Re: Term agreement with NextAlarm (Fishy?)

[thx123@xxxxxxxxx]

Interestingly I accidentally typed 911alarms.com and went to yet
another monitoring company (med-alert canada), whose consumers I
presume are senior folks. I saw the link to your web site (bass) from
911alarm.com, but I have to say that site looks a little too simple.
If I haven't heard from a reliable source like you I would probably
not take it seriously even if I browsed into that site online myself.
Your site (bass) looks much better but I would recommend to categorize
the column on the left a little bit. Speaking from my own experience
while browsing NextAlarm site, I was new to the home alarm system and
its DIY, NextAlarm presented their info in a way that's easy for a
beginner like me to understand: what they offer, pricing, and just a
couple of DIY systems to choose from, each of which is associated with
a number of add-on items that I can buy together with the basic
package. Despite of lack of info online, given that I saw not much
negative info on online discussion forums I made my decision fairly
quickly and ended up spending quite some money buying a number of
addons in addition to the basic system. But considering that I would
own those equipment I didn't feel much pain while placing the order
online, nor was my wife who effectively controls the family budget,
despite the fact that I know some day those equipment would become
obsolete with newer technologies. I probably have spent all the money
buying all those equipment from what I saved from the cheaper monthly
monitoring cost, but the sense of ownership and free of yearly
contracts pushed me forward to the decision.

I am glad to hear that you are revamping your web site. I presume most
DIYers do most of their research online, given that there are very
limited books one can find on the market (I've personally tried
amazon, home depot, frys electronics without much luck). And since
there is no online reviews/ratings of alarm companies, it becomes more
important to have an informative and easy to follow web site to
advertise yourself. I presume it would not cost much to rebuild a web
site? As for promoting your web site, other than the word of mouth,
one may also consider yahoo search marketing (http://
sem.smallbusiness.yahoo.com/searchenginemarketing/index.php?
abr=3D2022403519&) or google adwords, which place your ads in the search
result pages when people search for certain keywords or phrases that
you specify. The charge is made when your ads is clicked. You can
specify the maximum bid for the cost of a click. In general higher bid
will result in higher positions of your ads, like when you search for
"home alarm system" at yahoo or google:

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=3Dhome+alarm+system&fr=3Dyfp-t-501&toggle=
=3D1&cop=3Dmss&ei=3DUTF-8
http://www.google.com/search?source=3Dig&hl=3Den&rlz=3D&q=3Dhome+alarm+syste=
m&btnG=3DGoogle+Search

Whether the money spent worths the money you make, you have to
experiment with your ads and bid, and monitoring your account over a
period of time. You probably have known those things already, but in
case not, that's one way to promote yourself online where people can
immediately see. Good luck with your business.




On Jan 17, 2:58 pm, "Robert L Bass" <RobertLB...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> <thx123> wrote:
>
> > Thank you Robert. As long as that term agreement is industry
> > standard I am okay. I understand that the alarm monitoring
> > companies are not making much money from the subscribers' monthly
> > fees...
>
> FTR, they actually make lots of money but it's spread out over
> thousands of accounts.
>
> > so it makes sense that they don't cover the liability cost,
> > considering the insane legal costs in the US.  I guess the reason
> > whyNextAlarmcan be a lot cheaper than the industry average is
> > because they effectively shift the responsibility of installation
> > and maintenance/test to the end users through DIY systems...
>
> That's true but most "traditional" alarm monitoring companies don't
> do the installation or service either.  The most common arrangement,
> with the exception of the big, national providers, is for a local
> firm to install and service the system while a 3rd party station
> provides the monitoring service.  In those arrangements the local
> company pays between $2 and $7 a month for the service and marks it
> up to between $20 and $40 or more a month.  Considering a mid-sized
> local alarm company can install 2-3 systems a day, it doesn't take a
> rocket scientist to see why local firms are primarily interested in
> selling monitored accounts.
>
> WhatNextAlarmand 911Alarm do is sell direct at a rate that is
> higher than what alarm companies pay but less than the going consumer
> rate.  Interestingly, whiileNextAlarmhas their own facilities,
> 911Alarm actually resells the services of many of the same UL-listed
> cntral stations that the locals use... but at about 1/2 to 1/3 the
> price.  Needless to say, many alarm installers and dealers resent
> guys like that.
>
> > which I am okay with since users can see real time feedback of
> > system activities, not just alarms, online or through email or
> > phone messages.  If I use a traditional monitoring service I would
> > not know completely if the system is always sending signals out and
> > company receiving them correctly.  I know there are periodic tests
> > but I still feel a little unsafe about that fact, so I would rather
> > maintain it myself for peace of mind given that I know electronics
> > pretty well.
>
> I understand and I agree with you.  There are some good things to be
> said for traditional monitoring but you can do things yourself that
> they can't/won't offer.
>
> > Thank you for your reference to 911.alarm.com. I tried the URL but
>
> didn't work.
>
> It'swww.911alarm.com.  Those little dots make a big difference.  :^)
>
> > FYI,NextAlarmalso provides wireless cell service as a backup for
> > full dialer. But I am not planning to order that since my
> > neighborhood is pretty safe in general, and I don't have much
> > valuable belongings...
>
> We also offer digital cellular dialers.  Many central stations, both
> conventional and DIY-oriented, work with them these days.  I'm in the
> process of revamping our online presentation of the various options
> since analog units are becoming obsolete and there are several new
> digital models available.  Still, most of the people I deal with take
> the route you have, DIY the installation and either self-monitor or
> work with 911Alarm orNextAlarm.
>
> > I just want more safety for my family after
>
> encountering a suspected burglar in front of my house last week.
> Fortunately I was home then.
>
> Glad you didn't have a worse problem.  You're doing the right thing.
>
> --
>
> Regards,
> Robert L Bass
>
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> Bass Home Electronics
> 4883 Fallcrest Circle
> Sarasota =B7 Florida =B7 34233http://www.bassburglaralarms.com
> Sales & Tech Support 941-925-8650
> Customer Service 941-232-0791
> Fax 941-870-3252
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