Gewehr98, you just checked it out for the first time? I guess I must not be spamming the forums enough.
(For those of you who have read enough of my whines about my site, just move on to the next topic. There's nothing new here.)
Actually, I try to be non-intrusive, and not abuse Oleg Volk and Rich Lucibella's hospitality.
When I started cold-calling shops back in late 2004, I got a lot of second-rate shops whose owners were suspicious of "free" offers. Can't say that I blame them, as I've been burned as well. Still, there were a lot of them that went for the free offer, then renewed; others took their free time, didn't give the idea any more thought, and hung up on me.
As traffic increased rapidly into 2005, I got a phone call from Denny Fallon at Shooting Industry News magazine. He'd seen my site, was intrigued by the idea, and wanted to do a story on it.
That led to stores contacting me, wanting to be on the site.
The article also led to one of the sales reps for Accusports contacting me, and asking for details about the site. He thought it would be a great idea for Accusports retailers to give the free trial a run. And he sent my email reply to other Accusports reps.
I'm very, very good at getting websites ranked on the first page of the major search engines. If you do a search for "Remington shotguns" or "Sigarms pistols" or "New York gun shops" or "Texas gun shops," or just about any other term, I'm first-page for just about every term I decided was important.
I also read every post on THR and other forums about good and bad gun shops. If somebody is talking up a shop, I'll contact the owner. Sometimes it takes months before he and I can connect, I get the relevant information about his store(s), and he does the free six-month trial.
Somewhere between two-thirds and three quarters of the shops I have on the free trials pay the $60 for six months or $100 per year to renew. Those store owners either see $10 a month (or less) as the least expensive advertising they can buy, see it as additional exposure on the internet at a price they can't get anywhere else, have received new customers either by phone, email or in person, or just realize that they're getting exposure to people who wouldn't otherwise know their stores existed.
The site works. It really does. Not for every shop, but for most.
I've been lazy in putting together a Testimonials page, but finally have started. It's at <a href="
http://www.gunshopfinder.com/testimonials.html" target="_blank">
http://www.gunshopfinder.com/testimonials.html[/url]. There's a lot more shop owners whose comments I need to put on that page.
(For those who have heard all this from me before, just stop here and go on to the next thread).
Gewehr98, here's what I really offer, and what 99% of the shop owners don't realize they're getting.
I've spent over five years learning and pefecting search engine optimization skills. My site doesn't rank first-page by accident.
I do freelance search engine optimization (SEO) work for a company in Michigan. That company charges $2000 a month or more per client for my services.
How many gun store owners would pay that much? Yet, they're getting the equivalent of that for $10 a month or less.
(OK, another end of rant. Continue at your own risk).
What I don't understand is why the owner of is pursuing the avenue he is. I have an almost three-year head start on his site, lots of publicity, a fairly loyal customer base, and, frankly, a site that delivers more information. What's more, the owner of that site has created a Frankenstein that doesn't work.
He's trying to go up against GunsAmerica.com, Gunbroker.com, AuctionArms.com, my site, and a whole host of others.
OK, time to stop ranting. If anyone has the time to check out this new site, I'd appreciate your feedback.
