how improtant is a great web site for owner operators?

[davegillfishing]

i am in the middle of redoing my web site because i feel it is too "home made" i want something more professional and i am going to do just that, hire a pro. i have a few quotes and almost fell to the ground with some of them. to re-do my web site in a professional looking manner and keep me at the top of the google searches i was quoted 10k to build it and 295.00 per month to maintain it. WOW!!!!!
check out my site as it is and shred it to pieces, let me know what you think.
i am talking about looks and content not "on page 3 you didnt put a period at the end of a sentence" i am talking about looks, feel, ease of use too much info or nor enough info. i have thick skin so let her rip!! www.jccarpetcare.com
thanks
dave

 

[Jim Martin]

ours does great for us I am not going to retire with it but it gets a few jobs under our belt

I just redid a few things on my graphics on the truck and added this the other day.. I want to get as many people to look as I can...........

 

[Bob Foster]

It is true that you get what you pay for but that sounds excessive. Lots of places would do an outstanding job for 1/3 of that. Search engine optimization is a commodity that is on a slippery slope of pricing now. The cheapest and by many web designers opinions is simply to pay for Google Adwords. If you are not in a major market it is relatively inexpensive. In small markets you can still get away with simple meta tagging although this is not as effective as it used to be.

 

[Jim Martin]

Everyone using there computer for almost everything.........
everyone that we have talked to when asked they all say that they type in carpet cleaners Tucson and look at the web sites and call..................
it hasn't helped our ego any but.........it has helped pull in some good clients
and no matter how you play that is the name of the game

the entire web site cost us,,,,,,,,,,,$99.20 a year for the hosting and Tia built it

that $100.00 was made up a long time ago so the rest that come off the site is profit.......they are a easy return and once it is done it just sits and you don't have to worry to much about it...........

 

[Becker]

I put my web address on all marketing.

My website sucks ass right now! I've been working on redoing it, but I've gotten business with other projects.

It works. And worth the very small fee.

 

[JohnnyV]

I think Websites are important but I don't see spending that kind of money. I could be wrong. I know alot of the clients I want to work for are internet savvy and I've gotten several decent jobs from there. No where near enough to spend that kind of dough. I don't like the Font that you use on your Menu on your website Dave, but I have poor eyesight.

JohnnyV

 

[Becker]

Find some pimple popper to build the site for you.

$10k!

 

[Jim Williams]

Dave, have you checked out the Yahoo site builder? If not go to Yahoo and click on their small business link. You can design a really nice website your self and all it cost is some of your time.

I wouldn't use the templates they provide or you will get a home made looking site. You can build it from scratch and make it look very professional if you have an ounce of creativity.

Right now my business is slow and have probably spent 20 hours working on mine this week. Hopefully will have it up and running next week. They charge $15 a month to host it and they submit it to google and Yahoo for you. No charge for domain name either.

 

[-JB-]

Dave,
Your site looks better than most I see on here, including mine!

 

[Mikey P]

My site has closed the deal with new customers more times ten I can remember in the last year.

 

[Becker]

Nice site..

Only one question.

Never mind I figured it out.

For a second I thought you cleaned in short shorts.

 

[davegillfishing]

Nice site..

Only one question.

Never mind I figured it out.

For a second I thought you cleaned in short shorts.

that is why i charge so much...its all about the show. the only problem i have is my balls are wet all day from dragging on the newly cleaned carpet.
dave

thanks for the words guys. i will post something up when i am done re-doing it.
thanks
dave

 

[Jester]

I think it looks fine the way it is.. Honestly... If you get too high tech looking people will think George Jetson is cleaning there carpet.

 

[DannyD]

Hiya Dave,

The site doesn't look to bad IMO. This is only my opinion but one thing I would change for sure would be the "no scams" title. That has negative connotations right there. Almost like introducing yourself as "Honest Eddie".

Also, not quite as important would be how ya have the titles listed. Your equipment should be near the bottom, your bio first. You're selling you, not your equipment.

The order I would have it would be:

1) Bio
2) Services
3) FAQ
4) Before & after
5) No scams (w/ name changed)
6) Equipment
7) Contact

As for having a pro do it, I'm having a website built & it's going to cost me $500 plus $15 (I think) a month to host it. I'm not tech savvy but I think the hosting charge had something to do w/ how much traffic ya get to it. The site will have flash & be able to take credit cards right there on my site. So no need to lug around one of those credit card machines. I don't recall all the details but ya get like 2 changes a month & there's a few other things that made it attractive also. If ya want the designers name I can send it to ya. He can fill ya in on exactly what it entails.

