The "Epstein" archive of ornamental plaster mouldings.

HISTORIC ARCHIVE OF PERIOD ORNAMENTAL PLASTER MOLDINGS...

...dating to 1850, now available on the web. Mike Amrine of Monumental Construction & Moulding, Inc. of Washington, DC, liked the way that their website looked, but it wasn't producing leads. "We directed our prospects to it instead of the other way around. It was just a handy way to manage our brochures until the web specialists at Meetinghouse helped us understand better what a web site can do. They said our 1850 historic archive of plaster mouldings was unique and that it should draw visitors and produce sales leads. We got a lot of proposals from people who claimed they could increase leads, but we went with Meetinghouse because they knew the field and because they took the trouble to understand our client."

"The core of our historic moulding inventory is the Epstein Collection, a collection of authentic period profiles dating back as far as 1850. Meetinghouse assured us that our clients would respond if we put it on the web where they could find it. They said that there are no tricks for visitor traffic except to know your clients very well and to address their concerns straight on. So that is what we did. We happen to believe that we are literally unique in what we offer. They said the web has a built in preference for unique content."

"We have a few different ways to measure our success. By the measure of pure numbers, activity on our website is up over 370 per cent in fourteen months on the Meetinghouse program. To say it another way, orders through the web for our hardcopy architectural moulding catalogs are up at least ten times. As far as I am concerned, though, the real measure is real qualified leads. We had specific markets we wanted to be in, the Texas market, the Florida market. We get leads from there and from everywhere, from all over the US. This website has enabled us to reach this national market, simply put. Bottom line, we know that a web site that doesn't produce qualified leads isn't doing its job. By more or less continually adding new material to our website it keeps producing better, almost by the month."

Dismantled, stored and re-assembled 20 years later.

BUILDING AN OLD HOUSE

William Gould, Architectural Preservationist of Pomfret Center, Connecticut, is a longtime historic preservation consultant and contractor and for thirty years has made a practice of dismantling endangered historic structures for reestablishment at new sites. Bill Gould charged us to build him a better performing website which would not only get him more leads for his consulting and contracting services, but which would also showcase these important historic buildings and find them homes. According to Bill Gould, "The proof is in the pudding. Meetinghouse told us not to expect noticeable results for months, but traffic is up 270 percent since February. Meetinghouse took the trouble to understand our work and that's why clients are responding."

THE EDUCATED CLIENT

Moulton Custom Door Company of Vermont asked us to build them a website that would help them find prospects who could understand the necessity of premium quality in the true custom garage doors that they build. Said owner Bob Moulton, "Since Meetinghouse took over our program, our expectations for what a website can do have increased. Traffic is way up but I don't really care about hits and visitors. The statistic I care about is does my telephone ring. By that yardstick, we are getting as many phone leads in a week as we used to get in a month."

"But that's not even the main thing. The main thing is that our precise goal for the website was to better sell the contractors and architects. Don't get me wrong, we love working direct with owners, but the GC's and architects are often better equipped to understand how critical nuts and bolts quality is to the performance of our custom product. We want them to spec our work. Our leads are now more ready, more realistic and more from the contractors."

"Meetinghouse promised us going in that this project would transform the way that we market our doors. I never thought to doubt them, exactly, but I would honestly have been satisfied with less. So I'm very happy to report that they fully delivered on that promise. After just four months, we are in the process of upgrading our website again. We continue to invest in the web because our initial investment paid for itself that fast. For our company, anyway, a website that produces good leads makes good sense."

STAYING FOCUSED

Traditional Builders, Inc., of Annapolis, Maryland builders and restorers, now find nearly all of their non-word-of-mouth referrals through the web. According to partner John Waters, "Meetinghouse said they would build us a web site that would produce leads. They did that. Our website works for us but what I especially like is the way we can use it to refine our message and stay focused on goals. For example, we started out using it to connect with building restoration projects, which we love to do, but we are getting more and more historic renovation and design/build projects." Traditional Builders, Inc. specializes in the historic preservation of the unique vernacular and high style architecture, rural and urban, of the Washington, DC area and adjacent Maryland and Virginia and in the construction of new buildings built faithfully in those period styles.

Celia Hewitson, owner of Weston Millwork Company of Weston, MO, sought a way to reach beyond their local area for clients who could understand the value of their reproduction historic window sash. Our website now brings them clients from Connecticut, Virginia and Texas. Says Mrs. Hewitson, "We are quite encouraged by the continual response that we get from the website and the resulting jobs. An interesting footnote - as you had told us last year, when customers contact us we will be the last stop on their search for wood windows, rather than the initial contact. This has evidently proven true as over half of all the initial contacts we receive have turned into paying projects. We receive very few contacts looking for work other than what we specialize in. The website works! And it works well!"

DO THEY KNOW YOU'RE ALIVE???

You know that you have a great website, but do the Search Engines know it?

  Qualified Visitors are truly the most indispensable element of a successful, productive website. Read our Search Engine "whitepaper" for some Don'ts and Do's for drawing more qualified traffic to your website.