What am I doing wrong?

[KaraokeDJ]

Hello everyone.
Well, I am at a total loss as to what I should do to rescue my business from the brink of closing.
I thought the business was slow because of the credit crunch but speaking to other DJs, this is not the case. I just spoke to a local DJ and he has almost every weekend of 2009 booked already, I, on the other hand, have only 4 bookings so far for next year.

Early this year I was sold into the idea of getting an 0800 number, it did nothing. I then got the idea of a new name, an easy to remember name and new web site. I did that but that made no positive difference at all. Someone suggested adding interactive stuff to my website, and it too had no effect whatsoever.

I'm staring at an almost empty diary.

I have ran out of ideas.

[Dragonfly]

Sorry to hear this Martin i'll chuck what I can your way mate. it takes a fair while to build things up how long have you been trading? it took me two years to buld things up when i relocated to Derby.

[theoloyla]

Keep your nerve and keep your chin up. Being positive helps rather than talking your business down. You may need to do a little more promotion and publicity and tweak your pricing (something like "book now at todays prices" or "inflation busting prices held for 2009" etc|)

[CRAZY K]

[QUOTE=KaraokeDJ;281580]Hello everyone.
Well, I am at a total loss as to what I should do to rescue my business from the brink of closing.
I thought the business was slow because of the credit crunch but speaking to other DJs, this is not the case. I just spoke to a local DJ and he has almost every weekend of 2009 booked already, I, on the other hand, have only 4 bookings so far for next year.

Early this year I was sold into the idea of getting an 0800 number, it did nothing. I then got the idea of a new name, an easy to remember name and new web site. I did that but that made no positive difference at all. Someone suggested adding interactive stuff to my website, and it too had no effect whatsoever.

I'm staring at an almost empty diary.





We have been experiencing a slow down in work but in a different type of business and charging top prices so nothing unexpected there then!

Looking at your site it all looks ideal to pick up business so unless your being undercut by Cowboys its hard to fault your business proposition.

My only two suggestions are--

You seem to have a lot of venues named on the site as recos (recommendations)

1. Could you contact them personally and try to get some mileage out of the actual Hotel recommending you as they are so impressed ?

I see you have been to Whaplode Manor and had a good night--well done--I was there 2yrs ago on my worst ever Wedding caused by some **** with a guitar who spent an hour boring everyone which sent virtually all the guests home early before I could get going:eek:

2. You offer Karaoke--I am thinking of offering a Themed Western Kowboy Karaoke next year using all the usual suspects--Dolly etc --worth a try maybe? All roll up in Cowboy Hats etc.

Other than that your site looks good--maybe you need to get more hits on it---not my department speak to Marc J

Oh and Lincolnshire is the Barn Dance Callers graveyard --ive never worked there:D

CRAZY K

[Vectis]

Great site Martin - one of the best I've seen in terms of design.

BUT I can't help feeling when reading the copy that you are coming across a little paranoid? So many references to professionalism, so much fear-mongering.

I'd urge you to re-read your copy throughout the site with a more positive can-do attitude. Talk about the things you can do, rather than the things your competitors can't. In fact, don't talk about competitors at all if you can help it.

Just sell yourself and your experience. Be upbeat & positive.

[KaraokeDJ]

Thank you all very much indeed for the swarm of positive, encouraging comments...


Sorry to hear this Martin i'll chuck what I can your way mate. it takes a fair while to build things up how long have you been trading? it took me two years to buld things up when i relocated to Derby.

Dave, I went into private discos a couple of years ago when I decided I'd had enough of the same crowds every weekend in the same pubs... So 'officially' I've been a 'mobile dj' for a couple of years.


Keep your nerve and keep your chin up. Being positive helps rather than talking your business down. You may need to do a little more promotion and publicity and tweak your pricing (something like "book now at todays prices" or "inflation busting prices held for 2009" etc|)

Theo, always the man of experience. Thanks for those tips. I may just do that and offer 2009 bookings at current prices. But first I need the phone to ring.


Looking at your site it all looks ideal to pick up business so unless your being undercut by Cowboys its hard to fault your business proposition.

My only two suggestions are--

You seem to have a lot of venues named on the site as recos (recommendations)

1. Could you contact them personally and try to get some mileage out of the actual Hotel recommending you as they are so impressed ?

I see you have been to Whaplode Manor and had a good night--well done--I was there 2yrs ago on my worst ever Wedding caused by some **** with a guitar who spent an hour boring everyone which sent virtually all the guests home early before I could get going:eek:

Crazy K, I'm not getting the phone calls right now so I aren't even getting 'how much' and so I cannot say whether I'm being undercut or not. I did put some 'guide' prices on the site a while ago but that made no difference.

