Web Design

I made more updates.

[macemeier]

Lawn care business tips

Home Page: *We still need to enlarge the photo beneath the text. *Basically, make the photo fill the entire green area below the text. Discover, M/C, Visa: *Let's try enlarging the images just a little bit and moving them down to the green area, just above the line that says "Services" or "Welcome" or whatever the page is, with right side alignment. *Also, separate them such that they are three separate images. Photos: *I notice that with the scalp mowing before and after it's real hard to see a difference. *Let's set it up such that when someone clicks on the photo, a pop up comes up with a larger picture. *I'd actually like to do that with all the photos on the websight. Fire Ant Control: *Below the picture of the mound, let's include the text "Fire Ant *****y". *Below the picture of the guy's arm, let's put the text "Pustules caused by fire ant stings". That's all for now. *I'm off to San Antonio for the Final Four. *GO POKES!!!! After we get these changes made, let's make it go live at www.meierslandscape.com. *I'll still need to make some changes as soon as I take a few more pic's of our work. Thanks, Mace Meier

The home page image is a small file and can't be enlarged without losing quality. Maybe you have another one you would like to use?

How does the credit card look on the home page and contact page?

You can click on the scalp images.

[macemeier]

Weekly & Bi-Weekly Mowing: *We need to breake this paragraph

Our regular weekly service begins in late March and goes through mid-October. In Mid-October we convert our weekly service to bi-weekly service until we get our first freeze, which is typically around Thanksgiving. Our bi-weekly service starts late March and ends upon first freeze. As you may notice on our service agreement, we do not allow "skipping". Many of our customers ask us “What do you do in the winter?” We try to stay busy in the winter installing landscape designs, but because our strategic focus is on landscape maintenance, that’s tough to do. We have to earn the bulk of our annual income in 32 to 34 weeks.

into two separate paragraphs. *The break should come after Our bi-weekly service starts late March and ends upon first freeze.

As for the enlarged scalp mowing pictures, is it possible to have the link go to a page that shows both the enlarged before and after pictures on the same size? *Maybe one right above the other such that you could scroll down to see the after picture? *We need to have these two pictures in the larg size on the same page.

The visa/MC/Disc logos look good.

I'll have to take a picture of one of our lawns as soon as the bermuda is in full green up and e-mail that to you for the home page. *In fact, I'll be e-mailling several photos to you in the near future for all the pages that don't have phots right now.

As for the link under Weekly & Bi-Weekly Lawn Mowing that says (to find out why, click here), we'll need to entitle the next page How To Properly Care For A Bermuda Lawn.

Most of the lawns in our area are installed at the time of new home construction. *The lawns are brought in as sod. *Almost all of the lawns we see in our area are not common bermuda lawns. *They're typically one of the many "tif" or "hybrid" varieties of bermuda grass. *This grass is much harder to properly maintain than common bermuda. *Our guess is that over 90% of the lawns in our area are a "tif" or "hybrid" type of bermuda.

The most identifiable difference between the "tif" or "hybrid" bermuda is the length of the leaf blade. *Common bermuda leaf blades will grow to lengths of *3/4" to 1". *"Tif" or "Hybrid" bermuda leaf blades reach lengths of only 1/2" or less.

Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and many other well respected universities recommend a cutting height for "tif" or "hybrid" bermuda of 1" or less.

These universities also recommend that not more than 30 to 40 percent of the leaf blade ever be removed with a single mowing. *(Important point: *That's 30 to 40% of the leaf blade, not the entire plant.)

Simple math tells us that at a 1 inch cutting height, which is the maximum recommended cutting hieght for "tif" or "hybrid" bermuda, and leaf blades that are a maximum of 1/2" in length, we can't allow the plant to ever grow any taller than 1.2 inches between mowings. *(Realize, the first 1/2" to 3/4" of the plant is stem, not leaf blade) *Basically, this means mowing the lawn 3 to 4 times per week in order to comply with university guidelines.

