In 2010, Adrian Rodriguez, founder of Anchored Web, transformed the digital experience for Fright Night Scream Park, a now closed but unique haunted house in Clovis, California. This wasn’t just a typical seasonal event—the park was housed in a mall, where movie theater spaces were renovated into immersive horror attractions. Adrian’s role? To revolutionize its online presence with a custom-built website and cutting-edge e-commerce platform.

But the story goes beyond that. Adrian’s work on this project earned him a place as a global finalist in the prestigious Google AdWords Train & Gain Competition, solidifying Anchored Web’s expertise on the world stage. (It also more than tripled the attraction’s online sales, no big deal.)

From Website to Full Integration: The Digital Evolution

At its core, Adrian’s task was simple: make Fright Night Scream Park visible online. But his approach was far from basic.

“My job was to help the owners at the time have an online presence,” he recalls. “I started immediately with building a website that had an e-commerce site with a lot of custom features.”

The website featured custom-designed graphics, including unique logos for each attraction. The visual appeal set the tone for the high level of professionalism that Anchored Web brought to the project. Yet, the real innovation was the custom-built e-commerce platform: It allowed ticket purchases to be processed online, with printable coupons featuring QR codes for easy redemption at the park’s box office. Adrian designed an interface for the staff, making it simple to verify tickets, ensuring a smooth, foolproof system.

“I integrated all of these different parts of Fright Night’s Web presence, from our social media accounts to the content on the Web site itself,” Rodriguez said. “I even produced a promotional YouTube video and integrated advertising tools into that. It’s pretty amazing what can be done to maximize an advertising budget.”

In addition to his technical expertise, Adrian was personally invested in making sure things ran smoothly during the park’s busiest nights.

“I handled all of the phone calls throughout the night,” he said. “Usually things went pretty smoothly. There was the occasional issue with glitches, like PayPal not accepting payments on time, but being there to manage it meant we didn’t lose any sales.”

Submitting to the Google Train & Gain Competition

While working on Fright Night Scream Park, the Google AdWords Train & Gain competition was announced, and Adrian saw it as a perfect opportunity to take the project to the next level. The park’s owners agreed to participate, and each week, Google provided hands-on training, giving Adrian key insights on how to optimize the campaign from Google AdWords headquarters in Australia.

Though the winning entry included a video submission—which Adrian didn’t create—there was still immense pride in being listed as one of the global finalists.

“If we had submitted a video entry, we might have won!” Adrian reflects. Nonetheless, the success of the campaign was undeniable. In fact, Adrian’s name is still listed first on the Google Adwords blog about Anchored Web winning the global competition.

The Google AdWords Campaign: Driving Revenue Growth

Beyond the website, Adrian took charge of Fright Night Scream Park’s digital marketing efforts. By using Google AdWords, he created a campaign that delivered 250 purchases in just three weeks—a major driver of the park’s revenue growth. The success of the AdWords campaign was remarkable: for an ad spend of $2,000, the park generated approximately $18,750 in sales.

But it wasn’t just luck. Adrian was strategic in his approach.

“The goal was to push the cost per click down while finding search terms that had a higher volume of searches,” he explains. “We found some keywords that weren’t the most obvious ones for a haunted house, but they worked perfectly for what we needed.”

This kind of careful optimization meant that every dollar spent on advertising was stretched further, leading to higher returns.

The success wasn’t instant—early on, the cost per click was high, and the campaign required careful adjustments.

“I took over in late September,” Adrian notes. “After making the necessary changes, I was able to lower the cost per click while simultaneously increasing the number of visitors to the site.”

The end result was a robust AdWords campaign that not only attracted customers but also maximized the efficiency of the park’s marketing budget.

The Impact: Record-Breaking Revenue

All the hard work paid off in an undeniable way: Fright Night Scream Park saw a 316% increase in revenue compared to the previous year. In 2009, the park made $13,805 from online sales, but by 2010, that number had skyrocketed to $42,988. As Adrian explains in his final report, “Fright Night generated three times as much revenue. On a day-to-day breakdown, we exceeded daily income on almost every day compared to the previous years.”

The integration of the custom e-commerce system with the advertising campaign created a perfect storm of success. The park not only sold more tickets but also tracked them better, thanks to Adrian’s QR-coded tickets and box office system. “Having vertical integration is the key,” he says. “I was able to manage their website, their sales mechanisms, and their advertising budget all at once. It’s like having an entire agency at your disposal.”

Learning from the Experience: A Personal Touch

Handling the customer support line himself gave Adrian a hands-on view of how the system was working in real time. “It was fun and interesting to be a part of it in that way,” he reflects. “It caught all the sales that would have probably fallen through if I hadn’t been there to offer that support.”

This direct involvement in both the technical and customer-facing aspects of the project is what sets Anchored Web apart. With Adrian’s diverse skill set—spanning web development, design, marketing, and even customer service—Anchored Web can deliver comprehensive, seamless solutions for its clients. “You get a lot done in a shorter amount of time, and it’s more efficient,” he explains. “It’s like having a whole agency that can communicate with each other seamlessly.”

Anchored Web’s Lasting Legacy

The Fright Night Scream Park project wasn’t just a one-off success—it was a demonstration of Anchored Web’s ability to provide vertically integrated, highly effective solutions that drive real results. For Adrian Rodriguez, being named a global finalist in the Google AdWords Train & Gain competition wasn’t just about personal recognition. It was about showing the power of fully integrated digital marketing strategies for small businesses in the Fresno-Clovis area.

As Adrian looks back on the project, it’s clear that the combination of a well-built website, strategic advertising, and hands-on customer support created the perfect formula for success. And that’s exactly what clients can expect when they work with Anchored Web.