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Girl Geek Speaks Newsletter

Welcome to the November 2005 Issue of our newsletter for the technically challenged and web site wannabe's. We feature articles to help guide you through the process of designing, building, and promoting your business web site. If you know someone who may benefit from this newsletter, please forward it to them in its entirety, or have them subscribe below.

In This Issue
Featured Article: Comparison: Website Vs. Direct Advertising Costs

Comparison: Website Vs. Direct Advertising Costs

To small business owners, professionals, artists and entrepreneurs
- How many of you are under the impression that having a website simply to promote your business is either too expensive or it won't pay for itself?

Compared to direct advertising in the Yellow Pages, newspapers and direct mail campaigns, websites are less expensive, more flexible and allow you to interact immediately with site visitors.

For comparison purposes, let’s look at typical costs associated with advertising.

YELLOW PAGES
Advantages: Buyers are motivated when they look for your ad.
Disadvantages: Ad copy cannot be changed. Limited space. Limited circulation.

Ad size.........................Yearly cost
1 line ad.......................$832.00
1” box ad......................$1320.00
½ page ad....................$16,152.00

NEWSPAPER DISPLAY ADVERTISING
Advantages: Gets your business in front of local consumers. Ad content can be changed easily.
Disadvantages: Limited space and circulation. Paper gets thrown away.

To run a 2” x 2 column display ad in my local newspaper every single day for a year, it would cost approximately $23,000! In a large metropolitan newspaper it would cost upwards of $438,000, though I’m sure they’d cut you a deal!!!!

DIRECT MAIL - (500 pieces/ month, or 6000 piece/year)
Advantages: mailing can be targeted to niche
Disadvantages: 1-3% rate of return, cost of changing copy is high. Unless solicited, direct mail is tossed out.

Printed letterhead......$750.00
Envelops.................$65.00
Postage................$2220.00
Total..................$3035.00
(not including labor)

Add 6000 each of the following
Business cards.........$120-$500
Full Color brochure.....$15,000
B & W brochure.........$720.00

POSTCARDS
(6000/year)
Postage.................$1380.00
Inkjet Postcards........$1389.00
Total...................$2769.00
(not including labor)

WEBSITES
Advantages: online 24/7/365, viewable by anyone in the world who has a computer, can track # of site visitors
Disadvantages: If your site is poorly designed or out-of-date, it may turn off potential buyers.

3 page static website $799.00*
5 page static website $1099.00*
8 page static website $1399.00*
Girl Geek Web Designs current package pricing. This is the one-time design fee. Your only recurring costs are your domain name and hosting, which for most of my sites is under $50 per year, and any budget you set if you choose to use a Pay Per Click Advertising program like Google AdWords.

As you can see, a website is often less expensive than direct advertising. Plus, it doesn't get thrown away. It's always available and it can reach a much wider market.

Low cost is not the ONLY benefit of websites for small businesses owners. In our next newsletters we will describe additional benefits, including how to use your website for customer service, pre-qualifying leads, generating indirect income, building credibility and demonstrating expertise. STAY TUNED!

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS:

The above material is copyrighted, but you may retransmit or distribute it as long as not a single word is changed, added, or deleted, including the contact information. However, you may not copy it to a web site. Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.

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