9 replies to this topic

[Toranaga]

So in the last two weeks, my lowly website has had 58 hits. Only two resulted in phone calls. Both of those turned into paying jobs. I have a 70% bounce rate. Average time on the site is well under a minute. Maybe under 30 seconds. I have had a couple of outliers that were 25 and 7 minutes respectfully, but you get the idea that someone got distracted and left my site up while doing something else.

1. What's a good conversion rate
2. What's a good bounce rate?
3. How can I improve?

Any suggestions welcome

T

[jermitts]

I make my living as a professional IT Guru, and I can professionally say that there probably are no pat answers to your questions, unless you can find a really smart pat who knows his or her stuff. You never can tell the gender with a pat until you meet him or her, and even then sometimes it's difficult.

If I were in your shoes (and by the way, these are a lot more comfortable than my own shoes, where'd you get them?) I would ask myself these questions:

a) how much did this site cost to initially set up? divide by 18 to assume you'll use it for at least a year and a half.
b> how much is this site costing me to keep running every month (hosting fees and whatnot, if those exist in your situation)
c) how much profit have I made from jobs I would not have otherwise gotten as a result of the site since launch. divide that amount by number of months site has been up

Just add A and B and see if it even approaches C. If A+B=C then your web site is eating all your profit and you're breaking even on it. If A+B is more than C, you have to ask yourself if that will realistically change in the future, or if you should cut your losses on the site. If A+B is less than C, then ask yourself is the ratio of A+B to C reasonable for marketing expenses? For example, I pay a *10% straight referral commission on labor-- and that's my whole marketing budget. I think it's worth it, because it brings in a steady stream of clients and rewards referrers. If your monthly costs are $50 and your monthly additional profit is $75, then you're losing 2/3rds of your profit to your marketing, and that seems a bit high.

I hope some of that makes sense. It sure did when the voices in my head explained it to me!

Good luck!!


Jeremy


* -- if I have a particularly slow month, I'll send out a note to existing clients that the next month will be a double-referral-bonus month, and all referred labor will be rewarded with a %20 commission. This typically results in new clients, the revenue picks up, and the following month we go back to 10%. Because even as a techie I don't have time for a web site!!

Edited by jermitts, 10 February 2011 - 02:17 AM.

[Toranaga]

Dude, that's a smart freakin answer. Have a beer on me.

T

[jermitts]

Was it smart enough for an import, or are we talkin about a domestic beer?

In my experience, there are two kinds of folk who make money on web sites. The kind that run web sites professionally, for a living, and the kind that sell web sites, professionally, for a living.

Of all of my clients, *none* of them have increased profits as a result of their web sites. Most of their traffic is from their existing clients, and the few times they get a new client as a result of the web site, the profit from those clients is never enough to justify the site. I think they write it off like business cards or something.

I'm not saying it can't happen, I'm just saying I haven't seen it yet. boctaoe.


Jeremy

[Toranaga]

I believe you. What you say makes sense. What sorts of industries are your clients in? Not that it makes much difference I guess. Just curious. So, how does one drum up bidness? Google has thrown me a few bones, but as you say, not enough to justify the bucks I spent on my sight. My ad in the local "Clipper" mag has been a little better. But that ad was costly.

So, far, the most profitable advertising has been the lettering on my wife's SUV. She's a hot blond. Phone rings off the hook whenever she goes driving around town. 65 bucks.

Other thing is trips to local Realtors. But with gas and time, that's pretty costly too.

[Toranaga]

Oh, I forgot. .. Pick your poison. I'll fax it to ya.

[jermitts]

Well, like I said, I "fix computers" for a living- I'm over simplifying it there... I'm actually a kind of "concierge" computer guy, and my product is just phenomenal service. I also have the benefit of 20+ years doing Information Technology (IT as we call it-- eye-tee) professionally so I tend to know more about computers and technology than anyone else they've ever met. And sometimes it goes a little beyond computers-- running data cables or designing and building a touch-screen kiosk, for example, or *far* beyond computers-- building a custom shelf, modifying an Ikea table to fit in a particular space, repairing a chiropractor's roller bed... replacing a motor that runs a plastics grinder... I get asked all the time if I think I could do "x" and I generally reply "probably, if the invoice gets paid!"

I mean really, if a steel cable in a roller bed that is 40 years old breaks, who are you going to call to fix that kind of thing?! (and it actually turned out to be a worn-out limit switch that caused the cable to be snapped in two!)

