I’m addicted. It’s bad. I can’t stop myself. At first it was just fun. But then I was doing it three or four times a day. Sometimes first thing in the morning! But the day I started spending less time with my family so I could do it, I knew I had a problem. My name is Hossein Noshirvani and I am…addicted to Google Analytics.

#1 searched athelte on Google…wonder why??!!

So what is Google Analytics (you know aside from the most awesomest thing in the world)? It is a free tool provided by Google that allows me to quantify and understand everything associated with our website. (Again, this is free! You should use it!) How many hits we had, how many were new visitors, which pages people visited most frequently, etc. The list goes on and on and on! And I have read, examined, and dissected every report. All in the hopes of being able to better understand what’s important to our customers and what we do! And I can tell you, I have. Easy to use, actionable reporting is incredible. (And FYI, our software features reporting too! Just not web analytics.)

Within this deep dark world is a section on keywords. In essence, which words do people use to describe what they are searching for, and do we fit that bill? There is an important correlation between what they search for on Google and whether our site is part of the results. And quite frankly it’s fascinating. But it’s causing me to have a series of existential moments. I thought I knew who I was until I started to realize that I have no idea!

Motionsoft has always been a software company. We excel at it. We pride ourselves on having the best club management software in the industry. Our website was plastered with the words, we were proud of who we were, and what we did. But it turns out, there are 50 different ways to search for “club management software.” Like “health club management software”, “gym management software” and “gym membership software”, “fitness club management software”, “fitness management software”, and “health club software”. No doubt we are all those things, and when people typed it, they always found us. But the way you ask for it tells me a lot about who YOU are and what YOUR business needs to do.

But then it starts to get interesting. People start searching for much more specific items. Things like “web based gym management”, “health club billing”, “eft billing”, “gym billing software” or “gym billing services”. In a similar vein a lot of you are looking for “check-in-software” (and “checkin software”, and “check-in software”). As a side note we had someone find us who was looking for “checkin checkout software”. (And for the record we do allow your members to leave after their workouts so check-out is applicable). No question about it, we are web based, we do billing and we can help you check-in (and checkout) members at the front desk. So this makes sense to me.

Then there are the people who combine items. Like “health club billing software”, “club membership billing”, “club check-in software”, and “gym scheduling management software.” Motionsoft does lots of these things, you guys are looking for things, so this makes sense too.

And don’t forget about the guys looking for free stuff. “Free club membership & facility management software”, “free online club management”, and “free gym membership software.” We like to think we have the right solution at the right price, but it ain’t free!

But here is why it can be really funny? We get odd search terms that led people to our site like “preteen elite”, “tweeners”, and “greg justice corporate office.” Greg, I don’t know you but someone is obviously looking for you and for some reason they think we are hanging out together!

It used to be that by being first in the Yellow Pages, you could increase your business (AAA Plumbers, AAA Mortgage, and AAA Dog Walker”) Today its all about search and search results and keywords. And whether its online or in the real world, if you want people who are looking for gyms to find you, make sure you know what they are looking for.

And FYI, my favorite search term that led someone to our site has to be “Hossein Noshirvani divorce”. I have to ask myself does Google know something I don’t know? Or did my wife know, with my new addiction, it was the only way to get my attention?

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ, August 30, 2010 – Edison Venture Fund announced $5.5 million investment in Motionsoft based in Silver Spring, MD. Edison is sole institutional investor for this late stage, CRM and healthcare information technology business. Proceeds will expand sales, marketing and development.

Motionsoft spans local, nationwide and worldwide fitness enterprises. Their core club management, payments services and marketing software automates membership retention and recruitment. Clients include health clubs, corporate and hospital based wellness centers, and universities such as Equinox, Gold’s Gym, Starbucks, Mayo Clinic and Duke Fitness Center.

Gary Golding, General Partner, led Edison’s investment process. Tom Vander Schaaff, VP Analysis, and David Nevas, Business Development Associate, conducted Edison’s due diligence. Gary Golding and Edison Director Network member, George Pappas, joined Motionsoft’s Board of Directors. Pappas is VP Sales and Marketing for Edison portfolio company, Presidium.

“Edison’s strategic counsel, growth experience and value-added resources will be instrumental to our success as we continue our expansion,” commented Al Noshirvani, CEO, Motionsoft.

