[ben smith1234]

all gone down hill since we had our new website made for us. we offer upto 50% off all carpet & upholstery cleaning,
do you think we are priced too highly?
www.bcs-cleaning-services.com

[TheWindowManChris]

all gone down hill since we had our new website made for us. we offer upto 50% off all carpet & upholstery cleaning,
do you think we are priced too highly?
www.bcs-cleaning-services.com

Your prices are there so nobody needs to call.    We are same sort prices as you but your website part of a larger marketing.    We do leaflet, Door to Door and we soon to do a Shopping Centre Demo

[Craigp]

Looks like your copying someone? the blind leading the blind?

Looks like a rip off Smart Clean if I'm honest.

[TheWindowManChris]

The website is a bit too busy!

I hate the '100% satisfaction guarantee'  over the images.   Make the images stand out and I would expect from a decent company to ALWAYS have 100% Satisfaction Guarantee without need for a stupid icon.

Plus put a Geo Address there.   If you don't want use your home address go and rent a Virtual Address and I am sure they be a Regus or a Serviced Offices in your area to use. - People trust companies who put there address there as it sort of links people to a office of some sort.

[dan paton]

Maybe you could show us your website window man.. Then we could all see how it's done 

[TheWindowManChris]

Maybe you could show us your website window man.. Then we could all see how it's done 

Or Not.

As I am still doing my website up.

[Carpet Dawg]

no offence but I don't like your gallery! The images there are pretty bad and all over the place. you've got grass cutting mixed with window cleaning, along with carpet cleaning, pressure washing etc etc. They are in no order and the images themselves are not good.

The prices are not cheap but not expensive either. Middle of the road i'd say but try taking them off the site for a month, see if you get more calls. Having the prices there gives people less reason to call you and its always easier to sell to them once you have them on the phone.

[Craigp]

Have you been copying this site?

http://www.smartclean.net/

Your prices are exactly the same.

Yeah take the prices off, your get calls then.

[from edge2edge]

Ben what exactly does half price mean .half of your normal prices or half of a guess at what expensive people charge.Regards Alan

[Mike Halliday]

this pricing structure will work because you have copied it from a company who runs a 7 truck operation, common sense dictates if it works for them, then it will work for you

[wynne jones]

Operations like Smart Clean have deep pockets, but eventually they have to tighten their belt, you know like not paying technicians very much or cutting back on adwords to the point the phone doesn't ring so much and then suddenly they are no more.

[Simon Gerrard]

Get rid of the prices and get whoever wrote your carpet cleaning page to try and engage the reader and get them so they want to ring you, rather than telling them all about a Blazer Plus which means nothing to them. Telling them you use a Truck Mounted Cleaning System that is up to twenty times more powerful than your competitors machines and leaves carpet dry in hours, not days, is of interest to them, especially when backed up by real before and after pictures because they use them to help them to decide to ring you.
The idea is to get people interested enough in the uniqueness of your service to call you for a price but if you already told them the price then they have no need to ring you.
It is also in my view a huge mistake to make carpet cleaning about price because it isn't - it's about quality.

Simon

[davep]

Plus the fact you are supposedly working half price smells of desperation

Are they the full prices you have charged in the past? If not trading standards could come knocking.

[Ian Gourlay]

I think you should have tested the prices with a 5000 leaflet campaign before putting on Web Site.

I would suggest 5000 Leaflets with no price

and 5000 with prices.

On an ideal World to the same area with say a 3 month gap

If not to similar demographic Catchment areas

[Craigp]

this pricing structure will work because you have copied it from a company who runs a 7 truck operation, common sense dictates if it works for them, then it will work for you

I was told theres a little exaggeration there. (7 TMs)

Who said it's working for them? This is an assertion.

[Simon Gerrard]

There is a huge element of the market that couldn't really give a dam about prices (within reason) and simply ignore low prices because low prices are associated with low quality and all the problems they brings with it.
What attracts the right kind of customer is the promise of a quality, professional job, so I think as a business you need to decide which part of the market you want to focus on. You also need to dump the misguided notion that you can only fill your diary if you offer low prices and the fact that you are not getting any calls or bookings might well prove that point.
Set yourself up as a top notch professional carpet cleaner and forget what your competitors are charging, otherwise you'll end up being a slave to other people's pricing and find yourself in a position where your competitors and not you dictate how much money you can make.

Simon

[Craigp]

Good post there Simon, rush of blood was it, lol


Spot on there.

