Any tips, criticism for my site for improvements is appreciated!

Good afternoon LCO's! I just started in the business about 2 months ago when I lost my job mid September. I was hoping some of you more seasoned LCO's can help me out with some tips and best practices for my website or marketing efforts. I am still constantly updating the site as it is not complete. Thanks in advance for the support and I decided to get into the business because of this very forum and all the feedback the forum members provided. I felt there was enough information for a newbie like me to get a push start. Thanks again, David Mills http://www.GreenIguanaLawnCare.com (714)422-9660

[arthur712]

How to get lawn care customers - Vol 2

Welcome to the forum David!

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[Steve]

Welcome to our forum David!

Did you make your site yourself? Did you use a template or how did you put it together?

Good afternoon Steve;

Thanks for your question and support! Yes I did make my site myself. I purchased my domain and some hosting space and put the site together from scratch using a html editor. It's a pretty simple site using Photoshop, html and CSS. This is my 5th business that I'm putting together so I have some experience. I was actually sitting around 3 days after I lost my job and I remembered there was a new lawn mower sitting in lost & found and decided to give it a run. What do you think of it? Are there any changes you would make with your experience in the business? Also, If you or any forum members need help with thier sites or businesse's, I would love to help.

Thanks again for your support.

David Mills
http://GreenIguanaLawnCare.com

[Steve]

I like your site. I could tell by looking at it, a lot of time was put into it so that is why I was wondering how it got put together.

This is my 5th business that I'm putting together so I have some experience.

WoW! What other kinds of businesses have you operated? How do you feel the experience has helped you in this new business venture of yours?

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your comments! Well I have had a fascination with businesse's every since I can remember. The first business I ever opened was Rapid Run's in which I would gather information for banks such as B of A and GAC on loans and Warranty Deed's for customer's requesting loan's from banks. I also started Quick Buy USA which I was selling electronic's online. I opened up a online smoke shop (Smoker's Heaven) in which i quickly recieved harrasment letter's demanding I close shop due to not collecting taxes from customer's purchasing in other state's. I also opened The District Clothing for my GF that did very well until I decided to close down about a month before this recent recession hit. Now, it brings me to open up a lawn care business as I feel customer's will still have the need for lawn care and by being fairly priced, I can grow even in a tough economy like we are experiencing now.
I feel my past venture's has helped tremendously. I've always felt that I would rather learn by doing and failing than by having someone else build for me. Whenever I start something, I research heavily, put number's together and learn as I go. I have experienced alot of negativity from it like, If it was that easy, everyone would do it(which I'm sure you yourself has been exposed to and have obviously overcome)to, maybe you should just find a job. But, at the end of the day, this is what I love doing, so I would like to push this business to the next level. I'm in the process of writing a business plan and will soon look for funding(something I have never done before) I have always financed my own businesse's by being frugal and doing myself. Any tip's or Angel Investor's out there that you know of?! By Mid next year, I am planning to start adding products to my site. Book's, My own line of fertilizer's, equipment, etc...I would love to carry your product's if your up for it. Really looking to chase Trugreen, and dominate in the Southern California market, and eventually open up a branch in Dallas, Tx.

Thanks,

David Mills
http://GreenIguanaLawnCare.com

[Steve]

That is very fascinating!

Out of all those businesses, which did you like most and which did you like least?

How important was it to you that the business was fun? Was that important at all or did it come down to the business was fun if it was profitable?

Any tip's or Angel Investor's out there that you know of?!

We have seen on the forum here some members getting government grants to start their lawn care businesses. I am sure if you did a search for that on here, you would find the discussions.

The thing I wonder is, what do you need that you need investors for?

A lot of people are attracted to this industry because it has such a low entry barrier.

[mark123]

I have a criticism for your site. You have three blocks of text that are actually images. Not only can I not scan the text with a screen reader (you also blanked out the alt attribute) but this text is also not indexed by the search engines because they can't see it at all. Also, reading without my specs I can't increase the font size since it's fixed in the images.

There are a few other things, like adding a doctype (missing everywhere except the home page) and moving to HTML instead of XHTML unless you're going to use the XHTML syntax and have a reason for using XHTML, that should also be pointed out.

I always seem to like my current business the most. I think that is because with every venture, I grow and experience new things and how to overcome them. So with every business, It becomes easier, and quicker for me to get it off the ground. Along the way you learn valuable lessons in marketing, business practices...you know what work's and what doesn't and much of the time you can take that experience with you and implement it into other fields and be successful. I guess to put the electronics business was the most difficult because it required you to have tremendous buying power or it was almost impossible to survive. This is the 1st business where I'm not having to devote 80% of my time to my day time job and build my business with very little time. It really makes a big difference.
As far as why I would need investor's is due to wanting to have the capital to hire and put together a team that are experts in thier respective fields. Management, Sales, Accounting, etc.. along with purchasing Aerators, Over-seeder's Commercial Mowers, and to Incorporate the business and profit share with the initial team to provide them incentive's to grow the business. Entry barrier is extremely low and has allowed me to break into the market but in the Southern California area alone, There are over 600 lawn care and landscaping companie's. It would give me the needed boost to set my company apart and target more lucrative accounts.


Thanks,
David Mills
http://GreenIguanaLawnCare.com

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Originally Posted by mark123

I have a criticism for your site. You have three blocks of text that are actually images. Not only can I not scan the text with a screen reader (you also blanked out the alt attribute) but this text is also not indexed by the search engines because they can't see it at all. Also, reading without my specs I can't increase the font size since it's fixed in the images.

There are a few other things, like adding a doctype (missing everywhere except the home page) and moving to HTML instead of XHTML unless you're going to use the XHTML syntax and have a reason for using XHTML, that should also be pointed out.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your response!

I will be adding information in the att. tags as I've added them just have not placed any information in the "". As far as the Screen Reader, Probably less than 1% of surfer's use a screen reader to browse a site. So for now, I'm getting it all up and going for the majority of potential customer's and will tweak the smaller things later. As far as indexing, When you search on google for me, I come up as 1st or second, so not a biggie for me.
Thanks for the doctype point out, I missed that. and my site is html...I think when I initially started writing my index page in notepad, I opened my generic page I had used for one of my older sites which I need to correct. Thanks again for your feedback.

David Mills
http://GreenIguanaLawnCare.com