Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: M.Acorn on April 14, 2011, 04:39:03 pm
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Right after a few quotes,for building me a new site.So far I have contacted http://www.finkcreative.com/#/en/services Really love their site,and they also do vehicle graphics,so would tie in nicely with getting the van signed up.They are expensive though looking at £500+vat for a 5 page site,that is with me providing them with everything in word doc format,for them to add to the site,also all artwork logo's ,pictures etc.
Was contacted by this company today http://www.jumpupmedia.co.uk/index.html They are saying £349+vat for 5 page,sub to 200 search engines guaranteed placement in my local area,5 phrases ,they are linked too Google also.
Then today we had a mobile sprayer round,to spray the new door for the wife's golf,after some numpty ran into her a few weeks back,his site is awesome http://www.acefinishcarrepairs.com/guarantee.html Top bloke,made a smashing job of it,got chatting to him,he has spent over 7.5k on it 2k was on seo !! Ouch,company that did that are here http://www.polar-com.com/
Bit out of my price range at the mo.
What I have done so far is lay out a huge bit of paper in the lounge,and broken each section down into the separate pages,currently at 10,I want a gallery,would like a page for customers to add video testimonials and feedback,then I have broken it down into carpet cleaning,upholstery cleaning,tile and grout cleaning,low moisture cleaning,commercial cleaning,stain removal and protection etc etc,I think I could probably condense what I have got so far,into 5 pages
Will spending more be a guarantee of getting more work ?
I get quite a bit of traffic,but have trouble converting that to jobs,people just leave after seeing the first page,few e mail enq's I get are price shoppers usually
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What I have done so far is lay out a huge bit of paper in the lounge,and broken each section down into the separate pages,currently at 10,I want a gallery,would like a page for customers to add video testimonials and feedback,then I have broken it down into carpet cleaning,upholstery cleaning,tile and grout cleaning,low moisture cleaning,commercial cleaning,stain removal and protection etc etc,I think I could probably condense what I have got so far,into 5 pages
Mark,
Don't condense it. Have as many pages as possible. That way you have a greater web presence and it's easier to optimise each page for it's specific subject. You can do a Wordpress site with either posts or pages (as many as you want) quite easily.
he has spent over 7.5k on it 2k was on seo !!
I don't have a problem with £ 2K, if they do the right amount of work. Looks like about £ 300 max on SEO (what do you reckon Wynne?).
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Go to Vistaprint and design your own.
They submit it to Google and other search
engines.
Sign up for the search engine optimiser as
well.
The website is so easy to do it's unbelievable,
including adding pictures and vids.
John
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I did do a template based site myself,couple of years back,but pulled it as was not getting the response,you could also tell it was not built by a pro,may have another crack at it,at least then if I went to get it done properly everything would be there
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Well, it's standard SEO as would be expected from a decent web builder. 2.5k is extreme, sorry but I could have done the same for a lot less.
The actual design is nice, but again 5k is a heck of a lot. Maybe they saw him coming?
Mark
p.s. with a high price you can afford to spend much more time to make the site visually stunning, so if he is happy then thats all that counts I suppose.
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Spend the money & get a good job done bright,fresh looking website will pay back its cost x 10+
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Mark the guy who did mine did agreat job for a lot less too..
:)
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Mark,
If you want a one off unique design try Rob Chattaway at http://www.qbdesign.co.uk/asp/portfolio.asp my favourite is the Bunnery (keep your speakers on).
He does your design in Photoshop first then slices and builds your site. Each design is custom made and alot less than £ 5 K.
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God I got a fright :o :o
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Think I am going to use the Site wizard people,Jump up media look pretty pants,after browsing their prior jobs,it looks template based,i want to steer away from the narrow middle section,and fill the page,don't want to flumox joe public with info,but I need enough info,for them to feel confident.
My wife made a very good point last night,in that I am viewing the site as a carpet cleaner,there does not need to be so much in depth detail,all people want is to know how much,will you do a good job,and will you ruin my carpets,how long will they take too dry.