Golf courses typically mow the fairways every M-W-F. *This ensures that they are always cutting leaf blades as opposed to grass stems. *As long as leaf blades are cut, the lawn looks green after it's been mowed. *However, when grass stems are cut, the lawn looks gray to yellow right after it's been mowed.

As home owners or comercial property managers, it isn't practical to mow the lawn 3 to 4 times per week. *Most people either mow the lawn every week or every other week (bi-weekly).

So, what's the big deal with the university guidelines? *The immediate difference is most appearant from about the first of May until the middle of September. *During this time of year, you'll notice that golf course fairways are always green, whether they were just mowed or not. *Lawns, on the other hand, look gray or yellow right after they've been mowed. *The lawns actually look greener before they're mowed than after. *It's because with weekly mowings (and especially bi-weekly mowings) the mower is cutting stem, which leaves the plant with very little leaf blade. *Stems are white to yellow. *Only the leaf blade of the plant is actually green. *Each time the stems are cut, the plant must draw on it's root system to force new leaf growth. *This weakens the root structure, making it easier for weeds to take hold during winter dormancy.

www.meierslandscape.com has been updated.

[macemeier]

Everything is starting to look really good. *A few more changes:

Our Insurance: *I'll be e-mailing you an image of the Hartford logo that I'd like to add to the "Our Insurance" page.

Weekly Mowing & Bi-Weekly Mowing: *Let's eliminate the photos of the scalp mowing from the top of the page and let's make the word "scalp" yellow, a link, to the page you've already created with the large before and after photos.

Each year in late February to early March, we scalp the lawn.

I think that's about it for right now.

Thanks,
Mace Meier

www.meierslandscape.com has been updated.

[macemeier]

The link under weekly & bi-weekly service (To find out why, click here.) is gone. *We need to make that come back. *Everything else looks pretty good.

The only other changes I anticipate making are adding more color photos of work I do this season and we still need to create the customer login page as soon as I find some time to play around with the gopher software.

Thanks,
Mace Meier

The link is back in.

[macemeier]

Let's change the text under Our Insurance to this:

Why is it important that you hire an insured contractor to do work around your home? *Why is workmans comp insurance important?

Landscaping is inherently dangerous work. *Almost every piece of equipment used in the green industry is designed to cut through plant materials or soil and most of that equipment can easily remove a finger or foot in a split second. *We routinely encounter dangerous work environments. *For example, mowing grass at the top of a retaining wall could easily lead to a broken back or neck with a simple human error. *Every year in the US, thousands of green industry employees are injured or killed on the job. *If you don't believe us, just call the local emergency room and ask their staff about the types of injuries they see every week during the growing season.

Most home owners don't realize it, but the simple act of hiring an uninsured contractor to do work around your home could cost you everything you own. *If an employee is injured while working on your property, or there is damage to your property, your home owners insurance will likely deny the claim because you hired an uninsured contractor. *No respectable commercial property manager would dream of *allowing an uninsured contractor on their property. *Why would you want to be any less protective with your greatest investment?

There are two types of insurance that are needed to ensure that you don't find yourself listed as a defendent in a law suit or with damages that won't be paid. *The first type of insurance is general liability insurance. *This insurance will pay for any damage that we may cause while we are working on your property. *The second insurance, and more costly, is workmans comp insurance. *Workmans comp insurance pays an employee who is injured on the job for medical expenses and lost wages.

We carry general liability insurance. *A few of our competitors also carry this insurance, but we believe most are simply uninsured.

We also carry workmans comp insurance on all of our employees. *This is the big one that almost none of our competitors carry and we believe it is where most home howners are at the greatest risk. *Rest assured, if an employee of an uninsured contractor is seriously injured on your property, non-citizen or otherwise, you will likely be named as a defendent in a law suit and your home owners insurance will likely leave you holding the bag. *We carry workmans comp insurance on all of our employees.

When you do business with us, you can rest assured that your personal net worth is safe.