What should I change???

[vanncann]

This is my web site and it seems to look good but not getting much return what should I try different??? http://www.cannonlawncare.com please let me know what you guys thank...

[fl-landscapes]

looks good. I think the pictures may be the only thing I would work on jmo. The home page has a nice picture of a property that looks well maintained but the picture is very dark. The tractor supply picture on "services" page, although its nice to show you take care of a known commercial property the grass look horrible. Just my thoughts, I only looked at those two pages.

[vanncann]

Trac. supply was anew build and did not know how to use the unfinished irrigation system. That pic will be coming down soon thou. Thanks... anything else? Anybody...

[Lefet]

"Cannon Lawn Care, LLC Wellington Cannon has studded and passed all Alabama state exams "

Just took a quick look but you may want to change "studded" to "studied".

[Turboguy]

As far as your website looking attractive and professional it is fine. You mention you are not getting a good return on it.

First off you need some work on your meta tags. You have no description tag at all and that is an important one.

My second thing I don't like is you are to anonomous. No address no phone number just email me. You want them to tell you who they are without you telling them who you are. (Granted you have a photo and bio)

If I were looking for a lawn care service and saw two companies with web sites and the contact page for one said.

Joe Blow
Bow Mow
1234 5th St
anywhere anystate,
Office number 123-456-7890
Cell number 234-567-8901
Email joe at blow mow

and the other said.

Contact me

I would go with the first guy who doesn't seem to have anything to hide without a seconds hesitation.

[ratfink]

Re-sample your pictures. Page load times are taking a hit due to loading image data you don't use.

[Lefet]

As far as your website looking attractive and professional it is fine. You mention you are not getting a good return on it.

First off you need some work on your meta tags. You have no description tag at all and that is an important one.

My second thing I don't like is you are to anonomous. No address no phone number just email me. You want them to tell you who they are without you telling them who you are. (Granted you have a photo and bio)

If I were looking for a lawn care service and saw two companies with web sites and the contact page for one said.

Joe Blow
Bow Mow
1234 5th St
anywhere anystate,
Office number 123-456-7890
Cell number 234-567-8901
Email joe at blow mow

and the other said.

Contact me

I would go with the first guy who doesn't seem to have anything to hide without a seconds hesitation.

what is a "meta tag"?

[Turboguy]

You asked what a meta tag is. There are two parts to the code that makes up a web page. The head and the body. The head doesn't show but it tells the browser what version of HTML the page is written in so the browser can display the web site properly.

There are some things that are added to the head section by the programer usually that are designed to help search engines and end users as well. The three that are most common are

Title (that is the title of the web site. Such as "Joes Lawn Care of Atlanta GA") It is usually pretty brief.

the second meta tag is the Description. Usually it is a little longer maybe 130-170 charcters and tells search engines what the web site is about. Mabye something like. "Joes Lawn provides mowing, leaf removal and other lawn care services to customers in the Atlana area"

The third is Keywords. In the early days of the internet this was used a lot by search engines, today it is not widely used but still they should be there. this is a list of topics someone might use to search for someone seperated by commas. An Example would be, "Joes Lawn Care, Lawn Care in Atlanta, mowing, hedge trimming, leaf removal, snow removal, mulching, lawnmowing, grass cutting, lawn maintenance, grass, lawns, mowing, trimming, lawn clean up, etc.

If you right click your mouse you may get an opton for "View Source" This will show you the HTML behind a webpage including the meta tags.

[Lefet]

Thank you very much Turboguy!! Really appreciate the information!!

[vanncann]

Got the meta tags taken care of this week but was told it would take a little while for it to take effect. As for the spelling every time I run the spell check it comes up with different words being wrong, still haven't figured that one out yet. Thanks guys keepem comin...

[Lefet]

In approximatly 1978 my dad Homer Cannon started Cannon Lawn Care. Over the years he updated his outfit. First with riding mower, and then with line trimmers and edgers. In 1982 my 10th birthday I saw him going buy with something green in the back of the truck. I thought "birthday present". It was a present, a line trimmer. Since that day I have learned how to do most things related to lawn care. Later that decade I got my drivers licence and started taking over the bussiness. In the mid nintys Homer retired and set me free to chase the bussiness the way I saw fit. In doing so I went with star mowers to save time and labor, which worked great. After getting married in September 1996 we moved to Mobile Alabama for Leigh my new wife to go to school at USA, and after 2.5 years she graduated as a Physical Therapist, and we found out we were pregnant with the first of three. Once knowing we were starting a family we moved back to Dothan Alabama to pursue life and work. Getting back into the grass service is a slow process so after years of service it starts taking off in Dothan again. Now being licensed for every type of Lawn or Landscape service in Alabama we are now starting a web sit so Enjoy. If you need service and experience Please call for a free quote. Cannon Lawn Care, LLC can take care of you're needs.

by, not buy
nineties, not nintys
business, not bussiness
site? not sit

Not being picky, just trying to help.

