Advice on web marketing

[sticker]

Hi all,

I've a friend running a stonecraft business down in the sticks. I developed a site for him and organised a google adwords account. It's pulling in a good bit of business for him, but he'd like to expand his marketing...

I'm not 100% familiar with the finer points of web marketing, but he's got a quote from a local crowd to place his site on a "database" for €2K a year. This seems a bit steep - not to mention their site leaves a lot to be desired. They are advertsing "Google maps" as a service!!!

My advice to him was to walk away from them...

Is this the going rate for this type of service? Would you feel a good adwords setup would suffice for a small business or would you have any Company recommendations?

As always - thanks in advance!

 

[Dara]

2k to be on a "database" is a scam if ever I saw one. If his business is a small local one I'd suggest you keep the adwords campaign if its bringing in business, look for relevant links from related sites or local industry type sites and that he register with Google Local himself which will get his business into Google maps.

 

[sticker]

2k to be on a "database" is a scam if ever I saw one. If his business is a small local one I'd suggest you keep the adwords campaign if its bringing in business, look for relevant links from related sites or local industry type sites and that he register with Google Local himself which will get his business into Google maps.

Thanks Dara - my thoughts exactly!

 

[nevf]

2k to be on a "database" is a scam if ever I saw one. If his business is a small local one I'd suggest you keep the adwords campaign if its bringing in business, look for relevant links from related sites or local industry type sites and that he register with Google Local himself which will get his business into Google maps.

Haha, yeah.... €2,000 is ridiculous. But yet, someone somewhere will fall into the trap...

 

[eteanga]

€2,000 for a "database", sounds dodgy as ye said.

Just wanted to say, submission to Google Local Business Center to get shown on Google Maps isn't a scam, it could be useful for a small business. Worth just checking out on your own.

 

[Dara]

Just wanted to say, submission to Google Local Business Center to get shown on Google Maps isn't a scam, it could be useful for a small business. Worth just checking out on your own.

Nobody was inferring that at all-quite the opposite in fact. Google Local is now a crucial, vital component for any serious online business no matter what their niche. Just wanted to clarify.

 

[eteanga]

Dara, I was replying to Sticker's original point, didn't see you had already covered it

 

[Christophe@Tribal IM]

what's his sales strategy? does he do any type of advertising besides adwords?

one of the best database in Ireland is Kompass and it gives international visbility also

 

[Dara]

what's his sales strategy? does he do any type of advertising besides adwords?

one of the best database in Ireland is Kompass and it gives international visbility also

No database is worth 2k no matter what they do or how big or great they say they are IMO especially for a small local business dealing with stonecraft down in the sticks as origional poster Sticker mentioned.

 

[Peachy]

So is the 2k to host the clients website for a year or is it to get a mailing database list etc, a bit confused. I used google adwords before but not very impressed with the results. I do alot of web based marketing organically which have yeilded results on a little budget. I post PR regularly to free sites online and again this helps with google ranking. The social networking space is very rewarding as well, i currenlty have a twitter, facebook, linkedIn, IGO People, Youtube, MYspace and loopthing accounts. The only thing it can be time consuming and you have to be willing to updated constantly. Blogs are also good source for distributing information about your own company and also gives your company a personality. If your friend would like to talk more email me at annied321@hotmail.com.

All the Best
Peachy

 

[jmcc]

I'm not 100% familiar with the finer points of web marketing, but he's got a quote from a local crowd to place his site on a "database" for €2K a year. This seems a bit steep - not to mention their site leaves a lot to be desired. They are advertsing "Google maps" as a service!!!

It sounds a bit excessive and it may be that the local crowd wants to convert the site from its current format to some Open Source content management system like Joomla.

My advice to him was to walk away from them...

If it is working, don't fix it. However look at integrating other options such as the Google maps localisation.

Regards...jmcc

 

[websitedesign]

wow 2k is a scam!

Better off dumping it all in Adwords = better results

But honestly it should be spent building backlinks and getting top rankings in the search engines

 

[paddy12]

seo marketing ireland

This sound a bit much don t wast your money.