A few years ago, we built a simple brochure website for an Austin-based client in the construction business.  At that time, we created a geo-targeted Google Adwords campaign aimed at driving qualified leads to the site and converting them into online contacts.

This pay-per-click campaign was quite successful.  For a scant few hundreds of dollars per month the client paid Google for ad clicks, he received enough good leads submitted through the website that the first year, annual  revenue jumped from low six-figures to mid six-figures.  In the second year, the client broke seven figures for the first time ever.

The client had so much new business in the pipeline, it was all he could do to keep up with demand.  It that’s a problem, it’s a good one, right?  Unfortunately though, amid all the activity he neglected to pay his $300 AdWords bill one month and, of course, Google turned his campaign off.  The client figured:  no worries…I’m so busy anyway…

Two years pass.  The client came by our office last week and reports:  business is dead…zero…we’ve got to update the website, buy some radio, tv ads, something…the recession’s taking me under!

Our reply was predictable.  He could pay thousands on a radio spend but it’ll be expensive and hard to measure.  Alternatively, we reminded him how well he was doing with his cost efficient pay-per-click campaign.

We told him:  just pay your bill…turn your ads back on…it’s the epitome of low risk, high reward.

He took our advice.   Over the weekend he got two good sales leads through the site within the first $45 spent.  He’s undeniably great at what he does from there, we’re sure he’ll turn those new leads into business.

Imagine that.

Went to buy a mattress from a local organic bed manufacturer/retailer this past weekend. Got a fair price, and the mattress and box spring set works great for the guestroom in question…but that is not what this post is about.

What was fun and unexpected during the final transaction was hearing the owner/operator enthuse about his store’s website and what it means for their small business success.

Here’s the back story. He asked us how we happened to hear of them initially, and we replied that we were just driving by the day before and stopped in to see some pricing. Later that night we visited their website and learned all about their business:  how long they’d been around, how they make their mattresses individually to order, why that delivers a better value to their customers, the delivery process, etc. Standard website stuff, but competently done. This gave us a good impression and the next day we returned to the store to make a purchase.

So when the store owner heard we had checked out the website and this was a factor in our decision,  the man actually pumped his fist like he had just holed a long birdie.  He proceeded to share the following anecdotes about business before and after the site:

• Before the “internet happened” they had to compete with everybody else trying to get on TV, radio, or newspapers for expensive advertising time.
• Before, TV mattered most and good ROI was never a given…especially in a bad economy.
• Now, they do no TV which saves them tens of thousands in marketing costs.
• Now, they get qualified leads through organic search results and a well-maintained Google Adwords campaign (pay per click) who bring their undivided attention every day and all night.
• Now, newspaper and radio have slashed their advertising rates and are almost begging them to come back. They’re not interested.
• His dad, still an owner, has been selling beds for over 50 years, and has never known a game-changer like website traffic and pay-per-click advertising for small business.
• 70% of their annual business now comes from website traffic.

It was just really validating to hear this story offered up so freely and randomly…and that it would match so much of what we tell our small business clients about the value of having a strong web presence. I suspect that, for this savvy and adaptable business owner, having a website that converts has insulated his family’s small business from the worst effects of this recession at the very least.  All I really know is there are about ten bed stores in the vicinity of this one, but the owner of this one was making an easy sale on a hot Sunday afternoon that the competition wasn’t making…and his website was a big reason why.