Take care,
Danny

 

[Royal Man]

Website

I downloaded Yahoo website builder for my site.

If you're like me and it takes while to hen peck though it the good thing is that you can download it and build your site before you have to pay for it.


[email="www.royalcarpetlincoln@yahoo.com"]www.royalcarpetlincoln@yahoo.com[/email]

Dave-

 

[brchudson]

The site looks good, and has a good menu lay out. I felt the FAQ ran on a little, but the information was good.

If designing the website yourself is not your cup of tea, you can often find a student at the local community college that will do a site for a few hundred dollars. He/She (being politically correct here) will also likely be able to show you how to maintain it and keep it high in the search engines.

 

[billyeadon]

web

Dave,
I like the fact that you are appealing to the community. You are selling yourself as a brand. That being the case you should have pictures of yourself not your truck.

Your customer is a woman and as such she cares about what her house is going to look like after you are finished. She doesn't care about your truck. It means nothing to her.

Show pictures of a beautiful home interior. The idea is that she wants her home to look like that after she has the good sense to use Julington Creek Carpet Care.

The picture of you and your wife is wonderful and should be on your home page instead of several pages back.

Think of how many cc websites have their truck picture on their home page. How does that differentiate from other ccs. Your pictures will separate you from everyone else.

In marketing the key word is differentiation. Seeing that a ton of business comes from pets I would use Precious as a lead in on one of your pages. While this may sound stupid I would have a page with Precious's pic giving tips to other dogs on how to handle pet stains and odors. For the people that are dog lovers they will respond. For people that don't have pets they will just skip that page.

A book that I think is very helpful for website development is "Don't Make Me Think" Steve Krug. The book is about web useability which is critical for website development.

Overall you have a nice website but it can be even stronger. As you develop it get several womens opinions before you finish. One other thing is move a few of the testimonials to the home page.

Good luck.

 

[harryhides]

Dave, IMO too many words and not enough pictures - who has the time to read it all. I'd agree with Bill about the truck picture though.

One more thing are you a CRI "Approved" Firm ?
Because if you are not, your Spot removal guide is leading your potential customers right to the CRI web-site. I agree that it is a great spot guide but will be looking for a different one.

 

[Guest]

I think everyone should have a website! My website has closed some nice deals!

 

[Rob Lyon]

I book any where from 2-10 jobs per month from mine.
I believe it is very important to add credibility to a
new start up which I am. I understand what brevik means
that sometimes it is a waste but I feel there are worse ways
to help market yourself than this!!!



All The Best, Rob

 

[bgclean]

Your Website Dave

You site actually doesn't look that bad. I think you just need to change some of the fonts and the color schemes. I've started building 5 page websites for other carpet cleaners. You can take a look at my site here: http://www.dfwcarpetcleaning.com

You could probably just keep your site and update it a little.

See ya,
Bobby

 

[Tom Jasunas]

Dave, your site looks great to me. It gives me the feeling that you are a smaller company that takes great pride in your work. I'm not saying thats a bad thing, just what I get from it. The pics are numerous and good quality. Your prices are great, Aw hell, when can you fit me in?
Looks great, (Some of you are a lot better on your computers than me)
Tom J.

 

[scotth23]

i am in the middle of redoing my web site because i feel it is too "home made" i want something more professional and i am going to do just that, hire a pro. i have a few quotes and almost fell to the ground with some of them. to re-do my web site in a professional looking manner and keep me at the top of the google searches i was quoted 10k to build it and 295.00 per month to maintain it. WOW!!!!!
check out my site as it is and shred it to pieces, let me know what you think.
i am talking about looks and content not "on page 3 you didnt put a period at the end of a sentence" i am talking about looks, feel, ease of use too much info or nor enough info. i have thick skin so let her rip!! http://www.jccarpetcare.com
thanks
dave

This is actually the best site I have seen so far. I am in start up phase and have been looking at alot of sites. Very impressive. The only thing I would change is telling the customer that you would research a stain or problem area and return to take care of it. That might be construed that you don't have good experience, but you also say you've been in the business for years. Nevertheless that is me nit picking ...awesome site overall. Some of the websites are pretty brutal.

