HELLO

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]How important do you think a website is in this business?

It's VERY important... remember when the fax machine was a neat thing to have... then it became a GOOD thing to have... now most businesses NEED them... websites are the same way... they're REALLY GOOD to have... Ask Matt from J&M Lawn Care. He had Rodman build his website and do the Search Engine Optimization on it... he's now at the TOP of the list when anybody does a search for "Dothan Lawn Care"... in fact, he's gotten calls from companies like Wachovia Bank asking him to bid on their properties...

Secondly, I think they're good to have because they're a 24/7 advertisement and source of information about your company. You can put your web address on all your marketing and invoicing materials... business cards, flyers, door hangers, estimate forms... everything... then, you put all the information on your site; list of services, pricing information (if you really want to), your service area, etc... people have access to your info any time they want it. You could even put discount flyers online for your potential customers to download and print themselves to redeem when they call on you for services. That way, you save ink! =)

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Do you think a Myspace works just as well?

No, but MySpace has its benefits as well. You can list your services, write blogs about your experiences and what customers can expect when they call you (or why they should call you at certain times in the year), add pictures at will with no problems... then, you can do searches on MySpace for people in your area... ask to be on their friends list, then start marketing special discounts directly to your entire friends list using the Bulletins feature...

On the other side of the coin, you can't control EVERY aspect of the design on MySpace... there are certain things that will come up whether you want them to or not... and your older customers will not know anything about MySpace...

Use MySpace, but don't rely on it as your only source of online presence.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]And what about local online directories and yellowpages?

I LOVE online directories! Anytime you can market for FREE on them, that is.... the free ones are your "golden ticket"... sometimes people look SPECIFICALLY on those types of sites before they ever visit a certain company's website. You have that extra effort to advertise to people looking specifically on those sites for a company just like your's! ....and then you have the other people who advertise other services on those types of sites that look through other ads for things and services they may be needing as well.

The YellowPages are good, too, if you want to pay that much. I think the YellowPages are probably the MOST expensive "basic" advertising you can do (unless you consider TV and Radio commercials "basic" advertising)... my company is not in the yellow pages... it's just too expensive for me right now... maybe in a few years... but not any time soon.


I hope this has helped you... sorry if I was a little too wordy and long winded... lol

Feel free to ask ANY and ALL questions you may have... we're all here to help you along the way... we all help each other. = ) We may even learn something or get ideas and inspirations from you as well!

[FourSeasons]

I think more and more people are turning to the internet though.
For ex. I wanted to take my dog to get a bath so he could come in for the winter. I went on the interenet and typed in dog grooming in everett, wa

Maybe a do it yourself website where you can post pics of your work would be good with patricks help

[FourSeasons]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]the free ones are your "golden ticket"... sometimes people look SPECIFICALLY on those types of sites before they ever visit a certain company's website.

Where are these at? I want to be in them to!

Go to my website - Green & Clean Website - and scroll to the bottom... there's a list down there... those are all the ones I use (so far, anyway)... Merchant Circle is the BEST so far... I added my listing, and within 5 minutes, that listing put me to the #2 spot on Google (on the Merchant Circle site, that is) for searching lawn care in my area.

[LGYardService]

Patrick,

Thank you so much for the help! I really appreciate your advice and time. So I guess websites are more important than i thought LOL Sooner or later I'm going to NEED one! What is the best price you've seen for a website host? From what I've been looking at, they're all about $10 or so a month. And also how do you get those free direstories things you were talking about? I know you already told FourSeasons but I didn't quite get it. lol But once again, thanks a bunch!

Luke