Do Websites Work??

[CHRIS]

just wondering what everyone thought about having a website. does it bring more business and do you post prices??? seems like a good marketing tool to have on a vehicle and business cards/handouts. any thoughts or comments on this would be greatly appreciated!!! and thanks to everyone for responding and helping on this discussion forum. all input is greatly appreciated!!!

[ag4l]

web don't work for me. don't put your prices. i would make a big sign on vehicle and yellow pages.

[tooldini]

I can't say I have gotten any jobs from my site being searched but I did create one with the help from my wife, we sent it to all the people on her e-mail address book.We got a nice fleet job from it and one other job The fleet has so far made me $300.00 and he has more to do once the trucks are in town. If you want help with a site and or hosting I can offer you good prices. I have my own server. I think mostly they make you look more professional just like the yellow pages. Also if you advertise in the yellowpages many of them have put you on a yellowpages website so it does look nice to have a link a searching customer can just click on.

Jeff
Nu-View Windshield Repair
http://www.repairchips.net some bastard stole my dot com and wanted to sell it back for $900.00 LOL

[Dependable Dave]

The common misconception with the Internet is that if you toss up a website you will do business. Like any other highly competitive environment, you will have to do it right and that takes a lot of study and work. In that regard, don't trust someone else to do it for you. Here are some checkpoints:

Make it look GOOD! There are millions of crummy looking websites out there.

Learn how to get your website to turn up in a search, preferably somewhere better than 3 millionth place. Most people never read beyond the first page of search results.

Research keywords to find out the ones that will work best for your website.

Insert links to other places of interest and get other similar sites to link back to you. NWRA lists its members' websites so that is a link back to your site. Search bots are looking for this sort of thing.

Format your headline with tags. If you don't know what that is, get a Dummies book on website building.

Use local search as your main focus, not world-wide search. You probably don't want to travel to another state or country to repair a windshield.

Use Google Adsense ads on your page. If you don't get any windshield repair customers, at least make a few bucks to pay for hosting and your time.

Offer something as a free gift just for your customers showing up at your website. A downloadable file explaining windshield repair might be a good one.

Make your website inviting, informative, and fun to visit. How about a trivia contest where the winner gets a free or discounted repair? Get the buzz going.

Make sure your contact info is on the site. You probably only need a one-page website. Be ready to answer the phone when your prospect calls you. Post your available hours.

I'm struggling to get all of that into several websites I'm currently building and I'll tell you it is long, hard work. If you're not up to it, at least get yourself mentioned on someone else's website. Example: Your local cable company offers Internet customers a free place to put your classified ad. Or, make a deal with one of your customers to have a mention of your business placed on their website.

[tooldini]

Chir the web may be able to bring in some jobs but it will take time. Get your self a program called WebCEO to submit to search engines. Make sure your meta tags in your html are good and related to your work. WebCEO will help with that also. Titles and descriptions are also very important. Try and personalize a website like I did with mine. I have pics of me working on a windshield. Make sure you site loads fast this is very very importants since people do not want to wait. Like Dave said do some swaps with others. Try swapping with http://www.needautoglass.com or replacement only shops in your area. Of course advertise your site on your vehicle and business cards. Good luck and if you need help we all here can help you out.

Jeff

[pbaker]

has anyone taken up edirectglass's website offer? apparently they design websites for free for thier customers, at least that is what i figured they meant with their banner on their website.