Reality TV Stars, Finnish Auctioneers Aki and Heli Are Happy with Seravo Hosting

The famous auctioneer couple Aki and Heli Palsanmäki from Hirvaskangas, Finland, rose from difficult corona times to full speed again – and at the same time their online business exploded into growth.

Hirvaskankaan Kauppahuone Oy has experienced some strong fluctuations, when in the peak years it achieved a good revenue, but then there was a dip due to the corona, and finally a new rise during the years 2023–2024. The results for 2024 in particular indicate that the company is recovering and the business has strengthened.

Heli and Aki Palsanmäki’s business became a Seravo customer in 2024 following a recommendation from the agency in charge of their website redesign. Where did the media publicity start? And how did media publicity, a bold attitude and the right partners take the popular auction to a new level?

The Beginning of Media Publicity and TV Series

In 2012, a team from the production company Aito Media (now MediaWan Finland) walked into the Hirvaskangas auction mall, proposing to make a reality series about the couple and their auctions. At first, Aki and Heli refused, but the production company’s arguments convinced them: they had visited 30 auction and buying/selling companies and saw potential in the couple.

When the series started airing on television, the phone rang frequently and more items were flowing into the auction to be sold than ever before. Even though the working days stretched to 17 hours, the couple enjoyed their work – especially the fact that they met people from all over Finland and the auction gained a new kind of recognition.

“We needed a hosting service with 100% reliability.”

Heli Palsanmäki

The Impact of Publicity on Business

The media publicity gave a huge boost to the business, but at the same time it required careful consideration. Aki and Heli soon learned that nowadays every public appearance and activity must be carefully planned.

“We have partially sold our souls to the public,” they laugh,
but emphasize that the benefits have outweighed the drawbacks. The Palsanmäkis have gained new friends, contacts and, above all, visibility for their auctions and their website.

Efficient Hosting for Online Auctions by Seravo

As traffic to palsanmaki.fi grew and online pre-bidding surged, the couple decided to overhaul their website and migrate to Seravo’s hosting service. Switching to Seravo’s hosting was recommended by the site’s developer, Digital Labs.

“We needed a hosting service with 100% reliability, as the auction only lasts four days before the actual event and the number of simultaneous visitors at that time can be enormous.”

Migrating to Seravo was a seamless and professional process, with only 30 minutes of downtime during a low-traffic window. Often, WordPress migrations are even quicker, taking mere minutes to complete.

The certainty that the site wouldn’t crash even under heavy traffic load gave the Palsanmäkis peace of mind to focus on their own work. The technical side works flawlessly in the background, without them having to worry about it themselves.