Web site - marketing

I apologize if this isn't the place for this question, but I have noticed several of you with websites. My business is making CNC component parts - any material, any part (3 axis limitation). Just recently (3 months ago) - added ASPIRE to my arsenal. To this point, I have obtained business either from friends or contacts in the industry and following up on leads that current customers may have given to me. Last year, I did a post card mailout of about 100 cards to business' in the area and did not get 1 call from that effort. My question to the forum is, those of you that have websites, do you find that they generate business and if so, how do you get people to know about your site other than the obvious - adding the address to your business card. Does it give any legitimacy to your business?

Of course I welcome anyone's respone as I am pondering if I need to go in this direction. The cost doesn't seem to be that great but in this economy, I have to look at the return on investment. One of my machinery vendors always challenges me with this quote - "It's not how much it cost but rather how much it cost to do nothing"

Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you.

Andy

hey andy good to see you on the creek!!

jim mcgrew

Andy,

There is a thread on this topic going on in the Engravers Forum. I expect that you would gain a lot of insight and plenty of good advice if you take a look.

My post in the Engravers Forum concerning web sites is in the minority point of view. I have one but it doesn't bring me business and the truth is that I don't want business that isn't local. Local business is my only goal, but that is because of the kind of services I provide. I know that having a web site can be very important to most people but it isn't necessarily so for everyone.

My customers are generally large construction contractors, they are only interested in my email address and phone number. They don't want to see pictures, if you can't provide them with a sample product they won't do business with your company.

In my case the types of signs that I make are different than most contracts specify, therefore if I expect to win a contract award I have to submit a sample that they can offer the customer as a substitute for what is in the specification. I offer a better product at the same price my competitors are quoting, this works for me.

I prefer to work on large projects that offer 300 signs or more rather than 300 signs from 300 individuals. I can take advantage of volume discounts purchasing material and adjust my fabrication techniques to get my time per sign down which improves the profit margin. Winning two or three large jobs per year cuts down the amount of marketing and sales work per year, another savings in time and money. I am willing to make small signs for my large customers when they request them, its extra money :)

The best bang for the buck in advertising for me is vinyl signs on your car or truck.......if you are looking for work in your local area. I should have new signs for my little Scion that I drive in a couple of weeks :)
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My feeling is at the very least it doesn't hurt to have one, and at the end of the day it will only make you look more professional or legitimate. I understand that for some companies this isn't necessary but It certainly can't hurt, and the cost is not very much.

Also, if you end up with any sort of inventory of merchandise you might as well have it all listed and available for purchase on a web sight as well.

Regardless of buisness model I do feel it is important to have some kind of web presence in this day and age. With template based software it is very easy to produce a web page that looks extremely professional, with no experience needed in little time. I built my site with iWeb but I am sure there are some great alternatives to that for Windows.

Andy, I have a take on this that is 100% opposite to Keith's, but my business model is 100% different. You can see the complexity that I need on my site if you look at the recessed medicine cabinets on my website (click my name above). I regularly ship $600.00 pieces without so much as a phone call.

I need to reach past my own back yard, and the only wholesale business that I do is inside a small circle of merchants who all serve the same narrow client base. They use my website to show/order products for their clients. My websites bring in 100% of my work and none of it can be delivered with an easy drive, it all goes far away from home.

You've got to build a site that serves as some level of value to your proposed client base - which means you've got to identify a client base and target it. You may find that you'll use your site to simply show possibilities/options for products while a prospective client is already on the phone. That would be a good place to start.
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Keith, thanks for the heads up. Should have done a search before starting another thread here.

Hi Andy, one quick point I'd like to make is that you often will get zero hits from your first post card mailing. I have a friend that is in the mail advertising business and they are very clear to customers that it takes no less than 3 cycles to get hits from that sort of mailing. Customers that expect results in one mailing are refused by them. I know people that have used their service and they report the same thing. Nothing from first mailing, a call or two from the second mailing, and then steady traffic after that. Also be aware that the results from any advertising is in the 3% range. So if you expect to get results for a large number of customers, you need to get out a lot wider than 100 people. At average, you would only get 3 customers out of that.

I'm not in marketing, so I'm only going by what I've read or been told, so take that for what it's worth.

as a cabinetmaker it is helpful when i get a call we can get online together and be studying photos and discussing ideas in minutes when we are lookink at the same thing.

jim

www.mcgrewwoodwork.com

What do you use to go online with your customers?

acrobat . com is free for 3 people to meet.