TOPIC: Marketing Ideas

I've received calls from them too.  My point was, we pay ~ $20 a month for our website and SEO here, why pay someone ~ $200 a month that doesn't really do anything for you. 

What you should ask yourself, how much business did you get using them?
Did that amount of business pay for the service?

You need to find out how much business you got from that service then divide the total amount you made from all those jobs by how much the service cost you. 

That's not going to be an easy thing to do if you don't keep track of statistical information.  I keep a phone log of every phone call I get and have created a database on my website to see whats working and what isn't. 

I will upload what it looks like in PDF.  If you want a copy of it, let me know and I will send you the Excel version so you can change things around.

Thats what I have been thinking. I would like to keep a small ad in the yellow pages just for the heck of it but they want to much money. I told I already get good google rankings thanks to all of you guys and Dom. She wanted to now how. I would not tell her. I am going to try to bring her down to basically  nothing for just a print ad. I will check out your call log thanks john

John, I downloaded your phone list pdf to look at it. Do you print this out and file it or is it part of a database program that you have. I see that you use the book an inspection form that comes with the web site. Wouldn't it be easier to just print the e-mail that gets sent to you when someone books? Unless like I said before, if this is part of a program.

I print that sheet out and file them all.  If I get the job it goes with the contract and all other pertinent info for that client.  If I don't get the job I file it in a generic phone call file.

All of them get interred into my database!

As for the book an inspection info.  That is very limited information and designed for them to make initial contact and then I call them ASAP.  When I call them I fill in the call log with all the info they provide including the book an inspection info.

The point of the call log is multi fold.  One is to get all the info I need.  The other is to see what marketing techniques I use work and who is using those techniques.

Somehow I missed this thread, sorry. I think you'd be MUCH better off getting multiple websites targeting exact cities than spending the money on Yellowpages.com. I really haven't heard anyone tell me they were making sales off the site. It has a decent ranking but as I've traveled the country and done seminars and ask about Yellow Page ads, all I get are booo's and hissing!

Jeff - I get 99% of my business from word of mouth, either client realtors or clients who tell other people looking for an inspector.

Years ago I did an inspection for the local Spanish Yellow Pages owner who gave me one year for free with the understanding that I would pay for a second year.  I thought why not, that is a specific market for me and that might help.  I got one call in two years.

Okay - booo, hissss...