Midgett's Property Maintenance

[DeMenkey]

Okay, so I ordered two domain names (.com and .info) and got a web-site up and running (yes I know some links arn't working, just haven't gotten there yet) and got a business hosting. Now I need some input. http://www.midgettsproperty.com/ I did Midgettsproperty.com instead of midgettspropertymaintenance.com to keep it alittle short to remember it. I've also got some business cards I just ordered which you can see on my facebook at http://www.facebook.com/midgettsproperty Lemme know what you think of my site and business cards please. I need all the input I can get right now. Thanks.

[CHEESE2009]

Lawn care business tips

Lookin' good brotha!!! The template is not really my style, but it works really well!

[WeekendWarriorLawn]

are you hosting this from your own server at home?


it's not a bad quick up-start website. get it up to full speed sooner than later, and in the meantime replace the link URLs with # symbols, this will generate them hoverable but non functional. that or use a coming soon link, personally myself i prefer to use non functional links over the CS page, but it's all personal preference.

[Von Bobbeh]

First thought: "nice looks good" and to a customer that is all that is important.

[DeMenkey]

Thanks ya'll. No, I'm paying something like 12 bucks or something for the business plan on gator host. I'm still working on the 404 page. And I've got "#" on some of the links, just not all of them cause I thought I'd have uploaded the pages by FTP by now. On my cPanel, I've got so many scripts I can install like CMS, forums, etc. etc. I was thinking of maybe putting a small forums up but I dunno how well that'd work. I'm thinking it'd be pointless really. I'm having trouble of what else I want to add to the site, I was thinking of a flower/grass/tree database or something. I want the website to have alot more interactive stuff to it but I don't know what would be good for a landscaping site...

I am offering a free pop3/web based email to customers and might offer it to the public (thinking it might be a bad idea cause of abuse) so any idea's would be awesome. I just don't want it so simple and plain you know. want more jazz on it. lol

[WeekendWarriorLawn]

nobody will use your email service. those used to be popular a few years back to try to win clients, but theyre useless as google, yahoo & hotmail provide everyone with great, free email.

if youre paying for a host, there is only so much jazz you can offer on your site before they start charging more. i wouldnt pay anything at all for monthly web hosting. you can host from home for free with justa little bit of looking on google for how to doit. check youtube too for video howto's.


once you steup your own host on a spare computer or even your regular computer, you can install anything you want.


you wont need forums.


you wont need to offer email.


youre offering business, not another social portal.



if youd rather get into social websites, then cut the business and find a niche for social websites, but good luck on that. buddypress is a good portal option for wordpress, though i have never used it.



your site should only have contact info, pics of your work, etc.


if you want to make any aspect of it socialized, create a facebook for it and link it from your website. nothing else needed.


avoid ajaxing it out. you dont need it.


avoid flash. you dont need it.


best idea is todraw on paper how you want it to look and make it happen from there.


-an experienced webmaster

[DeMenkey]

Thanks. I haven't done much with computers for almost 7-8 years. I used to do computer programming for a living (Flash, PHP, CGI, HTML, JavaScript, etc. Infact, I used to program with php-fusion and vB when they first came out. Came out with 3 versions of my own forums script with one made it really big at one time) but that's all the past and this was back on Windows 98 and Windows XP, Vista and 7 wasn't even thought of yet. Shows you how long it's been, lol.

But you've made some good points. I'm with you with the Flash, and some of the other points you made. Keep them coming, thanks guys.

[WeekendWarriorLawn]

you can use javascripts/ajaxing for things like image faders/sliders, which look exactly like flash but load faster and are not separate files as in the case of flash.

don't go too heavy on things like this, but yes, do use them on your front page to give a preview of some of your work.


i would definitely draw out the site on paper or MS Paint/photoshop to see how you would like it to look, then you can go from there in terms of getting to that point. story-boarding is very important in web design.

do set up that FB page. do link it in your site.


if you get far enough ahead in your programming, or use a portal system like drupal, you can start to include facebook mods for guests/users to "like" things. what might they want to like? a blog. you can always keep a blog on your website to reach out to people who visit it. include weather forecasts & local news/events for the area; look plugged into your community rather than just a guy with a lawn mower looking for beer money. thats my personal take, anyway.


with FB mods you can also include a "like" box on your front page which will show how many people like your site. youmight be able to run drupal or WP on gatorpress, i'm not sure. these systems are where you will get more functionality/modification ability from your site. even PHPBB *might* offer things like this - although it is a forum first, it does have addons for a portal & more.

i don't like phpbb, but its suuuuper easy for newbies inmost cases to install, setup & get started with.


if you do decide to start wokring on a system like this, do it on the backend. keep your main page live at alll times until the new system is up to speed. many people get over-zealous and want to start using a new advanced system before its ready when they should just slow down and work it out first.

[CHEESE2009]

I am very good at flash programming, unfortunately I can't draw for beans. I would love to make a game one day... but...

Unfortunately, I am the biggest procrastinator in the world. I will spend 1000 hours on a project, go to the washroom, and delete my work when I come back and watch tv. LOL.

If only I had a sugar daddy to fund my projects.

[CHEESE2009]

Originally Posted by WorkForMySelf

I have a go daddy website tonight that I made in 2 hours with pictures of lawn I got off google.. It is very bland but most customers dont care. a website alone add legitimacy in their mind and thats the goal

Indeed, this is true.

Heck, your website could just show your phone number and that's pretty much all you will need.