There is really not much point in rabbiting on for ages about the process,the equipment,blah blah blah,then having a big disclaimer afterwards...
I make sure I always over qualify.
Job I did last week,vacced the lounge,it was a tip,then cleaned stairs and landing,customer came back,looked at the lounge and said oh my god,it's so much better !! Said I had only pre sprayed and agitated it in,so not done yet,she then went and got me a load of chairs to clean,rugs,a footstool,just kept bringing stuff out,was a good morning,and she is passing on my cards to friends..That all came from a commercial job i did last summer,her husband runs the company,and said I did a good job..
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How much do you want to spend mark?
The guy who did mine did a great job n its no1 here on the rankings
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i'm shocked what some people here think is good. that bunnery site is pretty rubbish tbh, looks like it was made about 10 years ago by a beginner. that polar com one is just as bad and that's to advertise web design! crazy stuff
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Just been contacted by a friend of a friend,she is a graphic designer / website builder,and she is absolutely amazing at what she does.
Just hooking up with her on f book,so we will see.A lot of you guy's sites look like they are template based,I want too steer away from that,I want to fill the whole screen,not just a bit in the middle.
My current site get's almost top the top of google Clinton,it's just got a really high bounce out rate,people don't go any further than looking at the first page,that's the reason I am updating.
How does it work running more than one site for the same business ?
Does it not get confusing if they are all named different ?
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mark you are carpet cleaner not Tescos you want a website that gets results at the best price possible this means getting one made from a template..... who care if it looks like another 200 miles away your customers will not see the other one and if they did would they notice or even care its the same template?
Clinton has mentioned who did his the same as who did mine love him or hate him Mark from DP does the best value and highest google rated sites in the UK. could some one name a designer with more C/C sites on the 1st page of google?
its just vanity to pay £500+ for a site that is totally unique
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i disagree. i hear the guy that makes your website makes many sites every day using the samey template style that mark is on about. if it hasn't already happened, it's only a matter of time until someone in your town uses him and now you've got 2 samey looking websites, then another does and you've got another site. looking unique is sensible. for the extra cost to get a unique site designed to match your companies image is business sense. it's the number one way customers are using to find new companies, the number 1 way. why would you want to risk looking like another?
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he done 5 in my town none of them look the same they are from the same templete but all look different.
but the extra cost to be' unique' is double and a template can match a company image,
like i said we are carpet cleaners. If we were clothes designers, in media or marketing companies then the look of our website would reflect on how professional we are as a company...... just like riding around in a dirt van would reflect on a cleaning companies image.... but we are not judged on our professional ability by the creative or uniqueness of our website.
our websites just need to portray us as a professional cleaning company
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And not just that but when someone comes along with a better optimised site, that has had more work done to it these sites will be a threat to your unstable cookie cutter templetes search engine rankings IMO
Its only a matter of time, more and more carpet cleaners are discovering the web everyday and putting more efforts in to seo all the time.
Nothing actauly wrong with a temeplete itself but a temeplete with weak seo is dangerous!
Tony
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Will spending more be a guarantee of getting more work ?
I get quite a bit of traffic,but have trouble converting that to jobs,people just leave after seeing the first page,few e mail enq's I get are price shoppers usually
Mark, you'll find that alot of web traffic are younger people (generaly) and I find that this crowd are usually price shoppers. So that anit going to change if you have a No1 ranked site. The only way to combat this in your website copy is to state prices.
Also, most of your sites vistors wont read your copy (if only!!) so its not as straightforward as people think. Like you said, sell the benefits and tell people what they want to know quickly with key points before they click away from the site and on to someone elses.
Do you need a flashy site? eeeehhhh not really! But as long as it looks professinal, with clean code, soild seo and unque content is all a must.
