To web or not to web..........

vdubbya

vdubbya

Rochester Auto Spa
I'm just wondering how many of you detailers have websites? If you do, is it worth having? I'm considering one since I've moved into a fixed location and can operate here in "COLD" MN during the winter months as well as the nice months. Also, if you have a website how much of a hassle is it and what is an approximate up-keep cost. Thank's! :dunno
 
Just so you're not getting any play on this thread.....

I don't have a website and am not a professional detailer. I do, however, realize the importance of the web on the economy today. If you stay in the detailing business long, I would highly suggest starting a site. I really don't see a downside to it, and with a little reading you can practically do all the maintenance on it yourself. Ecommerce is a good thing and you might as well get in on it now. You'll be ahead of the game. Just my thoughts on the subject.
 
I have a website, and i always have. I get alot of traffic through it. It is somewhere my customers can go to and schedule, or read up. It is also somewhere that someone who sees one of my advertisments can go to learn more about what we have to offer.

It costs me around $10 a month for this site, but i have several so i really pay like $30 (you only need one, i just host other things)
I get 1GB of storage, and another GB of mail last i checked. I do all of the design and maint. myself, and if you need a hand, i am more than willing to help you set something up. This is my current site www.ddetail.com/ It is under heavy heavy development this week, so it is not full featured, but it is growing more and more by the min.

Hopefully my next revision (over the winter sometime) will include a customer portal where they can view invoices, see a custom maintainence chart, and a printable service record, and some other features.
 
tpgsr said:
I have a website, and i always have. I get alot of traffic through it. It is somewhere my customers can go to and schedule, or read up. It is also somewhere that someone who sees one of my advertisments can go to learn more about what we have to offer.

It costs me around $10 a month for this site, but i have several so i really pay like $30 (you only need one, i just host other things)
I get 1GB of storage, and another GB of mail last i checked. I do all of the design and maint. myself, and if you need a hand, i am more than willing to help you set something up. This is my current site www.ddetail.com/ It is under heavy heavy development this week, so it is not full featured, but it is growing more and more by the min.

Hopefully my next revision (over the winter sometime) will include a customer portal where they can view invoices, see a custom maintainence chart, and a printable service record, and some other features.
Click to expand...

Wow that is a really good site. You got it together very impressive. I especially like the various quotes you can get by the drop downs on the vehicle type and condition. I'd love to be able to do that.
 
wifehatescar said:
My site has scored me many of my jobs mainly due to my before/after pictures.
I pay $6/month through www.1&1.com
Click to expand...

Steve

Your link didn't work so I tried typing it another way . I think this is it .LINK

How long have you been using 1&1 ? and how would you rate them ?

Thanks
Jerry

Both your Web site have some kool features to them . tpgsr that drop down price menu you have is kool . How did you set that up to know where your price changes would take place ?
 
I'm a big fan of www.1and1.com. I have www.ocdetails.com hosted with them along with a few other sites. They make webdesign really easy. :bigups I haven't received many new clients from my website, but that wasn't the primary purpose. The primary reason that I put it there was so that I could put the URL on my business cards and give people access to some before/after work and other information. The directions it has gone has changed a bit since I first built it, but I am really pleased. It is almost too cheap not to have a website now days. 1and1.com offers a website creator that makes building a website really really easy. They have a demo of it on their site so you can see how simple it is to get started.
 
Jngrbrdman said:
I'm a big fan of www.1and1.com. I have www.ocdetails.com hosted with them along with a few other sites. They make webdesign really easy. :bigups I haven't received many new clients from my website, but that wasn't the primary purpose. The primary reason that I put it there was so that I could put the URL on my business cards and give people access to some before/after work and other information. The directions it has gone has changed a bit since I first built it, but I am really pleased. It is almost too cheap not to have a website now days. 1and1.com offers a website creator that makes building a website really really easy. They have a demo of it on their site so you can see how simple it is to get started.
Click to expand...

Hey Jngrbrdman,

Your site is coming along really nice. One thing that I would change is the first "html" in the url of your pages...

http://www.ocdetails.com/html/about_us.html

Is there anyway you can create them like this?

www.ocdetails.com/about_us.html

I'm not sure if the search engines like seeing that first html in there or not but it just bugs me and makes me lose sleep at night.

Otherwise, it looks great!

Dwayne
 
Yeah, I'd like to remove that, but I'm not that web savy yet. I do have the site indexed with my little search box on the front page if someone wants to search that way, but I don't know how to clean up the rest of the URL yet. It does all that automatically. It could be the program that I use to build it for all I know. :dunno
 
rollman said:
Steve

Your link didn't work so I tried typing it another way . I think this is it .LINK

How long have you been using 1&1 ? and how would you rate them ?

Thanks
Jerry

Both your Web site have some kool features to them . tpgsr that drop down price menu you have is kool . How did you set that up to know where your price changes would take place ?
Click to expand...
Yeah, you got the link right!

I had some issues at the beginning with 1and1 but they have been ok for the most part. They make it really easy if your a website N00B too :brick I have used them about 4 months.
 
WOW....thank's guys!

tpgsr, how did you come up with that? that is awesome! I need to have a site like that!
the whole price quote thing and all is killer!
 
Hi,
As I just mentioned in another post, I have a website for my business. It is a place that potential customers can go to read about what we do and get contact information, etc. In ADDITION the site provides before and after pictures of vehicles that we detail. It is really cool to say to someone that their vehicle will be on our "featured page" when the job is all done.
As far as cost... next to nothing for me. I spent 12 bucks for a YEAR through Ehostone and his has way more storage than I should ever need. The upkeep on the site is not that difficult, especially if you do not plan on having pictures or something else that you would need to update constantly. I just use Microsoft Front Page and CuteFTP to publish to the web. Pretty simple if you have any knowledge of computers and can be quite fun as well.

If you want to check out my site the address is www.mmautodetail.com PLEASE let me know what you think (if not on this forum, you can email me at [email protected]). I am eager to get some feedback on my relatively new site.

Thanks,
Antiduke
 
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