Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello,

Sign-Out Board is an online business scheduling board--an "in" "out" board, if you will--that is extremely useful and efficient for tracking employee assignments and whereabouts.

My site went public 2 years ago and I`ve had several companies come and go, with a handful of long-term, loyal members.

I`ve seen similar sign-out boards advertised, but none seem to have the simple "mark-it" board interface that mine does. I`ve continued to upgrade, adding new features--including a bulletin board--but I haven`t seen the traffice (i.e., potential new users) that I thought I might.

I`ll be incorporating a new feature within the next few days, a meeting calendar, which several people have asked about. Also, I`m modifying my five-day work week schedule to include optional Saturday and Sunday schedules.

I`ve done the banner exchange, press release, pop-under advertising route, along with Yahoo and Google ad campaigns, but still the site lacks any great number of hits.

I`d welcome any advice about targeting traffic and reaching businesses; my current customers include health care services, building maintenance firms, and an IT support company.  All use it to track assignments and daily employee whereabouts.

The site url is: http://www.sign-out-board.com

I appreciate any input, advice, or links to promote my site, if anyone has something to share.

Thank you all,

Stephen Pool

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Stephen Pool webmaster@sign-out-board.com

Hi Stephen,

Just a couple of ideas off the top of my head...

Not to take traffic away from SUN, but a great place to seek advice in matters of marketing is at http://www.marketingprofs.com as there are a lot of people with exceptional marketing talent who get points for their responses.

Search marketing is a very tricky game. In our own ads we`ve changed one word and watched Click thru rates change dramatically on certain keywords. So tinkering can greatly improve your success rate.

You might also consider seeking out some of the opinion leaders in your industry and working to build a relationship with them. Many times these are bloggers who reach the early adopters in your marketplace.

You can try searching for applicable blogs on your subject matter at www.technorati.com.

Once you find some, here`s a great article about how to go about contacting them (now it`s meant for one blogger to contact another but it still gives a good perspective on the applicable etiquette) http://jamdo.com/7-tips-on-emailing-other-bloggers/.

Anyway, my two cents.

Good luck.

Andrew

 

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PeerSight, e-enabled roundtables for small business http://www.peersightonline.com

Andrew,

Thanks for your input. Any and all advice is welcome and you certainly gave me some useful information.  I may go the blog route, but need to give it more thought.

I`ve tried the "pop under" window campaign also, through www.bravenet.com. Essentially, for a small charge, they give you a certain number of pop-under, full-size windows that open under their members` search windows.  It`s a bit more discrete than annoying pop-ups.  Obviously, this is not a "targeted" campaign, however.

I`m wondering whether it`s worth the cash to purchase a "real" ad spot somewhere; it`s definitely a gamble, though.  Do you have any information, or ideas, about how to get a site noticed--if only briefly--by a wide audience, rather than a lengthy, patient campaign? Kind of a "big splash" all at once.

Thanks for your help,

Steve

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Stephen Pool webmaster@sign-out-board.com

Hi Steve,

We`ve had good results from real ad spots, but only after carefully evaluating each possible marketing vehicle to help us target or marketing very precisely, and the ad spot itself. As it sounds like Sign-Out board is still seeking early adopters, advertising on blogs might be a good vehicle for you. That`s where most of the early adopters and innovaters `play` in the internet.

With regard to the `big splash,` my feeling is that it`s certianly an option but often times an expensive one. Investing in a patient campaign, as unnatractive as it sounds, often brings a better ROI.

Have you done any research on your target market? For example where they spend their time online? Buyer`s title? Role within their organization? etc?

I`m also wondering if you`ve investigated any joint ventures / distribution channel arrangements with company`s that offer complimentary software or services? Perhaps IT consultants, etc? They can always be a great source of highly qualified / targeted prospects.

Let me know.

Andrew

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PeerSight, e-enabled roundtables for small business http://www.peersightonline.com