Join the forum, it's quick and easy

Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.
Latest topics
» RX20 for sale
by ACE Services Mon Jun 10, 2019 12:25 pm

» So has this forum too, went the way of extinction too?
by Mo Wed May 01, 2019 9:13 pm

» Roll call....
by ACE Services Sat Apr 06, 2019 4:59 am

» New moves for business 2019
by ACpower1 Tue Feb 19, 2019 12:48 am

» Government shutdown
by ACE Services Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:35 am

» Stepped back in time
by Mo Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:47 am

» .....Christmas ever
by Mo Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:46 am

» have you ever use dyson for cleaning ?
by milspec6 Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:22 pm

» Water Heater
by Mo Mon Dec 17, 2018 8:31 pm

» anyone have an idea of why...?
by milspec6 Fri Dec 07, 2018 11:03 pm

» I don't know squat
by Matt; My carpet cleaner Wed Dec 05, 2018 11:14 pm

» what would you charge
by Mo Sun Dec 02, 2018 8:01 am

» Frozen cleaning for practice
by milspec6 Wed Nov 21, 2018 9:33 pm

» for the Holidays........
by Matt; My carpet cleaner Tue Nov 20, 2018 9:20 pm

» Pricing....ouch
by milspec6 Sat Nov 17, 2018 8:37 pm


Websites Valuable or not

+5
Freemind1
Anya Curry
Devon07
ACpower1
milspec6
9 posters

Page 1 of 2 1, 2  Next

Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Websites Valuable or not

Post by milspec6 Wed Sep 23, 2015 3:36 pm

I let the hosting drop on my website about a year ago due to a limited perceived value.  It did get me a couple of commercial contracts as they viewed the site as a sign of stability, but I can't recall more than 6 people ever tell me they called due to the website.

I am toying with the idea of rebuilding a new site (many multiples to cover each major service) this fall to see if it makes a difference in business.  Maybe it was just a bad site...I was never fully happy with it in the first place.

What do guys think, are people using websites like the used to or not?

Any suggestions on using a professional builder or self-building with any of the major website building sites?
milspec6
milspec6
Moderator
Moderator

Posts : 10088
Join date : 2013-09-21
Location : Nebraska

http://castledefendersllc.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by ACpower1 Wed Sep 23, 2015 4:23 pm

a must have, but spending a lot of money on SEO in our market I am not so sure about.

the keywords here are incredibly competitive and I can get a much higher return just paying for adwords or putting that money elseware.


but you do need to have a website, its like an online portfolio of your work and more people probably visit it than you think.

I wouldnt want to have van graphics/business cards/ marketing materials without a web address on them.


videos are everything now, get some sweet HD videos of each service you offer and put them up on a simple easy to read design
ACpower1
ACpower1
Expert & Trusted Member
Expert & Trusted Member

Posts : 2495
Join date : 2013-11-01
Age : 40
Location : Seattle, WA

http://www.hydracleanNW.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by milspec6 Wed Sep 23, 2015 5:52 pm

Advice noted.
milspec6
milspec6
Moderator
Moderator

Posts : 10088
Join date : 2013-09-21
Location : Nebraska

http://castledefendersllc.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by Devon07 Wed Sep 23, 2015 5:53 pm

Im with AC.....I need to get mine in order soon.
Devon07
Devon07
Expert & Trusted Member
Expert & Trusted Member

Posts : 1912
Join date : 2015-04-02
Age : 59
Location : Oklahoma

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by Anya Curry Wed Sep 23, 2015 7:23 pm

Definite must have - Google is the number one used source for consumers to find service contractors. Being in the top half of the page is crucial, and being there with customer reviews in your map listing is even more important. A good web "presence" includes your site, your directory/map listings, customer reviews, videos, and social media.
Anya Curry
Anya Curry
Member
Member

Posts : 1
Join date : 2015-09-23

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by Freemind1 Thu Sep 24, 2015 7:34 am

Yes. This is something very important, even in the small markets.

