Looks like going to have to build a web site to generate more business.Well or get 40 hour week job and being 53 and never had one of those.It sounds like death by another name.

WOndering if any here have used a web site builder.Which one,ease of use and thoughts on it. The simpler to use the better.

I have tried a few different ones over the years, some of them have been simple apps that were provided by the site hoster and others have been like Wix or Shopify.

None were ever exactly what I was looking for, sometimes it was a lack of control over the content, others it involved issues with trying to not only get a website up and running but also trying to get over the learning curve. For what's it worth, I have a lot of experience in the IT arena but I never have felt like any of my webistes were really any good.

The biggest issue of all is getting the site out there and in front of people. There's a lot of avenues for that but to get any meaningful traffic it's normally is going to cost you some money. I am not sure what the numbers really are today but even if you have a hot product that people want, I think you have to figure that you are doing about average if you can get a 1%-2% conversion rate. Big sites are probably double that or a little better. Again, you have to be getting a lot of traffic to the site to get that conversion rate too. Say a 1000 hits generates a 100 people that might actually be interested in your product, then from that hundred you actually get 1 or 2 that pull the trigger.

Another piece is making sure that the website works as intended, that you have the correct pieces in place if you are selling from it. This means testing it and then testing it some more, doing things to it that a normal customer might do such as abandoning a shopping cart or verifying that an order on that credit card number is actually legit. And unlike some outfits like to promise, it's a job - you don't just put it in place, then sit back and rake in the bucks. You have attacks on the site to deal with, software upgrades that can crash the entire store, returns, payment disputes - it's something you have to stay on top of everyday, all 365 of them.

Wish you luck with it!

www.boykinspanielstuds.com

www.whitley-custom-homes.com

We have built these two websites. The first is on a wix platform that is very do it yourself friendly and the second is on wordpress which is much more in depth

the biggest thing that you need to also contribute to is something called "SEO" which is search engine optimization. This simply means that things are in place to help people find your website when searching, that your website comes up as one of the first when doing a google search

how often to you go to page 5 or 6 on google when looking for an item?

to have a professional do your website and SEO you are looking at a typical charge of around 2-5K depending on how in depth you want to go. You can find some people do do a website for 500 dollars to 1,000 dollars if it is simple and they are not doing SEO

I hope this helps

Thanks guys. Will check out. Anything beats idea of 40 hour a week in same place doing same thing every day. Two nights of no sleep and bad stomach thinking about it.Hell cpl thousand wouldn't be bad if do it your self don't work out.

Website will be for Contractor company for residential and just need to get name in front of more folks locally. Need to up number of projects. I know a cpl guys who aming living working in computers, doing security and programming.Might see if can't get one of them to work with me one it. Maybe little trade off,Will work for web site.

I’d recommend setting up a Facebook Page for your company. It’s quick and simple. The ads are low cost and can easily be targeted based on location and interests.

The page is free, and you can share it as often as you like. The ads are very low cost.

quote:

Originally posted by wideopen231:
Thanks guys. Will check out. Anything beats idea of 40 hour a week in same place doing same thing every day. Two nights of no sleep and bad stomach thinking about it.Hell cpl thousand wouldn't be bad if do it your self don't work out.

Website will be for Contractor company for residential and just need to get name in front of more folks locally. Need to up number of projects. I know a cpl guys who aming living working in computers, doing security and programming.Might see if can't get one of them to work with me one it. Maybe little trade off,Will work for web site.

You sound like my father in law 15 years ago. After a career of owning his own truck, and then trucking company, and two open heart surgeries, he begrudgingly took a job driving for another company using their trucks over the road. Instantly could not believe what he had been missing....cashing someone elses check and not having to worry about fixing trucks and all the costs. Just get in, drive and make money. He is in his 70's now loving driving for someone else. Crazy.

I don't do Facebook. But that does seem to be a viable and affordable marketing tool for many. The contractor that I used has never advertised. He relies on repeat customers and word of mouth. Even in this fairly rural area, he generally has more work than he can take on. He has branched out into some work that many won't. He actually remodeled a McD's this year. Had a very good corporate experience, but had to make sure he knew what he was doing before hand.
It's funny with referrals. If your goal is to make a customer so very pleased with the experience that they can't wait to recommend you to someone else, they usually will. And can't wait to do it. That's not to say that the customer is always right. We weren't all the time, and he took the time to educate us. So it was a great house building experience. I know I pay more to use him for some of the stuff we do. And every time, even as cheap as I am, it has been worth it.

quote:

Originally posted by head gamez:
I’d recommend setting up a Facebook Page for your company. It’s quick and simple. The ads are low cost and can easily be targeted based on location and interests.

The page is free, and you can share it as often as you like. The ads are very low cost.

I agree with this. Unless you are selling things directly from a website, you don't really need one anymore. Social media presence is free and probably more valuable. As Mikey stated, you can also pay for ads.

If your city has a 'neighborhood' Facebook page, get on there. It seems like my city's page is at least 50% people looking for recommendations or referrals for something and it seems valuable for people who can get in the conversation saying "I'd be glad to take a look at it."

quote:

Originally posted by wideopen231:
Thanks guys. Will check out. Anything beats idea of 40 hour a week in same place doing same thing every day. Two nights of no sleep and bad stomach thinking about it.Hell cpl thousand wouldn't be bad if do it your self don't work out.

Website will be for Contractor company for residential and just need to get name in front of more folks locally. Need to up number of projects. I know a cpl guys who aming living working in computers, doing security and programming.Might see if can't get one of them to work with me one it. Maybe little trade off,Will work for web site.

Since you're locally a locally driven business make sure your online appearance is good for directory type sites like yelp, yellow pages, google business, facebook, etc. (facebook ads are effective)

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the man that runs this very site. I'm sure scott could help you with a site and seo if you talked to him.

-Dalton

Thanks will check facebook deal.

Also rely on word of mouth and referrals. Stay busy but mostly hands on physical instead of contracting. After too many years it starts to wear and you can not do as much as use to could.
Today is prime example put down 400 sq ft flooring great pay,use to be 600 ft. Also use to be less tylenol .LOL

Just want to get more new builds or bigger jobs where can contract instead of contact. Funny thing in this business you can make more doing less most of the time.

Think about it this way. If you had a really great website....you would be asking how to get more views on the website. Just a different, and non productive problem.