[Simon Gerrard]

 

[garry22]

Ben, how does the traffic compare from the new site to the old one?

Is it the same, more or reduced? I cannot find your site on searches for what your designers have put as your main targets (Gloucester, Stroud etc).

It might be that people simply cannot find you now.

The site's basic on site optimisation could be better and the off site stuff seems pretty much non existent. I presume that this site is not finished yet?

There does not appear to be any focal point (hence the earlier comments about "busy). I found my eyes wondering all over the page.

A quick fix might be to get rid of that huge image at the top of each page and show them the relevant stuff underneath. Take notice of Simon's comment about what people are looking for.

To be honest, your price table may be the least of your problems at the moment.

[Mike Halliday]

this pricing structure will work because you have copied it from a company who runs a 7 truck operation, common sense dictates if it works for them, then it will work for you

I was told theres a little exaggeration there. (7 TMs)

Who said it's working for them? This is an assertion.

I'm a big believer in giving people the benefit of the doubt, why would they put these prices on their website if they did'nt work?   they don't look like a daft company.

it easy for someone to say prices on website don't work or are a bad idea but they've never done it so are just guessing. if i was not a carpet cleaner i would see them prices and just book them, if it was too expensive for me i would look elsewhere but if that was the case then it would not alter if i called them and asked the price it still would have been too expensive.

prices act as a filter to get rid of the price shopper, and don't say you can convert price shopper when they call because some just don't have the money, so no matter how good you are on the phone they will not book. they'll agree with everything you say, then tell you they need to speak to their partner before booking and you'll never hear from them again.

[Craigp]

***why would they put these prices on their website if they did'nt work?***

Why do some people do groupon?



The problem with prices on site is someone comes along copy's 'half price' but slightly lower, then another, I seen it happen, how do you overcome that problem?

[TheWindowManChris]

Operations like Smart Clean have deep pockets, but eventually they have to tighten their belt, you know like not paying technicians very much or cutting back on adwords to the point the phone doesn't ring so much and then suddenly they are no more.

WHAT that got to do with his website?  You can still make mega money and which I not looked at there business in depth however you can do Volume / Quantity than Quality / Volume.   Which means if you do 40 cleans at £22(£880) while you may only done 20 cleans at £30 (£600).   As you can see you be better doing 40 cleans at lower rate.  

What you could pick up on thou for your website is following
CleanSmart and EVERY good sales staff will say

Sell on your FABS (Features & Benefits) from Start
BCS Cleaning - Your features are.... 100% Money back guarantee, Best Value Guarantee.    Then as you climb into the many menu I start to get your Reason for picking BCS.

CleanSmart - They do Quick Drying, They move the furniture, they fully insured, Fully trained staff and expert stain removal.  

So Top Tips,  
1 ) Replace your Services on first page on banner with your FABS
2 ) Consumers LOVE wee Guides and information and they more often to pick you as your company sounds like they know what they are doing
3 ) Keep prices but increase your area of Phone number. (If you want a Freephone number just let me know as I know a man with a dog who can give you one for free)

Overall - Both websites have good information.   SmartClean I would be worried to invite in incase they do pushy sales but on your website I would feel like you are honest chap who give me best advice which is what you need to give.

[ben smith1234]

thankyou for all you advise guys.

Traffic is minimal.

Really looking for info to help me out as I'm asking web designers to change things but they are saying they are fine as they are

Also when paid for website we was told comes with full seo setup.
But don't think the keywords they have put in for our site a wright?

They are telling us google don't use meta keywords anymore but other people are telling us that they do

[wynne jones]

If you radically change the content of your homepage, you are bound to have a fluctuation in your ranking, especially if you change what keyword phrase you are going for.

[Mike Roper]

I have had good feedback of customers new and old from my website- no prices but lots of good reasons for them to call me.
www.carpetcleaningwhitby.co.uk
Mike

[ben smith1234]

If you radically change the content of your homepage, you are bound to have a fluctuation in your ranking, especially if you change what keyword phrase you are going for.

That is very true.
the meta keywords the web designers have chosen are only town names so will be hard to get much traffic from those words.

Typed into google- carpet cleaning Stroud and we are not found on rankings at all.

[TheWindowManChris]

thankyou for all you advise guys.

Traffic is minimal.

Really looking for info to help me out as I'm asking web designers to change things but they are saying they are fine as they are

Also when paid for website we was told comes with full seo setup.
But don't think the keywords they have put in for our site a wright?

