Probably about as much as from the Yellow Pages. Though it adds to the Yellow Pages because we had a link that in the online Yellow Pages you could go right to the website to view pics and find out more about us. And the hard copy of the Yellow Pages included the website address as well.
I actually get more nonsense contacts from the website. People from around the country who get my name because of key word searches and call, email, or in some way contact to ask questions that won't require my actual service. I also get lots of contacts from the website 'contact us' section from companies selling things or wanting to buy mass volumes of things I don't even handle. And since I became a CWI and included that info on the website, I get contacts from people asking questions about how to become one, what to study, how much does it cost, etc. Time consuming even to just weed through them.
At least my Yellow Pages ad almost always ends up in a PAYING local customer.
Now, having said that, the website has been well worth it. We send a lot of potential customers there to find out more and especially to view a few pics. My son recently redid the photo gallery and I need to add more pics, but it gives customers somewhere to start. It gives them other info about us as well: Registrar of Contractor numbers, organizations we are part of, and other info to see who we are and what we can do. Shortens my need to spend one on one time with them.
And judging from the calls I get from around the country, it would be worth it for those who do completely mobile work and travel wide areas.
I also have an advantage, one of my younger sons has taken college courses on web design and works for a well known gun sales distributor on their internet sales, web design, and email correspondence IT team. We bought a domain and all the other access through a company that only costs me a few dollars per month. And, with the size of our access, we have several websites on the one server. My son has done one for our church, a business my wife was going to set up, a couple for one of my older sons, etc. They all piggy back off of mine and they share my cost so I pay even less.
You can see mine in my profile. He did mine pretty much from scratch. Some of the others he has found templates that worked and a person just fills in the blanks. Some of those are pretty good, others, well, you get what you pay for. And another important factor, keep it updated and make regular changes to it. It helps somekind of rating and keeps you up at the top when people do some of the key word searches. I don't keep mine up near enough.
While it is only my opinion based upon my own company needs and results, I fully recommend both a decent website and a Yellow Pages ad. Remember too, most people think of a huge ad in the Yellow Pages. You can do just a 3/4" ad/listing right in the main part of the column, not a separate AD that may not even be on the same page as your listing and costs a lot more. For me, it is not about the size and looks of a huge ad. It is about name recognition. That's why I also recommend doing some of the occassional radio spots and other things that keep a person's name out there.
Another note, I know we just came through some pretty good times and you had to really be a failure to have not succeeded until the last 2-3 years (though it is amazing how many people I had come into the shop looking for work saying, "there's too many backhoe operators out there. Not enough work. I need to find something else to do." The same from other trades as well). But during my 15 years here let me give you a little break down:
1) The last 5 months of 1996, when we first took over this shop, we did as much business as the previous owner did in a full year. With no change in company name, no advertising, etc.
2) The next year we moved to the far end of the building, changed the name, and did 2.5 times the volume the shop did before.
3) In 2005-8 we were at over 10X the volume of when we bought the shop.
4) In the past two years with the current slower economy, we are still at 3-4 times what the business was doing when we bought it.
I have posted here about how slow things are and they have been. Once you get used to working a certain volume and then it slows down that much it hurts. Especially when you look at all the insurance, licenses, certifications, ADVERTISING and other overhead you are keeping up that you didn't have when you started. But without the advertising we wouldn't have even half the business that we do have. I know that by asking people where they got our name. Say all the negative you want, Thank You Yellow Pages for keeping me working.
Have a Great Day, Brent
The nonsense contacts are what I'm trying to avoid . I just don't have time for them any more. I started my business in 2000 and it took a couple years to get my name out there but when it did I had more work than I could handle . My wife stayed at home and did the books. I hired help ,bought more equipment, hired more help, and bought more equipment all on borrowed money (BIG MISTAKE). I didn't turn down any work.
Then along came 2008. It was like somebody threw a switch and turned everything off. Construction was dead and Logging was just barely hanging on, But things got the worst in the winter of 2009. I had almost no work and the work I had I couldn't get paid for. And I still had those bank and credit card payments. I let all of my help go and starting looking for a job myself.
I came as close to giving up as I ever have. I actually found a good job close to home but after lots of praying and soul searching I just couldn't give up on what I had worked so hard for. So we made some changes. My wife went back to work full time. I did some re-financing
at the bank and made arrangements with the credit card companies to get those awful things paid off. I started looking and what I had done in the past that worked and what hadn't worked,trying to get as lean as possible.
Now the business is basically just me and part time helper. I feel like I'm starting over but it is actually a blessing because with ten years experience I get to do it right this time. I make the contacts, bid the work, do the scheduling and planning, all of the welding and keep the books. My wife still helps with the books some but I have taken over most of that because with a full time job and two boys she just doesn't
have time.
Work has picked up. Its nothing like it used to be but it is steady. I have to make the most of the hours I'm in the shop or on the truck.
So I made some changes there too. I started charging minimum labor( 1hr. in shop and 4hr. onsite)I started to weedout bad customers and if I am busy turning billable hours I will not
answer the shop phone.I just check the voicemail at lunch and quitting time. It's usually just a salesman anyway .I will answer my cell phone because that is the phone that makes me money.
I guess I said all that to say this. I can't afford for people to waste my time.I don't mean that to sound arrogant but time is money so I need advertising that works to that end.
What You have just lived through has killed many small busnesses.
My cousin started an engineering & sales company in the early '80s. He was 51% owner. They grew the company, survived a copywright infringement lawsuit, and kept going. He sold His interests in the company to the partner over a few years in the mid-late '90s, then left to persue some other things. The 2000-2003 crash hit the Mid Atlantic area chemical & petrolium industries they served hard, and there was little work. The new owner [former partner] did not downsize quickly enough, and the company went under.
My cousin then started a new company to pick up what little work there was, enough to keep 1 man going.
The day you can put a stop to people wasting your time you need to figure out how you got there and market that information. You'll never have to strike an arc again.
I don't care if it's fellow employees, management, customers, office personnel-mine or an employers, vendors, phone salesmen, internet salesmen, etc, etc. There is always someone around to waste your time. Especially when you are in the middle of a critical, time sensitive job.
Have a Great Day, Brent
Boy are you right Brent! I get stupid calls generated by my website all the time. One just about a week or two ago was from a guy in India! He was offering design services, architectural drawings and so on for $12/hour! Told him I did not have a problem with India or the folks in it but with the economy like it is in the U.S I'd rather pay a guy here and keep him working and spending money here. Apologized and then hung up! Most calls are sales calls wanting to set me up with another website that they host or something. I did however get a call from somebody interested in one of my products that I make, was actually shocked!
I think part of it is generating more traffic to your website. I've been working on it for years and did something that I hope will draw more folks in, kind of a side business that I do.
As far as yellow pages the book. We got a new one a few days ago. Have not even unwrapped it and probably never will. Most folks I talk to use internet to look up everything. Most of my older clients have kids or grandkids that help them look stuff up on the internet. My last client was in her 60's, found me on the web. A few months ago had a client, he was 85 she was late 70's, their daughter found me on the internet. For me personally the yellow pages book is a waste especially for what they charge to be listed. The book is a dying thing, kinda like the newspaper.
