Showcase
IdeasForTheKids.com
Pictured: Manny Coulon of
IdeasForTheKids.com with
Steph Williams of the
National B2B Centre.
Coventry firm makes a bang on the net
When Manny Coulon noticed a gap in
the market, he immediately set about
creating IdeasForTheKids.com.
Launched in May 2007, the website is a
free online source of places to go and
things to do for families and children. The
idea for the site came about after he’d
noticed that there were very few online
resources for events happening in local
areas and no comprehensive directory or
listing service for child-friendly venues
and attractions on a national level.
“Visitors to the site can type in a postcode
or an area they want to go to and this
automatically finds the attractions and
events in that area. Searches can be
filtered by the type of event, cost, or
whether the attraction is indoor or
outdoor.”
When Manny launched IdeasForTheKids,
he understood how important e-business
tools would be to the success of his
website.
“One of the main features we pride
ourselves on is that information such as
opening times of attractions is kept
up-to-date, ensuring that visitors to the
site aren’t misinformed – something that
is generally a huge problem on the
internet. The databases and customer
relationship management (CRM) systems
play a huge part in keeping on top of this
important task.”
Advertising revenue
Despite having limited experience in
e-business and creating websites, Manny
set himself the challenge to create an
easy-to-use online service for families to
find kids days out ideas, events and
attractions across the UK.
Manny said: “I started IdeasForTheKids
with little prior experience in website
design, so I enlisted the help of the
National B2B Centre. They helped me with
the database design, search engine
optimisation as well as suggesting
additional ways to generate revenue.
Manny said: “We launched with over
10,000 child-friendly attractions from all
over the UK – from the largest theme
parks and museums to the smallest
family-run craft and pottery workshops,
with everything else in-between.
“The B2B Centre staff also pointed me in
the direction of a number of great
e-business tools that have really helped
us understand what works and what
doesn’t, helping generate significantly
more traffic to the site.
“All attractions get a free basic listing, but
they also have the option of enhancing
their profile on the site by adding a logo,
pictures and special dated events for an
annual fee. This significantly increases the
number of people viewing their listing.
“Probably one of the most important
things to us is the quality of data we hold
on our databases, which includes the
“Companies pay Google for an advert,
information displayed on the website. The bidding on certain keywords.
databases also help us to manage
relationships with attraction owners, and
the payment and billing processes.
CONTINUED
IdeasForTheKids has two main sources of
revenue, the first from attractions that
enhance their listing and the second from
advertising on the site through Google
AdSense.
Manny said: “When the website first
launched, it was difficult to know how to
maximise revenue from a free service.
“As a start-up with no track record and
unknown growth, Google AdSense, was a
quick and effective method of serving ads
on our website. The process was
surprisingly straightforward and didn’t
require much technical expertise.
IdeasForTheKids.com
A National B2B Centre Showcase
Creating a content-rich
website
The search engine then places the ads,
also known as sponsored links, on
relevant pages of websites such as
IdeasForTheKids.com which subscribe
to AdSense.
generate at least £1m in ticket sales per
month for the attractions – much
needed business in the current climate
and after two poor summers.”
Future
“When users click on the ad, the
advertiser pays whatever they bid for
the keywords, with the revenue split
between Google and the website.
“We now have sponsored links
appearing from companies that offer
products and services relevant to our
website content, and we get paid for
every click on these links.”
Results
At the beginning of 2008, the website
was awarded third place in the category
of Best Kids Website in the BT Online
Excellence Awards and came in behind
CBeebies and Disney.
And then in August 2008, the website
scooped another award but this time as
a regional winner of the prestigious
HSBC Start-up Star Awards, beating off
competition from 1,500 businesses
from across the Midlands.
The website now attracts an average of
15-20,000 visitors a week and had its
busiest day ever on Bonfire Night,
seeing more users in one day than in
the whole of 2007.
Manny said: “The sheer number of hits
we had on November 5 is a clear
indication that this website was needed
and is now filling the gap in the market.
We have grown 20-fold this year and
research suggests that we already
Manny said: “The site has now grown to
the point where we can move from
Google Ads to selling advertising space
on the website direct to companies to
increase revenue.
“We have many plans in hand to help
grow the website further too. We have
started to make the website more
interactive, with sections for user
reviews on each attraction, discussion
boards, and regular competitions.
“We actively promote the site and the
attractions we list through numerous
channels and through an e-newsletter
which users can sign-up to receive.
“We are also looking to optimise the
site so that people can use it on their
mobile phones while on the move – a
rapidly growing sector which we ignore
at our peril.”
•
A website provides a business with
a promotional tool capable of
reaching a national or even a
global audience.
•
Simply having a website isn’t
enough, it should have the right
content to represent your company
and attract new business.
•
It pays to plan your website
content; you can do this by using
the B2B Centre planning tools
which can be found at
www.nb2bc.co.uk/toolboxes/
marketing_online/i_need_a
_website
•
To enable visitors to find your
website it should be optimised
with page descriptions, keywords
and links for search engines to see.
•
To establish credibility with visitors
when they first arrive at your site,
you could provide articles that
highlight your expertise, case
studies and testimonials from
clients.
•
Any good news that you get should
be mentioned on the website; also
think about mentioning it on a
blog.
•
Review your website statistics for
free at Google Analytics
www.google.com/analytics
•
Check out how your website is
ranked by search engines and get
an action plan to improve its search
listing at www.nb2bc.co.uk/seo
Further Information
Do you want to plan or improve the
content on your website? Do you
want to analyse the performance of
your website content?
If you would like advice on developing
a content-rich website please contact
the National B2B Centre using the
details below.
WMG, International Digital Laboratory, The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL
W www.nb2b.co.uk E [email protected] T 024 7657 4384 F 024 7657 4287