Hi Frank,
I am anxious to start talking to land owners. How important is to have a website before I start?
Thank you,
Mark
Hi. While I have found some customer leads from my website, I don’t think it’s necessary at all to get started.
Not saying this applies to your case, but often people come up with all kinds of excuses and psychological hold-backs when facing the prospect of doing something really exciting outside of the ‘comfort zone’. I know I have experienced this in many areas of my life. The only reason you might need a website at this point is just to delay facing the ‘scary’ thing that you know you need to do. “When we do the thing we fear, the death of fear is certain.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
GOOD LUCK!
Sorry that I did not see this post sooner – my mistake. It is a great idea to have a website, but not to rent the ad space but instead give the landowner confidence that you are legitimate before he signs up your ground lease. In the internet era, people will often Google up anyone trying to see if they are worthy of their trust, and a good looking website makes them feel more comfortable. The website can look fine even if you do not own a single sign. Just make sure that it looks professional and that it has great looking photos of billboards (just photoshop out the name on the sign or use stock photos) and then talks about how great the industry is. Don’t put a map of your locations until you have some to map – and even then, you need probably 20+ to impress anyone looking.
I think in this day in age, 2013, you need a website. Everything is web-based. Who doesn’t have a cell phone surgically attached to there head? Well, everyone does! It will give you credibility, when dealing with a landowner or potential new advertiser. I am shocked by all the companies here in Southern New Jersey who don’t have websites, or who have websites that are awful looking, like something they built out of windows 95. Grammatical errors also make your company look bad, or bad back drops, putting a black background with blue lettering…awful!
Pay the $1,000 or so dollars to get a nice site up.
Heaven forbid, once I get moving here, the game’s over for most of everyone else as far as websites are concerned!
Lucas J. Teter
Infinity Outdoor Advertising