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How did the project start?
The reason this website came to light was; in the back-end of the year 2007, my sister was attempting to become a driving instructor. I then tried to see how to market her as a driving instructor and in this attempt I found out many alarming things about the industry! This gave me the idea to have a website that fully informs potential learner drivers of all they need to know about learning to drive and attempts to give unbiased information on driving instructors.
A point that I was alarmed about was the difference between an ADI and a PDI and the fact you pay the same for both, so this was a point that I had to make people aware of, especially seeing the average cost to pass your driving test is £1500. With the current climate and everyone still learning to drive - as it is classed as a life skill - it is important they get good teaching with as little cost as possible
So as a supplier of the information, I could see there was a need for this type of website and at the time, no website existed like this, while comparison websites are very popular and the 17 – 24 yr old age group are very conversant in using computers.
This is a valuable tool for a potential learner or new driver as the information is presented in an informal and fun way.
What options did you consider?
The options I considered for the website were firstly how to make the information valuable and how to relay this to the user! We then did a survey of over 1000 potential and existing drivers, giving them options on how to deliver feedback on instructor information. A full text box on the instructor meant that at a glance the user would not see the information required, meaning this would not be possible as there would be no consistency, but to have just ratings would mean no in-depth information could be achieved.
A survey was also conducted on which 5 issues were considered by people when looking for a driving instructor; these were then put together with a text box so we could achieve an at a glance page, but with more detail provided for the user.
This website has to have feedback on from individuals as this is the only way that the website would stay impartial! We have replicated the eBay system regarding negative feedback where derogatory comments are not allowed to be seen, just ratings given.
This is achieved by the person giving feedback being contacted if needed, to verify they are who they say they are - this stops fraudulent comments to driving instructors possibly from their competitors.
What help and expertise did you receive?
To be honest, the funding came from me and my family and all ideas and page layouts design and logos were made by myself! It has been a great learning curve for me as everything was new; I will not list everything that I have learnt as it is literally everything to do with websites. The only help I received was from MBL who did the initial build for me and I do pretty much everything myself now. I have acquired the services of Angelfysh for my SEO, which hopefully will mean that the site will now go from strength to strength, and this was part-funded by Business Link.
Did you face and challenges or learn any lessons?
As for facing challenges I have had many, the biggest at the moment is trying to get James Fitzpatrick, Minister for Transport to accept that the DSA cannot test the instructors as well as monitor and make sure that driving instructors can over the years stay on the original grade that was given since passing the instructors test, as they may become worse. A recent letter from the Minister for Transport stated that they have stringent checks on the driving instructors and this is done on a regular basis!! I have currently found one driving instructor that has not been re-assessed for 15 years!
I have the backing of Gordon Brown who I met when I was invited to a garden party he was holding at 10 Downing Street - he is assisting in a small way but has asked my local MP to really help and keep the PM informed.
Other challenges I found were personally understanding the digital world as I have only ever run traditional establishments like restaurants and recruitment agencies, where the web presence was dealt with by head office! So, a massive learning curve has been undertaken and this is ongoing.
Finding people to work with has also been a major learning curve. Originally I used MBL to build the initial website, and then moved it to another supplier with massive implications to the business, as this supplier then over-promised and under-delivered, meaning I went back to MBL again as I realised the grass isn’t always greener.
What are the outcomes and how has it improved your business?
The outcome of this last year and 3 months is that I now can hold a conversation about my website and the technicalities about the web in general, I now understand how SEO works and many other forms of online marketing and increasing visits, which is all now being implemented plus the use of social networking. To be honest this has obviously increased business activity to the point that we are liaising with BSM and the AA to sign up to the driving instructor listings.
Our visits have increased steadily with our highest levels in September, where we were averaging 4000 visits - these were not individual IP addresses as we heavily marketed schools and colleges, but this occured with no SEO taking place at all.
Another boost to our visits was when we ran a campaign in the Journal to win a car; this gave us £45000 worth of publicity and I have secured a deal with Trinity Mirror to run a competition in each region, within which the entrants must rate their driving instructor. We have over 600 genuine ratings currently being posted on the website to again give credibility. This will not give an instant increase in sales but it will make driving instructors more open to the idea and we did get around 40 instructors signing up in the week and a half that the competition ran.
With the use of the SEO we are expecting to have around 800-1000 visits per month and stats show that over 30,000 searches per month are performed by people looking for driving instructors.
What are your plans for the future?
The plans for the future are massive - we now are dealing with the Government as I want this site to become the OFSTED of driving schools and let everyone see results; this will raise industry standards and implement more stringent controls as to date there are still serious offences happening in the driving instructor industry.
I have also had meetings with the EU Grants commission, who are monitoring the progress of this site nationally and if they see the correct results will assist me in rolling this model out across Europe. This will benefit every country as they have already looked to see if this is being done anywhere in Europe and currently, it is not.
Once the driving (cars) is established we will look at other training sectors such as LGV, flying, motorbikes and boats.