 

[alazo1]

I'd subsitute the black background for something else.
Have someone put in a free quote page
A little wordy like Harry said so rearrange
Put your equipment page deeper in your page (go easy on the van pics)

As far as seo, I'd find out how much Andrechelle charges per month. I'd bet they can get you in the top 5 fairly easy for less then 250.

Despite I've always liked your site, flash is cool. Font's go well. Just the black on black I think is a little harsh. Why not have the pros look at it and see if they can make improvements but not a total remake?

Albert

 

[The Great Oz]

How important? Real important. That doesn't mean you have to spend a lot of money or have more than five pages of information. It does needs to look as good as your vehicle and work clothing though.

i am in the middle of redoing my web site because i feel it is too "home made" i want something more professional and i am going to do just that, hire a pro. i have a few quotes and almost fell to the ground with some of them. to re-do my web site in a professional looking manner and keep me at the top of the google searches i was quoted 10k to build it and 295.00 per month to maintain it. WOW!!!!!

Do you work for the busy, fashion concious jet-setter, or the homeowner of any demographic?

You have a pretty clean site. Seeming honest over being slick will probably be a better appeal to your customers, unless you're slick and want to push into that market. A top dollar site by a company that knows what they're doing will leave you only to live up to the promise of the site. The firm should be able to go beyond desgining a site that looks good. They have to know how your potential customer will search, what appeals to your target demographic (funny how this is often overlooked), and how to avoid clutter. If you have a handle on this already, you can have your existing site tweaked for a lot less money.

The picture of your truck would work well if you took the picture from the driver's side and a smiling guy was waving from the open driver's window. That way you move away from equipment (which the marketing-savvy site builder would know and recommend against featuring) and sell an attitude of friendly, while working another repetition of your brand into the customer's mind. Make sure you wave to people while you drive and you'll be "that guy" in your community.

 

[Brian R]

Well put together site BUT...


There is no emotion in it, you are marketing to robots.

Did you really park on someones lawn?? Are you kidding me??? :shock:

Some cheap websites do better to catch the attention of the Female Homeowner...which is who we all need to market to for Residential...and I would argue to commercial as well....

Because even commerical accounts are taken care of by our demographic.

I am jealous of the quality of your site....I didn't read who did it..can you tell us?

But really think about WHO you are marketing to bro.

 

[Nate The Great]

Back from the dead. Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:33 pm

Seems to me that Dave most likely updated his website by now. Constructive criticism never does get old.

 

[klewis4]

I did my website myself (and I know it looks that way). I put it live in October and have been updating it regularly. It has steadily been generating more business for me. It's up to about 5 jobs a month now. Most who come from the website have made up their minds before calling and call just to book the job.

Because I created it myself, it cost nothing. I created it on Microsoft Live using their design tools and also have them host it. This also costs nothing.

I did pay 9.95 to register my domain name. This also allowed me to have my own domain for email addresses which I feel makes my emails look more professional.

I also suggest updating your Yahoo, Google Maps, and Live search profiles with your web address as well as other information.

In addition to this, I also use Google Ad Words which has proved to be an effective form of advertising. It generates about as much business as the yellow pages at a much lower cost.

I also suggest signing up for Angies' List Company Connect and updating your profile there with your website.

I think your website is one of the better places to expend marketing efforts. You should get it going and continuously improve it. People who use the internet love new content. So do the Yahoo and Google Search Spiders that index web pages for searching.

 

[Royal Man]

Re: how important is a great web site for owner operators?

Instead of the rambling post here on websites. Lets make this post more useful.

If anyone would be interested in exchanging links insert my link www.**********************

To yours and send me an e-mail and I'll put a link to your site on mine.

I have one of the highest ranking carpet cleaning sites in my state. So, I'm sure your link would be an welcome addition.

After placing www.********************** on your index page.

Send your e-mail to : royalcarpetlincoln@yahoo.com

With link in the subject line and your link. So, I can place it on my site.

Dave Yoakum-

 

[Gary Taylor]

Although the homeowner may not care what type of truck you have, hence not needed on your website, I wonder if having a picture of it on your website helps recognition? A home owner may see the picture and think." oh I have seen that truck all around towm". Just curious what others may think of that angle.