website set-up

[PDQ Auto Glass]

Does having a company website help? credibility? advertising/ promotion? please give me your thoughts!

Who do you recommend to help create and host a windshield repair website? How much is an average cost for this feat? Thanks for the input from all you sesoned veterans!!

[toab]

I think it is a standard to being in business nowadays and will be getting one when I get some free time to consult with some web designers.Not many advertising around my area thuogh.

[dgarza]

mine is pretty simple {URL removed by moderator}. i didnt spend much time on it as i dont think it matters how flashy it is. i get a little business from it. it only costs me about $3.50 a month to host it. i got it through http://www.tulsahosting.com/. you may not be able to get that price as it was a special when i got it but it prob will not be much more now.

[SGT]

Originally Posted by PDQ Auto Glass

Does having a company website help? credibility? advertising/ promotion? please give me your thoughts!

In my case not that much from the revenue side although I do get jobs from it. Mostly alot calls from people all over creation who did not read where we are. I created it more so for the credibility aspect. I felt in todays world, just like business cards it is a must have. In my opinion of course.

Who do you recommend to help create and host a windshield repair website?

Ours was created by a 3D animation graphics designer who is a friend. You can check it out at... safeglasstechnologies. It is probably overkill and I will eventually streamline it. I use go daddy for the domain.

How much is an average cost for this feat?

Can't say for sure as I am sure I got a deal. If I remember correctly somewhere around 400.00 which included my logo design which by itself would probably cost that much.

Thanks for the input from all you sesoned veterans!!

Your welcome.

[Gregg]

These days having a web presence is extremely important. Consider it an extension of your advertising and your customers will go there to obtain information.

I got mine at homestead.com -- its very reasonable and I built it myself without paying a huge amount of money to a pro! check it out!

[starstruck]

Hey dgarza, your rates seem rather low. Where are you located in Oklahoma? Is that pretty much the average in your area?

[jayjacque]

Ditto for the business legitimacy aspect for having a website.

Pricewise to do it right can be costy. (like around $1000 or more)
But if only one or two pages are needed, those economical programs could be the way to go, ie hostpapa, godaddy.

Optimization is the key for getting much business through it. (you've got to pay extra to have that done unless you're a geek who knows how to do it on your own)

Guess we can't post our website's addy but the name of my company is Superior Touch Restoration. You might be able to figure the addy from that.

[dgarza]

startstruck,
there are very few that do repair in my area but there are plenty that do replacements. I have found this pricing over the years to work out. Most of the time I have to work hard at convincing customers that repairing is better than replacement. most of the replacement shops have customers convinced they need a replacement when it can easily be repaired. thats why on my website i explain in detail why it is better to repair. I even give 10$ off for customers who's insurance doesn't waive the deductible. my company name is garza glass repair if anybody else wants to see the website.

[tooldini]

It can be done cheap and you really do need one although I don't receive much work but I do get calls weekly. Mine only cost $15.00 a year hosted thru directnic.com your not gonna get a ton of traffic and like most you should be mostly text so your bandwidth will be low. I actually have a lot of pics and stuff but still haven't gone over and have had some good listings in the search engines. The key is to having good metatags and keywords which istn't too much work if you do some research on the net and can edit HTML pages. I use Micro soft frontpage to edit. I used free templates that can be found online also. I think my site {URL removed by moderator} looks professional enough for our business. You can manually submit to yahoo but I use software once yearly to submity automatically for free to many. Most sites like you to do it manually and can tell the difference usually. good luck if you need any help let me know

Jeff

[bravoweb]

I made the new deltakits.com website. Maybe I can help out as long as there isn't any conflict of interest with Delta Kits.