BUT, the caveat is, you ALSO need to do your SEO work too. If you don't pop up on the first page Google search, you may as well not exist.

Freemind1
Senior Member
Senior Member

Posts : 1282
Join date : 2013-09-20

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by dp1 Thu Sep 24, 2015 10:16 pm

Freemind1 wrote:Yes. This is something very important, even in the small markets.

BUT, the caveat is, you ALSO need to do your SEO work too. If you don't pop up on the first page Google search, you may as well not exist.  

Well not necessarily, if you advertise traditionally or electronically somewhere else with your website listed in said ads, that will bring people in, but if you want to get more business from your well invested website, then yes you should rank higher in Google.
dp1
dp1
Moderator
Moderator

Posts : 3966
Join date : 2013-09-19
Location : california

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by Ken Raddon Fri Sep 25, 2015 7:37 am

I am with you. I have had one for a few years now and nobody even cares. I am dropping mine.

Ken Raddon
Active Poster
Active Poster

Posts : 241
Join date : 2013-12-02

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by Freemind1 Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:58 am

dp1 wrote:
Freemind1 wrote:Yes. This is something very important, even in the small markets.

BUT, the caveat is, you ALSO need to do your SEO work too. If you don't pop up on the first page Google search, you may as well not exist.  

Well not necessarily, if you advertise traditionally or electronically somewhere else with your website listed in said ads, that will bring people in, but if you want to get more business from your well invested website, then yes you should rank higher in Google.

IF you are paying for adwords, you will rank first page google in smaller markets. Google does this on purpose to get you to buy ads. Been there, done that.

The only way I know of to get first page rank:

Be about the ONLY business in the area offering a service
OR do your SEO work
OR pay someone to do your SEO

Being on the first page of Google is important for almost EVERY business anymore. Everyone uses their phones to look for things they want or need. Even in my Podunk town market, you have to be on Google to exist.

Heck, I just got a call for an estimate that came from home advisor (this makes the 20th call I got this year from them) and I do NOT advertise on it. I signed up with my interest for it, and decided against it. Now they refer people to me because they don't have another window cleaner registered in my market.

Freemind1
Senior Member
Senior Member

Posts : 1282
Join date : 2013-09-20

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by milspec6 Fri Sep 25, 2015 9:59 am

Sounds like I need to put a website back up then, although I still don't think it will gin up much action around here.

I think part of the problem may have been that I offerred too many services in that website and it made searches kind of strange. I would rank high on google for one service, but not exist for another. I was always the top mold contractor on google, but you couldn't find me for carpets.

If I do this again, it will probably be broken into several sites targeting each major service....probably 4 sites in all. It might have to wait until a Spring launch though as I look to re-shape the company a little.
milspec6
milspec6
Moderator
Moderator

Posts : 10088
Join date : 2013-09-21
Location : Nebraska

http://castledefendersllc.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by ACpower1 Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:25 pm

If I was in a smaller town or market I would be all over the SEO.. its very doable in those areas.

Here you can pay for seo, try to do it yourself which is way beyond just posting to social media.. its very competitive


or you can just pay for adwords and it works out to near the same.
ACpower1
ACpower1
Expert & Trusted Member
Expert & Trusted Member

Posts : 2495
Join date : 2013-11-01
Age : 40
Location : Seattle, WA

http://www.hydracleanNW.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by Freemind1 Sat Sep 26, 2015 11:47 am

Yeah, you're right AC. Small markets are easy to dominate SEO if you put some work and time into it. Big markets like say, Indy, you HAVE to pay to rank. No way around it in big markets.

Rob, I wouldn't necessarily make a lot of websites. I have two, and the second isn't developed and SEO juiced yet.

Google keeps changing the rules to rank and penalizes you for the littlest things.

Here are a few things I know that you need to rank...
1 Relative content
2 Blogging with content
3 social media connections
4 Keywords for the search (but must be written inside of unique content. NO C&P)
5 back links

None of it is complicated, but will take a chunk of your time initially to get the ball rolling. Blogging 1-2 times a month and interaction with social media will keep your SEO juice fresh.

