optiweb’s 2030 vision.

                                        New development tools

                                        • We implemented our PIM (product information management) service on nearly all of our new, substantial webshops and even turned it into an individual product.
                                        • We’re getting more familiar with event sourcing using Kafka, which helps us with the integrating of information systems from different sources that occur with all of our bigger clients.
                                        • We were among the first in Slovenia to set up an e-commerce site using the Shopware platform.
                                        • Following our goal of even faster and more user-friendly websites, we switched to a new way of developing our websites using the Gutenberg tool.
                                        • Google Data Studio became our number-one tool to measure the results of a new website. It gives us exact data about which channels generate sales and potential customers.

                                        Major website launches

                                        With our help, quite a few notable websites came to life: Mass, SAM, Pikapolonica, Mali Zakladi, Inotherm, Renault, Sparkasse and Kras.

                                          Marketing milestones

                                          • With one of our clients, we reached our personal record of monthly online sales: 1 million € on the Slovenian and Croatian market.
                                          • With some of our clients, we charged for our marketing services in % of their online sales. By doing so, we reached over 100.000 € of annual provisions.
                                          • We achieved outstanding advertising and SEO results on 10 different markets: Germany, Austria, UK, Poland, The Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Slovenia.
                                          • At the beginning of quarantine, our clients needed to transfer their business online ASAP. To meet their needs, we set up 6 Shopify webshops and started marketing them in less than 3 weeks.

                                          Flattering titles

                                          • 4 Websi awards for our clients’ projects
                                          • 2 nominations for the DonatMg project from Digital Communication Awards (DCA);
                                          • A nomination of our CEO, Miha Lavtar, for the “Vitez Dela” award from the SBC organization
                                          • A nomination for “best corona project” (Domača trgOWinca).

                                          2020 in numbers

                                          • ~2.700.000 € of income
                                          • +15 full-time employees—with a grand total of 57!
                                          • –7 full-time employees
                                          • +5 babies
                                          • ~800 new LinkedIn followers
                                          • A new record of 4200 Slack messages in a day
                                          • 100+ Let’s boost internship applicants and 4 chosen candidates
                                          • 700+ applicants for job openings
                                          • 940+ service inquiries
                                          • 1 TB of memory, 1.2 THz of processor power, and 10 TB of server space for our clients
                                          • 140 days of empty offices
                                          • 3.000+ € donated to charities of our employees’ choice
                                          • 160 surprise packages delivered to doorsteps

                                          It was the year 2020

                                          • Cyber attack recovery
                                          • The biggest personnel changes so far
                                          • We opened our books
                                          • Working from home
                                          • CEO address
                                          • Improved selection process
                                          • Looking into the future
                                          • New development tools
                                          • Major website launches
                                          • Marketing milestones
                                          • Flattering titles
                                          • 2020 in numbers

                                          Cyber attack recovery

                                          After the first quarantine, there was an intrusion into one of our largest online stores, and then an intrusion into our Facebook business account. The first involved credit card fraud, while the second caused spending millions of Euros of our clients’ advertising money. After helping our clients get their money back and conducting an investigation of our own processes, we designed and implemented advanced preventive measures in cooperation with external partners, thus strengthening our security to an extremely high level.

                                          The biggest personnel changes so far

                                          In 2020, our teams grew by the largest number of senior personnel to date. Welcome:

                                          • Peter Novak, Head of the Magento Development Team
                                          • Žiga Brodnik, Business Development & Client Success Manager
                                          • Mitja Rep, Marketing Team Lead
                                          • Sabina Bevc, SEO Team Lead

                                          We opened our books

                                          We adopted the so-called “open-book management” approach, whereby we present financial data to everyone in the company every few months. In order for this sharing to be useful, we also educate our colleagues about what the data means.

                                          Working from home

                                          As the first quarantine hit, we immediately switched to fully remote work and merely adjusted it a bit during “calmer” times to work in the office for 2 days and then switch to working remotely for the rest of the week. For the first time, remote work was also joined by other remote activities, such as internships, onboarding, and team building.

