lets talk websites

[Envious Eric]

i was thinking about starting up a website (provided I get some good deals on the web stuff) and I was wondering if its really worth it for your customers/potential customers?



if any of you have your own website, please input here....do you find a huge benefit to having a website if you are a mobile service?



for everyone else, what do you want to see on the website



flash stuff, or straight forward click and to the point



all the same car under one folder, or lots of different cars all on one screen



dark color background, light color backgrounds



personal info - like personal background, likes/dislikes - creating a personal encounter



navigation tabs on the left vertical or on the top horizontal?



facts about car detailing, and reasons why not to use car washes



Please give me some input on what you like to see, and what you dont like....I am thikning about making a website from scratch with the help of a friend. it will be my first one so I am trying to get the most of it right the first time...thanks

[imported_mirrorfinishman]

Yes, having a website is really worth it because it gives potential customers an opportunity to discover your business. That is what advertising is all about. It is about all of the things you do to allow someone to discover your business. You know your advertising efforts are working when a new customer feels good about discovering your detailing business. That feeling of discovery goes a long way in establishing a good customer.



1) your website should be very easy to navigate

2) for just starting out, click and to the point is all that is necessary

3) one car, one screen

4) light colored background

5) basic personal information, related to knowledge and experience

6) navigation tabs on top horizontal

7) yes, you could include facts about car detailing, however, you should leave out info about reasons why not to use car washes



Like any other form of advertising, a good website should;



1) Stop the prospect

2) Hold the prospect

3) Create buying desire

4) Prove the price is right

5) Prove it is a value

6) Make it easy to take action

7)Give the prospect reasons to take action

[fuzzydd]

if any of you have your own website, please input here....do you find a huge benefit to having a website if you are a mobile service?

mines in my profile

and yes, excellent way for people to get info about you



for everyone else, what do you want to see on the website

vitals:services + pricing, contact information, pictures



flash stuff, or straight forward click and to the point

ALWAYS to the point no matter which way you go. 99% of pro flash sites will often have an option to skip ahead



all the same car under one folder, or lots of different cars all on one screen

organize it.. nobody would want to scroll down an endless page of pictures when i really only wanted to look at one



dark color background, light color backgrounds

whatever you feel is more effective



personal info - like personal background, likes/dislikes - creating a personal encounter

what mirrorfinishman said, anything that can help promote your skills+experience



navigation tabs on the left vertical or on the top horizontal?

up to you



facts about car detailing, and reasons why not to use car washes

i would put this in, a lot of people are hesitant to spend that extra $$$ because they dont know WHY



Please give me some input on what you like to see, and what you dont like....I am thikning about making a website from scratch with the help of a friend. it will be my first one so I am trying to get the most of it right the first time...thanks

if this is your first time doing any sort of web design, i would skip the flash. look at other peoples websites for inspiration (design-wise) and most importantly, keep it organized and easy to navigate. joe schmoe shouldnt have to look twice to be able to find the information he wants

[jimmybuffit]

I receive many compliments about my website...



(Click on my name/Visit Jimmy Buffits Homepage)



It certainly pays for itself.



Jim

[Envious Eric]

I am just going to set mine up with a point and click style, not any flash stuff at this point.



what host do you guys recommend. where should I look to build my website...I was looking at web.com...does that seem like a good one, or not? I have no idea about exactly what I would need to get it all up and running, so I need something simple!



oh and how much does it cost per month for fees with the ones you use? Do you have it setup with google or search engines where it refreshes your listing to the top every week or so??

[autobahn]

let me just say this.



If you don`t know already how to build a website, chances are using some of those "build it yourself" tools are going to make a pretty bad website. That COULD reflect badly on your business. Depending on your budget, it might be wise to have someone design the site for you.



#2, you can`t "set it up" where it will refresh to the top every week. That`s just not the way google or other search engines work, no matter what people trying to sell you SEO services say.



