Customized URL's: Your Ticket To Profitability

Today we welcome my esteemed colleague and guest blogger, Stu Gordon, to Results With Radio. He writes about an easy way your business can increase your results with customized URL's. Enjoy this 9-year radio veteran's insights.

Getting the most from local/direct spot advertising can be a challenge for any broadcast seller. The attraction of an advertiser to local radio is the prospect of new business generated. Fail in delivering that and you fail. What’s worse—failure can extend to the advertiser’s confidence in the medium overall. (Ever hear, “I tried radio once—it didn’t work!”?)

So, it’s up to the seller to figure out how to make every spot interesting, attractive, and memorable. And…how to make contact with the advertiser as easy as possible for the audience. This last point is what I want to focus on here.

One way I believe we can increase results is via custom web domains. Domain names are incredibly easy to acquire—and for a very small investment in most cases ($10-$20 per year). You can search for available domain names easily on the internet—just query “domain name search” with your favorite search engine.

Now—an example. What’s easier to remember:

“Call Smithfiedl Vinyl Windows today at 770-387-9871. That’s 770-387-9871. Or see SmithfieldVinylWindows dot com.”

“Check out Smithfield Vinyl Windows at MyNextWindows dot com. That’s MyNextWindows dot com.”

The custom domain can be easily linked to the client’s website.

So, when “MyNextWindows.com” is accessed it automatically transfers to the client’s website (or to a custom splash page on the radio station’s website linked in turn to the client’s). For sellers with a hot vinyl windows prospect, this domain name really is available!

The custom domain accomplishes several things at once.

It gives back time so often taken up in the spot by non-memorable phone numbers (it takes 5 seconds to deliver a 10-digit phone number one time).

Use this bonus time for more creativity!

It takes away the likelihood that consumers won’t get to the client’s website because they mis-spelled a component of the URL. (How many people really know how to spell “vinyl?”)

It allows you to track the incoming responses for the client.

That’s about it.

Just make sure the domain name you choose is easy to remember and foolproof to spell. For more information on this concept see http://www.sellingradiowithreallycoolcustomdomainnames.com.

(Just kidding!)