                                          CEO address

                                          Another product of remote work is Miha’s CEO address to his colleagues. At the end of each week, he puts together a video about what’s been going on, to introduce new colleagues and projects, make announcements, give praise, etc.

                                          Improved selection process

                                          With our skill assessment tasks renewed and applicant pool adjusted, our selection of new employees is easier than ever. We also improved our onboarding process by updating our to-do lists, thus making sure newcomers are ready to take on their first challenges.

                                          Looking into the future

                                          We finished writing Optiweb’s 2030 vision.

                                          New development tools

                                          • We implemented our PIM (product information management) service on nearly all of our new, substantial webshops and even turned it into an individual product.
                                          • We’re getting more familiar with event sourcing using Kafka, which helps us with the integrating of information systems from different sources that occur with all of our bigger clients.
                                          • We were among the first in Slovenia to set up an e-commerce site using the Shopware platform.
                                          • Following our goal of even faster and more user-friendly websites, we switched to a new way of developing our websites using the Gutenberg tool.
                                          • Google Data Studio became our number-one tool to measure the results of a new website. It gives us exact data about which channels generate sales and potential customers.

                                          Major website launches

                                          With our help, quite a few notable websites came to life: Mass, SAM, Pikapolonica, Mali Zakladi, Inotherm, Renault, Sparkasse and Kras.

                                          Marketing milestones

                                          • With one of our clients, we reached our personal record of monthly online sales: 1 million € on the Slovenian and Croatian market.
                                          • With some of our clients, we charged for our marketing services in % of their online sales. By doing so, we reached over 100.000 € of annual provisions.
                                          • We achieved outstanding advertising and SEO results on 10 different markets: Germany, Austria, UK, Poland, The Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Slovenia.
                                          • At the beginning of quarantine, our clients needed to transfer their business online ASAP. To meet their needs, we set up 6 Shopify webshops and started marketing them in less than 3 weeks.

                                          Flattering titles

                                          • 4 Websi awards for our clients’ projects
                                          • 2 nominations for the DonatMg project from Digital Communication Awards (DCA);
                                          • A nomination of our CEO, Miha Lavtar, for the “Vitez Dela” award from the SBC organization
                                          • A nomination for “best corona project” (Domača trgOWinca).

                                          2020 in numbers

                                          • ~2.700.000 € of income
                                          • +15 full-time employees—with a grand total of 57!
                                          • –7 full-time employees
                                          • +5 babies
                                          • ~800 new LinkedIn followers
                                          • A new record of 4200 Slack messages in a day
                                          • 100+ Let’s boost internship applicants and 4 chosen candidates
                                          • 700+ applicants for job openings
                                          • 940+ service inquiries
                                          • 1 TB of memory, 1.2 THz of processor power, and 10 TB of server space for our clients
                                          • 140 days of empty offices
                                          • 3.000+ € donated to charities of our employees’ choice
                                          • 160 surprise packages delivered to doorsteps
                                          10 TB

                                          Size of Servers

                                          57

                                          Persons on team

                                          It was the year 2019

                                          • New office space – our 10th anniversary present
                                          • An extremely successful internship project
                                          • Miha became a member of the Slovenian Business Club
                                          • We like to share our knowledge and help others
                                          • Who is talking about us?
                                          • We like to expand our knowledge
                                          • 2019 – the year of certificates
                                          • Wazzup
                                          • A project we’re especially proud of
                                          • We became a Pimcore Gold Partner
                                          • Optiweb got a new look
                                          • The Legend Of Miha

                                          New office space – our 10th anniversary present

                                          In April, we’ve blown our 10th birthday candle and marked 10 years of hard work and successful projects of our Optiweb team. Since we can’t seem to stop growing, we’ve had another important turning point – moving into new bigger and more modern offices. The new office space really boosts our motivation and productivity and makes sure we’re even more connected as a team.

                                          An extremely successful internship project

                                          We’ve successfully finished our “Let’s boost” internship, with which we offer students our expertise, a vigilant mentor and development of their potential in the digital world. In 2019, we had 6 interns; three of them continue to work with us and one being fully employed.

