# Marketing a Woodworking Business - Very Interesting Data!



## pmayer (Jan 3, 2010)

I run a web site for my father's woodworking business (www.vernswoodgoods.com), and I'm kind of a numbers geek so I look at the web traffic stats from time to time using Google Analytics. I don't advertise the site, just an occasional update on the FB page, etc., which I haven't done in a while. The UK normally represents about 7-8% of the site's web traffic. Last week I wore my Vern's Wood Goods t-shirt (has a large logo on the front) on two days in London (yes, I washed it between), where my son and I walked about 8-10 miles in the city each day. I circled the days on the Google analytics page during which I wore the shirt. Last week the UK represented 71% of the site's traffic. So, in a typical week I'd get 5 hits from the UK, and last week it was up to 55, that means that approximately 50 people saw the shirt and googled 'Vern's Wood Goods' and took a look at the site. Yes, it is a small data set with only 77 sessions, but still the data is amazing to me. I've seen regional blips like this several times when I've worn the shirt while traveling in the past, but I have written it off as coincidence. This is pretty clear correlation, however.


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## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

I've just been through a session with my web manager on social media. Quite an eye opener.

Nowadays, Facebook, Google & Yelp are essential parts of many businesses public face & advertising.

Word of mouth is the way most businesses grow, its just travels in different ways now.


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## benchbuilder (Sep 10, 2011)

Thats cool, also nice your helping your father. Do you get to spend much time in the shop with him?


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## DanielP (Mar 21, 2013)

That is amazing information. Something like that could be especially helpful for products where long distance shipping is a major cost (local advertising). Like a sign spinner somewhat. Or….a company with non-physical products could hire an advertising T-shirt wearer half way across the world to walk back and forth in front of a potential client. Or..I guess one could hire themselves out.


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## pmayer (Jan 3, 2010)

thanks guys. BB, Yes, I do get to spend a fair amount of time in the shop with him. I set up this business for him about 6-7 years ago, and we spent a lot more time together in the shop early on when I was teaching him how to do woodworking. I set up a shop at his place which he uses in the summer, but his shop isn't heated so in the winter he comes down to my place, and when he's there, I help him out once in a while. It's pretty special time.


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## beahan (Jan 21, 2016)

Thanks for sharing this data! Now I am wanting to make myself some shirts to wear around and give to family members. I don't get much traffic from organic searches, most of mine comes from either this site, YouTube, or Reddit.


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## BHolcombe (Sep 19, 2012)

Interesting stuff, I've been working with Google's webmaster console for my blog. It's interesting how much input you can have an the effect.

Obviously having an interesting website is key, but it's especially important for a business owner to input all of the info so that your business info is complete on google search.


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## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

Be interesting to see after posting here - what the traffic spike is from those clicking on your dad's site.


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## pmayer (Jan 3, 2010)

The traffic has normalized since the two spikes. I wouldn't have expected a sustained increase in traffic, and the blips were far more than I expected from wearing a t-shirt around town.

In terms of sales, there have not been any sales in London, and in reality the costs of shipping make it difficult for us to compete outside of the US and Canada. We have shipped to Europe a few times over the years, and it has surprised me because the cost of shipping usually matches the product cost.

In general I haven't invested enough in the site to make it conducive to on-line selling. It is just a free site (I pay $10/year for the URL and that's it), and doesn't even have e-commerce capabilities. We sell everything at a couple shows and an annual email to previous customers, and the web site is mostly just for fun, with an occasional sale here and there directly from web traffic.


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