"In retrospect, AdWords is the most effective way to advertise my site, with regards to both achieving my company’s goals and controlling marketing costs. For example, a magazine ad for us would cost around $5,000 and can bring in a couple of new clients. With AdWords, for that same price, we can bring in over 500 new clients!" – Joseph Renzi, CEO and managing director of OurWishingWell.com The Perfect Couple
Online gift registry service, OurWishingWell.com, used Google AdWords to increase awareness of their site and has increased online traffic by over 300% while bringing their cost-per-conversion down significantly. Filling a VoidJoseph Renzi, CEO and managing director of OurWishingWell.com, started a company that developed different business ideas and created websites based off of those ideas. In 2005, Joseph moved his business from his home and into a vacant commercial space in Sydney. In the area surrounding his new office space were many different bridal companies and bridal shops offering wedding planning and design services. Joseph had been constantly told by his new neighbors that there was a large demand for customers looking to plan out their gift registries and create gift wish lists online. Joseph came up with the idea of creating a business and developing a website where hosts could log on and create an account and where their guests could go online and view the wish lists of those hosts, including large and small gifts from any store or even money to save up for a home or a honeymoon. Joseph’s entrepreneurial background combined with a need for this special type of service was a match made in heaven, and the foundation for success was formed. For Better, For WorseOnce OurWishingWell.com’s website was developed, Joseph wanted to create awareness of this new site that he believed so strongly in. He knew he had created something special and wanted people to share it as well. In an attempt to create awareness for OurWishingWell.com, Joseph tried a number of marketing strategies, including direct mail, newspaper and magazine ads and flyer hand-outs. He also made appearances at expos, fairs, and trade shows to establish a name for his company among his peers. However, he found that these marketing tactics were too costly, especially with the limited budget he had to work with early in the company’s development. He also realized that success and the results he was interested in seeing (how many people actually sign up for the registry service) would be extremely difficult to track with these forms of advertising. You Complete MeIn 2005, Joseph saw a presentation about Google AdWords at a business conference and immediately saw a great opportunity for his business to utilize this advertising platform in order to achieve his goals. "After the conference, we quite seriously got straight back to the office and created an account to play with. Within minutes, we were using Google Adwords to bring significant traffic to our website. We honestly could not believe how quick and easy it was to get started," says Joseph. To start, Joseph created a few campaigns with a limited budget and a small list of keywords to trigger his ads to show online. The results for OurWishingWell.com were significant and instantaneous. "We could not believe that overnight, we had suddenly increased traffic to our website by several hundred percent. And with the keywords we were using, we knew that this was highly relevant traffic by people who were very interested in what we had to offer." Google AdWords also provides Joseph with the tools to try new online marketing messages and strategies to see what works best for increasing OurWishingWell.com sign-ups. Something else that is important to us is that we have complete control over our AdWords budget. We can test new marketing campaigns with very small budgets and increase accordingly. This provides an enormous amount of flexibility that we simply cannot find in any other marketing tool." Joseph states that Google AdWords is now a critical success factor to his business. "We can really monitor and track performance, which is crucial to our business and future. We immediately know exactly what’s working and can make informed decisions and changes at the click of a button. No other advertising medium provides this." Happily Ever After…Because of the tremendous response to Joseph’s business and the growth that OurWishingWell.com has seen in the past few years, Joseph plans to create more businesses and websites based on OurWishingWell.com’s mission to connect hosts and their guests and to make shopping for special events easier and more convenient for everyone. Joseph plans to dabble in other markets soon, including an online "wishing well" for babies and baby showers, birthday parties, and even for individuals and organizations looking to fundraise for various causes. Joseph adds, "To expand a business into different markets can be a very difficult task. It can be a bit intimidating exploring areas in the market where your business can reach. However, AdWords has allowed us to not only grow our business, but the basis behind it is that you can easily and effectively reach those new audiences for your added services or products." What they needed- To drive traffic to their website
- To create awareness of OurWishingWell.com’s niche services
- To increase the number of account sign-ups
What they did- Began with Google AdWords in 2005
- Initially tested multiple campaigns with small keyword lists
- Optimised keyword lists and ads to maximise results
- Increased AdWords budget to increase online conversions
What they accomplished- Addressed needs: Able to establish a presence and increase awareness of their services in an unsaturated market and industry
- Increased online traffic and sign-ups: Increased traffic to their website by at least 300%
- Improved ROI: Brought their cost-per-lead down by 75%
- New business focus: Able to expand their business and gift registry services to different target audiences
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