Andrew Taylor's Blog

I have the opportunity to spend a great deal of time speaking with business owners about their websites and their companies.  One thing that absolutely amazes me these days, is how few people truly understand the importance of their website.

Recently I had the honor of meeting with a business owner.  He owns a rather large property management company in Colorado Springs, controlling around 300 properties for their owners.  Through our discussions on his current website, he understood that the site he had was no marvel of modern technology, and didn’t really compete with any of his major competitors sites.  However he was completely unable to understand how a small investment in his site, could help to increase his bottom line.

During the conversation, he mentioned several times, that this was the first year in over 20 years that he had not run his yellow page ad, and that recent advertisements in the newspaper had not been nearly as fruitful as they had in the past.  During this meeting, his business manager and partner were also present.  They made several comments on how they had changed to sites like rentals.com and craigslist.com in their own offerings to bring in renters.

As our meeting progressed, I attempted to explain to him some of the dynamics of the current market place:

- Yellow Page Revenues Are Falling
For the last several years, yellow page advertising has continued to decline.  More and more consumers are sending their yellow pages straight to the landfill.  He even admitted during this part of the conversation that he gets mad when he see’s a new yellow pages sitting on his porch.

- Newspapers Are No Longer Relevant Advertising Sources
Newspaper subscriptions have fallen like a rock in the last few years, it seems that nearly daily we are hearing of yet another newspaper failing.  As an example, 10 years ago, the Denver Post had around 50 pages of classified ads on Sunday, today, they can barely manage 3 pages, and half the ads are for the Denver Post. 

- Television Is No Longer Our Primary Source Of Entertainment
Television viewership on the major 4 networks was down 6 percent last year.  Even though we still watch unhealthy amounts of television in America, there are more and more channels, providing less and less viewers for your advertisements on each channel.

On the flip side of these:

- The Kelsey Group reports 70% of U.S. Adults use the internet as their ONLY source of information when looking for new products and services.

- 73% of all U.S. Households now have internet in the home

- Consumers used the internet on average 5% more last year, than the year before.

- Online advertising spending has continued to grow in double digit percentages even during the economic downturn.

The fact is, that no matter how you look at it, your website is becoming more and more important ever day, and your traditional sources of advertising are becoming less and less important.

As we continued to talk, I explained to him that his website was no longer something he gave only to existing clients to see, but instead had become his first and possibly only point of contact with future customers.  People were no longer looking for his company through the yellow pages, they were Googling his company, and his competitors were now having a clear advantage over his business.  There sites were optimized for search engine traffic, he was listed on page 10 of popular search for his business, they were on page one, his site had very limited features, their’s were full of new features like virtual tours and automated showing scheduling.

Even though he had years of experience, and his current owners and renters loved him, his website was giving people the immediate impression that his company was unable to compete in the current market place.  It looked like he hadn’t touched his website in a decade.  His competitors on the other hand had spent tens of thousands revamping their sites.

I further tried to explain to him, that his website, with the proper care and attention, could quickly become his best sales person.  It was the only agent available 24/7/365 to show customers new homes, it was the only office manager able to help property owners sign up for his service when ever they needed, it was capable of freeing one or two people in his office from their daily tasks of taking service calls, and answering basic questions from tenants and perspective owners.

Yes he was going to have to invest several thousand dollars into his site to compete with his competition, but spending $9,000, as we showed him, could not only increase his potential sales, it would also eliminate $4,000 – $5,000 a month in labor costs in his office.  A return on investment of only two months!

In today’s economy, that makes even more sense than it did a year ago.  Your business needs to increase every dollar coming in, and reduce every dollar going out.  Yes you might have some upfront expenses, but what kind of savings will you have from the proper technologies being in place to help your staff, and what kind of profit potential will you gain, as your customers begin to see you as a leader in the industry, and find it easier to move from potential customer to loyal customer?

Andrew Taylor
Chief Technical Officer
Satori Tech Solutions, Inc.

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