They are telling us google don't use meta keywords anymore but other people are telling us that they do

A Good Website Designer will change the website as per client request.

Just ask them to show the SEO set up and it can take a couple weeks for google to pick up on it.   Plus Google did get rid of Meta Keywords about 2 years ago.   But other search engines still use them and many people think they use keywords but what they are putting on there site is Relevancy links for google such as;
Person searches Carpet Cleaner in Moo Town
and your website says Carpet Cleaner in Moo Town and which google then view your website as MORE relevant than your website says Carpet Cleaner that covers Moo Town, Nae Town, Bah Town, Oink Town as your words do not tick all boxes.   - That is my understanding of it however I am not any way a Pro Website Designer. 

If you want that Freephone number or any number I can give you details of a guy I used and I love my phone number as it cleaver and I can find out where leads come from.

[Mike Halliday]

I have had good feedback of customers new and old from my website- no prices but lots of good reasons for them to call me.
www.carpetcleaningwhitby.co.uk
Mike

Mike unless you  look like Quasimodo I would have your picture as part of your 'mike roper of Whitby' logo that shows on every page.

[ben smith1234]

Chris- the web designer will change parts of my site only for a charge tho.
I did ask for them to add a video of carpet cleaner in action. But they will only add a video for a charge aswell

[TheWindowManChris]

I have had good feedback of customers new and old from my website- no prices but lots of good reasons for them to call me.
www.carpetcleaningwhitby.co.uk
Mike

Plus a nice picture of you and your van!   Maybe spread across bonnet   or even just sitting in driving seat with giving the thumbs up.

[TheWindowManChris]

Chris- the web designer will change parts of my site only for a charge tho.
I did ask for them to add a video of carpet cleaner in action. But they will only add a video for a charge aswell

How does the website sit?  As can you edit it? or have they locked it?

[ben smith1234]

Sorry what do you mean by that?

[TheWindowManChris]

Sorry what do you mean by that?

So how is the website made is it made on WordPress or etc?

[ben smith1234]

To be honest I havnt got a clue

[TheWindowManChris]

To be honest I havnt got a clue

Ask them?

[JandS]

 "Which means if you do 40 cleans at £22(£880) while you may only done 20 cleans at £30 (£600).   As you can see you be better doing 40 cleans at lower rate."

Twice as much work for less money?? I'd prefer 20 cleans @£600.
Half as much travelling and half as much wear and tear on you machinery and tackle and half as much time spent working.

[TheWindowManChris]

"Which means if you do 40 cleans at £22(£880) while you may only done 20 cleans at £30 (£600).   As you can see you be better doing 40 cleans at lower rate."

Twice as much work for less money?? I'd prefer 20 cleans @£600.
Half as much travelling and half as much wear and tear on you machinery and tackle and half as much time spent working.

You be using same amount wear and tear but on shorter time but all it means if your buying regular and buying bulk you can haggle prices.   I sure did when i bought kit.

[ben smith1234]

"Which means if you do 40 cleans at £22(£880) while you may only done 20 cleans at £30 (£600).   As you can see you be better doing 40 cleans at lower rate."

Twice as much work for less money?? I'd prefer 20 cleans @£600.
Half as much travelling and half as much wear and tear on you machinery and tackle and half as much time spent working.

I agree with you jands
It's all good making £800
But travelling and expenses that come out of that we will be left with not alot

[garry22]

Also when paid for website we was told comes with full seo setup.
But don't think the keywords they have put in for our site a wright?

They are telling us google don't use meta keywords anymore but other people are telling us that they do

Ben, what concerns me here is the lack of even basic on site SEO. We are not talking advanced site architecture here, we are talking things like the lack of a relevant page title containing the words "carpet cleaning" and "stroud". Stroud is not a big place and should not be too competitive.

If designers are talking about keyword meta tags, then you have a right to be a little concerned. Ten years ago that might have been ultra important but not now. Is yours one of the £ 399.00 sites?

It looks like your site is editable, so you should be able to change a lot of it yourself.

[ben smith1234]

Also when paid for website we was told comes with full seo setup.
But don't think the keywords they have put in for our site a wright?

