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The Bare Essentials of Web Marketing

355 views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  BenLanders 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Recently, I was interviewed by ACHR News, a publication for HVACR contractors, and I was asked questions like, "how much should a contractor expect to spend to build a decent website?" and "what should a contractor with little to no online activity do to build their online presence?"

On the one hand, it's fun to answer these questions. As I've demonstrated time and time again on this blog and in the forum of this site, I have no problem offering an opinion--even when I know others will strongly disagree. On the other hand, questions like these shield contractors from the (hard) work required to come up with the right answer.

Whether we're talking about weight loss or web marketing, everyone wants the shortcut. You know what the real shortcut is? Figuring out early that there is no flippin' shortcut and persisting down the hard road to success while your competitors keep venturing off it in search of an easier way!

How much you should spend on a website or to build your online presence depends on...

Your Goals
If you have a residential painting company doing $750,000 per year in revenue and you want to double your revenue each year until you get to $3 million, all while maintaining your net profit margin of 10%, your prescription and the investment you make in web marketing is going to be much different than someone only interested in growing 10% each year.

Your Time/Expertise
Bob Perini owns DrinkMore Water, an uber successful bottled water delivery company serving the Baltimore Washington region. You've heard the phrase, "Jack of all trades, master of none?" Well, Bob is a "Jack of all trades, master of EVERYTHING."

The guy can engineer a system to turn putrid pond water into the pure H2O, set up a WWAN in your office, build you a house from scratch, write copy that would make Brian Clark envious, code websites, and perform financial analyses that would knock Peter Thiel on his ass.

If you're a Bob and you've got time to spare, none of the standard rules apply to you.

Your Market and the Economics of Your Business
This should go without saying, but if you're small plumber with aspirations of dominating the Chicagoland area, you're going to find yourself with a much bigger challenge than someone trying to become the king of a market with a handful of much less sophisticated competitors.

Along the same lines, if you're a realtor selling multi-million dollar homes, do you really think you can go from zero to success investing $10,000 in a website and a PPC campaign? Puhlease. The larger and more competitive the market you're in and the greater the value of a new customer, the more you're going to have to invest to go from nothin' to more than nothin'.

If you want to answer questions like, "how much should I invest in (PPC/SEO/Social/My Website)?", you've got to know your numbers. You've got to know the lifetime value of a client. You've got to know your margins. You've got to know your conversion rates - visit-to-lead, lead-to-sale, sale-to-referral, etc.

If you don't have enough data to determine your numbers, you should start with some conservative assumptions and TRACK EVERYTHING, so that, over time, you can replace your assumptions with the real numbers. The less money you have, the more conservative you need to make your assumptions!

Conclusion
If you want to hear my specific answer to the questions above, go listen to the podcast. When you're only given 20 minutes to talk, you can't beat around the push with the nuances I've listed above. BUT, while you're listening to my answers, remember that your situation is unique and so should your prescription for web marketing.
 
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