                                          Miha became a member of the Slovenian Business Club

                                          Just recently, Miha became a proud member of the association Slovenian Business Club!

                                          We like to share our knowledge and help others

                                          At Optiweb, we like to share our knowledge, because we believe that is the key to success. We gladly respond to the invitations to various lectures, workshops, conferences, etc. and we make sure we help transfer our knowledge to others.

                                          • WordPress: Lecture on project management at the forum of the Slovenian association for project management. WP meetup – Presentation of the use of hooks in WooCommerce Presentation of the process of developing a website and our way of work to the students of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences. DMS – E-commerce: How to take a step forward from an online shop? Lecture at the association of “Spletni trgovci”: How to (really) sell on Amazon DMS – Go-to market strategies
                                          • Design: Career day SPID at NTF Ljubljana GovJam 2019 co-organization
                                          • Marketing: Growth hacking B2B workshop at Tehnološki park Product of the year Business incubator Perspektiva Postojna SMK – Slovenian Marketing Conference
                                          • Magento: Diggit

                                          Who is talking about us?

                                          Val 202

                                          We like to expand our knowledge

                                          • WordPress: WordCamp Europe in Berlin Mastermind with Matej Bešter, Popolna Postava
                                          • Magento: We are Developers in Berlin PHP Meetup WordPress Meetup Ljubljana
                                          • Design: Look Around 360 (VR/AR conference) Design Sprint Slovenia Meetups UX Slovenia Meetups ProductTank Meetups Service Design Meetups
                                          • Marketing: Google Automation Workshop in Zagreb BrightonSEO in England Inorbit Mikrocop conference Mastermind with Simon Belak Google Retail Academy E-commerce mastermind with Matej Bešter SOF SMK – Slovenian marketing conference
                                          • Administration: Accounting and tax return for the year 2018 Tax deduction Protection of personal data (GDPR)

                                          2019 – the year of certificates

                                          Magento: Janez Alič, Klemen Lapanja, Urban Kovač and Tilen Habjan become certified Pimcore developers
                                          Marketing: Nina Zupančič: Facebook Blueprint Planner certificate

                                          Wazzup

                                          Another change is reflected in our Wazzup meetings. Since our old way was getting kind of monotonous, we took our weekly meetings to a new level. The routine of every Wazzup meeting (team leads report, what’s new, miscellaneous) got rejuvenated with interesting project presentations. Despite the big number of employees, we are therefore up-to-date with all the achievements and can celebrate new successes together.

                                          A project we’re especially proud of

                                          Our project #polnaškatla or #fullbox left a very special mark on the year 2019, because with it we got to help those less fortunate than us. We collected food and newspapers, we helped with various donations and – to our great joy – we also got our business partners to join in. Together, we gave back to the community and proven the old saying “there’s strength in numbers”.

                                          We became a Pimcore Gold Partner

                                          Our successful Pimcore cooperation from the year 2018 was taken to a completely new level in 2019. We are proud to be the company with the only Pimcore Gold Certificate in Slovenia!

                                          Optiweb got a new look

                                          In the year 2019, we also changed the graphic design of our company. We said our farewells to rounded letters and lines, added a new color palette and introduced triangular elements.

                                          The Legend Of Miha

                                          To honor the opening of our new offices, we made our very own video game: The Legend Of Miha.

                                          7,15 TB

                                          Size of Servers

                                          54

                                          Persons on team

                                          It was the year 2018

                                          • We like to motivate and expand our knowledge
                                          • It’s all about cooperation (and learning along the way)
                                          • Who is talking about us?
                                          • Magento team with new certificates
                                          • Flattering recognitions
                                          • Let’s boost internship goes international
                                          • Monday Bluzz
                                          • Pro bono project
                                          • Optiweb got a new look

                                          We like to motivate and expand our knowledge

                                          We like to expand our knowledge at different seminars and conferences and in educational institutions.

                                          It’s all about cooperation (and learning along the way)

                                          • Divante: As partners, we proudly help in creating the best PWA experience.
                                          • Pimcore: We are proud to be Pimcore’s official Silver partner.

