A well-constructed, thoughtful website that can be found by local customers through search engines can bring great benefit to a business. Within a few months of launching the Fabulous Feast website for David & Elizabeth Smith, there were already several obvious benefits including:

• Paying for itself within first two months.
• 33% of all business enquiries for each month were linked to the website.

While David & Liz haven't had to make many changes to their website it has been maintained by Managed Content Webs as part of our service.  Managed Content Webs have:

• Made sure that the website displays correctly in the new versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer (& Vista) that have come during the preceeding year.
• Upgraded the server behind the site for greater reliability and speed.
• Upgraded the software behind the site for greater security and speed.

This maintenance has allowed the benefit of the site to increase into the second year of its life:

• Increased Sales / Business Growth: Business turnover is up $100,000 compared to the same time last year. While regular customers have been maintained, they have been successful in growing their business outside of their historical location ofBallarat.  Now 40% of their new business comes out of Geelong (80km away).
• Reduced Business Overheads: Before the website, sending out quotes was costly.  David and Liz would spend a significant amount of time and money printing and posting out about 50 quotes per week.  Now, according to David, it would be uncommon to get this many sent out in 3 months because people can find the information they need quickly and easily online.
• Quality Enquiries:  David and Liz have significantly reduced the time servicing unprofitable leads.  Prior to the launch of their website they relied on Yellow Pages and radio advertising.  This was moderately successful in generating leads but many of these leads were from people shopping around to get several quotes.  Following up these leads was not only an unproductive use of time but the work they won was often at a discounted price. 
• Faster Bookings: Interestingly, David and Liz have found that the website has meant that before people contact them via phone they have already checked out the service and price. When people call they are ready to book, and are simply enquiring as to whether a particular date is available.
• Greater Profitability: David and Liz have stopped paying for all other advertising as their website has been generating all the enquiries that they need. 
• Prebooked Sales:  "At this time of year [May]," says David, "we usually have 1/2 dozen functions booked for the Christmas season.  Already we have 30-40 booked for this year." This is an increase of over 500%.  They also have more weddings booked, some as far as 2 years in advance.

David has enjoyed some positive feedback from his website.

What I wanted was simple.  Many of my competitors sites were over-complex with forms to download, and generally confusing.  It was hard to find the really important information.  Time and time again, the comment we receive about the site is that people have enjoyed the fact that our site is simple, and easy to find their way around.

David Smith
Fabulous Feast

View the original case study.

Published with permission David and Elizabeth Smith