September 21, 2010

by

Robin Heppell

Online Obituary Promotion Case Study

Who sends more traffic to your website for your online obits?
If you were thinking that it is the NEWSPAPER – you may be wrong.

I would like to share my results on how funeral homes can promote their online obituaries and not rely local newspapers to get the funeral information out the community.

I have been banging the same drum for quite some time that the funeral homes need to (and can) take back control of disseminating the funeral service information and obituary and NOT rely on the over-priced newspapers to do it.

At the end of the video, I lay out the 4 easy steps to achieve maximum distribution of the obit so that you are not dependent solely on the newspapers.

Please leave your thoughts or comments about this topic below:
(I would love to hear your success stories or concerns about online obits.)

…Hepp

PS: You are interested in how you can make extra revenue for your online obits while at the same time reducing your client families obit expense, take advantage of my Advanced Online Obituary Strategies, by claiming your own copy of “How to Charge for Online Obits – And have families thank you!”

DVD – 1:07 hr Workshop Recorded Live
CD – Data Disc:
- PDF Handouts
- DOC Notes & Scripts
- PDF Bonus: Website Promotion Guide

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4 responses to “Online Obituary Promotion Case Study”

The Most SEO – Google Friendly Obits Ever! | Funeral Futurist | Robin Heppell

September 22, 2010

[…] updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginIf you saw yesterday’s video CASE STUDY about controlling the release and promotion of obituaries, you may have been surprised about the number of GOOGLE searches for the deceased’s […]
Tom Frisch

March 24, 2011

Dear Robin,
I am curious as to how someone who calls himself a “funeral futurist”, would promote, recommend and even try to profit from advising funeral homes to charge families for online obituaries on the funeral home’s website? Is the death of a loved one: A) A news event/story or B) A classified advertisement?
Aren’t there enough people and companies trying to profit from the reporting of a death? Do you really feel that this is right for families and funeral homes that serve them? Very interested to hear your justification for your position on this subject.
Robin Heppell

March 24, 2011

Dear Tom,

Thanks for your comment. I’m not sure if you watched the complete video of the case study, but in it, I explain that there are a number of ways to promote the funeral service information well beyond the traditional way of over-priced newspaper obituaries. The Charge for Obits program is a strategy that saves the family money and gets maximum exposure for the obituary and the service information – which will allow more people to attend the service and draw more condolences to the funeral home website.

If the funeral home is going to do more than just putting the obit on their website, shouldn’t they be compensated? Especially if they are saving the family money…
Jim Stewart

August 28, 2011

I couldn’t agree more (with Hepp!)

The charges stemming from newspaper based obituaries ARE INSANE! Most families continue to place ‘advertising’ (…that is how the paper industry refers to and charges for it) of the loved ones’ passing in the papers. They often place announcements in both local and national papers and spend many (MANY) hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.

And in return for this generous donation?

1 – 2 days of a truncated life story in B&W, small font, back of a newspaper (sports section?), and maybe a tiny, grainy, single photo.

INSTEAD…Provide the families an enhanced experience; Provide them the ability to capture and share a life story; Provide them value to and for the money they are trusting you with. Offer them a product worth paying for – and charge accordingly – just don’t emulate the greed of the dying newspapers…..

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