Note Card: TV Advertising for Geo Web Sites

Following 6 months, how have my TV commercial’s fared?

Six months ago I started advertising my Lakeway web site on cable TV. A few people have asked how it’s working.

The answer is tricky. If the goal were merely to drive traffic to Lakeway.com, I’d say it’s not worth the cost. I could have put the cable advertising money into Google Adwords and gotten much more traffic.

But it’s not just regarding web traffic. It’s regarding credibility, and that’s where the TV advertising has worked. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to someone regarding advertising and they say, “Wait, are you the guys advertising on CNN?” They instantly know that I’m not some fly-by-night operation.

I also featured a few of Lakeway.com’s advertisers in the TV commercials, and they have been very satisfied with the results. One advertiser recently told me, “A lot of my clients have told me they saw the ads.” This was a bonus to some of the early advertisers to get them on board.

Verdict? If you’re trying to build traffic to a general directory site, online advertising is more cost-effective. If you’re trying to build credibility, TV commercials work.