Do i need a website? - Page 2 - Cleaning Talk - Professional Cleaning and Restoration Forum

wbell · 05-22-2008, 10:59 AM

Ken, thank you for the feedback. I have been working with Ropofam on the exact issues you identified. He is a friend...so there are some challenges. I want to give him a chance, but will change direction if I need to.

Thanks again and I expect to be on page 1 of a search shortly.

Wil

Lou · 05-27-2008, 04:47 PM

I'm looking to have my site redone...I'm fortunate that my web designer is a good friend of mine. He actually brought it up to me that his skill level risen. and that my site appears boring now. I told him what we do is a tight niche.
I'm never going to have hundreds of hits a day like his other sites produce. He said to me "That's where I'm wrong".
We'll see. That being said, I have to say the website has made me $$$$.

PressurePros · 05-27-2008, 06:01 PM

Lou, you may be surprised. I get 300 uniques a day. At least 100 of those are local. I get a ton of leads from the net. It is hands down the cheapest form of effective advertising. That's why its worth it to take the additional step and have SEO work done on your website so it ranks.

Lou · 05-27-2008, 07:10 PM

I very recently becoming aware of this SEO stuff you speak of. I'm really ignorant about these matters. Should I ever get a handle on it I should be dangerous.

dryates · 06-09-2008, 05:29 PM

I, like TailoredMaid, went through microsoft office small business. Their templates are very professional, and they offer great advice on how to set up a website that looks professional and attracts traffic... for free. Pricing through microsoft for a domain was phenominal. $14.95, and fee is waved the first year. With Microsoft all you pay for are adwords. Pick your own price per word starting at $.05 per click. I have tried other web designers, and you cannot beat microsoft office small business.

check out my microsoft website at dustbunniesgreen.com.

PressurePros · 06-09-2008, 10:04 PM

dryates,

Great use of color, graphics and clean layout. Now get somebody to SEO that site so it will rank and you are set.

PPC is a very big money waster in the long run.

CleaningMike · 06-09-2008, 10:09 PM

I like those helpful hints you have for cleaning. Thought the url is kind of long:
http://dustbunniesgreen.web.officelive.com/default.aspx

The officelve.com/default.aspx part, is there any way to change that, shorten that? The "default" especially seems out of place.

TailoredMaid · 06-09-2008, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PressurePros

dryates,

Great use of color, graphics and clean layout. Now get somebody to SEO that site so it will rank and you are set.

PPC is a very big money waster in the long run.

I did my own optimization and stayed clear of PPC. Office Live has it built right in (if you know where to find it).

For anyone that wants to do SEO with Office Live, click on "design site" and your page manager will come up. Click on the "properties" tab and your page summary will come up. Look at the tabs on top (there will be two) and select the Search Engine Optimization tab. Enter your keywords and description for each page and you are done! Make sure you click on "save".

PressurePros · 06-10-2008, 08:18 PM

Torrey, let me put this in perspective. The level of SEO you are talking about would be comparable to walking into a residential cleaning and shaking out the doormat. It gets you started but doesn't even begin to get the actual ball rolling. Everything has to be addressed. Keyword density in the text, alt image tags, the title of the page, external link structure, internal link structure, the quality of from where your links are coming, halfway decent code, etc. Those all have to be performed by someone with knowlege and/or experience. On the bright side, its not difficult to rank locally for searches.

TailoredMaid · 06-10-2008, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PressurePros

Torrey, let me put this in perspective. The level of SEO you are talking about would be comparable to walking into a residential cleaning and shaking out the doormat. It gets you started but doesn't even begin to get the actual ball rolling. Everything has to be addressed. Keyword density in the text, alt image tags, the title of the page, external link structure, internal link structure, the quality of from where your links are coming, halfway decent code, etc. Those all have to be performed by someone with knowlege and/or experience. On the bright side, its not difficult to rank locally for searches.

Ken,

You are absolutely correct. It took me months to get my ranking for the top 8 links of the Google top 10. I had to consider ALL of the above and integrate it into my site.

I didn't mean to imply that the addition of SEO on Office Live were the only thing you needed to do. I just wanted to pass along where you can find it to utilize it.

You covered everything else very well. Most people don't even know what dmoz is, let alone what it will do for them. If you don't know the basics, leave it to a professional.

ICleanUSA · 08-05-2008, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CleaningMike

....Thought the url is kind of long:
http://dustbunniesgreen.web.officelive.com/default.aspx

The officelve.com/default.aspx part, is there any way to change that, shorten that?

To get rid of the "web.officelive.com..." stuff you can register your own domain name and have it forwarded to your site. That way you can advertise the friendly name on your van, business cards, etc.
(just looked... that's what the www.dustbunniesgreen.com domain is doing) Some places also offer masking, which would forward it and supposedly hide the "web.officelive.com" stuff too.

For small businesses I also like the DIY websites with professionally designed templates. Pretty easy, you just focus on the message you want to say. At the place I've seen them they have 5 page, 10 page and unlimited packages. The 5-page runs around $4/mo.

Something similar to this is to use a content management system. They require a little more experience for the installation, but then you can manage the content yourself. Just log in and change the pages. The one I've used most is Etomite, and it is a free script.

1stclasscleaningnyc · 08-07-2008, 01:46 AM

hello.
you must make your website which will improve your visibility amongst the people and internet.and do the seo which will bring business to your door step.

uberklean · 08-27-2008, 01:40 PM

Joomla is what I use to build websites. It's got a bit of a learning curve, but once it's up it's very easy to add content, optimize, and if you work with a template, can make it really stellar

trinitybrown · 12-02-2008, 03:08 AM

I think if you have it it will help you to gain some good projects and also people find it an easy way to contact you

foreclosure-cleaning · 12-06-2008, 04:35 PM

Yep, you need a website. Clients shop for info online. So many quick start website services out there, there's no need to NOT have one these days. I did our company's website: foreclosurecleanupbusiness.com and foreclosurecleanup.biz.

There's no negative to having a website, and they are affordable these days. Let your business work for you while you sleep. Take a couple of hours and put one up.

Go for it!

Foreclosure-Cleaning

TailoredMaid · 12-07-2008, 11:22 PM

Forclosure...

Logging in tonight I've come across a lot of "plugs" for your biz/website. It's one thing to say "I did our own website" and leave it at that -- but it becomes a shameless plug when you include your web address it in virtually every post you make. You may want to double check your site agreement about advertising and do like the rest of us do...either buy advertising space on the site or simply put your website in your signature without directing anyone to it for profit.

I am sure others who have been here longer than I could vouch for this as a good way to get off on the right foot.

foreclosure-cleaning · 12-08-2008, 08:28 AM

Thank you for your feedback. Have a busy day. I'm certainly off to one.

divine190 · 01-23-2009, 01:08 AM

It is very important to have a web presence, it would take some 25 % of your working time to get your site hosted, and its best to get it professionally done and that ways you can find customers who only look into and rely only on online directory listings, trust me this is a growing mentality.

Xtreme Klene · 05-22-2009, 09:00 AM

I made my own also, and hosted it with Ipower.com for less than 100.00 per year.

aqualux · 05-24-2009, 02:59 PM

You could also find a freelance designer locally... you might even get better rates.

The website itself will not bring you business, until you really market it, which will take some time and effort. I'd say now most of my business comes from online.