Wednesday, 16 June 2010 18:04 | Written by Stan Stephens
Advertising Online, The Basics Part 1
Last year I received a call from a Myrtle Beach fiberglass pool installer. He had been hit especially hard by the recession and was looking for options to attract new business. At that time he was spending about $350 each month to run two newspaper ads. He was getting between one to four phone calls from the ad each month. Those calls rarely amounted to a sale and his budget could not afford to run more ads. He had heard a lot about the success others were having online and wanted to see if he had any options on such a meager budget.
Our first step was to get a basic website setup and start attracting targeted visitors ASAP. He cut his print ad back to $250 per month and diverted $100 per month to the web campaign. We spread the cost of the website over a 10 month period, which cost him $50 per month. The remaining $50 went to purchase ads on Google, targeting people who were searching for pools in South Carolina. His first $50 in Google produced over 10 requests for information. After just a three months he decided to cancel the print ads and divert another $100 to Google, and pocket the remaining $150 each month. After 4 months he was getting about 5-10 requests for price quotes per week and was installing pools from these leads on a schedule that kept him busy.  Ultimately he was able to get 5 times more business and save 30% on his marketing by switching to the Internet.
Tuesday, 17 March 2009 10:37 | Written by Stan Stephens
Whether you have built your own free website or paid thousands to have it built for you it has no value until it can achieve two important steps. First, it must be found. There are thousands of websites that are just floating around in the far reaches of cyberspace. Your site can easily join this "lost in space" crowd if steps are not taken to attract visitors. For more about directing traffic to your Conway website read our article on attracting visitors.
The second big step is to convince the visitors to take some kind of action. I found a great little video that will help you with this. Stacy Karacosta of Savy Marketers Club does a good job pointing out some design elements that could improve the results from your website.
Friday, 07 November 2008 20:57 | Written by Stan Stephens
Here are 5 good reasons your business needs a website.
#1. There are customers on the web looking for what you provide.
The internet has replaced the phone book as the preferred method to locate goods and services. The traditional "yellow page" is quickly being rendered obsolete as consumers turn to a faster and more flexible method to find information. Just Google search "the future of phone books" if you doubt my assessment.
Last year I received a call from a Myrtle Beach fiberglass pool installer. He had been hit especially hard by the recession and was looking for options to attract new business. At that time he was spending about $350 each month to run two newspaper ads. He was getting between one to four phone calls from the ad each month. Those calls rarely amounted to a sale and his budget could not afford to run more ads. He had heard a lot about the success others were having online and wanted to see if he had any options on such a meager budget.
cost of the website over a 10 month period, which cost him $50 per month. The remaining $50 went to purchase ads on Google, targeting people who were searching for pools in South Carolina. His first $50 in Google produced over 10 requests for information. After just a three months he decided to cancel the print ads and divert another $100 to Google, and pocket the remaining $150 each month. After 4 months he was getting about 5-10 requests for price quotes per week and was installing pools from these leads on a schedule that kept him busy.  Ultimately he was able to get 5 times more business and save 30% on his marketing by switching to the Internet.