                                          Magento team with new certificates

                                          There’s always room for an upgrade in our Magento team! This year, we got new certificates:

                                          Let’s boost internship goes international

                                          This year, we welcomed even more Let’s boost interns - among them was an international student Christina from Romania who was sharpening her skills with our design team.

                                          Monday Bluzz

                                          This year, we decided to spice up our Mondays with Monday Bluzz, a 3pm get-together where we talk through various themes - strictly unrelated to our work.

                                          Pro bono project

                                          As a part of the Let’s boost internship, this year’s students successfully finished a pro bono project: in exchange for practical experience, they helped a non-profit organisation by designing a new website for them and by providing them with a long-term marketing plan.

                                          Optiweb got a new look

                                          In the year 2019, we also changed the graphic design of our company. We said our farewells to rounded letters and lines, added a new color palette and introduced triangular elements.

                                          6,2 TB

                                          Size of Servers

                                          38

                                          Persons on team

                                          It was the year 2017

                                          • We like to motivate and expand our knowledge
                                          • Who is talking about us?
                                          • Magento team with new certificates
                                          • The beginning of a business incubator of the Y generation
                                          • It’s all about cooperation (and learning along the way)
                                          • New internship program

                                          Magento team with new certificates

                                          The boys from the Magento team have proven their knowledge at the beginning of March with new certificates – the team now has the highest number of certified individuals for Magento in Slovenia.

                                          The beginning of a business incubator of the Y generation

                                          Since our recently bought offices became too small and we had to move to additional 3 offices, we’ve decided to build our very own building somewhere in the near future.
                                          However, this will be far from an ordinary building; this will a business incubator of the Y generation. There, we wish to connect with other companies with similar cultures and thus create an even better working environment.

                                          You can follow the progress here.

                                          It’s all about cooperation (and learning along the way)

                                          We regularly gain new knowledge at lectures and conferences. Besides the formal ones, we at Optiweb also organize our own internal lectures. With this, the employees broaden their horizons and get acquainted with other areas of work in the company.

                                          New internship program

                                          This year, we’ve successfully started with our new internship program “Let’s boost”, offering students practical knowledge, diligent mentoring and the development of their potential in the digital world.

                                          4,8 TB

                                          Size of Servers

                                          32

                                          Persons on team

                                          It was the year 2016

                                          • An exceptional growth in 2016
                                          • Who is talking about us?
                                          • Educating ourselves across Europe
                                          • We were teaching and motivating
                                          • Optiweb team in action
                                          • Teambuildings
                                          • Mannequin Challenge
                                          • Our Rok fired himself ...

                                          An exceptional growth in 2016

                                          The year 2016 truly was extraordinary. From 17 team members our numbers grew to 27. Our offices consequently became too small, so the marketing team got a new office. A lot also changed when it came to optimizing the processes, which resulted in improving the quality and range of our services.

                                          Educating ourselves across Europe

                                          We are keenly acquiring new knowledge across the entire Europe. So far, we’ve visited some of the most prominent conferences abroad and some smaller ones at home.

                                          We were teaching and motivating

                                          At Optiweb, we like to share our knowledge, because we believe that is the key to success. We gladly respond to the invitations to various lectures, workshops, conferences, etc.

                                          Optiweb team in action

                                          When we’re not at work, we’re recharging our batteries.

                                          Teambuildings

                                          A few times a year, the Optiweb team joins their forces at teambuildings, where we can additionally bond as a team.

                                          Our Rok fired himself ...

                                          One of the people who really helped us grow last year was our Rok.

                                          3,6 TB

                                          Size of Servers

                                          27

                                          Persons on team

                                          2nd floor

                                          It was the year of 2015

                                          • The extremely successful year 2014 has ended
                                          • Miha became a BNI networker of the year
                                          • One of our pages received a CSS Award nomination
                                          • Time to move into our new offices!
                                          • We are being talked about ...
                                          • The first microenterprise with the Family Friendly Enterprise Certificate
                                          • The most certified Magento team

                                          The extremely successful year 2014 has ended

                                          If we sum up the year 2014, it was very successful in all areas of work and we significantly raised the quality of our services, which is reflected in our latest projects. In addition, we hired 4 new employees for full time and bought huge premises a floor higher than the present one.

