6,300 Bookings + $235k Ticket Sales Processed in Two Years: Underground Laugh Lounge

“If I could give 10 stars, I would! Marc is amazing and goes above and beyond for his customers. We recommend Marc Hyde for your website needs—I promise you… It will be a great experience!”

—Sheila Koebel, Owner

Starting From Zero

When we started, there was literally no online presence to work with. Which honestly made things both easier and harder:

• Easier because we weren’t trying to fix someone else’s mess or work around existing systems. We could build exactly what made sense from day one.
• Harder because there was no existing email list, no SEO history, no online audience, and no foundation to build upon.

Sheila, the comedy club’s owner, approached me with just the vision of the club and a checklist of items that the website initially needed. From there, the website did grow into an online machine that serves the comedy club, the speakeasy lounge, and their philanthropic ventures, but when we got started, it was just a sticky notes with some bullet points.

Here’s What We Built

Created the Entire Website From Nothing
First order of business: make the website dead simple to use – see the upcoming shows, view the club rules, and purchase tickets—all of that should take maybe 30 seconds, tops. Phone, tablet, laptop, whatever. Sheila said, “Just make it work.”

We built the whole thing custom rather than finding a theme to build upon so that we could be everything how it needed to be built. Then, as the website would grow, we wouldn’t be locked into a system of how it “has to be done.” Rather, we can build as needed but keep everything consistent.

Set Up All the Backend Infrastructure
This meant more than just the pretty front-end. We needed hosting, security, backups, maintenance systems—all the technical stuff that makes a website actually function long-term. We set it up so Sheila doesn’t have to think about any of it. She texts us “hey can you update this” and it’s done. That’s the whole system.

Built the Email Marketing System
This one was cool. We integrated their booking software—Modern Events Calendar Pro—directly with SendFox for email marketing. Now when someone buys a ticket, boom, they’re automatically added to the newsletter list.

No manual data entry. No “oh crap we forgot to email everyone about Friday’s show.” The club sends monthly updates, people know what’s coming up, ticket sales stay consistent. Now, we’re working on an SMS solution, too!

Created an Online Store & Giving Feature
People can buy t-shirts and merch online now, pick it up at the club, or get it shipped—their choice.

We also built in a donation feature for seniors in Niles because that’s important to Sheila and the club’s identity. So fans can browse around, watch clips, buy merch, and donate if they want. All one place.

The Results Were Better Than Expected

*Keep in mind, we started with zero online presence. No existing traffic, no email list, nothing.

Between January and mid-October 2025:

• 38.6k people visited the site (unique visitors)
• 140k total page views—people were actually exploring, not just landing and leaving
• 11.6k of those visitors came from Google, which means the SEO work paid off

Since we launched in October 2023 through October 2025:

• Roughly $235,000 in ticket sales processed through the website
• About 6,300 total bookings
• Although it’s not a stat, the only fee that the ULL has to pay is the credit card processing fee. Many other clubs also pay ticketing software fees, but because everything is self-contained on the website, the ULL profits more.

We’re Still Hands-On

This isn’t a “here’s your website, good luck” situation. We’re still actively managing everything, because that was the plan from the start.

Every quarter, we upload the new lineup of shows. Every month, we swap out graphics to match whatever posters they’re using. We send the monthly email campaigns (Sheila gives us the content, we handle the technical execution). Any menu changes, schedule updates, random stuff that needs fixing—we just do it for the club.

This way, Sheila can focus on running a comedy club, we handle the website.

Why This Approach Works

The Underground Laugh Lounge is a good example of what happens when you build something intentionally instead of cobbling together random tools and hoping they work together.

People see shows they want to attend and buy tickets immediately—not “I’ll remember to do that later” (they won’t). Email keeps the club top of mind so fans come back. The merch store creates another revenue stream and strengthens the connection with the audience. The donation feature builds community goodwill and reinforces what the club stands for.

When everything’s built to work together from the start, you don’t just get website traffic—you get loyal, repeat customers who actually spend money.

We Help Local Businesses Win Online

Every business has different needs. Comedy clubs need streamlined ticketing and email automation. Restaurants need reservation systems and menu management. Schools need event calendars and donation platforms.

We figure out what you specifically need and build that from the ground up. Not some bloated template with 47 features you’ll never touch.

For the Underground Laugh Lounge specifically, we built:

• Complete online presence with strong Google visibility
• Integrated ticketing and booking system that doesn’t require manual processing
• Automated email marketing that people actually open and read
• An online store that generates revenue without creating extra work
• Community engagement tools that strengthen their local reputation

Sheila needed a complete digital infrastructure that worked as hard as she does. Now she has one that’s actively helping grow the business instead of being just another thing to manage.

Next Steps

Ready to get started? Fill out the contact form below. If you are a good potential fit for us to work with you, I will send you a link to book a time for us to talk about the project and your dream. From there, we may need to do a digital navigator to plan out your entire online strategy, or if you’re already ready, we can talk about next steps with building out your website or growth plan.

Fill out the contact form below to get started.