Service industry specific wordpress theme!

[nerdwithme]

I would like to build an customizable wordpress theme for owner operator / small service based businesses.

With the recent wordpress update, they've added a TON of options to allow developers to give end users a lot of control over how the website works and looks.

Having these options would allow a small business to customize their site without having to rely heavily on a web developer to maintain it. Small shops and owner operators don't have the kind of funds right up front to afford that kind of service or even a regular webshop. I'd like to offer a prepackaged alternative.

That being said.

What are some features you would look for in a wordpress driven website?

Some of the inspiration for this idea comes from a company that markets directly to the service industry and charges exuberant amounts for customizing themes.

any ideas or questions can be sent to digitaldwr@gmail.com if you don't want them posted here.

 

[Mikey P]

Well David to be honest we plan on offering the same sort of service here so you may want to consider offering wood floor cleaning of dryer vent cleaning cause you dont stand a chance in hell in competing with us...


And tell that goof ball Tre his days are numbered as well.


Good day.

 

[Mikey P]

Maybe that came across a bit harsh.

Your portfolio does look nice. Welcome to MB

 

[FredC]

way to run off a potential advertiser

 

[nerdwithme]

Seriously Mike, I'm not one of the Allens brothers or associated with them in any way shape or form. Its a legitimate offer. The service industry did a lot for me and i truly want to give back to the community. I can understand how touchy MB users are about this sort of thing because historically, the guys that run the other forum haven't been the best ofpeople

I worked for Cleaner's Closet when they were shitting all over that places name. I have no love for them.

 

[nerdwithme]

Also, my old username was Driguy. I explained all this in an intro post that you responded to a few weeks ago and welcomed i offer advice where possible.

 

[Mikey P]

I was just having some fun being a Rob Allen type Nazi.


Give us a day or 3 more and you'll be able to purchase a banner here to sell what ever you want to sell but like Fred said, link dropping can only be tolerated so much when you consider that others are paying good money to play here. We have to be fair.





But at some point Fred/ MB will be competing with you on the ready made sites, just so you know.




and yes, Tre is a huge rip off. $699 a month and Fred can out SEO him currently for $xxx a month.

 

[Mikey P]

 

[nerdwithme]

I'm not selling my services as a web developer. I'm offering the same level of advice one would receive of they asked you about carpet cleaning related stuff. I didn't realize link dropping was frowned upon. How will you guys know that I know what time talking about unless I show you.

 

[Mr Clean Carpet]

Mikey,

I need a website, have any examples of what one would look like(similar to)?

Ezra

 

[Mikey P]

I'm not selling my services as a web developer. I'm offering the same level of advice one would receive of they asked you about carpet cleaning related stuff. I didn't realize link dropping was frowned upon. How will you guys know that I know what time talking about unless I show you.

How about you start by critiquing my site?

WWW.santacruzclean.com

 

[nerdwithme]

Will do

 

[ash_d]

We use wordpress... http://andrewscarpetcleaning.com

 

[nerdwithme]

Andrews,

I'm curious as to your choice of yellow and green for a websites primary color scheme?

My first reaction is that it is very hard on the eyes and I have a difficulty getting over that before i go searching around the rest of the site.

Beyond that, the information looks well organized and presented in a clean, uncluttered manor. How much of that is original content? I'm immediately turned off by the canned stock photos i see on the majority of carpet cleaning websites.

my recommendation would be work on the color scheme. Make sure your content is original and relevant, hire a photographer to follow you around for the day and create your own stock images. Write blog posts about your experiences / day to day of being a carpet cleaning professional. Highlight those posts on the front page some where. I see you have the G+ share button. add facebook and twitter. Also, offer any one that shares a blog post of yours or gives you a good review; a discount on a service for their next visit, $15 per spot instead of $25 or something. (don't offer % off).

Since you are using wordpress there are a few free plugins i would recommend setting up and learning how to use.

SEO manager for wordpress - Free -http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-seo/
This helps you manage your keywords, meta description, dynamic titles and dozens of other SEO related meta data, on a per page and per post basis. It is ridiculously robust.

Google Sitemap Generator - Free - http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/goo ... generator/
Helps you create up to date site maps based on the 'expire headers' of your content. basically, ever time you update your websites content, it regenerates the site map and submits them to google, bing, yahoo and ask automatically

Google Analytics - Free - http://yoast.com/wordpress/google-analy ... ntent=v420
Allows you to set up Google analytics quick and easy on your site. So you can go to your GA admin panel and view who's been going to your site. On a more specific note, installing this and enabling some of the more robust features can help you track conversions.

Contact Form Generator - Free - http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/contact-form-7/
Allows you to generate custom, robust forms on your website. So that people can send you messages, ask for quotes and etc. Very easy to use.

Share-this Plugin - Free http://sharethis.com/#sthash.4cEu26mR
this is a tool that will add social share buttons to the bottom of all of your pages and posts. Its a great way for customers to share all the great things they may think bout your company. Also, using a plugin like this will help your site get recognition for every time it is mentioned on social networking sites like Facebook or twitter.

 

[Mikey P]

egAds!


yellow and green?


I'm color blind and still offended.

 

[ash_d]

It's a well known 50 year old company I purchased 5 years ago. I try to keep the marketing cohesive and since all the vehicles are that color.... Personally I would love to dump the colors but the cost to do so would be pretty high. Maybe down the road...

 

[nerdwithme]

no one is going to associate the over all branding of your green vans unless you are Serv-Pro.

Your website isn't for you, it is for your clients. Above any other consideration a website should offer a great user experience. The colors are immediately off putting. Yellow and green could possibly work if they were not as saturated.

here is an example. Green is hard to work with because it can look wildly different on different monitors depending on their color profile

http://puu.sh/NY3V

I used a softer yellow and green. I added a texture to the green and make the logo some what letterpressed into the green.