A friend of mine is looking to generate some extra business and has been told about CustomerStreet who apparently send potential customers to your website.

I've asked around, and the one person who's had experience with them said they weren't very good - blaming the lack of enquiries on his website design.

Anyone have any experience or can recommend an alternative ?

 

Customer street is formerly Ufindus a work mate tells me, Has also said don't give them any money!

Simpsons

 

thanks for the info - was there anything specific in his critique ?

 

This is my mates reply.


They are part of the IOMART group which has several companies which basically do the same thing but under different names because of Trading Standards. They have a 'pitch' which basically goes along the lines of... "We have 'ex' amount of enquiries for a 'insert profession' in 'insert area' and we need someone to take these enquiries." That's how it goes, then to sweeten the deal they would offer a bespoke website.

There you go his reply.

Simpsons

 

And for the record he used to work for Ufind us.

Simpsons

 

thanks, so I take it they don't generate many enquiries ?

 

What business is he looking to generate enquiries for and what level of enquiries does he require?

 

In Short NO, It's about releaving you of your money, They will say we have had 150 enquiries for a window cleaner in your area, and we only have one on our records would you like to be on our register? At this point credit card details will be handed over, they can make up whatever figure they want to make it impressive as long as they get the cash.

Simpsons

 

It's a small family based powder coating company that put it's eggs in one particular basket and that basket has just gone out of business. He looking to generate ANY enquiries for his business as work is really quiet.

He's excellent at what he does, regularly consulting for one of the world's biggest engineering companies in the US, which helps subsidise his business back in the UK. unfortunately, they're suffering in the credit crunch now so he's turning his attention back to his business in the UK.

He's finding a lot of cowboys coming onto the scene who don't understand the process and are giving it a bad name, not to mention undercutting the established firms.

 

If he has a reasonable budget and a good quality informative website I would strongly recommend Google Adwords as long as he has it applied and optimised by someone who fully understand s the way it works (Ideally a certified adwords professional) as otherwise it can be a money pit.

I seriously doubt most other forms of advertising would work as i know if i want that product for my customers, i turn to google, and a quick poll of the lads here just returned the same answer instantly.

 

OK, I'll pursue AdWords. This was the first thing I suggested to him, so I'll make sure he follows my link and reads up on it.

Thanks for the advice.

 

Please ensure he gets some quality advice before he throws a lot of money in blind as there are some very specific skills required to get adworsd working to your advantage. I am happy to offer some help on here if required.

 

I do a bit of website work on the side for pocket money (html, asp, cfusion, flash) so I'm used to doing a bit of optimisation in the code.

I'll do some research on AdWords and if there's any sticking points I'll be sure to get back in contact and perhaps send some business your way.

I can tell from your username you enjoy a bit of marketing!

 

Hi,
Yeah, this is a second job for me but i do have a strong interest in marketing and I have completed the adwords professional course so can advise a little where required. Its not about code, its about Google Scoring system and anyone who doesn't adhere to it is financially penalised intentionally. Take care with it though and its arguably the best and most effective form of advertising available today.