Websites are EXTREMELY important these days. I never even touch a phonebook anymore. So if you don`t have a website, I`m not going to find your business. There are countless others like me nowadays. To me, an unprofessional website gives me a bad impression about a business.

[Envious Eric]

oh, some guy I used to work with was telling me about the google refreshing system....guess he was full of it



I have a couple of friends who are into graphic design/website design who would be willing to help me out for a good detail of their car, so I think that area is covered...



anyone have any information on what host/providers to use?



and I agree with the fact many people use the internet instead of the phone books anymore, as I am the same

[autobahn]

google constantly "refreshes" its database, however getting ranked high on google is not something you can just invoke yourself. A good bet to get a good ranking on google is to make sure you have your city of operation and nice, descriptive text that hits a lot of the "key words" of your business. I.E. mention polish, wax, wash, etc etc in text paragraphs

[kompressornsc]

I receive many compliments about my website...



(Click on my name/Visit Jimmy Buffits Homepage)



It certainly pays for itself.



Jim

Jim,

As you know, I had a site from them for over a year. Getting more web savvy, here`s the problem with it. Becasue it`s flash, Google won`t index it. And no matter how good of SEO you`ve got going, it`s impossible to keep it up there. So, basically, they look nice, but no one can find you unless they know the address. Great for current customers / referrals. Bad for attracting new business.



If you google `Jimmy Buffit Auto Detailing`, autopia and other forums come up for the first 1 1/2 pages before your actual site. And that`s if people know the name of the business. If they`re searching for something like `auto detailing indianapolis`, it will never come up. The downside of a flash site.

[admac]

as a graphic designers and sometimes web guy, please don`t build your whole site in flash. it`s a pain in the ***, not linkeable and generally not an efficient use of resources. good design is much more important that things flying around with transparency. do things more simply with nice before/after pics.

[Joshua312]

Im in the process of building my own site via Dreamweaver (Studio 8 suite) and it`s a blast..although a lot of work - looking forward to following this thread.

[Envious Eric]

I was playing with a webpage creator and its more difficult to do than I thought....i have no idea how to add tabs for this and that....i think I might just pay someone to do it for me...does 200-300 for a simple website sound about right? what about hosting fees? i have seen some from 10 bucks to 50 bucks....who do you host with? ever hear of 1and1???

[autobahn]

For a small business site, a $10/month hosting package should be fine, probably overkill even.



For myself personally, I use nearlyfreespeech.net, as they have a non-monthly plan and probably the most economical hosting for a small site. $1/gb transfer a month, and a penny/mb per month.



So, if your site had 2gb of traffic in a month and your site was 50mb in size, you`d pay $2.50 for that month.



The great thing is, you can deposit like $20 with your credit card and not have to worry about monthly payments.



The only problem with nearlyfreespeech is they don`t offer e-mail accounts, just plain jane hosting.

[bineabble]

I offer hosting. If anyone is interested they can PM me.



I`m assuming a detailing website would have constant updates, so stay away from static HTML pages. Starting a blog may be a good and easy way to start. Very easy to maintain once it`s up and running. Wordpress is the best out there, very easy to use and it`s free!



Note: Don`t get a blog on xanga, blogspot, it doesn`t reflect a professional website. Get your own domain name!

[Joshua312]

I was playing with a webpage creator and its more difficult to do than I thought....i have no idea how to add tabs for this and that....i think I might just pay someone to do it for me...does 200-300 for a simple website sound about right? what about hosting fees? i have seen some from 10 bucks to 50 bucks....who do you host with? ever hear of 1and1???

It definately is more difficult than most think...It can be very frustrating and rewarding once you get it how you like it. Make sure with that 200-300 they allow you to do updates and you have the access you need...Otherwise check into their prices for having them to update it for you. For $200-300 you should get a pretty nice site with access to update as you need. In my opinion if you dont feel comfortable with making the website yourself...that $200-300 website will pay for itself in no time don`t worry