[starry night]

I'm not trying to pick on you, either. But, there are many spelling errors and grammatical errors. Spell check can't find all errors and there is no program for grammar. Hey, some guys are great workers and some guys know how to write.:) Find someone to personally check for you.

I like the photo of you and your wife; a nice personal touch.

[vanncann]

Spelling is don... As for the grammar that's as good as it gets right now... Maybe in the future it will be taken care of with better grammar. I have found that spell check doesn't find all the errors. Whats next???

[rbl525]

Sorry,my first post, but several things jumped out at me.

It almost seems like you put too many sales pitches in every section. People are looking for information, and too many sales pitches on every page will lead them to not read any further. I was reading through your services page, and almost every one had a sales pitch for that service. I would simplify it. Break it into three categories: 1. Design and Installation, 2. Regular Maintenance, and 3. Cleanup and Removal.

Services

Design and Installation
New Lawns with the right seed for your needs
Landscaping
Flowers and Gardens
New Tree Layouts

Regular Maintenance
Mowing
Trimming
Edging
Fertilizing
Weed Management

Cleanup and Removal
Seasonal Cleanups
Bush Hogging??? never heard of that, guessing it goes here
Gutter Cleaning
Tree and Bush Trimming

Then throw the Contact us for a Free Estimate below all that with a link to your contact page.

You don't really need a detailed description of each service as they are mostly self explanatory. I would also Avoid describing your services as professionally done....they know that already, they are looking to hire you.

I would create a mission statement and make that most of your home page. People don't want to read a lot, so keep it short. "Cannon Lawn Care is dedicated to providing a lawn & landscape that will make your neighbors jealous, exceptional customer service, and prompt completion exceeding your expectations."

Add three more tabs to the list on the left 1. Licenses 2. Insurance 3. Certifications (then you don't have to mention them everywhere else and the people that care will look) Put the pertinent information in a bullet point format rather than in a paragraph so the are easily scanned.

I would consider adding a photo section too, then you can eliminate some of the clutter. Try to limit it to one photo per page, and have the general photo section they can scroll through if they want. You want everything you have to say to show up without them having to scroll if possible.

I would remove the equipment tab. Most customers don't care or know what any of that means anyway.

Contact us page.
1.Take off that within 48 hours it can say you put things off for 2 days.
2. Move your Company name and address above the form and make it bigger to stand out.
3. If you are asking for address, you should have enough for a full postal address, slightly confusing that there is city, but no state or zip. Make the physical address optional and put "(optional)" on the right so they don't feel required to give you personal information immediately. Conversely you could star the required fields. Remember to keep them comfortable or they aren't going to contact you.
3. Think about having a logo designed, or play with the layout a little.

which looks better?

Cannon Lawn Care
or

Cannon
Lawn Care

The less they have to move their eyes, the more effective your page will be.

Your banner at the top lists Dothan as the city, and your address is Newton? mildly confusing to me, but that may be common knowledge in your area.

On the about us page, I like the picture of you and your wife. I would recommend not doing one showing you on vacation.....By the way, I am jealous, that looked like the Grand Canyon to me) I would say have a picture professionally done with your entire family, I think you can even get one at Walmart for under $20.

The background you gave does show a little bit where you came from, but it is almost too much detail about your private life to be passing on to potential customers. I would more explain that you got your first trimmer at 10, and were off to the races. Personal information about your family life contradicts the professional image you are trying to portray. Keep the bio a professional representation of your past.

I wouldn't put the Visa/Mastercard on there unless you accept online payments.

ok, that's a good start, spent an hour going over this. I hope I didn't hit you too hard.

[Lefet]

Wow rbl525! Really constructive! So what is it you did in your previous life? Website designer???
Alot of the same things I was thinking, just didn't want to seem too picky. Especially about the bio, kinda makes you skim over it. Never noticed the "equipment" tag. I agree, pretty useless.
48 hours- VERY good point.
Really good evaluation with VERY constructive criticism.

Vanncann, not sure if you changed it but you've got another "bussiness"
"free to chase the bussiness the way I saw fit"

[vanncann]

rbl525, sorry for the work but it is appreciated. As for the accepting payments on line NO! To much hassle going thru all the security. This is not a paypal set up I can process a card just like a store can, I just call mine in by phone instead of a terminal.

[Turboguy]

rbl525, sorry for the work but it is appreciated. As for the accepting payments on line NO! To much hassle going thru all the security. This is not a paypal set up I can process a card just like a store can, I just call mine in by phone instead of a terminal.

If you wanted to accept online payments you might look at www.mals-e.com. It is free and uses their secure servers. It stores the credit card info into a data base and sends you an email that you have a sale or payment. You just log into your online account and get the credit card info and call it in. That is totally free. They also have a pay version which will automatically charge the credit card through your gateway such as Authorize.net for $ 7.95 which you would not need but might look at in the future. I have used mals free service for years now and it works fine.

