Just topped 1 million dollars for the first time!

[BigMike]

I checked out the site and clicked on the reviews...wow was I impressed never seen so many 5 star reviews but then I noticed something.... If the company was established in 2001 why is the oldest review I can find 2008? Also why is EVERY review profile I clicked on created the same day the review was written and that is the ONLY review that profile has every written?

We have never been a member of the BBB but we have been complaint free with them for over a decade. We will NEVER be a member of the BBB unless it's required by law. I think they are extortionist for any business. I'm not sure how it works in other places but here they want to charge you based on number of employees. So the more people I hire and take off unemployment the more they want to charge! Sorry but I can't be a part of something like that. The BBB was originally created for consumers but they started "selling the name" over the last 5-10yrs to business's. The way I see it... if I am taking people off unemployment, providing jobs and helping the economy...why should I be punished for doing something good? It's like the Obama plan almost..... why should I take my hard earned money and give it to others because they are to lazy to get of their ass and go to work? There is a name for that...it's called "Trickle Up Poverty." and I'm not giving them a single dime of my money as long as they (BBB) continue to follow the same structure they are using now..... We are really aggressive about asking people for reviews too. If they don't know how to leave one then we send them a bunch of sites they can leave a review at. We even tell them that they have to have an account to leave a review and we ask them to create one if they don't already have one. Reviews are usually dumped after a few years so we continually ask for them. We change the copyright of the sites each year because the content of the site changes. And for those who were asking...we have 2 sites. One is old format and the other is new format so the content is different on both. I don't know jack squat about web sites, how to build them, or anything of that nature. I have to have another company do that for me. I hate it because it's something a grade schooler could do I'm sure but for some reason I can't seem to wrap my brain around the inner workings of that stuff. I can barely use my own computer, much less create a web site! LOL! They are creating another one for me that should be up and running in a month or so. My goal is to have at least 10 different web sites running around the area so reguardless of where you are or how you search you will be able to find us. That's the target goal anyway. And yes...we are moving toward offering tile and grout cleaning in the near future. I agree...we are leaving to much $$ behind by not offering it. In therory, I should have started to offer it several years ago but I've never been one to rush things I suppose? Seriously though... we are going to offer it shortly so any advice on the best type of equipment (Porty only please) to use and any tips would be appreciated.

On a non cleaning note.... I'm going to drive an Indy 500 car next friday. Saturday is my birthday so I figured...what the heck. I'm a bit nervous and excited at the same time. I'm nervous because I'm not the best driver and I'm having visions of me smacking the wall.... yet I'm excited because the speed limit is much higher than 55 and I can't get a ticket! BTW...for those interested I run a Beltronics RX65 Radar/laser detector in my car. They are about $300 and worth every dime! So for those of you who have a heavy foot like me.... look into it. Hell... it saved me from 2 tickets this morning less than 4 miles apart from each other. Cheers!

 

[BigMike]

I see a lot of homes with hardwood and tile down stairs with carpet in master bedroom. Upstairs has a few rooms of carpet. I say you are losing a lot of these customers. Maybe not.

I couldn't agree more.... we are leaving a lot of $$$ behind and we will be offering tile cleaning in the very near future. You can count on it. In hindsight I should ahve been offering it several years ago.

 

[Shane Deubell]

I checked out the site and clicked on the reviews...wow was I impressed never seen so many 5 star reviews but then I noticed something.... If the company was established in 2001 why is the oldest review I can find 2008? Also why is EVERY review profile I clicked on created the same day the review was written and that is the ONLY review that profile has every written?

We have never been a member of the BBB but we have been complaint free with them for over a decade. We will NEVER be a member of the BBB unless it's required by law. I think they are extortionist for any business. I'm not sure how it works in other places but here they want to charge you based on number of employees. So the more people I hire and take off unemployment the more they want to charge! Sorry but I can't be a part of something like that. The BBB was originally created for consumers but they started "selling the name" over the last 5-10yrs to business's. The way I see it... if I am taking people off unemployment, providing jobs and helping the economy...why should I be punished for doing something good? It's like the Obama plan almost..... why should I take my hard earned money and give it to others because they are to lazy to get of their ass and go to work? There is a name for that...it's called "Trickle Up Poverty." and I'm not giving them a single dime of my money as long as they (BBB) continue to follow the same structure they are using now..... We are really aggressive about asking people for reviews too. If they don't know how to leave one then we send them a bunch of sites they can leave a review at. We even tell them that they have to have an account to leave a review and we ask them to create one if they don't already have one. Reviews are usually dumped after a few years so we continually ask for them. We change the copyright of the sites each year because the content of the site changes. And for those who were asking...we have 2 sites. One is old format and the other is new format so the content is different on both. I don't know jack squat about web sites, how to build them, or anything of that nature. I have to have another company do that for me. I hate it because it's something a grade schooler could do I'm sure but for some reason I can't seem to wrap my brain around the inner workings of that stuff. I can barely use my own computer, much less create a web site! LOL! They are creating another one for me that should be up and running in a month or so. My goal is to have at least 10 different web sites running around the area so reguardless of where you are or how you search you will be able to find us. That's the target goal anyway. And yes...we are moving toward offering tile and grout cleaning in the near future. I agree...we are leaving to much $$ behind by not offering it. In therory, I should have started to offer it several years ago but I've never been one to rush things I suppose? Seriously though... we are going to offer it shortly so any advice on the best type of equipment (Porty only please) to use and any tips would be appreciated.