                                          Miha became a BNI networker of the year

                                          Networking and supporting other BNI Carnium members paid off. Our CEO Miha earned the title of The Networker Of The Year 2014.

                                          One of our pages received a CSS Award nomination

                                          On June 2nd, 2015, the website Goolets Cruising received a CSS Awards nomination - a superb acknowledgment for all our hard work on developing this website.

                                          Time to move into our new offices!

                                          After more than six months of extensive renovations, the opening day of our new offices finally arrived. We arranged the last details, invited our friends, Optiweb business partners and supporters. The vibe was great, and we all had an amazing time. The turnout exceeded our wildest expectations. We were delighted to hear that our guests were genuinely excited about our new workplace. Thanks again everyone! Thanks again everyone! You can read more about the opening (or just check the video or browse the pics) in our blog post Our new offices rock!

                                          The first microenterprise with the Family Friendly Enterprise Certificate

                                          We put our employees before everything else and we're the first Slovenian microenterprise to obtain the Family Friendly Enterprise Certificate.

                                          The most certified Magento team

                                          To prove our expertise in opensource system Magento, which is perfect for larger/high volume e-shops we sent our 3 experienced developers to Ljubljana in order to test their knowledge. We're proud to say that they all successfully passed the test and earned the Magento certificates.

                                          Thus we became the company with the most Magento certified individuals.

                                          1,7 TB

                                          Size of Servers

                                          17

                                          Persons on team

                                          1st floor

                                          It was the year of 2014

                                          • Even better websites and online stores
                                          • We successfully tame Google algorithms
                                          • We still participate regularly at social events
                                          • Even nicer and more sophisticated graphic design
                                          • Half of the second floor bought
                                          • Miha became BNI marketer of the month October
                                          • News articles and interviews in 2014

                                          Even better websites and online stores

                                          Our big goal for 2014 was to further improve the quality of our websites. This trend was already started with our revamped website. And we are pleased that the site also received a lot of your commendations. This gave us an additional impetus for the development of new websites and stores for our clients. But we didn’t stop there; by the end of the year, we also finished two of our biggest projects so far: rls.si and pricaraj.si.

                                          We successfully tame Google algorithms

                                          Google’s Panda and Penguin algorithms make us work very hard, but we’re successful at taming those little beasts. Both algorithms require constant monitoring of optimization trends, result analysis and error correction. So far we’ve domesticated them well; this also shows in very good rankings of our clients’ webpages on Google even for keywords that have a lot of competition in SEO fields. For example, the Slovene keyword “prevajanje” (translations) is always amongst the top five search results on Google.

                                          We still participate regularly at social events

                                          Miha joined the network of BNI (Business Network International), which brought him new skills, interesting acquaintances and some exciting new projects. He has also lectured at the annual seminar on website optimization, organized by well-known Slovene company Nasvet. We regularly participate in the Google events and Magento and Wordpress meet-ups.

                                          Even nicer and more sophisticated graphic design

                                          After we renovated the graphic design of our website, it was time to finish the image. We got new business cards and a new display ad outside the building our offices are located at.

                                          Half of the second floor bought

                                          Tuesday, 26/8/2014 was the D-Day when a public auction for the second floor of the building we work at currently took place. With a little bit of luck, we bought the entire second floor of the building in conjunction with a partner company. With this step, we moved one step closer to the goal, which is to provide a superior working environment for our employees. Of course, when the deal was made, champagne was obligatory :-).

                                          Miha became BNI marketer of the month October

                                          BNI is a network in which entrepreneurs help each other to create more business with the help of recommendations. Our CEO Miha helped to acquire new deals for quite a few fellow co-members, and in October he earned the title of Marketer of the month, thus further displaying that Optiweb and its employees not only care for themselves but are also happy to help others.

