My new Website!

B

Beach15

New member
Okay, I didn't spend too much time on it yet, but what do you guys think of my new site? I'm just starting out as a detailer with clients lined up, and though a site would be a great idea. Sure, it's a "free" starter site, but pretty good so far, huh?



Take a look:

DKAutoSpa
 
Nice job on the web site. I think the prices are kinda low though, but I am not sure because I am from Danbury,CT and everything up is exspensive. I can get between $100-$160 for a full Detail.



I was just down in Dover,DE last weekend camping out for the races.
 
Yeah, my prices are a little low, but I wanted to make them a little lower to start to help build a customer base. Then, after everything starts picking up more and I have more business, I'll raise the prices a little. So far, I just scheduled 2 more people for full detail jobs next week, and they haven't seen the site yet.
 
Derek, it is a good start. One recommendation I have for you is to get rid of all the special effects that follow the cursor. That is annoying IMHO. Make the site clean and simple, easy to navigate and attractive. A properly designed site takes a lot of work. I am in the same process at the moment working on mine. Not an easy task and very time consuming. Check out my site and see what you think, www.automotivespecialist.net , I am open to any comments you have. I also agree that you should raise your prices a bit. You are almost working for free. Good luck.
 
Yeah, I'm going to take that special effects cursor thing off soon. It was more of an experiment than an actual plan to keep it on there. I'm going to try and update the page often too, trying to keep it clean, simple, and up to date.
 
TC -- I like the way you labeled your detailing packages "Level 1" "Level 2" etc.



Very professional site!



Beach15 -- good start! :xyxthumbs



Do consider raising your prices tho -- I would think it would annoy existing customers to receive a rate hike, instead of starting off a little higher. Don't forget to consider the amount of time it takes to do a full detail - make sure you are getting paid enough per hour to make it worth your time!



Keep up the good work!!
 
leyland:



Thanks for the compliment. I love the barn. It is 50x30, 2 stories, and has steel beams instead of posts. Really makes for a great hobby shop. Heated, water, electricity, 2 lifts, welder, tools, etc. It really worked for me because my house is an old Colonial and we did not want to disprut(sp) the yard with a modern building. The barn was the answer. If you are interested in building one and making it into a house, please pm me for more information. The price is very reasonble all things considered.
 
Nice job on the site but I am probably going to echo the sentiments of the others by saying that you need to adjust your prices and get rid of the cursor.



Let me know when you get the customers' car pic page up. :D
 
i'm gonna go against the grain and say it's pretty weak (from a quasi professional web design POV)



you can get rid of the splash screen for one, it serves no point at all



then you can get off the geocities server



try www.cyberwings.com or www.3-95.com, they're both REALLY REALLY REALLY cheap in relation to what you get (i'm using 3-95.com), and you can register a domain name @ www.godaddy.com (12 bucks/year i THINK)



i dunno, if you're small it'll do, but when you get big you can find somebody doing freelance work (aka: unemployed and desperate for money) to do a pretty good webpage for cheap
 
I pretty much agree with you about the site. It is fairly weak and not all too sophisticated, but that's what I wanted as I'm just starting out and wanted to be able to just have a little site to work on as an experiment. Eventually, as business picks up, I will probably pop for something new and bigger as a "free" geocities account is pretty much meaningless, but non the less, it works just fine for now. And, actually, my first few customers have seen the site in it's pretty basic state but were still impressed anyway.



And like you said, I'm starting out small so it will do, but something better is necessary when I get more business.



Thanks for the opinions! They're really helping a lot so far!



Oh yeah, I got rid of the Flash cursor already and also changed the car graphic on each page from a weird clipart image to actual car pics.
 
Neuro - thanks, I was keepin my mouth shut about the design, as its better than most people who are 'beginners' come up with, but I'm the resident IT/CIS nerd at our office who set up the intranet (no internet site, and yet we're an office networking company)...



lots of geeks around me but I get to be big-boss in my division :up



thesantini- flash=ick IMHO. not a large support-base for it, there is a strong segment of users who do not have flash access.
 
