Do people actually read your website?

I have talked about this one before, but I really wonder if people actually bother to read your website? More specifically, do they even click on your listing at all or do they just rip the phone number under their search results?

I am now booked solid for the week after Thanksgiving (never seen that before around here) after booking a rural mansion this morning. It is another one of those "old farmhouses" like the one I pictured before with over 2,600 sqft of carpet and a weekly maid service. If people only realized what exists down those gravel roads these days, they would stop saying no to rural jobs.

Anyway, back to the point. All of these jobs called and asked if I cleaned carpets? Then they all asked what my name was? Lastly, they all asked what towns do I clean in?

There is no way that any one of them could have clicked on my link since all of that is quite obvious by video alone let alone by written details. They also clearly don't have my card or they would have had their answers as well. All that they did was do a search for a carpet cleaner and called the one that intrigued them. So, why bother making a nice site when all that you really need is a place-keeper and something in the name to catch their attention?

Best part of these rural jobs is that they never ask for a price quote....just when and what time? Now that harvest is about over, the bank accounts are full again for farmers and they don't seem to concern themselves with my cost. It is always nice not having to haggle over prices.

The only issue now will be the weather. As long as it is dry, I am good, but a bad snow storm and I am out a lot of money that week.

They are likely getting your info from Google places/maps.

That just gives real basic info for the service/store you Googled.

I actually get a report from Google for my analytics.

My most viewed pages besides the landing page are:
1 Residential
2 About us
3 Fanatical guarantee
4 contact us

My LEAST viewed page is actually my commercial page.

My website has driven MUCH work my way. If you are not tracking your analytics, then that is probably why you question even having a website.

A website is as good as ANY business card. You wouldn't be without those, and I sure wouldn't be without a website.

Up until recently, there wasn't much to track.

It seems apparent that one just needs a landing page and that is it. The quality of it and content means nothing to most shoppers. There just seems no point in trying to make a fancy site when nobody bothers to review it anyway.

Well, it's unfortunate if you have convinced yourself of that. Even in my small market, your thoughts on the matter aren't really true. A website is as necessary as a business card.

People read my pages of marketing.

Some people want to know a bit about you and your company. Some people just want someone to come do the job for them and don't care about the details (Places/Maps).

I designed my website to NOT have a corporate feel to it, on purpose. I wrote my copy like I was talking to someone standing next to me. I think I get a good response from that.

According to my analytics, people actually read my pages.

Depends on the person, I personally would read to a certain degree, I get frustrated easily, so if after I'm reading a couple of paragraphs and didn't find the answer to my questions, I would pick up the phone and dial the numbers, but then again there are some people that hate phones ( one of my brother in law does ), he would never call until he's ready to make an appointment ( assuming there isn't online appointment scheduling in your website ), if you have one, he would never call you, that's how much he hates talking on the phone, in person he's okay, he can talk for hours.
So to answer your question, yes some people do and for that reason you should have as much info there as possible without cluttering the pages out.

Maybe these last few customers are the rare ones then, I just found it strange that I keep getting questions that have already been answered if they had even clicked on the site, let along read it.

I am a lot like your brother-in-law Dp, I hate talking on the phone as well. I will go up to anyone and talk their ears off, but I despise talking on the phone. There is something about the lack of connection and feedback to it for me. On a phone, I can't read the body language and that makes me uncomfortable.

The same is true for sunglasses. Like an animal, if I can't see your eyes when talking to you, I am defensive. That is one of the reasons that I make all those that ever work for me leave the sunglasses in the van and tell them to never speak to a customer with them on.

I might be the rare type, but judging by all the texts that I get, there are a lot of people like me out there.

In my experience the ones that take the time to do the research and read the content of your website are the customers that you want. They tend to be more loyal, value your service more, and not base their decision solely on price

I tend to agree with Mo, I haven't really track that in detail myself, however I know one thing for sure, I haven't had any customer I talked to for more than 15 minutes that actually scheduled an appointment or keep their appointment that they made, there's just something with those customers that ask gazillion questions, I'm actually glad that they cancelled or didn't make an appointment in the first place, just a big waste of your time answering their stupid questions
Bob, you would be a very good poker player, lol.

Reading body language is one of those skill developed from the stage years ago. It is funny how each chapter of your life has an effect on how you operate. Things that may seem of little value can someday be your greatest asset.

If it wasn't for the stage work, I would never be so adept at selling a customer on my services. It just doesn't translate over the phone...I am out of my element there.

website is very important in this day and age,   even more important for it to look good and be easy to navigate on a mobile device.        Most will be googling you from their phone.    

but it does need to be a simple site with a very clean easy layout.     nobody wants to read pages and pages about a 15 step process and why your better than everyone else etc  

they want good reviews,   lots of reviews,   high rating,    and some are curious if its safe for pets/kids and of course pricing  

this is kind of generalizing there are exceptions but for the most part easier the better.      people are busy

Yes, they do. Living in 2016 and having an website for your business is an important aspect to be in market. Before hiring someone, they do a web research for whom to hire, whom not to. They get a proper idea about your services your provide with your business.

If you use your google analytics, you can see what pages your cusomers are going to and their average time on the page. Pay attention to your bounce rates. These are tools that help you in providing design, and content of your web pages.

Make sure you have a google my business and have a verified maps listion for google, bing and yahoo.