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And not just that but when someone comes along with a better optimised site, that has had more work done to it these sites will be a threat to your unstable cookie cutter templetes search engine rankings IMO
Its only a matter of time, more and more carpet cleaners are discovering the webevery day and putting more efforts in to seo all the time.
Nothing actauly wrong with a temeplete itself but a temeplete with weak seo is dangerous!Tony
but isn't the points i've highlighted true of any website? I totally agree that seo is the most important part of any website but to comment on template because of what might happen is wrong..... we could say what happens when google deletes from its listing all sites with the colour green on the pages ;) ;)
the fact is we don't know what will happen in the future we can only go on what is happening now and adapt as things change. at the moment template websites don't seem to be harmed in google rankings, so use them, if this changes then we can adapt but to change now on a gamble that things could change doesn't make sense
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Mike, sites that have duplicate content (not just in the written form but also in the form of pictures, layouts, tables, templetes etc etc) have always been easy to "out rank" in the search engines. I'm not talking about changes to googles algorithms, which i agree is a right pain in the bum! But i'm talking about competing carpet cleaners in that area who are self taught or have hired a seo firm that know what they are doing.
Better to start early on with a soild site that has gained some age and authority in googles eyes << these will be hard to shift in the rankings.
Again, nothing wrong with temepletes but they need to be severly modified with alot of SEO work done to them and "uniqueness" added to them. i.e. loosing all footprints that the likes of googlebot can crawl.
p.s. interlinking with such sites on the same IP address is a bad idea.
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I use Mark at DP also, i had my sites for couple of years now, top of the page in 3 areas, am i bothered if someone 50 miles away has the same sight?? No of course not.
Get 80% of new customers from the sites, why spend £500 plus.
Its not the site but the ranking that gets the work. If your not on the first page its never going to be seen.
Used Dp for ages for postcards and sites and always had the best possible services.
Mark
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google algorithm changes shouldn't be something a decent site has t oworry about, only look forward to. the algoriths change primairly to remove bad sites using bad ways to gain ranks. the legit ways to rank highly has always stayed the same
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Mark
I did a long post explaining this and that but the bottom line is your bounce rate will not change much, even with a fancy site.
That £5.5k site is dull but they got the one thing right that will make all the difference and I bet he's not fussed about his bounce rate.
If you genuinely have a conversion problem then look at the keywords you are going after. However like your bounce rate, I think your call profile is probably similar to everyone else, you just need more calls so that you can be more picky and have better posture, better sales and qualifying skills. And... the ability to blank from your mind all the idiots who ring rather than dwell on them.
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Who knows how Google works, we certainly don't.
When I type in CC in a certain town round here I
come up number 2, who comes number 1? A window
cleaning company, which doesn't instill me with much
confidence when I asked for a CC.
John
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I want to fill the whole screen,not just a bit in the middle.
Mark,
To do that involves changing literally one word in the CSS. Sites that expand like that CAN (not always) look poor and be difficult to read on widescreen monitors.
it's just got a really high bounce out rate,people don't go any further than looking at the first page,that's the reason I am updating
From a copywriting viewpoint, there's hardly any reason for them to stay on the site. It does not matter how fancy it looks if there is nothing of interest for visitors to the site.
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That's the thing,I have spent nothing on seo,my site comes high up on google,because I listed it with so many few sites,I think.
It just does not generate the work,I get possibly 4 or 5 enquiry;s a week,but far more people look at it without going any further.
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the ability to blank from your mind all the idiots who ring rather than dwell on them.
There is that as well,I really do get some random phone calls,like people calling at 8pm on a Sunday to book a quote 2 weeks in advance
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Ok then guy's tell me what is wrong with my current site ? It was built in 2004
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That's the thing,I have spent nothing on seo,my site comes high up on google,because I listed it with so many few sites,I think.
It just does not generate the work,I get possibly 4 or 5 enquiry;s a week,but far more people look at it without going any further.
That's because you will have markerting, advertising and all sorts of sales people looking at your site, not just potential customers. There will also be your competitors having a look from time to time aswell and people who think they might like to have their carpets cleaned, but are not serious enough to make contact, the list of people that look and do not contact is vast for various reasons.