You may consider just hiring out the initial building and seo stuff. Even if it's 1-2K, it's worth it considering the time you will spend doing it right from the get go.

Freemind1
Senior Member
Senior Member

Posts : 1282
Join date : 2013-09-20

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by Mo Sat Sep 26, 2015 7:55 pm

Carpet cleaning prescott

Carpet Cleaning Prescott Arizona

Mo
Mo
Administrator
Administrator

Posts : 6664
Join date : 2013-09-19
Location : Arizona

http://www.thecleanerslounge.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by milspec6 Sat Sep 26, 2015 8:29 pm

This is where I have issues with this website thing...what Freemind described.

I do not want anything to do with social media sites and if I have to deal with more Google phone calls....forget it. As a result, no SEO juice and I just end up with a dead website like before.

It may not work out for me. Maybe I just need one of air powered worm things like at the car lots?
milspec6
milspec6
Moderator
Moderator

Posts : 10088
Join date : 2013-09-21
Location : Nebraska

http://castledefendersllc.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by Mo Sat Sep 26, 2015 8:38 pm

Mo wrote:Carpet cleaning prescott

Carpet Cleaning Prescott Arizona


There is a reason why I put those two links there. The last time I talked to you guys about putting a Do Follow signature link in your profile you guys blew me off.

For you guys that post often you are underestimating the SEO boost that you can get by posting on the lounge.

The first link is a regular link that you can post on this site or a link in your profile it is a "No Follow"

The second link is link that I manually imputed in HTML

Here's how this topic look to google and how it interprets these two links

Websites Valuable or not View_s10
Mo
Mo
Administrator
Administrator

Posts : 6664
Join date : 2013-09-19
Location : Arizona

http://www.thecleanerslounge.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by Freemind1 Sun Sep 27, 2015 8:39 am

milspec6 wrote:This is where I have issues with this website thing...what Freemind described.

I do not want anything to do with social media sites and if I have to deal with more Google phone calls....forget it.  As a result, no SEO juice and I just end up with a dead website like before.

It may not work out for me.  Maybe I just need one of air powered worm things like at the car lots?

If you are small town, you can likely get away with not doing social media. But you'll never avoid the call from "Sharron" calling about your Google listing. I just hang up on those.

Anyway you look at it, to rank, you have to spend time with your website. OR you have to spend money with someone to do it for you.

You can always go other routes, like radio, newpaper, EDDM, billboards, etc. But I think those cost more per customer in the end.

Freemind1
Senior Member
Senior Member

Posts : 1282
Join date : 2013-09-20

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by GabeECS Thu Nov 12, 2015 9:08 am

I used wix.com to make mine. I didn't have the money starting out to put into to one. It came out pretty nice and customers have even asked if we were a franchise because it looked very nice. I haven't gotten a lot of business from it directly but I did a little survey with some of my clients and they had all checked it out before calling me. If anything it's just a way for customers to check your business out before calling.

BTW my site only costs $99 a year.

GabeECS
Member
Member

Posts : 8
Join date : 2015-11-11

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by milspec6 Thu Nov 12, 2015 9:14 am

I still haven't erected the new website yet, but was looking at using Wix as well. Could share how the process goes?
milspec6
milspec6
Moderator
Moderator

Posts : 10088
Join date : 2013-09-21
Location : Nebraska

http://castledefendersllc.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by GabeECS Thu Nov 12, 2015 9:23 am

All you do is set up an account with an email then you can start making one. You don't need to know any coding at all. They have lots of pre-made templates to save time or you can make one from scratch.

From there you just type in the text you want and upload whatever pictures you want, position everything how want, and set colors etc, then publish. Its actually free is you don't mind wix having an add on your site but I think its worth buying a domain and paying the $100 a year for a real site. Its very easy to update as well.

You can also upload videos if they aren't too big.