They are telling us google don't use meta keywords anymore but other people are telling us that they do

Ben, what concerns me here is the lack of even basic on site SEO. We are not talking advanced site architecture here, we are talking things like the lack of a relevant page title containing the words "carpet cleaning" and "stroud". Stroud is not a big place and should not be too competitive.



all gone down hill since we had our new website made for us. we offer upto 50% off all carpet & upholstery cleaning,
do you think we are priced too highly?
www.bcs-cleaning-services.com

Gary- just talking to them now.

It can be edited only if I have adobe dream weaver software.

Site wasn't mega expensive it was £600

But they are saying everything is my fault and all the keywords need to be written into the page which they clearly are not.
I havnt a clue about web design or seo , that is why they are professionals they should tell me what to write and the best way to optimise my performance but they never had.
They wrote all in info on every page and as a novice I thought it was all good but clearly not


If designers are talking about keyword meta tags, then you have a right to be a little concerned. Ten years ago that might have been ultra important but not now. Is yours one of the £ 399.00 sites?

It looks like your site is editable, so you should be able to change a lot of it yourself.

[TheWindowManChris]

Also when paid for website we was told comes with full seo setup.
But don't think the keywords they have put in for our site a wright?

They are telling us google don't use meta keywords anymore but other people are telling us that they do

Ben, what concerns me here is the lack of even basic on site SEO. We are not talking advanced site architecture here, we are talking things like the lack of a relevant page title containing the words "carpet cleaning" and "stroud". Stroud is not a big place and should not be too competitive.



all gone down hill since we had our new website made for us. we offer upto 50% off all carpet & upholstery cleaning,
do you think we are priced too highly?
www.bcs-cleaning-services.com

Gary- just talking to them now.

It can be edited only if I have adobe dream weaver software.

Site wasn't mega expensive it was £600

But they are saying everything is my fault and all the keywords need to be written into the page which they clearly are not.
I havnt a clue about web design or seo , that is why they are professionals they should tell me what to write and the best way to optimise my performance but they never had.
They wrote all in info on every page and as a novice I thought it was all good but clearly not


If designers are talking about keyword meta tags, then you have a right to be a little concerned. Ten years ago that might have been ultra important but not now. Is yours one of the £ 399.00 sites?

It looks like your site is editable, so you should be able to change a lot of it yourself.

Adobe Dreamweaver is okay to use BUT NIGHTMARE!   My best bet would be to pay to get it converted to WordPress or etc.   

So can I ask what did your Web Designer do if they said it was all your fault.   My view is You asked them to build a website and for it to be SEO friendly!   Which they needed to do correct steps to make it SEO friendly.   Which this is why I don't like web designers.

What type of contract did you draw up?  This could be key to getting some money back.   

[ben smith1234]

there was no contract

[ben smith1234]

Also when paid for website we was told comes with full seo setup.
But don't think the keywords they have put in for our site a wright?

They are telling us google don't use meta keywords anymore but other people are telling us that they do

Ben, what concerns me here is the lack of even basic on site SEO. We are not talking advanced site architecture here, we are talking things like the lack of a relevant page title containing the words "carpet cleaning" and "stroud". Stroud is not a big place and should not be too competitive.

If designers are talking about keyword meta tags, then you have a right to be a little concerned. Ten years ago that might have been ultra important but not now. Is yours one of the £ 399.00 sites?

It looks like your site is editable, so you should be able to change a lot of it yourself.

i did think you had to have something like carpet cleaning stroud,gloucester, gloucestershire etc in the page to get it recognised.

all i was told was to keep posting a link to my page trough customers and between 4days- 4 weeks google will start to recognise my site

[ben smith1234]

   Query   Impressions   Clicks   CTR   Avg. position
bcs cleaning services   <10   <10   -   5.3
bcs cleaning   22   <10   -   6.8
bcs carpet cleaning   <10   <10   -   10
gutter cleaning services   <10   <10   -   320
carpet cleaning gloucester   <10   <10   -   100
bcs cleaning maintenance   <10   <10   -   9.0
pub carpet   <10   <10   -   23
conservatory cleaning   <10   <10   -   22
roof tile cleaning   <10   <10   -   49


this is what is coming up on webmasters

[petermaybury]

I get a lot of business because of the 50% off on the smart clean site. They have had 50 % off since they started several years ago. .Do they really believe that sensible people are going to fall for that. People get a comparison price and realise it is bull and prefer to do business with credible people.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

[Timmy Boy]

Hi Ben
My honest first impression is jack of all trades. I think that you wouldn't get any more calls even if you removed the pricing as it just feels too busy (for me anyway). Not saying that my website hasn't got as many services, it has but they are not all coming at you at once. If you lose some of the .no1 cleaning etc it will be a bit less busy.
Regards
Tim
www.mcsclean.co.uk

[TheWindowManChris]

Hi Ben
My honest first impression is jack of all trades. I think that you wouldn't get any more calls even if you removed the pricing as it just feels too busy (for me anyway). Not saying that my website hasn't got as many services, it has but they are not all coming at you at once. If you lose some of the .no1 cleaning etc it will be a bit less busy.
Regards
Tim
www.mcsclean.co.uk

I like your website as its nice and clean however some weird format thing is going on with your Phone Number.