Not a bad start, Beach15.... I hope you get some business off the site. I've got some of thoughts for you:



- I'd do a spell check on all your copy. I saw a few mistakes and nothing degrades the professionalism of a site than typos. Doesn't matter how intelligent you are or how awesome your detailing work is.... the moment someone sees spelling errors, they think you're an idiot. I'm certainly not calling you an idiot... but websites are a very impresonal but direct reflection of you and they need to be perfect.



- I agree with NeuroSynapsis that once you get your feet under you, you might consider hiring someone who does designing professionally. I'm not knocking your design skills, but it goes toward that whole "outward appearance" thing I mentioned above. Heck... give me a PM sometime and I can put something together for you at a decent price. I've been a graphic designer for about 8 years. ;)



- Take note that the free geocities (yahoo) web accounts aren't actually free if you conduct business and make money through the site. The "free" accounts are for non-business purposes only and if geocities finds your site, they most likely will pull it down. They do have a pretty inexpensive business related-option if you want to look into it. Heck... they may never find out, but be warned.



Anyway... enough of my rambling. Good luck and have fun! :xyxthumbs
 
Seems similarly basic like my site www.scottwax.com



My brother set it up for me and right now is working on ways to make navigation easier and dress up the site to make it look more professional without loading slowly for 56k people.



I like the before and after pics, but they load very slowly for thumbnail style pics. You might want to consider getting the free image optimizer from www.xat.com and compressing the pics. Mine are about twice the size of yours and most are 35 k or less in size so they load quickly. The program will also resize pics and keep them very sharp. Definitely worth the 10 minute download time if you are on dial-up (1 meg size).



I also like your use of manufacturer's logos. I mention on mine that I use Meguiars professional level products, but I may now add the logo to make it more obvious.



I do agree with the others that you should eventually raise your prices. Mine are a bit more than yours, but probably like your area, I just cannot get the premium prices you can get on the east or left coasts. I would raise the wash prices immediately though. $25 should be the minumum. Remember most car washes run about $20 for a wash, vac, windows and tire dressing. You are offering the added convience of doing it on site for the customer and if they have 3-4 cars, you are saving them the time of driving each one to a car wash, waiting around for it to be washed, then having to drive home and come back with another one. I am raising my max 'normal condition' prices to $75 for interior or exterior details and $150 for full details. My brother was supposed to have done that on Monday and I just noticed they are still at $60 and $125. Hmmm....



Breaking down additional services is a nice touch.

:xyxthumbs
 
I like it. Simply tells about you and what you offer. I would lose the splash page though. It really doesn't do a whole lot. I also might lose the 'before' pictures and just include the 'afters'. Though some can see the difference and the great work you did others may just not see the difference in the pictures that they would in person. Keep up the good work.



Kelly
 
First of all, I still do like the idea of before and after pics that I have, but they do tend to load slowly and I may have a bit of a problem when I add more too it. Seeing how bad some of the cars looked before and then how terrific afterwards (that Century was nasty, nasty!), just takes too much time and space. I did download the XAT Image Optimizer and used it (though couldn't tell much of a difference in the file size), but then my "30-day trial offer" ran out and you can no longer use it. Maybe I need to pay for it?



Thanks about the logos, I thought it'd be a nice touch to that page.



About the prices, again. Basically, it's a work in progress. Starting out, you can't exactly charge top-dollar, as your kind of proving yourself to customers. But once you're a little more well known, you can ask for and get the added premium. And the wash! Originally, I had it at $25-35, but got comments from other Autopian's, telling me it seemed like too much in accordance to my "detailing" packages. Sure, those could be risen (though not yet), but I instead decided to lower them, especially after seeing an ad for a new full service car wash in the area that washes, dries, and vacuums in a matter of minutes, for $11. Granted, it's a "Car Wash", something I trully despise and see as a good way of ruining your paint quite quickly, I thought I'd be a little more competitive. I do advertise myself as using only the finest materials for everything that I do, and that a proper hand wash is infinitely better than running through the local car wash.



I'm keeping the site for now. May upgrade a notch to expand file space and get rid of the ads, but it has worked well so far, and I like doing it all easily myself at anytime.



Just started a new advertising campaign yesterday! I'll post some details in another thread later, but wish me luck!
 
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