Web Site Makes Company Money

Dallas -- Republic Sales and Manufacturing, a successful Dallas metal fabricator and industrial equipment distributor, reports a five-day payback period on their new corporate web site. The company's latest success story was generated with the help of Latent Technology Group, Inc., a Dallas based web site developer and Internet marketing company.

Republic, a company that manufactures, services and sells less than glamorous items like metal products, filters and blowers, began formal discussions with Latent on March 11. Twelve days later, the site was completed and online.

"By March 27, the entire cost of the web site was recovered and became a revenue generator for us", Sally Golf, Marketing Director, reported.

Angela Phillips, president of Latent, said "This disproves the idea that only swank, high tech, sexy products catch the gold ring on the Internet."

Republic started in sheet metals in 1962, then diversified and expanded into industrial equipment distribution in the early 1990's. Specializing in fast turn around and 24-hour repair services for products like pumps and filters, Republic decided it made sense to have a web site open 24-hour a day as well according to Goff.

She adds, "Once we were a regional company. Now we are receiving calls from Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore and other parts of the world."

"Just having a web site on the Internet is not the magic button to success," cautions Phillips. " 'If you build it, they will come' may hold true for baseball fields but doesn't hold much water with respect to the Internet. Web Sites have to be designed to address two very important issues: search engines and target audience."

In the case of Republic Sales, Latent developed their web site with search engines in mind. As a result, of the more than 50 key words and phrases tracked by Latent to find Republic, 36 come up within the first 3 pages of the top 10 search engines. This success translates into web site traffic for Republic Sales.

Republic doesn't get 1000 hits a day though, not even 50. Today, Republic is averaging about 20 hits a day. The important point is that these 20 hits are from their target audience. "This means that we are getting the type web site traffic we want," says Goff. "

Republic Sales spent approximately $2,500 to develop their web site. It costs them about $100 a month to maintain it. Considering that they paid for the site in five days suggests they made a good investment decision when they decided to jump on the Internet bandwagon.