Business from websites?

[rj242 16]

I am thinking about building a website, and was wondering how effective a website is for most of you. I am a little old school and when I am looking for a service, I usually check the yellow pages, but I know times are changing, so how much business do you get from your websites % wise?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Good Question RJ,

It is time you got into the inner circle. Websites are going to eventually replace the phone book as it is easier to search and doesn't collect dust in the meantime.

Its green and people are on the net more now than ever. More business is being conducted over the internet than on the phone and this is something you should not waste any time getting up and running.

A web site offers a virtual brochure for your customers to shop you, compare you and contact you with responses to questions you include in your web form the customer will fill out to request an estimate. It is easy to find you in the wee hours that most people seem to find time to conduct their searches...and ....the web does not close!

It is open 24/7/365 and only costs a monthly hosting fee and the initial fee to have someone build it and set it up. After that, it requires only that you make sure it is up and running and check your email for responses.

As your business grows, you will need to update the information on your site to keep it current (coupons etc) as well as services you offer or are not longer conducting to make sure you are only putting on it what you want to be there.

Do a search for web site hosting companies and also for web site developers and shop and compare to fit your budget and good luck! :)

Rod!~

[RMedbery 26]

When a new phone book arrives I check to see if Im listed. Im usually done with that by the time I reach the garbage can, and there it goes. Cant remember the last time I actually used a phone book for its intended purpose. 100% of my new customers have come from the web since last fall.

[CALLTODD 15]

All I use is word of mouth and a free website.

I list alot of things on the site but mostly get jobs for roof cleaning,

which is exactly what I want to do. I say yes to the website.

[newlook 265]

When a new phone book arrives I check to see if Im listed. Im usually done with that by the time I reach the garbage can, and there it goes. Cant remember the last time I actually used a phone book for its intended purpose. 100% of my new customers have come from the web since last fall.

Same here Roger...can't remember the last time I used one. I think we have 3 or 4 of them laying around but we don't use them at all.

[CCPC 26]

Most of my new customer base comes from the Internet and my website. I pay about 90$ a year, and the ROI for that small investment is absolutely threw the roof. Just to give you an idea, I've booked about 3000$ in work in just the past 4 days all from the Internet, and my website.

Take advantage of it why you can. Eventually everyone will be privy to how important advertising on the web is. Right now there is only my company, and one other company in Jacksonville, that really take the Internet seriously, and we own the search results for the Jacksonville market. Meanwhile, all of the other suckers are wasting money on yellow page ads. Life is good.

[deach 14]

Word of mouth or website is all I've had. Just this year I went with the little home town phonebook (they're cheap) and already had a few calls from it. I can tell you the website is gonna be the wave of the future. (if it's not already here)

[douseahouse 21]

i always ask my customers how they found me and the majority do say thru the internet. godaddy is my website hoster and my monthly fee is only 4.99. they can make you a site (for a fee) or you can use the templates and make your own. to me it's a win-win situation to have one.

good luck,

rando

[HotShot 34]

I used the phone book just the other day. I couldn't find an account (that found me on the internet) that I was bidding on the internet so I looked in the phone book to get their correct address. It felt like I was going back to High School, the good ol days.

Even if you don't get a website (which is silly in my opinion) make a video and put it on Youtube. You will get business from that.

[plainpainter 217]

Jeez - you guys are really backing websites to the hilt. I only got online in early December - I paid these SEO guys for an online landing page last year - that never got me one job. My website now really ranks well for many local search terms. This is the first season that my website is online - I hope to god it performs like some of you suggest. But I have been let down before - poor returns on mailers - next to no phone calls from the yellow pages, tire kickers galore from classifieds, etc, etc. I really hope the website is different. I need a little luck right now.

[Christopher 102]

I have got my biggest and best jobs from companies finding my website on the internet.

Usually when people find my website and take a good look at it then they are more educated to what I offer and I can close between 50-80% of them where the yellow book it is a lot lower, mostly price shoppers.

There is a lot more to having a website, you need to have professionals make sure it is SEO, have relevant and important information regarding your business, make it easy to view and understand, etc....

You can't just make up a site, throw it up onto the internet and wait by the phone for customers to call, it does not work that way most of the time unfortunately. You have to keep working on it and keep it ranking on the search engines.

Don't fall for the "Online Directories" or "Online Registry" scams out there, there are a lot of them that will send you a bill and hope you pay it. They will send several types of bills and try to trick you into paying, BEWARE.

_________________

Superior Power Washing

Chris Chappell

361-853-2513

prostaff@superiorpowerwashing.com

Exterior House Cleaning Corpus Christi Texas

Cleaning Driveways and Sidewalks Corpus Christi Texas

[CCPC 26]

Jeez - you guys are really backing websites to the hilt. I only got online in early December - I paid these SEO guys for an online landing page last year - that never got me one job. My website now really ranks well for many local search terms. This is the first season that my website is online - I hope to god it performs like some of you suggest. But I have been let down before - poor returns on mailers - next to no phone calls from the yellow pages, tire kickers galore from classifieds, etc, etc. I really hope the website is different. I need a little luck right now.

It might just be where you live. Your area is already at a disadvantage because less people are in need of pressure washing, or at least they think they aren't in need of pressure washing. Also, population probably has something to do with it as well.

It looks like Andover has an estimated population of about 31,000. that's not bad, but it's definitely not great as far as overall number of people.

You look at bigger cities and you see the difference. My market is Jacksonville which has an estimated population of almost 800,000 people.That's 26 times more people, and a lot more homes and businesses. I think the only way you are going to get the volume that you want is if you live somewhere else.