On a non cleaning note.... I'm going to drive an Indy 500 car next friday. Saturday is my birthday so I figured...what the heck. I'm a bit nervous and excited at the same time. I'm nervous because I'm not the best driver and I'm having visions of me smacking the wall.... yet I'm excited because the speed limit is much higher than 55 and I can't get a ticket! BTW...for those interested I run a Beltronics RX65 Radar/laser detector in my car. They are about $300 and worth every dime! So for those of you who have a heavy foot like me.... look into it. Hell... it saved me from 2 tickets this morning less than 4 miles apart from each other. Cheers!

Sounds like you are doing pretty good Mike but use paragraph breaks in the future. Very hard to read that.

But from what i can understand, No you do not want 10 sites you want1 and 10 links pointing to that 1.But not 10 sites, 10 links, sources. 1 site

 

[BigMike]

I've been blessed so I must give credit to God for the sucess.

I know I should ahve broken that up into paragraphs but this board times you out at a point and it takes me forever to type things out. Sorry..i will try and do better.

What I meant by 10 web sites was I want 10 different sites with addresses located around the city. Each one can be listed in Google Places and will show in search results based on the searchers IP address and where the request comes from. It's kinda hard to explain...if you want to call me sometime I will be happy to explain further. Links are very improtant too though.

 

[Shane Deubell]

I've been blessed so I must give credit to God for the sucess.

I know I should ahve broken that up into paragraphs but this board times you out at a point and it takes me forever to type things out. Sorry..i will try and do better.

What I meant by 10 web sites was I want 10 different sites with addresses located around the city. Each one can be listed in Google Places and will show in search results based on the searchers IP address and where the request comes from. It's kinda hard to explain...if you want to call me sometime I will be happy to explain further. Links are very improtant too though.

No you might want to call me actually, with a relevant site with 100's of links or 1000's you dont need to play games with different IP addresses. Although google changes for each search, even for different people . Still your best bet in a metro area is 1 site and if you want to take listings on top page top 3 really carpet cleaning toldeo} then do it with links pointing to your site, you can take a #1 spot on google with a press release or blog/article you do not need a website.

You would be better off with 5 listings all pointing to the #1 site, then 5 listings with 5 different sites and a whole lot cheaper.

 

[BigMike]

Then perhaps we should talk. I'm certainly open to ideas. Give me a call next week or shoot me an email with you info on it. I want to be ranked in places more so than the generic listings. That's where people look... they look at the map and location. At least thats what I've seemed to notice.

 

[BigMike]

Also... there are several metro areas around Indianapolis...not just Indy. There are some really booming towns within 15 miles of here.

 

[Brian R]

Big Mike, unless you have more than one actual location you will only rank in one city for Google places.
Sometimes one Google Location will bleed into another but I don't see it that often.

You should build pages off your site for every city and get them optimized for that city. Sometimes the "generic" listings will top the Google Places listings and thereby getting looked at first....hopefully.

In your description line for each page you should have your phone number and a quick promo of some sort.

This is the meta tag description behind the scenes.

You do this because Google will usually show the first line or 2 on the listing. If the phone number is showing then the potential customer doesn't have to click the add and they can call you right from the google listing.


By the way, would you like a free listing on Network Home Services?
Just click that link and fill out the form. No strings... but you'll get a quick sales pitch via email. lol

 

[Brian R]

By the way....An older site will have a better chance of ranking higher on Google. It's cool to build more site but keep that in mind.

You can also build a separate page for each category...Like "Tile Cleaning your area" etc. To dominate those Google searches.

Every page should have it's own "subject". Don't try to fit a ton of different stuff on each.....except for the main home page which should be a summery of your site.

Hope this helps.

If you want to talk about design, just let me know.

I'm not a great website builder but I know what works as far as the little stuff.

 

[mirf]

Mike, Sorry if I missed an answer to this question. How much furniture do you move and other than pre-vac, what do you ask the customer to do prior to arriving at their home.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Big Mike, unless you have more than one actual location you will only rank in one city for Google places.
Sometimes one Google Location will bleed into another but I don't see it that often.

You should build pages off your site for every city and get them optimized for that city. Sometimes the "generic" listings will top the Google Places listings and thereby getting looked at first....hopefully.

In your description line for each page you should have your phone number and a quick promo of some sort.

This is the meta tag description behind the scenes.

You do this because Google will usually show the first line or 2 on the listing. If the phone number is showing then the potential customer doesn't have to click the add and they can call you right from the google listing.


By the way, would you like a free listing on Network Home Services?
Just click that link and fill out the form. No strings... but you'll get a quick sales pitch via email. lol

Depends what google places shows up, the old style or the newer style. With the newer style you absolutely can be #1 in other cities with google places, SEO is more important.

but with the older style, yes it is difficult because it is set up to be a map. so closer does matter.

Here both styles come up, crap shoot.

 

[GCP]

congrats

 

[Foothills Phil]

Old thread but I think everyone would like to see how BigMike is doing and if he got his business set up for whole house rates with tile

 

[KevinL]

I haven't seen him here for some time. Someone should give him a call and get him back.

 

[Mikey P]

I doubt he'll be back.


Some things came out at M7F that pointed out where his story didn't jibe...

 

[FB19087]

maybe it didn't....funny thing though....I know a couple people who seem to be doing well after buying into his post

hopefully he comes back....I won't ask for extra peanuts or anything


along the same lines...where is 1kaYear?

 

[Mikey P]

I thought I saw him slumming on the 1postaDay board.

 

[FB19087]

you're going to have to be more specific

 

[Jim Bethel]

Hey Crowley, have you heard what 'BIG mike' is up to? Didn't you guys hang most of the time together at MF?

 

[Brian R]

Big Mike seemed legit to me... Except for the "big" part.

I think most guys who post here have a hard time believing you can actually make money on room or whole house pricing.

Ego can be a devastating thing.

The irony is that same ego won't even let you realize that you are devastated.