Vineyards 2.0: Naples community uses Internet Marketing

Clicking for customers

Internet marketing business proves itself a powerful business tool

BY EVAN WILLIAMS ewilliams@floridaweekly.com

It's the Internet, more than traditional forms of marketing like television, print or newsletters, that helped many Collier County businesses grow this year — especially local ones.

"On a local level, there is a lot of opportunity to market your products or services even though the Internet has always had a larger, more global feel," said Zach Katkin, CEO of Atilus, a Collier and Lee county Web development and Internet marketing firm.

“The Web is getting local, and so is Internet market-ing, Mr. Katkin said adding he attended a seminar recently that quoted online searches as being 95 percent for local services and busi-ness.“Online marketing is the most measurable form of marketing that is providing tremendous return, much more than conventional advertis-ing,” Mr. Katkin said.

For some hotel clients, Mr. Sprecher designed sites where customers can post photos of their vacation time at the property. Then, he said, they might tell their friends about where to see the photos. "That's free advertising."

Naples Vineyards, a luxury country club community, has revamped its Web site to help usher in potential homebuyers. Because traffic is easy to track, they can see it's working.

Vineyards began several "search advertising" campaigns earlier this year: They pay for keywords that Web surfers might type into a Google or Yahoo searchbox that cause the Vineyards site to come up near the top of the list. Last month, their Web site traffic was up 45 percent higher due to the initiative.

"We really kicked off an expanded program about four months ago," said Jim Schuetz, vice president of marketing and sales for Vineyards Development Corporation. "We've actually seen an increase in visitors coming through the door."

The Web site has also attracted more visitors from other states and overseas, allowing the community to reach more potential customer. Although it's hard to measure exactly how many home sales are created from Web traffic, Mr. Schuetz estimated four homes were sold due to the search advertising campaign and a more attractive, redesigned Web site.

Web-design firm CEO Mr. Katkin said that while a Web site is not the "end all of Internet marketing," its ability to provide information on a wide range of services is unmatched. "A majority feel (having a Web site) is necessary, like a business card is a necessary, as a tool to establish your business' stature and legitimacy," he said. "Many don't realize how powerful a tool a Web site can be."