                                          870 GB

                                          Size of Servers

                                          12

                                          Persons on team

                                          1st floor

                                          It was the year of 2013

                                          • Our website gets a brand new domain name
                                          • First lectures
                                          • Video production is added to our list of services
                                          • Special celebration of our fourth birthday
                                          • Successful cooperation with Google
                                          • We got the Certificate A rating for excellence
                                          • The first 
                                            working
                                            day in the open air – Picnic
                                          • December gifts for geeks
                                          • News articles and interviews in 2013

                                          Our website gets a brand new domain name

                                          The negotiations were long and tough, but the effort and perseverance paid off and we finally acquired the domain name Optiweb.com.

                                          First lectures

                                          In the year 2013, our CEO Miha had his first experience as a lecturer. His first appearance was a presentation at Slovenia’s Marketing Society; he managed that pretty well. He did his second lecture at a special seminar regarding search engine optimization; since Optiweb was already one of Slovenia’s top SEO companies at that time.

                                          Video production is added to our list of services

                                          We carefully prepared to establish a new set of services – video production, which could be found under the brand name Videa. Arranging exceptional promotional, introductory or animated video for you is no longer an obstacle.

                                          Special celebration of our fourth birthday

                                          Limousine rides, massages, cottage cheese burek with birthday candles… What else would you want for an extraordinary celebration?

                                          Successful cooperation with Google

                                          We diligently attended all of the interesting workshops Google prepared for us; we also visited the pre-premier of the movie Trainee, of course with glasses that were predecessors to today’s Google Glass. Since our web traffic was large enough and our employees successfully passed different courses, Google awarded us with Google partner status. Not only events hosted by Google made sure that we weren’t bored, but 2013 was packed with algorithm changes with which we coped very well.

                                          We got the Certificate A rating for excellence

                                          Rating certificate A for excellence is rewarded to those companies that adhere to the principles of fair cooperation; no need to explain how happy we were.

                                          The first 
                                          working
                                          day in the open air – Picnic

                                          On a beautiful day, we decided that we would spend one work day 800 m above sea level instead of working in our offices. The only problem was, our internet connection did not want to cooperate so the planned day of working turned into a picnic.

                                          December gifts for geeks

                                          Since we worked hard all year around, we were awarded by St. Nicolas and Santa Claus with a new responsive website design on our new domain www.Optiweb.com.

                                          2800 fb
                                          likes
                                          430 GB

                                          Size of Servers

                                          10

                                          Persons on team

                                          1st floor

                                          It was the year of 2012

                                          • Our fields of expertise keep expanding
                                          • Corporate image renovation
                                          • Warm feet – happy feet
                                          • Participation in Google’s educational courses
                                          • We constantly follow online trends
                                          • Additional offices
                                          • December’s presents for geeks
                                          • News articles and interviews in 2012

                                          Our fields of expertise keep expanding

                                          We constantly acquire new skills and knowledge, so we started with Google AdWords, development of Facebook applications and whole-graphic designs for webpages.

                                          Corporate image renovation

                                          Not only had we moved to bigger and nicer offices, we also refurbished our company logo and whole graphic design of our web page.

                                          Warm feet – happy feet

                                          We first started to give out socks with our logo back in 2012; because the response was excellent, we still delight the small and large feet of our customers with our custom made socks.

                                          Participation in Google’s educational courses

                                          Google organized its first educational course in Slovenia back in April of 2012; it was called Google Engage. Of course, we were there and we also attended four smaller and a little bit more business orientated courses later that year.

                                          We constantly follow online trends

                                          Google’s search algorithms are constantly changing, and we follow them on a regular basis.

                                          Additional offices

                                          Our team grew bigger and bigger, so we rented more offices on our floor.

                                          December’s presents for geeks

                                          St. Nicholas gifted Miha and David with Google AdWords certificates after successfully completing an online course; he also brought a full time job contract for our designer Barbara.

                                          1700 fb
                                          likes
                                          180 GB

                                          Size of Servers

                                          6

                                          Persons on team

                                          1st floor

                                          It was the year of 2011

                                          • We become a taxable company
                                          • Increasingly frequent interviews and articles
                                          • First web domain registrations
                                          • New offices two floors higher
                                          • First online shop

                                          We become a taxable company

                                          Since our business and income grew, our company became liable to pay taxes.