[HotShot 34]

You can't just make up a site, throw it up onto the internet and wait by the phone for customers to call,

That's exactly what I do... :D seriously.

[RMedbery 26]

That's exactly what I do... :D seriously.

Yeah I know a guy from PA who did just that. Now hes getting calls from 120 location customers.

[HotShot 34]

Yeah, he even used one of those free website builders... He also just gave away to "another guy" a HUGE account and asked for nothing from it.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

The web works. No way around it.

Beth

[Dave222 14]

It works.... There are a bunch of tricks to getting ranked correctly so that people will see you. I am really now just learning and there is a bunch to it. If you are going to do it, do some reading and hire someone who knows the shortcut type tricks. It seems like it will pay for itself. I am in the yellow pages now. I use it and I think people still do to some degree but it will go away

[Alexy 85]

I am the "another guy" in Ant's post. Prior to last month. I had no web presence a yellowpages.com add and advertised with monthly postcards.

Since the web page went live I landed the largest cleaning job we have ever done in less than 48 hrs after the site went live. They found us thru a google search for hood cleaning. the web page paid for itself for the next 8-10 years with one job in 48 hrs so it does work.

[rj242 16]

Thanks for all the replies!

My next question is should I start out with building my own website like Go Daddy website tonight, or should I hire somebody to build it for me? I have checked around about having somebody build me one and the prices have ranged from about $300-$2000.

I have done some reading on the subject of building a website, and how to get search engines to recognize it. Being I am only a part-timer, I am really thinking of trying to build my own for now. Also be advised that when I search for contractors in my area, there is only a couple of contractors with websites, and both of them are 1 hr away.

What is everyones thoughts on building your own site?

[plainpainter 217]

It might just be where you live. Your area is already at a disadvantage because less people are in need of pressure washing, or at least they think they aren't in need of pressure washing. Also, population probably has something to do with it as well.

It looks like Andover has an estimated population of about 31,000. that's not bad, but it's definitely not great as far as overall number of people.

You look at bigger cities and you see the difference. My market is Jacksonville which has an estimated population of almost 800,000 people.That's 26 times more people, and a lot more homes and businesses. I think the only way you are going to get the volume that you want is if you live somewhere else.

Yeah, Lance, I basically came to this realization a month ago, I did a quick look at some population statistics and realized my area wasn't as nearly densely populated as I thought. I now advertize for over 10+ surrounding towns - so we'll see if my 'service' area can bring in decent numbers.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Thanks for all the replies!

My next question is should I start out with building my own website like Go Daddy website tonight, or should I hire somebody to build it for me? I have checked around about having somebody build me one and the prices have ranged from about $300-$2000.

I have done some reading on the subject of building a website, and how to get search engines to recognize it. Being I am only a part-timer, I am really thinking of trying to build my own for now. Also be advised that when I search for contractors in my area, there is only a couple of contractors with websites, and both of them are 1 hr away.

What is everyones thoughts on building your own site?

$2,000 is REALLY high these days. That lower end is much more standard.

Beth

[CCPC 26]

Thanks for all the replies!

My next question is should I start out with building my own website like Go Daddy website tonight, or should I hire somebody to build it for me? I have checked around about having somebody build me one and the prices have ranged from about $300-$2000.

I have done some reading on the subject of building a website, and how to get search engines to recognize it. Being I am only a part-timer, I am really thinking of trying to build my own for now. Also be advised that when I search for contractors in my area, there is only a couple of contractors with websites, and both of them are 1 hr away.

What is everyones thoughts on building your own site?

I would say if you don't have any skills in web design, better to pay someone who does, but you have to be careful on who you hire. I see a lot of really nice websites, but with horrible on page optimization.

the other side to this coin is that I'm a big believer in expanding one's horizons, and it never hurts to learn something new if you have the time to do it. I feel that if you know a little about something, you at least know what to look for when hiring a pro to do it.

I had some skills with web design before I got into this business, but had zero understanding about SEO, and have been teaching myself for the past 6 months. there's really not to much to it. The key is to stick with it and don't slack off. Off page optimization is an on going process that never ends.

[CCPC 26]

Yeah, Lance, I basically came to this realization a month ago, I did a quick look at some population statistics and realized my area wasn't as nearly densely populated as I thought. I now advertize for over 10+ surrounding towns - so we'll see if my 'service' area can bring in decent numbers.

Sounds like you have to focus your internet marketing efforts and SEO on multiple cities and townships. I do the same thing, but my main focus is geared towards Jacksonville because it is obviously the biggest market for me, and it yields the biggest ROI of my time.

I have other smaller areas that I hit pretty hard because of the wealth in those areas, like Ponte Vedra Beach (home of TPC at Sawgrass) Very rich area with the most concetrated wealth in North Florida.

[Dave222 14]

Lance, I like you website. Lots of good info.

[PressurePros 249]

I won't any more fluff around websites. The guys that have them get work.

As to a cost.. You get what you pay for just like anything else. Expect to pay $200 per page for a well designed, web optimized page that sells. Add in any bells and whistles like data bases for email harvesting, forum and blog bridging, etc and you can hit several thousand in no time. A recent site that I was shopping to have built was receiving quotes up to $15,000.

[mobilemike 14]

hi rj, i have gotten quite a few jobs from my website. i used to do web design and web marketing so that has helped me in the marketing of my web site. i made my own site and submitted it to the search engines and am getting some traffic. even if i didn't receive any jobs from the site, it's probably a good idea to have one just to show that you are "up to speed" with things.

anyway, people like to go to websites just to get the information that they need and it's nice just to have a website to educate and give a client an idea that you know what you are talking about. hope that helps.