How Much Is A Good Webmaster Worth?

How Much Is Your Webmaster Worth?

This is a question that is obviously loaded for me as I am in the business of making money from being dive shops webmaster, but there are all too many dive shops out there who aren’t taking advantage of the opportunities that are out there online.

Quite often when I get an enquiry regarding my services and I give a quote for what it would cost for my services I never get an email back and if I do it usually is telling me that they don’t spend any money on their website currently and can’t justify spending an extra $300+ dollars per month on a new expense.

This is a mindset that has to change for dive shops to be successful. I quite often ask these dive shops how many divemasters, instructors, etc that they employ and how much new business these people bring in each month. While the wages for scuba pros varies greatly around the world, the vast majority conclude that their divemasters and instructors aren’t usually bringing in too many divers to the dive shop, they just provide a service for the ones that are there.

Another thing to consider in the scuba industry is that many of your costs are fixed costs that don’t vary that much based upon how many divers you have on a given day. Sure, things such as drinks and snacks, tank refills (if you don’t have your own compressor), wear and tear on equipment, etc. can add small amounts to your costs. Major expenses such as staff, the boat, the gas, the rent on the dive shop, etc are all coming out whether you send your boat out with 2 passengers or 10. This means that each additional diver that you acquire through your website or other means, that you didn’t have already will go directly to improving the cash flow and profitability of your dive shop.

This is where we come in. We are a talented group of scuba and online professionals that will bring you new customers. We are going to get your dive shop in front of thousands of potential divers for a very reasonable monthly fee. Obviously our time is valuable and the skills and experience we have in making, ranking, and creating bookings for your dive shop are valuable as well. We appreciate that their our people in your shop who may be good at design, at writing, or photography, and we will work with you to utilize them in the best way possible for your business.

If we are able to bring in an additional 20 divers per month that spend $100 each then we are adding $2000 to your cash flow. If we bring in 50 that number turns into $5000. Now if I asked you if you would spend $300 to make $2000 I hope everyone would say yes. The fact is, in most locations the average diver spends a lot more than $100 during their vacation and the best part of it is, the divers your website brings in are commission free, meaning you aren’t losing 20% off the top to booking and reservation sites.

I was recently asked by a dive shop owner how in the world is that dive shop on the front page of google for the search he was trying to rank for. He was a long established dive center that had top of the line gear, boats, and staff. This other shop didn’t even have a shop and was essentially just a single instructor who chartered boats when he was able to get groups. The difference being that the single instructor realized he could get enough bookings through the web that he wasn’t going to worry about having the expenses of a shop or do any other forms of advertising. The web was his be all and end all and it was working.

Gone are the days when you can get by with having a website that is updated once per year or get by with simply throwing up some photos on a facebook page. You need to get your shop in front of the masses and you need to use a strategic approach to do that.

So instead of asking yourself “Can I afford to spend $300-$500 on my website per month?” The question you should be asking is “can I afford not to.”

Fill in the form below and we will give you a free consultation on how we could help your dive business!