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Topic: Job Shop forum / Advertising

Page: 1

Posted: 05-12-2006 08:46 by Subcon Laser
I would welcome your thoughts on advertising. Is it money well spent or vanity publicity. It makes me wonder when for example, internet search engines "offer you this great package" and then promote you under some pretty obscure headings. 
Posted: 05-12-2006 09:52 by
Hi Tom

This is a subject close to my heart at the moment - we've only recently built our web-site and have a zero page-ranking on Google and so have to use their adwords service to get traffic. It works, but it's almost a full-time job to stop them over-charging for each click, or making your most important keywords inactive! I'm currently reading a weighty tome on how search engines rank your site, but I very much doubt we'll ever hit page one. I'd be interested in other views on web promotion.

I've never advertised in magazines etc. I'd welcome comment from companies that have.

My general opinion is that advertising works, but it can be expensive and time-consuming, and you can't really do it half-heartedly. I think it was Unilever that was quoted as spending £6 million per annum on advertising, knowing that 50% was wasted money. They just didn't know which 50%!
Posted: 05-12-2006 15:29 by Microm1
Whatever one does, brochures, mailouts, adverts, exhibitions, web site, it is hard to know if it was wasted or effective. It is necessary to state what you want to achieve in what time frame to have any idea.

We have had people who have seen advertising and have called and just wasted our time and we have had people who have called because they have kept the brochure for years. 

What is the advertising to do? get a contact, produce a prospect, bring customers worth x? In what time scale?  This is not unique to laser cutting of course: All trading companies have the problem.  All of them come up with their own reasons and measures.

We have a web site. It does not have a very high Google rating but we get a steady trickle of people calling us citing the web site as the reason. it cost us much less than it brings in.

We do not, now, advertise. We do not think that it brings in more work than it costs. And we measured that by asking customers over several years.  Maybe we had the wrong adverts in the wrong mags.  But that is us, you experience may be different.
Posted: 05-12-2006 20:07 by Cirrus
Over the 19 years that we have been in business we have hardly ever taken advertising in magazines seriously. Our customer base is varied, sheet metal workers to Formula 1 teams and everything in between. What magazine do you advertise with, Engineering, Motor Sport, Sheet Metal? In the past I have had a dedicated salesman on the road. Recently we have changed to using tele-marketing to do quote follow-ups and arrange visits to new prospects. The cost of a salesman stuck on the M25 all week is crippling and the traffic jams will only get worse! We use Yellow and now Red pages but only in the last 5 years since they introduced a Laser Cutting section. Before that they only offered Precision Engineering, which is flattering but who will look for Laser Cutting in anything other than the Laser cutting section?
Recently we have used the internet more with a banner on Kellysearch and because Kelly's spend huge sums with the search engines we get a lot of hits from our web site.
Posted: 03-01-2007 15:30 by Prolas
At the present time the AILU web site, which is relatively new, comes in at 22 on Google on a 'laser cutting + UK' search; this without any money spent on search engine optimisation.  However, I notice that some UK job shops come in the first 10, so there must be a way to succeed if you are determined, Martin!
Posted: 03-01-2007 15:47 by Subcon Laser
AILU is number 11 if you type in 'laser cutting companies' UK. That is why the key word is so important, so confusing and potentially so costly. Does one type in just 'laser cutting' or does one type in 'laser cutting companies' when searching? 
Posted: 03-01-2007 16:06 by
Tom

By far the highest search phrase getting me hits on google adwords is 'laser cutting'. Next is 'laser cut', then 'laser cutters'. I get hits on a few other phrases, but insignificant.

The only hit I get on google organic is laser cutting + huddersfield - which is strange as we're nowhere near Huddersfield, have no association with Huddersfield, and don't even speak Huddersfeldien!

Happy New Year, oh and by the way Tom I'd eat more fruit and veg and lay off the stress if it's only your 50th this year!

Martin
Posted: 03-01-2007 17:57 by gfLaser
As a newcomer to the laser cutting industry we have invested in a web site /google pay per click, brochures and will do the Midlands Manufacturing show.

I have found getting the right people to the website tricky as we're specialising in 3D cutting and this is a term that is hardly ever searched for!

I heard that with Google one of the major factors on your ranking positions is longevity so a website needs to be up and running for 12 months before you move up the rankings.

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