
Will A Web site Help?
First of all let me ask you would you go on a bid without a business card? The answer to that question should be no. And why not? Well the first thing that comes to mind is a business card makes you appear organized and professional. The second reason is that your potential customer will be able to to find your contact information with ease. The final reason that comes to my mind is that it is a cheap way to promote my business. A good quality card is around $100 for a years worth.
Now lets look at having a website for your business. As with a business card, a web site will make you appear organized and professional. It does this by allowing your future customers to see pictures of your work, your employees or anything that paints your company in a good light. A website that is on your business card or printed ad makes it stand out and gives that potential customer a reason to choose your service. If I look at ads for used cars and one has a link to a web site where I can see pictures, read details, watch a video of what the inside looks like and see how it starts, I am more likely to look closely at that ad. Well, it is the same with a contractor, painter or any other service oriented business.
As with a business card a website allows ease of contact. The truth is some people are more likely to fill out a little form on your site asking you to call them then they are to make a phone call. Long after your card is misplaced or lost a former customer may have your site book marked and will be able to refer you or call you again. If your phone number changes they will see your new number on your website while your business card will still have your old one.
As with a business card, a website is now cheap to have built and maintain. In fact with our service it only costs $60 a year to maintain and keep it on the internet if you pay by the month and only $50 when you pay by the year. To be honest that is less than I pay for my Business cards.
The design cost has also went down. We design a quality custom site 3 pages for only $79 and if you need a couple more pages it won't break the bank.
The above reasons are only a small sample of what a web site can do to make a service business grow. However any one of them should be reason enough for a small business to have a web site.
We have a "customer extras" area that you will get a password to that has links to where you can post ads that link to your website for free. It also has advise on how to do it. If you live in a populated city you can gain as many new customers a year by posting on "Craig's List" as you can by paying $5000 for printed ads. Lets pretend I am exaggerating and you only get one job a year off a Craig's posting and maybe one job through a Goggle or yahoo search. You have still paid for all your web site costs and made extra. If one of those two jobs is a basement renovation or perhaps a bathroom shower pan you are way ahead. On top of that I bet the calls you get go up at least 20% by you having a website included in your printed ad.
I'm not going to get into pay per click ads and other ways to use your website site to gain business now. At this point You should see that any one of the reasons I have given you is more than enough reason to spend a couple hundred dollars for design and hosting of a website for your business. You are losing thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars by not having a website for your service oriented business.
Good Luck,
Steve and Robbin
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Makes your business stand out in printed ads. |
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Alows you to show potential customers your work in a small ad. |
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It can be linked to free ad services such as Craig's List. |
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Makes your business look organized and professional |
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Makes your business easy to find for former customers. |
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Helps promote branding of your business. |
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Is a cost effective way to advertise. |
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Can link to it from online business directories. |
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Can get business from search engines such as Google. |
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You can link to it using pay per click (a cost effective way to advertise) |
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You can promote it using social sites such as "Face Book" and Twitter. |
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It has the potential to raise your yearly profit greatly. |
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Many people don't bother looking in printed ads for Home services any more. |
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These days most of your competition has a website. You should too! |
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Costs about the same if not less to keep on the internet than you pay a year for business cards. |
YES!
Don't take our word for it.
Ask other contractors and take a look at how many people post on Craig's List. Type in Handyman or contractor on your search. Look at all the paid ads to the right of the search. If it doesn't work why are so many services promoting themselves on line? Because it is a cheap effective way to get new customers. Can you afford to throw away business? Even if you don't use our services to get a web site set up for your business, get one somewhere else.