Questions & Answers to Your Town On Line:
Question :
Why would I want to advertise with
Frome on line or any of your other on-line directories?
Answer
:
Advertising is quite often a lottery. Which paper?
Radio? Which web sites? The word is that 50% of all
advertising is wasted because no-one responds to it….But
the real problem is which 50%?!
At Your Town On Line we have the answer to that question
and by joining us you will be let into the secret. Not
only that, but we will be checking with you every 6
weeks to make sure your advertising is working for you.
If it isn’t, you are very unlikely to rebook for a
second or third year, so we work very hard to make sure
it does.
We are unique in as much as we provide the link between
Internet advertising and terrestrial advertising. We
publish Newsletters every two months in which every
company who advertises with us is listed. These
newsletters are distributed to every one of our
customers within all of the on-line companies and they
are all urged to use each other, with the newsletter
acting as a directory. We also hold
business breakfasts every week and
all of our customers are invited. You get to meet
between 20 and 40 businesses every time and the emphasis
is on every one helping each other. We are creating a
giant network system across Somerset and Wiltshire so
the customer gets complete satisfaction wherever he or
she might go. If a customer goes into a shop looking for
a product which is not stocked, the owner of that
business can refer the customer to someone else who does
stock the product. The customer is happy, the product
stockist is happy and the referrer is happy because they
know that businesses out there are doing the same for
them .
All of our directories are built to be picked up by the
search engines in a local way. If you type, for example.
Weddings Frome, Carpenters Frome or Plumbers Frome into
the UK pages of
www.google.co.uk you will see that we come up on the
very first page. To advertise on the first page of
Google is what every business with a website strives for
and, as it is the biggest and busiest search engine in
the world, you will be advertising in front of
customers who are already looking for you.
Our On Line companies are registered as Community
Interest Companies which means that every penny of
profit made by us goes back into the community.
Advertising with us means you are putting something back
also.
We are able to show you different ways of identifying
your target market and reaching them. Marketing is not
just for “The big boys”; marketing works and looking at
your company through someone else’s eyes is a great way
of seeing how you can present yourself in different ways
to reach a wider audience.
Question :
What do I get for my
money?
Answer :
As
well as all the benefits above, and depending on the
type of advertising you choose you are
assured of good customer service all, the way through
your advertising period. We understand that the common
ingredient between every successful business in the
world is customers, and customers, yours and ours, are
our business. We will show you how to interact and look
after existing customer, how to market yourself so you
can get new customers, and most importantly how to keep
your customers when you have them.
Question :
What is a CIC. ?
Answer :
A Community
Interest Company is a Ltd company which exists to put
something back into the community. Whereas with a
charity you may be limited to raising funds for one
particular cause, with a CIC you can cover a wide
variety of issues within your local community.
Question :
What
community projects do you invest in
?
Answer :
We have
our own charity called
Right Track Click on the link to find out
more. We are committed to business regeneration in local
communities and we believe one of the best ways to do
this is to show young people what is involved in running
a business. The best way to do this is to show them,
first hand, what is involved in running any particular
business and we will be taking businesses that advertise
with us into schools and colleges to show the students
how its done.
Question :
How much does it cost to
be with you?
Answer :
See our
Advertise a Business section.
Question :
You say you do marketing. What does that
mean?
Answer :
Firstly see our
marketing section. Marketing is about
getting your business in the best condition possible to
reach as many customers as possible and there are many
many ways to do this. From simple advert in the
Newspapers or on the web, to highly complex marketing
strategies involving all sorts of promotions and
exhibitions. We look closely at your company, discuss
with you the direction you want to go in, and look at
your business plan to see how you intend to get there.
If you do not have a business plan we help you define
one. Having decided the best plan of action we help you
implement it through a vehicle appropriate for your
business. For some this may be a mail shot, for others
and advert on one of the many websites we are associated
with. Whichever vehicle we choose you can be sure it
will take you where you want to be.
Question :
How far does my
advertising reach?
Answer :
That’s up to
you! We have websites from Street in Somerset, all the
way up to Bath and Bristol. When you advertise on one
you get to choose how many others you want to be on.
This is a free option. If you are involved with a
franchise please check the advertising boundaries in
your contract.
Question :
What about my
competitors?
Answer :
As with every
advertising agency or medium, there will be many of the
same types of businesses advertising similar services
but at Your Town On Line we believe this is an ideal
opportunity to give a greater service to the public from
which we can all benefit. By introducing competitors to
each other and encouraging discussion at business
breakfasts and evening seminars it is always possible to
find differences in the services offered. Two companies
may think they offer the same service, but there is
always a difference of some kind. We show you how to use
this difference to the customer’s advantage which will
translate into more business for you.
Question :
What is your circulation?
Answer :
Our website is
viewed by approximately 12,000 people every month, and
every one of them have clicked in to search for a
service. With other advertising, finding your service
may be an accidental part of reading the paper or
listening to the radio, with our service they are there
because they are looking for you.
Question :
What makes you different?
Answer :
We are different
because we put our customers first. It is obvious from
the prices we charge that we are not in the middle of
some get rich quick scheme and it will take time to
achieve our goal of networking all businesses across two
counties. It’s therefore vital that you stay with us
year after year and for you to do that your advertising
has to work. We spend as much time working with our
existing customers as we do trying to attract new
ones……That makes us different !
Question :
Who runs your websites?
Answer :
Our pilot
website,
www.fromeonline.co.uk is run by the
owners of the operation,
www.yourtownonline.co.uk.
Other websites such as
www.yourmelkshamonline.co.uk are run
by, or will be run by franchisees. Franchises are
available for every town in the country and if you fancy
running
www.yourbristolonline.co.uk or
www.yourleedsonline.co.uk
give us a call on 0845 6344195
or mail Mike on
desk@fromeonline.co.uk
Question :
What is a franchise ?
Answer :
(DEF:)
A business arrangement in which knowledge, expertise, a
product and often a trade mark or trade name are
licensed to an operator, generally for an initial fee
and a yearly payment.
The product is a web
directory, just like Frome On Line, for any town in the
U.K. We own that product and literally sell you the
rights to use it, for as long as you like, within the
geographical boundaries we set for that town. You sell
the advertising for that town and pay us a small fee to
publish those adverts on the Internet. The rest is
yours. The cost of the Franchise is £5,500. Payment of
this can, after an initial deposit, be arranged through
standing order monthly. You can run the franchise for as
long as you like (in 12 month blocks) and then we show
you how to sell it on afterwards. Everything is dealt
with in a solid contract and as with our advertisers,
the support is ongoing. Find out more about buying and
operating a franchise at this link.
http://www.startinbusiness.co.uk/franchise.htm
Question :
Where are you taking
this?
