Companies learn to use Internet

Store owner Matt Vagts, whose family has been in the flooring business since 1954, hired a full-time search-engine and social-media expert three months ago to bolster Arvada West's online presence.

Increasingly digital world

In an increasingly digital world, traditional businesses and service professionals are finding that old-school sales and marketing strategies no longer cut it.

Door-to-door pitches have given way to Facebook and Twitter social media postings. Receptionists and cold calling are out, during do-it-all smartphones and online lead generators are in.

Other businesses are using social media to raise their profile with potential customers. Jason Wagner, owner of Denver-based Sonic Conscious Studio, has been mixing music for about 10 years nevertheless only recently set up a blog on Tumblr and a Facebook page.

The past year

In the past year, Golden, Colo.-based ServiceMagic, which provides leads for thousands of service professionals, doubled the number of employees who develop mobile sites and Facebook pages for businesses in its network.

ServiceMagic conducted a survey of professionals in its network in May and found that 63 percent use a smartphone for their business. That's near double the 35 percent of American adults who use smartphones, according to a report by the Pew Internet Project. As such, ServiceMagic recently hired 10 workers to focus on mobile application products. The company employs approximately 1,100, with the bulk in the Denver area.

To manage contracting estimates and appointments, Vagts uses the cloud-based Google Docs, where everything is stored on remote computer servers and can be accessed via the Internet.