                                          Increasingly frequent interviews and articles

                                          The year 2011 was the year when we first appeared in a newspaper called Finance (Slovene’s leading finances newspaper); interviews became more frequent as time passed, and we also started to write a lot of articles for various web portals. You can read the article below; unfortunately it’s only available in the Slovene language.

                                          First web domain registrations

                                          Our interest in internet domain names became greater day by day, so we became registrars for Slovene domain suffixes. Just in the first year, we registered over 300 domain names.

                                          New offices two floors higher

                                          In February of 2011, we purchased business premises two floors higher. The premises needed to be renovated so we rolled up our sleeves and used a lot of elbow grease – we moved into our renovated offices by the end of 2011.

                                          First online shop

                                          The year 2011 was a milestone year in many different areas. We developed our first online shop for a major client. The online shop was developed on the platform Magento; even though the design and functionality has changed throughout the years, the shop is still on the web today, accompanied by phenomenal search engine rankings.

                                          300 fb
                                          likes
                                          90 GB

                                          Size of Servers

                                          3

                                          Persons on team

                                          Ground floor

                                          It was the year of 2010

                                          • First major clients for website search engine optimization
                                          • First websites and apps
                                          • PositionSpider is born
                                          • Our work and efforts started to pay off

                                          First major clients for website search engine optimization

                                          We started to cooperate with Knauf Insulation in 2010. Knauf Insulation is a well renowned company known worldwide for its Insulation solutions. The scope of our cooperation with them increases year by year, and we’re very pleased with that.

                                          First websites and apps

                                          Our primary field of expertise until now was search engine optimization, but in 2010 we also started with web development pretty seriously. The head of website development at the time was Urban; he developed websites based on his own CMS system. That decision didn’t turn out so well later on, but we’ve learned our lesson. The year 2010 was also the year when we made our first web application, which was an edge bandings comparator; the app launched in November of 2010 and is still used today in a slightly upgraded form.

                                          PositionSpider is born

                                          In the middle of 2010, we also launched a new application called PositionSpider. The app is used to monitor the positions of our client’s websites in search engines on a daily basis. With the data provided, we can orientate our work much better and also send reports about specific keyword rankings to our clients at the start of each month.

                                          Our work and efforts started to pay off

                                          This was proved when we did a massive leap in search engine rankings for the keyword “optimizacija spletnih strani” (website optimization in Slovene). As you can imagine, there’s a real struggle going on in the web for these types of keywords between those who are engaged in website optimization business. Up to the present, we’re still amongst the first results in search engines for this keyword.

                                          150 fb
                                          likes
                                          30 GB

                                          Size of Servers

                                          3

                                          Persons on team

                                          Ground floor

                                          It was the year of 2009

                                          • Domain sold for € 2,000
                                          • It is time for an independent path
                                          • Small office – big challenges

                                          Domain sold for € 2,000

                                          Practically before it all began, Miha was already doing some business in the field of website development and search engine optimization. The greatest achievement was the sale of a domain for € 2,000 due to very good rankings on search engines.

                                          It is time for an independent path

                                          As you have probably already guessed from the name of the company, our story began with search engine optimization for various websites. After a few years of experience on his own projects and a steady job in a competitive company, our CEO Miha Lavtar decided it was time for an independent path.

                                          Small office – big challenges

                                          We cooperated excellently with existing customers, so Miha embarked on a mission to find some new customers with the help of his first employee Luka. Although we mainly dealt with search engine optimization back in that time, we also started to work on a little larger projects – so we launched our first online store called Majice.net at the end of 2009.

                                          80 fb
                                          likes
                                          10 GB

                                          Size of Servers

                                          2

                                          Persons on team

                                          The growth of Optiweb

                                          Our story literally began at the bottom. The first Optiweb office was located on the ground floor of an office building at Capuchin market 8 in Škofja Loka.

                                          Over the years, the company grew in size and so did the number of employees; we also moved our offices a floor higher.
                                          Ride the elevator
                                          with us!

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