Website Help

[minnows mowing]

Can anyone rcommend a go place to get website? i would like to set one up since i just took a bunch of nice pictures i would really like to get out there.

[Snappea]

Hi Minnows,

I am a member here with a related biz, but also do great web site stuff. Here's a link to a local landscape guy I do web work for. He will be VERY HAPPY to tell you how I have helped increase his business.

You can contact him from the number on his site. My direct number is: 608-467-8485. My name is Laura.

http://www.madison-landscape.com

[Snappea]

Whatever you do, don't put something up that looks "homemade".
Wordpress has limited design capabilities. If you don't know what you are doing, I think it will hurt, not help your biz. A one page site, done well (design and with the right keywords/content/tags etc.), is all you do need for your business. That's what the landscape client I have has. Here's the link again: http://www.madison-landscape.com.

A Facebook biz page is good because it's free. Doing a good web page optimized to get good Google rankings is best.

Another thing I do for many clients is create picture ads under "services" on craigslist. Here's a sample:

http://http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af316/promomplus/FallClad1.jpg[/IMG]

[mdvaden]

Personally, I think that Facebook pages are cheezy and more "home made" looking than some home made sites, when integrated with the main site.

As far as Google rankings, the number of slots is very limited. Let me introduce you to my page:

Website rankings compared to the Gold Rush days (http://www.mdvaden.com/website_traffic.shtml)

Never hurts to optimize text and code purely to have a streamlined site.

But its essential for new website owners to know the full reality check so they are not running for a pipedream like a dog chasing it's tail either.

:)

[Snappea]

to this thread! LOL!

I think facebook is kinda cheezy, but that, too, can be done well (for facebook). At least with a facebook page, the expectation of professionalism by the viewer is low to begin with. A web site or web page is a different story. It needs to look good, although not too good or people will think you are too expensive (!).

[mdvaden]

I've seen a few big companies put Facebook on their sites.

Davey Tree company comes to mind. Although, that company is so big with such an extensive history, I think that they could easily ride with just the website alone.

[Snappea]

Due to the desire of businesses to be ranked well on Google, there are a number of criteria Google "looks" for with web sites. Many businesses are there by "default", not because they are any good or because they satisfy Google's criteria for good placement. The cool thing for us is we score our clients competition (the ones already ranking well) and "outdo" them based on the Google criteria. It does or can take awhile for it to get up there, but the businesses that are their can be "bumped" IF a new, better, relevant and properly done site comes along. I have 2 recent clients who both made it to Google top 3 within 2 weeks. They were keyworded correctly and met Google's standards 100%. Although one didn't have much competition in his industry, the other did. In landscaping it'll take awhile (so competitive), but again, done correctly, ranking can and will occur.

[ajslands]

The ones I have setup for people use go daddy. It's easy for me to use.
Posted via Mobile Device

[mdvaden]

It is possible to "bump" up. But no matter how we dice up the scenerio, there are really no more than 10 relevant spots.

With legions of pretty good webmasters out there somewhere to be found, if one company gets bumped from #3 down to #14 on the next page, it won't be long until they begin to bump the other company back again.

If it doesn't happen that way, then one or more of the companies was not all that committed to keeping in the top.

So its basically a tug-of-war thing. Just like how companies constantly send out flyers or "junk mail", struggling to grab back their share.

That may be relative to the one thing I even did like about the Yellow Pages. If someone opened the book, even though a few paid for big ads, or got first in the "A's", at least we could look at 2 full pages simultaneously.

I don't use the YP anymore, but that's the one part I liked about the book.

[r&renterprises]

I have heard about "keywords and meta tags" to get higher in google ranks, can someone elaborate on what they are and have also heard having links to your website to increase traffic helps too but how do i do that??
Thanks for any and all input.

[Turboguy]

There are three main Meta Tags, Title, descripton and keywords. They are what they sound like.

The title is the title of your website or website page. It should be fairly short, perhaps 45-70 characters and the more keywords in it the better but it needs to be descriptive too. Something like R & R Enterprises would not be a great choice. "R & R enterprises for your lawn care and landscaping needs" woule be better.

Description is similar but expanded. Perhaps 150-175 characters and again, keywords in your title are good.

Keywords are a list of words someone might search by separated by a comma. something like lawn care, landscaping, lawn mowing, gutter cleaning, ect. They are not used as much as they have been in the past.


As far as links, even a link to your site in your signature line here may help a little but the more links you can get on other good sites the better.

Most browsers have a "View" control and you can select source under that and it will show you the HTML for a web page and you can look and see what meta tags a few sites have to get a better idea.