We used to be concerned about all the hits and non comparable enquiries, but a website is only one of the "tools" for advertising, so we don't waste time any more wondering why we just get on with all our "tools" of advertising :)
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but still only 4/5 enquiries a week is something that can be improved.
if you don't mind saying mark what is your bounce rate?
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Have not got any firm statistics,as can't log into the stat counter,I just look at the hit count and judge that by the amount of enquiries I get
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ah i see. you should install google analytics and then let that run for a month to get some basic info about how users are on your site. would be worth finding out which pages get the most visits, which are the most people leave on etc before going ahead with a redesign as this may influence you on what is important and how some pages should be placed.
just thought i should say then that bounce rate means how many visitors went onto your site and didn't go to any other page. a high bounce rate isn't always bad as it could be that they were sold from the first page and got everything they needed so didn't bother clicking onto others.
you may also be surprised as to how many real visitors you're getting as the stat counter you're using may also be showing bots, so you may think you get say 100 visits this week, but 90 of them were actually google, yahoo, bing, and the other 1 million search engines. then knowing that the 4/5 a week out of 10 visitors isn't so bad.
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Yeah I have the stat counter on the site,but I have lost my login details,they won't respond to my request to send it out.
this is who I use http://statcounter.com/
Will have a search through my e mails see if I can find it,as the info will help..
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Daily | Weekly | Monthly | Quarterly | Yearly
Summary Chart
Select Date: or -
Select Data: Show Page Loads Show Unique Visitors Show Returning Visitors
Select Graph: Bar Graph | Area Graph | No Graph
Save As Default
Page Loads Unique Visitors First Time Visitors Returning Visitors
Total 158 85 79 6
Average 20 11 10 1
Day Date Page Loads Unique Visitors First Time Visitors Returning Visitors
Sunday 17th April 2011 1 1 1 0
Saturday 16th April 2011 30 20 17 3
Friday 15th April 2011 8 5 5 0
Thursday 14th April 2011 60 15 14 1
Wednesday 13th April 2011 13 8 7 1
Tuesday 12th April 2011 15 11 11 0
Monday 11th April 2011 26 20 19 1
Sunday 10th April 2011 5 5 5 0
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v452/delk/graph_summary_barchartphp.png)
More detail
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v452/delk/graph_summary_barchartphp.png)
More detail
Here is a months worth of info...................(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v452/delk/monthgraph.png)
So Jan is showing the most,but it was my quietest time so far.
Looks like a lot of my hit's are coming from clean it up !!
Few from Yell and Google.Should have logged into stat counter sooner
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Mark you asked earlier in the topic what is wrong with your website...
I think your home page is a bit boring, the photos are too small so meaningless, make them bigger or put some subtitles to explain what they represent
you have 4 bullet points in the middle. these could be worded better, bullet points are used to put a point across when you are limited with space.... but you have lots of space so I would change each bullet points to at least a couple of sentences long explaining the benefit to the customer.
you have loads of spare space i would put a map on it showing the area you cover
just i few things i noticed.
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Will look into that,going to spend some time looking at improving the current site a think,and see if the follow on get's better.
Thanks for the input
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i bet statcounter is counting google bots as a visitor which will be most of your visitors. sounds like you aren't getting as many clicks from google searches as you may think. go install analytics now and then let it run for a month. will be interesting to see the differences
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Been in touch with my web guy,have made a couple of changes to my site,thought it best to try and improve on what I have got before spending out money on another one.
We are still in the process of e mailing back and forth,can't make current pics bigger,so will have to wait until van is signed up,also asking him to change my phone numbers into black text ,so they can be seen.
Also added a face book button,will get there eventually
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why no analytics?
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Just not got my finger out as yet,it on it;s way though
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That facebook ling might be a good move then at some point i guess..
Spec with more n more people using facebook too.