Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Web Design Company

Posted by Anonymous on 11/19/2008 at 7:10 PM ET 250 Points
I own a web design company and have experimented with different types of advertising adwords,newspapers, etc. But with little to no return on investment. I was wondering if anyone has implanted any worth whilie marketing campaigns. Most of my business is word of mouth from current clients but I cannot rely on word of mouth only for my marketing as it does not generate the right ammount of return.

Thanks for any replys.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/20/2008 at 8:45 AM Member
    The problem may simply be your copy and placement. Just because you place an ad, doesn't mean the right person will see it and immediately contact you. For PPC, that means you need to target the keywords that people are searching on, write a compelling ad, and have a landing page targeting that campaign. For newspapers - is your target audience reading it, can find it, and is immediately compelled to contact you (or tell someone to do so)?

    If you don't already have a marketing strategy, create one. It'll help you to target your audience more successfully.
  • Posted on 11/20/2008 at 9:20 AM Member
    Word of mouth is actually a great way to get more business. Instead of spending money on ads to people who don't know you or your work, why not leverage what you're already getting? Set up a referral program, encourage, reward the referrals you get. Tell your customers who would be a good referral for you, explain what you'll do with the information, and how you'll follow up.

    More on this here:

    https://www.ducttapemarketing.com/referral_marketing.htm
  • Posted on 11/20/2008 at 9:44 AM Member
    If you are good at web design, then you should be good at web marketing because the design of a website (technical setup and visual design) is important to how the website performs and attracts customers and leads online.

    Just like I would not hire an SEO consultant who cold calls me, I would not hire a web designer based on a newspaper ad. If I google "web design your-city" do you come up? Do you have a blog? Webinars or videos? How do you use the web to market yourself? What is your Website Grade (www.WebsiteGrader.com)?

    Cancel all the print ads. Save your money. Use inbound marketing. Produce some good content related to web design, make sure your SEO is in shape, get involved in social media, and the customers will find you.
  • Posted by Steve Moore on 11/20/2008 at 1:29 PM Accepted
    You have a huge opportunity to take advantage of in that virtually every business should have a website, and I would venture to say that the vast majority do. Don't just focus on companies that don't have sites. Many businesses might be in the market for a re-design.

    For those companies that don't have sites, or in the case of many small business, sites that are so tacky they do the business more harm than good, you need to sell them on the benefits of having a professional and polished website.

    For those companies that already have professional and polished sites, they might be in the market for a simple site "update", a full scale redesign, or they simply might not like the designers they work with.

    Here is the problem. Web designers are everywhere. You need to actively seek out desireable clients (what is your niche?), contact them and provide them with samples of your work. Don't wait for them to contact you.

    That is not the direct answer to your question but it could help jumpstart your thinking to create a simple marketing plan.

    Definitely cancel the print ads, they are costly and all people are looking for in newspapers are bargain basement deals. Defintiely create a referral program, buisness owners that used you for web design probably know other business owners that need a web designer. Be careful to not focus too much on other business owners utilizing the web to find you. It seems plausible to assume that any business owner that would use the web to search out a designer already knows the importance of having a website and many simply don't.

    It also sounds like since you were asking about SEO, that you might be more focused on the aesthetics of the site than the back end. Maybe partner up with a web developer?
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