[ben smith1234]

Hi Ben
My honest first impression is jack of all trades. I think that you wouldn't get any more calls even if you removed the pricing as it just feels too busy (for me anyway). Not saying that my website hasn't got as many services, it has but they are not all coming at you at once. If you lose some of the .no1 cleaning etc it will be a bit less busy.
Regards
Tim
www.mcsclean.co.uk

your website link doesnt work on our comp

[ben smith1234]

Hi Ben
My honest first impression is jack of all trades. I think that you wouldn't get any more calls even if you removed the pricing as it just feels too busy (for me anyway). Not saying that my website hasn't got as many services, it has but they are not all coming at you at once. If you lose some of the .no1 cleaning etc it will be a bit less busy.
Regards
Tim
www.mcsclean.co.uk

I like your website as its nice and clean however some weird format thing is going on with your Phone Number.

all looks ok on my screen :S

[TheWindowManChris]

the number at the top its between the 53 which some weird gap between them.

[peter maybury]

I really think that you should be trying to sell the quality aspect for a long term business. I know from personal experience that customer loyalty is so important especially when new customers are so much harder and more expensive to get. You cannot do a good job cheap and quickly. You do need volume but quality of work is paramount. Customers will never say the things to your face that they will say to other people.
I met a guy a couple of weeks ago that cleans carpets with a rug doctor and quotes £25 a lounge, when he get to the customer he tries to talk them into spending more more. He will never have the customer loyalty to buy better equipment.
Poeple will only be conned once but they will come back for a quality service.
You can advertise gimmicks and discounts but unless you are sound and doing a really first class job then you will be having to advertise extensively to replace the customers that do not come back. Paying top wack for discount customers will not give you a good return. A certain type of customer is attracted by stupid discounts and inflated prices.

Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.comhttp://

[Craigp]

Never a truer word said Peter.

[Mike Halliday]

Peter how many vans do smart clean have? Are they a big 7 van business ?

I can't help thinking if they have multiple vans and have been using this price  offer several years it's because it works

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

A friend of mine has a fencing business, making panels, posts etc and fitting.

Turnover approaching 2M, we were chatting the other day and his profit is about the same as mine.

Cheers

Doug

[Craigp]

Mike it's 4 TMs.

I don't know why they say 7 and xx employees, it must be for the benefit of other carpet cleaners maybe,  

Some people just want to be top dog.

[JandS]

I'd never employ a tradesman who advertised multiple skills, especially one with as many as yours.
A friend of a family member does this and I've seen first hand the workmanship, in fact I see it every day it's called my fitted back kitchen door.
Having said that he's very well off.

[G O Cleaning]

I'd never employ a tradesman who advertised multiple skills, especially one with as many as yours.
A friend of a family member does this and I've seen first hand the workmanship, in fact I see it every day it's called my fitted back kitchen door.
Having said that he's very well off.

If think you need to change that statement  to ' never again'  as you obviously did at one stage.

 There is a difference between using a 'Odd job' company that carry's out 'light' buiding work, decorating etc and a cleaning company that covers various services in the Cleaning sector.

We offer numerous services as we are a 'Cleaning Company', as long as you provide a high level of service in every area I really dont see the problem, well let me rephrase that, we dont have a problem  and as you said yourself, your friend is  'very well off' .

Ref to the site, I would remove pointless  logos '50% OFF '  'UKs NO 1 cleaning Comp' and change that pressure washing pic (tarmac) as it looks like you have damaged the surface ! Actually probably remove all the photos at the top, as said change break down gallery so its relevant to each service, Small things like the face book link dont appear to work.

[Andrew Briscoe]

Agree with abaove post, we have a cleaning company,
set off cleaning carpets, then diversified to contract office cleaning, pressure washing, etc etc. Have trained staff in all depts, always have loads of work, and very rarely discount anything, and charge mid to high range, compared to others around us.

Can never understand why people discount work, my staff wouldnt accept less in their pay packets.

[bennymon]

Correct lots of things advertised I would look at it and think you below par at everything or your sending out someone on minimum wage to do the jobs . You should concentrate on a couple of things you are best at . And if it's not carpet cleaning leave it to the rest of us lol   del

[garry22]

Ben, have the designers given you ftp details?

These will be ftp://www.bcs-cleaning-services.com/   with a username and password.

If they have, you do not need Dreamweaver. There are a couple of free programs that will do the job (not quite as well but good enough).

[ben smith1234]

Garry- no I don't think so I can ask them

[peter maybury]

Mike they do not have that many vans on the road but give the impression that they are bigger than they are. But as you know Mike a truckmount can do a lot of work. I do not see their vans about that frequently recently.
I am not a big organisation but I do a lot of volume work.
Over the years I have taken on many of their customers.  I have had a few situations where I have done stain removal following their visits. One in particular was a tenant who had had his carpets cleaned the day before handing the property back. After they had left, the customer went up stairs to find some small existing ink stains had run into big stains. When he contacted smart clean ( this is not long after they had left), he was told they were too busy to return. The person in question was worried about losing his bond.
My biggest problem with growth is finding contentious people who will uphold my name and reputation it is a nightmare and something we are all up against.
I really do go the extra mile to try to provide a superb service and like to think that I have a better than most customer loyalty rate than most.
Peter
Peter

[ben smith1234]

Garry- this is the reply I got...

No URL you can log in to yourself but there FTP details to log in using an FTP client

[TheWindowManChris]

Mike they do not have that many vans on the road but give the impression that they are bigger than they are. But as you know Mike a truckmount can do a lot of work. I do not see their vans about that frequently recently.
I am not a big organisation but I do a lot of volume work.
Over the years I have taken on many of their customers.  I have had a few situations where I have done stain removal following their visits. One in particular was a tenant who had had his carpets cleaned the day before handing the property back. After they had left, the customer went up stairs to find some small existing ink stains had run into big stains. When he contacted smart clean ( this is not long after they had left), he was told they were too busy to return. The person in question was worried about losing his bond.
My biggest problem with growth is finding contentious people who will uphold my name and reputation it is a nightmare and something we are all up against.
I really do go the extra mile to try to provide a superb service and like to think that I have a better than most customer loyalty rate than most.
Peter
Peter

To keep good service with staff.

One business I heard about does following when you get a welcome pack and on first page it says.

If your not happy in the way that the garage deals with your problem call our Managing Director Home Number on XXX  and it work so she says!   She says when somebody say 'I am going to call your Managing Director'  They might actully call the Managing Director!

[garry22]

Garry- this is the reply I got...

No URL you can log in to yourself but there FTP details to log in using an FTP client

Ben,

1/You log in with the ftp details. FTP stands for "file transfer protocol". It's a sort of universal way to move files on and off a server.

2/ Download the files (using the FTP client - that's free software)

3/ Edit and the save files (using any editor, from Dreamweaver to again, some free software).

4/ Load the edited files back up to the server (again, using the FTP software).

It's pretty easy to do. The editing will only really be changing titles etc. You just have to make sure that you keep a complete back up of all the files in case you drop a big goolie somewhere along the way.

[peter maybury]

Marketing is a very important aspect of this business but if you do not have the ability to do a first class job then do not bother. If you can only advertise inflated prices and stupid discounts to dupe people into using your service. But are not providing a good service, then you are no better than the conmen that we see on cowboy builders and rougue traders etc.
To my mind if anybody can offer a constant 50% discount week in week out, year in year out then the advertised prices are not realistic in the first place. Short term this will hoodwink people but if they see this happening over a period of time, they become wise to it. It is like the jokes about carpet right and dfs and why the office of fair trading is looking into them.
Some people have very good websites and use adwords probably because the need to, my sites are a mess, I do not have time to spend on them and if I had websites as good as others people I would not have the quality of staff to do the job that I want to give my customers.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

[ben smith1234]

Marketing is a very important aspect of this business but if you do not have the ability to do a first class job then do not bother. If you can only advertise inflated prices and stupid discounts to dupe people into using your service. But are not providing a good service, then you are no better than the conmen that we see on cowboy builders and rougue traders etc.
To my mind if anybody can offer a constant 50% discount week in week out, year in year out then the advertised prices are not realistic in the first place. Short term this will hoodwink people but if they see this happening over a period of time, they become wise to it. It is like the jokes about carpet right and dfs and why the office of fair trading is looking into them.


Some people have very good websites and use adwords probably because the need to, my sites are a mess, I do not have time to spend on them and if I had websites as good as others people I would not have the quality of staff to do the job that I want to give my customers.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

Our company are far from being cowboys

[Steve9]

I worked in sales for many years for a lot big well known companies.

At one particular place we offered 45% off list price as our standard price.

I thought it was ridiculous! Why not lower the list price and offer 5 or 10% (to equal the same discounted price) to seem a bit more realistic!?

But, for whatever reason it worked and 80% of people felt they were getting a good deal (I thought they were a bit silly but it helped me hit targets so I didn't complain!)

For me personally the 50% thing off isn't for me. I'd rather do something different to all the other CC'ers doing that 'deal'. But I wouldn't say these people belong on rogue traders! It's just a business model they've chosen to go by and I'm sure it works in a lot of cases!

[Hilton]

I dont think the general public, me included, are taken in by 10% off or what ever % it is anymore, its so old hat

10% off what exactly ?

Its lazy marketing in my opinion.

[neil 47]

i have been advertising on fb and i can assure you the 50% off works , all they are interested in is the cheapest job.

But jobs that come from the websites will pay more , i've found that once they have read the content they have made there minds up to use me ,
I know this as they will leave me answer phone messages and ring back more than once .

so content is what you are afte,r and get them to  trust and like YOU.

Also ranking high is easier than you all think but you have to treat it as a ongoing job , when your organic ranking drops below 3rd place no one will call.
  I have a couple of websites i can tell by the number of call i get that my ranking has improved .

for me I would concentrate on putting videos on your site after uploading onto utube then write some articles and help people, give them free information ie stain removal tips , your ranking will then improve build links in a natural manner and as mike says get your photo up there and address.

Good luck Neil

[garry22]

This thread (and in particular, that web design company) has really annoyed me.

They seem to be stuck in a time warp, doing things that were effective a long time ago but not now. Looking at their site, they appear to be the proverbial "jack of all trades" as mentioned above.

What grates is that (not for the first time) a carpet cleaner with very little internet marketing knowledge (and why would they have?) has been effectively ripped off and treated shabbily afterwards. £ 600.00 should be plenty enough for a basic site. I would expect some more advanced stuff in that price range.

[ben smith1234]

This thread (and in particular, that web design company) has really annoyed me.

They seem to be stuck in a time warp, doing things that were effective a long time ago but not now. Looking at their site, they appear to be the proverbial "jack of all trades" as mentioned above.

What grates is that (not for the first time) a carpet cleaner with very little internet marketing knowledge (and why would they have?) has been effectively ripped off and treated shabbily afterwards. £ 600.00 should be plenty enough for a basic site. I would expect some more advanced stuff in that price range.

This is exactly what I'm feeling. We should be getting a lot more than what they have done for us.
Now they don't want to know as they are too busy with other jobs

[ben smith1234]

Also I have been asking for an invoice for over a week now and the designer who sends them is ill so can't send me an invoice.
Starting to really get on my nerves now!!

[ben smith1234]

Garry- this is what the web designer is so say going to do now...

Adding keywords in to page URLs and to page titles, creating heading tags with keywords for the titles of each section of each page, separating each page from the original home page template so each page has its own set of meta keywords and meta descriptions, adding keywords in to page content relevant to each page, changing the names of the images on each relevant page so that its relevant to the page content, adding back links in to each page for relevant pages, updating the links on each page for each associated page as well as a few other bits and bobs

[TheWindowManChris]

Also I have been asking for an invoice for over a week now and the designer who sends them is ill so can't send me an invoice.
Starting to really get on my nerves now!!

Happens all the time.   I now approached the scheme of  You don't invoice me, I don't pay you.   

I would say you been robbed however just take it as a learning experience and for future experience about writing up a agreement with stuff like this which is always important.

I would of said something like 'Any amendments required to the site as per poor design for SEO or User Interface will be corrected for £0.00'   

I know one large supermarket charges its suppliers if they made a error on a invoice or anything.

[peter maybury]

Ben
I have not called anybody in particular a cowboy.
All the time on this forum we get people who are that ignorant of our industry they think that they can get a few tips on carpet cleaning from this forum and then buy a pathetic machine like a rug doctor of a puzzi machine and just wake up the next day as a carpet cleaner.
I have no problems with people that have invested in training, good equipment and are dedicated to providing a good service for their customers. These people bring no disrepute on our industry. There are however a lot that do and I am happier not to be associated with these people.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

[TheWindowManChris]

Ben
I have not called anybody in particular a cowboy.
All the time on this forum we get people who are that ignorant of our industry they think that they can get a few tips on carpet cleaning from this forum and then buy a pathetic machine like a rug doctor of a puzzi machine and just wake up the next day as a carpet cleaner.
I have no problems with people that have invested in training, good equipment and are dedicated to providing a good service for their customers. These people bring no disrepute on our industry. There are however a lot that do and I am happier not to be associated with these people.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

The RUGDoctor?  Please don't get me started on the RugDoctor.   They just move dirty about the floor!

[wynne jones]

OK so let's get to the bottom of this. Forget the 50% issue that's not relevant.. yet.

Do you have any analytics from your previous site to compare to where you are now? Probably not. All you know is the phone stopped ringing and when you looked on google you were nowhere right?

At the moment I suspect your getting no hits at all because you are nowhere in google and that's because when you changed your layout google can't make out what you are all about and even though the domain name is the same the content isnt specific and you have been dropped like a stone. This happens a lot when people by websites that rank well, then change them and wonder why its gone to shyte over night.

The very first thing I would do is ask your web guy if he is using webmaster tools for the site, make sure google knows what the site is supposed to be about and make sure via wmt google knows in no uncertain terms. He should know how to do that.

Also ask him for Analytics for the main keywords you want. In sales you have a cycle, orders are at the end of that cycle. You want to know where along that conveyor belt you are falling down.

The other option which may take you backwards initially, but why not get him to reinstate your old site. He's sure to have backed it up, won't he? LOL. 

[ben smith1234]

Wynne- I have acces to google analytics and webmaster for my site.
But can't remember passwords etc for the old sites ones.
I check everyday on the stats

[ben smith1234]

Wynne- this is the search queries on webmasters


   Query   Impressions   Clicks   CTR   Avg. position
bcs cleaning   30   <10   -   6.4
bcs cleaning services   <10   <10   -   5.3
bcs carpet cleaning   <10   <10   -   10
gutter cleaning services   <10   <10   -   320
carpet cleaning gloucester   <10   <10   -   100
bcs cleaning maintenance   <10   <10   -   9.0
pub carpet   <10   <10   -   23
conservatory cleaning   <10   <10   -   22
roof tile cleaning   <10   <10   -   49
1-9 of 9

[wynne jones]

Yeah Ben, my feeling is you're spreading yourself really thin. Both in terms of what you are offering and where. I would sit down and figure out where and on what you make the most most money and focus on that. When you get that working continue to hone it and add something else.

I actually wouldn't be too hard on the web guy, he sounds like a standard web guy. He will give you what you ask for and they tend not to say 'no that won't work' because a) they want your money and b) they are not usually that savvy to what works and what doesn't, they just know they got paid.

[ben smith1234]

are those words i posted my keywords in google?

they are what the webdesigner put in

[wynne jones]

I'm looking at your homepage and thinking if I was google I'd think you will clean anything in the south west and you have quite a lot of competition on that front.

Coming up on searches for your own business name is what you are getting, that's because you have no competition for that. It won't bring in enquiries from new custies though will it.

[ben smith1234]

Wynne- what would be the best solution?

[wynne jones]

Well the best would probably be get a business address in the centre of Gloucester and do everything humanly possible to be number one in Google Places. That's assuming you don't mind working there.

To achieve this all you need is good old fashioned business techniques, no SEO wizardry.

[ben smith1234]

we will work all over the southwest. trying to get web designers to add other stuff but they keep saying they have far too much work on at the moment to do anything

[andy east sussex]

we offer many services and have no issues we aren't cheap nor expensive just affordable not out to empty bank accounts but we are all the same to get a good service or deal when we go shoping we don't go Tesco aldi morrisons ad etc because each one has better prices we go to the one which we can get all shopping from one place. well that's how our business runs and how we think about things

[All-Seal]

Agree with the comments. Do not list prices as people use it for shopping other sites then often you'll never get the call. Talk well about your services on the website and meet the customer to book in the job. We do this and clean over 70 properties a month.
www.all-seal.co.uk