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Buying a diamond is typically an interactive, hands-on experience. So $15 million Whiteflash.com, an online diamond jewelry retailer, has sought out ways to make its website seem more neighborly to upscale customers hailing from Singapore to Russia.

Whiteflash.com has achieved this by using live online chat to extend support beyond traditional U.S. retail hours and by getting chummy with bloggers who can keep its name well-represented in search engines.

In the process, the Houston-based company has grown organic visitor traffic to its site generated by the top three search engines by 411 percent since 2006, to an average of 10,000 visitors per month. Revenue, meanwhile, has grown by 15 percent, says CEO Debra Wexler, 49, who co-founded the business with Brian Gavin, 50, a fifth-generation diamond cutter.