“Motionsoft management team are respected domain experts,” stated Gary Golding. “Motionsoft achieved impressive growth and repeated customer renewals,” added Tom Vander Schaaff.

Edison invested in 17 healthcare information technology and 19 customer relationship management businesses. Active portfolio companies include Cadient, ClearPoint, DiagnosisONE, Fishbowl Marketing, Health Market Science, iContracts, Portico, and Verilogue. High return exits include CambridgeSoft, Contact Software (ACT!), Dendrite, Innaphase and International Telesystems.

Edison made 14 investments in Maryland including LogicTree, Notable Solutions and Regent. Successful exits include Axent, NFR, Skills Bank, Visual Networks and Vocus.

About Edison Venture Fund
Established in 1986, Edison partners with entrepreneurs, service providers and other financing sources to build successful companies. Edison provides capital and value-added services to late stage ($5 to 20 million revenue), information technology businesses. Initial investments range from $5 to 10 million. Edison typically serves as the sole or lead investor. In addition to providing expansion capital, Edison funds management buyouts, recapitalizations, spinouts and secondary stock purchases.

Edison’s investment professionals are based in Lawrenceville, NJ, New York, NY, Needham, MA and McLean, VA. Industry specialties include application software, communications, financial technology, interactive marketing, and healthcare IT. Edison’s successes include Best Software, Gain Capital, Liberty Tax, Marcam, MathSoft, POMS, Princeton Financial, Virtual Edge and many other information technology leaders, which have a combined market value exceeding $5 billion. Edison Venture currently manages over $600 million and actively making new investments. www.edisonventure.com

http://www.inc.com/inc5000/profile/motionsoft

Growing up I wasn’t a member of a country club. (I did belong to my local pool.) But I had a friend who belonged to a country club and I remember going with him to the pool, walking up to the concession stand and ordering just about the entire menu (can you say gooey French bread pizza!), and instead of paying for it, he simply had to sign a piece of paper, a chit ( def: Chiefly British, a signed note for money owed for food, drink, etc ) ! It was at that exact moment that I knew without a doubt what I wanted to be when I grew up… Read More »

Springboarding from the Bisnow exposure they had last week, Motionsoft made the news again, this time in the Washington Post. The article summarizes their closure on a $6.2 million investment by an unnamed partner. Read more here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/20/AR2010082005109.html

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Whether you use an Apple computer, iPhone, or iPad, I think we can all agree Apple has done an amazing job in creating a group of loyal followers (commonly referred as fanboys) who evangelize their products and services. More valuable then any marketing or advertising, this army of followers has helped Apple become one of the fastest growing most profitable companies in the world. So what can we learn from them…

To understand Apple’s phenomenal growth, you have to go back in time to the early 80’s. A time when men were men, and sheep were Read More »

The online magazine Fed Tech BisNow (bisnow.com) visited with Al Noshirvani, CEO and President, and Hossein Noshirvani, EVP, of Motionsoft in their offices in Silver Spring. They talked about their rapid expansion and plans for the future of Motionsoft.

Funding in Motion
“This morning, we headed out to Silver Spring to meet with a brother tandem, Al and Hossein Noshirvani. They tell us their 80-person ERP software company, MotionSoft, is days away from signing a term sheet with a venture capital firm. Not bad considering just two years ago the six-year-old company was just 12 people…” Continue reading the full story here:

http://www.bisnow.com/washington_dc_tech_news_story.php?p=9811

I like to think I can write a lot about anything that has to do with check-in software, online member portals, PCI compliance, managing a front desk, membership management, personal training, Group X, and all things related to managing and operating your gym or wellness center. But there are some things that happen in a gym, that I simply shake my head and don’t know what to say! One of these is the way people… Read More »

How did people tell time before the invention of commercials? The 30-second spot is the original shared calendar! What movies are coming out? Look at the latest Happy Meal toy! When’s Columbus Day? – Your local Hyundai dealer will tell you. Time to send in your taxes? – Have you seen the name H&R Block recently? And the best part, Madison Ave. knows us to give us a 6-weeks notice!

The problem is, that’s what the gym industry is all about – 6-weeks! 6-weeks is JUST enough time for me to Read More »