GabeECS
Member
Member

Posts : 8
Join date : 2015-11-11

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by milspec6 Thu Nov 12, 2015 12:25 pm

Sounds really good....my original designer charged me $1200 and hosting was another $100 per year.

I like the sound of this a lot better.
milspec6
milspec6
Moderator
Moderator

Posts : 10088
Join date : 2013-09-21
Location : Nebraska

http://castledefendersllc.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by ACpower1 Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:16 pm

wix websites do not rank on google at all rendering them pretty much useless for any purposes of driving in business.    

They will work basically as a portfolio of your work and your pictures but really nothing more


I did make a really nice looking site on there and was really happy with the layout and design but was a little bummed when I learned all that work and youll never rank first page or even 15th page in my area
ACpower1
ACpower1
Expert & Trusted Member
Expert & Trusted Member

Posts : 2495
Join date : 2013-11-01
Age : 40
Location : Seattle, WA

http://www.hydracleanNW.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by milspec6 Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:45 pm

Why don't they rank with Google?

I guess I could ask them the next time they call.....should be any second now since it has been almost 4 minutes since the last 3 calls tonight. Devil

Hey Google, you do realize that you are pissing off a lot of businesses with this phone abuse crap right? Flip over another card already.
milspec6
milspec6
Moderator
Moderator

Posts : 10088
Join date : 2013-09-21
Location : Nebraska

http://castledefendersllc.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by ACpower1 Thu Nov 12, 2015 9:52 pm

haha, its just people trying to make money by doing google ad words for you or just scam your cc info.

I think they just keep most of the money and put a little towards google ad words, or its just a full on scam who knows.

I got so tired of their calls and it was getting to around 3 per day so I finally started saying yes Im interested until I got some real person on the phone who i would yell at to stop the spam calls but they would instantly hang up

so I played into sharon the local google expert again and this time played along with the guy on the phone and asked for their website so I could read more info.. he gave it to me and I reported it on the attorney general website.

Auto dialers used to be illegal
ACpower1
ACpower1
Expert & Trusted Member
Expert & Trusted Member

Posts : 2495
Join date : 2013-11-01
Age : 40
Location : Seattle, WA

http://www.hydracleanNW.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by Devon07 Fri Nov 13, 2015 7:10 am

ACpower1 wrote:If I was in a smaller town or market I would be all over the SEO.. its very doable in those areas.

Here you can pay for seo, try to do it yourself which is way beyond just posting to social media.. its very competitive


or you can just pay for adwords and it works out to near the same.


AC how would you approach this in a smaller town as far as adwords go? Ive never done adwords and think my area would do well using them.
Devon07
Devon07
Expert & Trusted Member
Expert & Trusted Member

Posts : 1912
Join date : 2015-04-02
Age : 59
Location : Oklahoma

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by ACpower1 Fri Nov 13, 2015 6:55 pm

I would pay an SEO company Devon, unless you dont mind working nights on the computer after you finish with carpets.

They will build you a wordpress website from the ground up with lots of seo work, then they post to facebook, google plus, etc etc weekly with backlinking.


you can do it yourself and many try, but google is ever changing and these guys sleep and eat seo just like we do for carpets.

There are many many tricks and techniques with website coding that go way beyond just spamming social media sites and adding keywords.


most people that do it themselves are just posting content/blogs/etc and working the keywords which works to a degree but a professional company will work much better for you.


Adwords can be effective but you can also waste a lot of money on there. Before you spend a penny on adwords make sure you have a strong google plus profile with lots of reviews and 5 star
ACpower1
ACpower1
Expert & Trusted Member
Expert & Trusted Member

Posts : 2495
Join date : 2013-11-01
Age : 40
Location : Seattle, WA

http://www.hydracleanNW.com

Back to top Go down

Websites Valuable or not Empty Re: Websites Valuable or not

Post by Sponsored content


Sponsored content


Back to top Go down

Page 1 of 2 1, 2  Next

Back to top

- Similar topics

 
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum