Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: dazmond on August 29, 2010, 12:38:02 am
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im thinking about a website.ive ordered a month trial with vistaprint then its about £11 a month thereafter for the professional version. or is it better to get the cheap one?
im designing it myself.what do you other guys recommend?
im thinking of setting online banking up and dragging myself into the 21st century!do you find a good percentage pay online?
how do you go about it?
ive registered with my bank account to start online banking then how do you add it to your website?
sorry for all the questions guys.i dont have much of a clue when it comes to these things but as they will be phasing out cheques soon and more and more young professionals on my round having no money on them and no cheque book im forced to do this! ::) ::)
many thanks any replies welcome
dazmond
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Dazmond...
In my opinion websites are the way forward ! People get a feel for you and your business without meeting you. Websites are easily passed about and don't take up much room on leaflets / business cards / van signage.
I have a website which my wife designed for me free through office live. Its not an all singing all dancing one like some. I do get a steady stream coming to my website and I have contact forms on every page.
Also on a website you can show pictures of your work. If you have a really dirty conservatory roof or filthy fascias & gutters you are cleaning, take a camera with you and get before and after pictures. People love pictures ! I've got some good before and after pictures from jobs I have recentley done and will be getting them up on my website soon.
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i have had a vistaprint website almost 1 year , the 3 page £7 a month jobby and its raked in all sorts of customers who id never would have come across so worth every penny Daz
but shortly i will be pulling the plug on mine as im working flat out now & not wanting to employ , .For sure it will bring in you more and more customers Daz,if thats what you want
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Hi Daz,
I am looking into a website at the moment myself. I have now decided that after looking at quite a few websites, on here and elsewhere. I will be using studio arts.
http://www.studioarts-dtv.co.uk/
Blue Monkey used them and I think his site is excellent.
Hope this helps.
Kind Regards
Darren
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had my web-site now for well over ayear and it more than paid for it self,it beings in alot of extra work like gutter cleans ,one off house cleans etc,
my site was done by nat jones,at a really good price ;D ;D ;D.and it ranks well where i want it to rank in google,
has of the online payment,people are slow on the uptake of it,but once they get in the routinue they love it,
so i say go for it daz.dont want the not a very nice person of doing it yourself get someone to recommend someone.
there are a few on here who knows what they are doing. ;)
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I had my website for two years before pulling the plug on it. I too had vista prints top package. However I decided to pull plug because it wasn't bringing in enough work.
People still prefer the old dog and bone I think.
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I had my website for two years before pulling the plug on it. I too had vista prints top package. However I decided to pull plug because it wasn't bringing in enough work.
People still prefer the old dog and bone I think.
A website done right will always more than pay for itself,.. simple word choice can make a big difference to your Google ranking which can bring the customers in faster.
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Basicly I designed the site with the help of Vista print then left it. Suppose if I had stayed on top of it and tweaked it now and again it would be paying dividends now. We live and learn.
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Hi Daz
The fact you're asking the question on an internet forum kind of answers it for you I think. People are using the internet for everything now, when was the last time you picked up yellow pages, years ago for me.
I too use office live, free to set up and run and you can tweak it yourself. I get work from mine so am happy with it. As for online banking you can just put your bank details on your website and let your customers know when you leave a card to say you've been. Make sure you ask them to put name and first line of address/postcode otherwise you have to guess who's paid.
John
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Yes, definitely worth it.
Mine was designed and created by the wife, so it's hard to put a price on the development work - though she expended a huge volume of swearing in making it all work the way she wanted.
It costs us £5.99 a month to keep it up there and combined with Google Adwords used carefully, it generates customers at a cost of about £3 or so each (I haven't analysed the figures for a coupleof months, so that may be a little high or low). It's now generating typically around three calls a week. 80 -90% of those turn into customers.
Vin
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Mine is a vista one,
www.deantabernerwindowcleaning.com
Its worth every penny to me.
Dean.
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I have a office live site free to design very easy to do.great admin tools.buy a web address for tenner that's all you will ever pay.got lots of work from it.
As for online payments they can pay into a nochex or paypal on your site
Get one done daz.take u 2 hours at the most m8
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Hi Dazmond
I am fairly new to window cleaning but I have been keeping my eye on this site for a while and have learned loads. I am very grateful for all the input from everyone because it really has helped me.
Previously I was a graphic designer, leaflets, brochures blah blah and although I don't really do websites I did mine using the info below.
Have a look at heartinternet.com. They have a range of hosting packages and I think for about 8.99 month you also get free web software. It's called 'Serif WebPlus'. You download it on your pc and you also download the manual. It really is good, but you do need to put a bit of work in.
Or you can buy it direct from 'Serif' the company that make it. If you visit their site it gives you a good overview of the product. They are always doing deals and I reckon you could get it for about 60 squid.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Pete
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cheers guys!the main reason i want a website is to give the customers the option to pay online.also as im getting faster with wfp i want to fill the gaps with better jobs or good earner one off cleans to boost my earnings.
also im aiming for very large residential jobs where the option to pay online is a must IMO.
to be able to show all my services with before and after photos(i will take my own genuine ones)and to get the odd extra job here and there i would be happy!
i have a pretty full varied round and no plans to employ but with wfp im burning through the work a lot faster and id like to drop quite a few of the underpriced jobs and replace with better quality jobs.
ive been in this game for 16 years but not always ran it well or to its full potential and im going to change it.i started last year with a 5 year plan to turn my business around.
im not aiming too high but im working towards earning 30,000+ a year turnover(one man band)and i think its a reasonable goal to aim for.im not wanting to employ or become to obsessed with work.just a comfortable good honest living with a few luxuries here and there!i live in the north west.
im going to take my time with my website and take some decent photos before i publish it!there will be no spelling mistakes in mine!(i have noticed quite a lot on some other sites!!) ;) ;D ;D ;D
many thanks
dazmond
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Dean - how much are your monthly hosting costs for your vistaprint site?