All you really do is use a buy it now or pay now type of button and set up a hyperlink with the information. It is pretty easy to set up. It goes right into the same web page you have now and there are no templates needed so it incorporates well.

[Lefet]

If you wanted to accept online payments you might look at www.mals-e.com. It is free and uses their secure servers. It stores the credit card info into a data base and sends you an email that you have a sale or payment. You just log into your online account and get the credit card info and call it in. That is totally free. They also have a pay version which will automatically charge the credit card through your gateway such as Authorize.net for $ 7.95 which you would not need but might look at in the future. I have used mals free service for years now and it works fine.

All you really do is use a buy it now or pay now type of button and set up a hyperlink with the information. It is pretty easy to set up. It goes right into the same web page you have now and there are no templates needed so it incorporates well.

True. Then they'll send you an email that you've got funds, you transfer them into your bank at your leisure. Cost if free until used.
Personally, I'd rather use the secure server, then give my CC # to someone on the phone, who know's WHERE it will end up? At least this way, I have a paper trail. Both parties get an email confirmation.

[Cajun Cleanin']

I think it looks pretty good.I'm not a big grammar basher.I would change the picture of you and your daughter to a pic of you and some of your machines or a working pic.You are gonna want to post alot and write in some blogs to get your ranking up.Also submit them to the search engines to get them recognized.You can google that kind of stuff.

I will say one more thing a website is not something you build and then let it sit there.You have to work on it alot to keep your rank high and content up to date.

[Turboguy]

Actually Lefet, Mals is free even when you do use it.

You still have to pay the bank fee for the credit card processing with your bank but Mals doesn't charge you anything and you use thier secure server so it is safe for your customer and you. The email that they send tells you that you have a sale or payment and you log into the database using your password and get the credit card info. You then call your bank with the credit card info and they process the payment.

[Lefet]

Turboguy, what percentage does the bank take?

[Turboguy]

Mals doesn't do credit card processing so it is whatever you negotiate with your bank. Most credit card processors are in the high 2% range. Something like 2.7% or so. It is not hard to find someone to process a credit card though.

[Lefet]

Not sure but sounds the same. Only paypal acts like the bank and you don't have to be bothered with transferring CC #'s.
Either way, they all sound like a good deal to get into one way or the other. It's a good thing to have on standby for when you get the opportunity to close that "larger" deal and someone wants to use the CC.
Thanks for the info.

[rbl525]

rbl525, sorry for the work but it is appreciated. As for the accepting payments on line NO! To much hassle going thru all the security. This is not a paypal set up I can process a card just like a store can, I just call mine in by phone instead of a terminal.

No problem buddy, it isn't snowing and the grass isn't growing, I have plenty of time. Better than flipping channels all day.

[Turboguy]

Paypal does process payments but you do need to be signed up with paypal. Most everyone who buys on eBay is signed up but most who don't use eBay are not. Mals will also accept PayPal payments if someone wants to which does save signing up for credit card processing. It is probably a good option for someone with a very small business.

[ratfink]

Paypal does process payments but you do need to be signed up with paypal. Most everyone who buys on eBay is signed up but most who don't use eBay are not.

Paypal merchant services doesn't require the person to be signed up, will work off normal credit card payments.

https://merchant.paypal.com/

[underESTIMATED]

This is my web site and it seems to look good but not getting much return what should I try different??? http://www.cannonlawncare.com please let me know what you guys thank...

Everyone has brought a solid point or two, but here are mine as well.

1. Header information is very important
Make sure that meta tag/description/title is consistent on every page of your site that get's indexed/cached on the net by spiders.

2. NEVER use uppercase when naming files. It's always good practice to use under case and very short file names as best as possible.

Example: http://www.cannonlawncare.com/Home_Page.php
That really should be called: http://www.cannonlawncare.com/index.php

Actually after typing this, I found this error. /Home_Page.php
Why are you using a .php file for the main index/home page file? Unless you're referring this page back to a database, you shouldn't be using a .php file...instead make it a .html to keep the information flowing faster.

3. Images - As mentioned, they load slow. Try resizing them instead of telling the code to resize them for the viewer. This will require less work from the browser/server and the page load time will be much quicker.
Page load time is the key to the internet viewer.

4. URL's - Shorten the file names as mentioned in #2. /About_Us - should be - about.html Contact_Us - should be - contact.html etc. etc.

5. Other images
http://www.cannonlawncare.com/images/sm_dcl_12_5_330.jpg
http://www.cannonlawncare.com/images/visa_mastercard_logo_1_.gif
http://www.cannonlawncare.com/images/better_20business_20bureau.jpg

All of these images are key images, that can be hotlinked from the average forum viewer to reference. With those lengthy image file names, it may take longer for google to index the image that someone is searching for instead of it being named: bbb.jpg or visa.gif etc. etc.

Edit:
6. Most important next to #1. Create a http://www.google.com/analytics/ account, and install the code on every page of your site. This will give you the best tool anyone can give you, and further help you self manage what you need to do to further improve your sites' performance.

Hope this helps?

Dave