So in no particular order here is the list of clients / the number of computers they have / the number of servers they have / their approx. number of employees at all sites: (these are all "small" businesses. Once a business considers itself a medium sized business then it will need to actually hire some full time IT staff!!)

I only include the numbers because that's how I see them, computers and servers and sites is how I size them up -- how I know when they have outgrown me or are about to outgrow me. I assume others would judge the size of a company on the number of employees, so I've included that as well, or at least tried to guess at it!

An electrical contractor / 2 / 0 / 15
A wealth management group / 6 / 0 / 6
A plastics recycling group / 14 / 1 / 40?
An eye surgeon / 6 / 1 / 5 (an employe vs. computers anomaly; the surgeon has two computers)
A chiropractor with two locations / 10 / 2 / 12
A chiropractor with three locations / 9 / 1 / 15
An auto-body repair shop with two locations / 25 / 2 / 45?
another small business owner / 1 / 0 / 4
another small business owner / 1 / 0 / 5

I'm sure I'm forgetting someone, but those are the ones that have called me in the last, say, two months.

This group of clients I've had, more or less, for the last two years. When I quit my last full-time 8-5 (who are we kidding- 8-9) job, I already had three of those listed, and they've been using me for over a decade, even when this wasn't "full time".

The rest came from referrals- from previous co-workers, from old friends, from the existing clients and the new clients. I don't know if the referral bonus really "drives" anyone to refer to me-- they *all* claim that I shouldn't worry about it and they just want their friends and business associates to be well taken care of, but they also all cash the checks. In any case, it's a small token of appreciation and I don't end up feeling like I owe anyone any favors.

Two of the clients do a LOT of marketing-- mostly mass media stuff. It's expensive, but it brings in (I guess) enough business to justify it. I say "I guess" because they generally keep doing it.

One of those businesses has a staff of four people, full time, whose job it is to call other companies and offer services. Those four people, apparently, justify their salaries. (and a lot of their compensation is actually commissioned)

Another one of the businesses has a full time guy who does nothing but "sales", so I guess his primary role is drumming up business. He's been there for a few years, so he must be earning his keep as well.

The chiropractors, as far as I can tell, don't do much marketing. They get a lot of referrals from existing satisfied patients, they insist that existing patients remain current patients , and they spend some efforts on social media. But the social media marketing is essentially free- one of the office people is tasked with doing that when the day is slow-- you can't have them clock out for random 10 minute intervals all day long, but you can focus that "standing around" time into something productive. For example, they'll encourage patients to "like" them on Facebook, and then when they post something that shows up on all of those peoples pages, and I think also all the pages of all of those people's friends? I'm no expert on Facebook. They keep changing the way it works anyway. Of course, abuse it and it can go downhill fast-- they never post more than a few times a week from what I've seen. And a lot of the time it's completely "non-commercial" in nature, so it acclimates people to seeing the name. "Wow, there's a lot of snow out there-- be careful driving!" and then two days later -- "Be careful on the snow!! Remember to stop by and let us check out your back if you get in an accident in all this powder!"

Oh, I leave a ton of business cards everywhere too. They are very clean and professional looking. I want to make sure everyone who needs my number has it very handy. Once a business owner has signed off on letting his employees call me directly for issues, I make sure every one of them has a card on their desk.

In closing, a quote attributed to John Wanamaker: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half."


Jeremy

Edited by jermitts, 15 February 2011 - 01:06 AM.

[Toranaga]

Jeremy,

I have to compliment you on the obvious interest you take in the big picture issues facing your clients. You seem to understand a hell of a lot more about their business than just the IT set up. My guess is that they could all benefit from having you sit in on weekly round tables, if the have them. Maybe you do. Congratulations on your work ethic. Also, thanks for the insight. You/ve given me a lot to think about and put in my tool box.

T

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

Great info, Jeremy. Domo for taking the time to post it! You rock, dude!

[jermitts]

My guess is that they could all benefit from having you sit in on weekly round tables, if they have them. Maybe you do.

Well, I've often thought that too-- but for some reason they don't ask me to join in. I know at least two of them have those sorts of meetings, and I know that at least one of them is paying a few "experts" to show up once a month and chat for about an hour.


They *do* call me at odd hours and ask for my opinion on things not related to IT though, which I take as a compliment. Usually they know the answer, they just need someone else to say it out loud.


Best of luck in your marketing endeavors!