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Look forward to seeing your site Daz
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in a word no for one its poncey and you get the custies in a plce no one has ever heard of like huddesfield on mine i put where i operate but this to them dont click
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Dean - how much are your monthly hosting costs for your vistaprint site?
Hi Mike,
I think its around a tenner a month,
Dean
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in a word no for one its poncey and you get the custies in a plce no one has ever heard of like huddesfield on mine i put where i operate but this to them dont click
the ones from areas you don't operate just price really high and either they will say no or its a bonus to get them ;) or just tell them you do not cover that area simples
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If you're getting lots of enquiries from hundreds of miles away your website simply isn't built right. Its easy to optimise your site geographically,.. using names of the towns/villages/area's you cover in your on-page text & keywords means you'll be top (or near) of the Google listing for these area's,.. people searching for places not mentioned in your keywords will find websites in their own area.
Dazmond,.. if you want a bit of help optimising your website I'd be happy to help you out, just drop me an e-mail.
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If you're getting lots of enquiries from hundreds of miles away your website simply isn't built right. Its easy to optimise your site geographically,.. using names of the towns/villages/area's you cover in your on-page text & keywords means you'll be top (or near) of the Google listing for these area's,.. people searching for places not mentioned in your keywords will find websites in their own area.
Dazmond,.. if you want a bit of help optimising your website I'd be happy to help you out, just drop me an e-mail.
and a top man mr jones is,true to his word,and does agood job. ;) ;) ;) ;)
daz you could be surpised!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :P
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thanks nat thats very good of you!! ;) ;D ;D.im not there yet with it!im gonna get some of my custies to take some pics of me with the pole and a before and after as ive a conny roof to do later on in the week!im also taking my time with the wording etc.
if i pay the whole year package on vistaprint(pro version)it only works out at £7-50 a month!at the moment ive got the 1 month free trial so plenty of time to get it how i want it.
by the way why have some of you guys that have websites not got them on your profile?any particular reason?
regards
dazmond
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im defo aving nats deal once iv got sum dollar
back in lol , mechanics n renault trafic vans aint decided
which r worse :D :D :D
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by the way why have some of you guys that have websites not got them on your profile?any particular reason?
regards
dazmond
i had my website on my profile here till i started getting real FLAK from local window cleaning mafia where i work. they get paranoid and i recently heard that the boss of this biggish firm was back on the tools again,after his lads had ripped him off =good lads !!!
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[quote author=dazmond link=topic=107559.msg915977#msg915977
by the way why have some of you guys that have websites not got them on your profile?any particular reason?
regards
dazmond
because I can only see where the last ten website hits come from and when I had it on here there were loads, and really I want the public to see it not another bunch of window cleaners
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hi dazmond
there are so many bad web pages out there, if you are getting one, try to make it professional - and do NOT make it your self.
there are several template pages where you can buy a page for 30-90 USD, some you even get for free - check this page
http://www.oswd.org/
there are many pages like that.
then you outsource the job about customizing the web page to your specifications - should cost you about 50-100 USD
that's not much to get a professional web page, just try to make the pictures and text look good.
just a hint ;D
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yes, and they are worth it!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
at least it you want more corporates
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check also
http://opensourcetemplates.org/
for a domain hosting - www.one.com is highly recommended
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thanks ola but to be quite frank i think i can manage to build my own website! ;) ;D ;D
its hardly rocket science!im just taking my time with it!i mainly want it for some of my customers so they have the option to pay online.im not interested in large commercial.im mainly domestic and large domestic with a few commercial here and there.
ill be busy trawling some of your websites and nicking ideas where i see fit!one thing is ill have no spelling mistakes in mine!! ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
regards
dazmond
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Dazmond,.. just to get you started & thinking in the right direction, and avoiding a very common mistake,...
You'll have 5 or 6 pages probably,.. what will they be? Eg. "home" "about us" etc etc,.....
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thanks ola but to be quite frank i think i can manage to build my own website! ;) ;D ;D
its hardly rocket science!im just taking my time with it!i mainly want it for some of my customers so they have the option to pay online.im not interested in large commercial.im mainly domestic and large domestic with a few commercial here and there.
ill be busy trawling some of your websites and nicking ideas where i see fit!one thing is ill have no spelling mistakes in mine!! ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
regards
dazmond
hehe :)
I actually think my English is pretty good, since I have never lived in a English country or have it as a native language :)
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Daz try www.doyourownsite.co.uk (now Create) I used these and it cost me about 7 qiud a month .
jay
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Dazmond,.. just to get you started & thinking in the right direction, and avoiding a very common mistake,...
You'll have 5 or 6 pages probably,.. what will they be? Eg. "home" "about us" etc etc,.....
Just a hint,.. focus on your service, not you. Eg,.. instead of the normal "Home, About Us, What is WFP, Quotations, Contact Us" you should go for a combined & simplified "Home" page with some of the About us content included,.. then immediately start listing your services. You could have "Commercial Services", "Residential Services" etc etc, or perhaps "Window Cleaning" "Gutter Cleaning" "Pressure Washing" and then finally your "Contact Us" page.
Adding your contact number to every page is a good idea also,.. some ppl even put a contact form at the bottom of every page,.. make it as easy as possible for potential customers to contact you. :)