Getting hits is essential right now. I wish I'd dealt with it while things were busy as right now it's GOT TO BE DIY as I simply cannot spend anymore.


Great site Martin - one of the best I've seen in terms of design.

BUT I can't help feeling when reading the copy that you are coming across a little paranoid? So many references to professionalism, so much fear-mongering.

I'd urge you to re-read your copy throughout the site with a more positive can-do attitude. Talk about the things you can do, rather than the things your competitors can't. In fact, don't talk about competitors at all if you can help it.

Just sell yourself and your experience. Be upbeat & positive.

Very good comments Vectis (from a guy whose website I always admired). I will read through all the copy and make changes this weekend. I saw your point as soon as I started to read your comment.

Thanks again guys. It looks like I have some work to do but it's much better doing it on the back of your helpfull comments and suggestions.

[501damian501]

am in lincolnshire and its not all that dry, expand and cover other areas, take some work off other dj/kj's.

[Vectis]

Very good comments Vectis (from a guy whose website I always admired). I will read through all the copy and make changes this weekend. I saw your point as soon as I started to read your comment.

Cool ... 'cos it was really obvious to me ;)

A couple of minor points then if you're in the mood to edit.

Paypal - absorb the couple of quid commission charge (it's tax deductible anyway so that takes a little pain away). If it's a big deal, put your prices up by a fiver. Advertise it as free to use and more people will do it, improving your short-term cashflow.

Music - if you can't get round the cookies requirement, ditch it or put up a printed PDF list with a disclaimer about being out-of-date almost immediately etc.. I used to have a feature like this and after doing some careful webstats combing decided it was of little or no interest to browsers.

Instant Quote - see if you can think of a way whereby you can give people a ballpark quote without taking all their personal details. If you stick with the tool you're using, be aware that on my system (Safari on Mac OSX) if I use the pull-down day/month/year thingy at the bottom of the page my information is lost when the page is transferred to the quote tool and I have to put it all in again - annoying :bang:

Probably a totally personal niggle - the Gallery is very sweet - a really nice implementation - BUT for the red borders. They make it look unnecessarily tacky and amateurish IMHO. Dunno why!! Wonder if anyone else agrees?

Finally, I took a peek at the source code and think that your tagging needs some work. You presently have the same very limited set of tags for each page as far as I can see. As a minimum, ensure the TITLE, DESCRIPTIONs and KEYWORDs are representative of the page content.

If you need any help, I'm not an expert but I've had a certain amount of experience in these matters ;)

[nigelwright7557]

Hello everyone.
Well, I am at a total loss as to what I should do to rescue my business from the brink of closing.

I'm staring at an almost empty diary.

I have ran out of ideas.

I run the Rocking DJ Disco and the "R" in Rocking comes a long way down the alphabet and so a lon gway down the Yellow pages listings.
This means people get to you as a last resort.

I had this problem last year so this year I have changed my name to "A Rocking DJ Disco" so I come at the start of the listing or near as makes no difference.

I have seen some discos call themselves the "AAA disco" just to get to the top of the list.


Hope this helps....

[Wayno]

I like your website and it looks very professional, therefore in some peoples mind expensive!

A couple of years back I used to have a 'homemade" website and had upwards of ten enquiries a day mainly for events at WMCs and pubs, generally the lesser paid gigs.

I then paid out and had a pro website done, although the photo and text content remained the same the type of enquiry changed and the kind of fee i could acheive went up.

What I'm trying to quantify is the fact that 90-95% of discos currently seem to have "homebuilt sites" so when a client lands on a well designed/presented site their first thought will be "that looks expensive, they must be expensive" - which may not always be the case but they are already put off - if you follow.

Also you say you have gone quiet - is that just in general or do you have fewer gigs for 2009 but at a better fee?

I've had fewer gigs this year but at a better fee, same for 2009 so although the enquiries don't come in as often when they do they are at a reasonable fee when they do.

Also don't kick yourself - It's not always about what your doing or if your doing it right or wrong ;)

P.P.S

I think that this is one of the rare instances where a "prices from £xamount" might work, perhaps under the paypal sign.

Also can't see your online tools anywhere, try DJI which will allow the client to get an instant online ballpark figure quote, as much as 80% of my leads come from the web and people who have little time to make a call or are surfing in work time can grab a quote on the go whilst leaving their details for you to call a couple of hours later to follow it up.

[Corabar Steve]

Wayno, please learn how to use the edit button, it will save moderators having to merge your posts.


Ta :sj:

[Wayno]

Wayno, please learn how to use the edit button, it will save moderators having to merge your posts.


Ta :sj:

Well if you have nothing better to do with your time :p


Sorry I'm used to having a two minute lockout on the edits....

....does this mean I'm back down to 16 posts??:(

... no a measley 15

[Corabar Steve]

Lightweight! :sj: