You guys that have a web site.

[bridges]

I'm looking for info on, putting my company on the web. Wanted to know how you guys did it.

What program you used to put your site on the web?

Who do you have to host the site and how much?

Do you have your own domain name and if so how many emails do you get with that.

And anything else that i might of left out.

Thanks in adavance :)

Tony

[Administrator]

I use Front Page 2000 and plain ole notepad for design work.

For hosting check out http://www.lawnhost.com

I sponsor ThinkHost because they host many of my sites and they are the most reliable and user friendly host I have found.

Soon, they will have turf templates specially designed for lawnsite.com members.

For $15 a month you can host up to 2 domains. ( business and personal )

I register my domain names through 000domains. Only $13.50 and they have a great control panel.

http://000domains.com/cgi-bin/reg_system.cgi?affiliate_id=lawnsite.net

Or, Last but not least you can directly host on the LawnSite.com server for a $35 setup fee and $12.00 a month. Unlimited emails and traffic.

Chuck

[mowerman90]

If you're new to doing web sites I'd reccomend going to http://www.homestead.com and using their program. You don't need to know a thing about anything and the best part is that it's totally FREE. All they want from you is to out their banner ad at the bottom of your web page. Check out my site. I know it's not the greatest, but it enables me to provide my customers with resourses (my links page), and lets my existing custs pay me over the web (my payment page). Plus, I have my web address displayed on my trailer sign so I may actually get some new custs from it, although that was not the reason I made the site. Good Luck with whatever you try.

[bridges]

Hey Chuck,

Is lawnSite done with frontpage2000?

[Eric ELM]

The forum is powered by vBulletin.

My site is done with MS Front Page.
If you use Front Page, make sure the host has Front Page extensions enabled.

[KirbysLawn]

I use Front Page & Net Fusion. The Thinkhost deal Chuck posted is very good, I'm considering moving all my sites to them.

FrontPage is the easiest to use and it's affordable. Try it.

[Administrator]

Like Eric said... my site is powered by Vbulletin and I edit the header using Front Page.

Remember, if you want to support LawnSite.com and want the best hosting possible go with http://www.lawnhost.com or I can even put you directly on board with LawnSite.com. Everyone knows how fast and reliable LawnSite.com is.

Chuck

[JimLewis]

I made my own web page for the first 2 years or so then about 2 years ago I finally had to take the plunge and build a professional web site. We are beginning to compete with the big boys in town so I have to look the part. So now, I hire out for the web development. Fortunately for me, my cousin is a professional web designer so he does it for me for about 95% off what it would normally cost.

The one I made on my own was with Netscape Composer. I like that program. But with composer, Front Page, or any other program, you are never going to be able to do what a pro can do. But it will get you a really good start.

I don't know who we have host it. All I know is I pay $10 a month and it always works. My cousin handles all that.

We do have our own domain name. From that alone you will not get calls. You have to market the web site. I spent dozens of hours last winter submitting our web site to search engines and learning how do best do it. That was the start. But even when you get that down so that your company comes up in a search, it won't get you a lot of hits. Not too many people these days go to the net and search for a lawn care or landscape company. We're just not there yet. However, a few do. I have one customer who found us via a search engine. And I have had 2 other contacts over the last year.

The key is to use your web page to supliment your existing marketing. A web page should function to give the potential client a bigger picture of your company. Flyers can only say so much. Newspaper ads can't say much either. But a web page can have a ton of information. And if you do it right, it can make your company look even bigger and better than you are.

The main functions of our web page are 1) Give the client a brief description of who we are, what we do, and what area we service. 2) Explain some of the services we offer 3) Give the client an idea of what they might expect to pay. 4) Give examples of our work via pictures 5) List letters of recommendation to add to our credibility.

Then we market that web site everywhere. It's in our yellow pages ads, on all of our flyers, on our trucks in big letters, on our A-frame signs, on all of our letter heads, bids, etc....

That's where we get the emails and hits from. We send people to the web site for more info. With all of this, I'd say we get about 5 emails a week during the busy season. This is an average. Some weeks more, some less. But it's a pretty good turn out, all things considered.

I guess it also depends on where you live, etc. I live right next to the headquarters of Intel, Nike, Adidas, Tektronics, etc. and the majority of people in this area (my clients) are online and use the internet on a regular basis. So it works well around here. If I were in a smaller town I may not market it quite as much.

[lawrence stone]

Jim Lewis wrote:

>You have to market the web site. I spent dozens of hours last winter submitting our web site to search engines and learning how do best do it

Next time try http://www.submitwolf.net/

[SMB]

I have my page on Homestead, great host but NO FTP. I have started hosting some of my images on Geocities and linking to them from Homestead. http://masseyfergusongt.homestead.com I hope to switch over to Microsoft FrontPage and ThinkHost this summer. (When the $$$ start coming back in.) I will have 2 pages running, Massey Ferguson Garden Tractors, (soon to become Classic Massey Ferguson Garden Tractors) and for our business page.

[JimLewis]

Originally posted by lawrence stone
Jim Lewis wrote:

>You have to market the web site. I spent dozens of hours last winter submitting our web site to search engines and learning how do best do it

Next time try http://www.submitwolf.net/


Of course, I used sites like this. But if you really want to end up in the top 5 or 10 in your search, places like this won't get you there. And they don't submit to many of the big boys, like Yahoo (which is the biggest and most important). A lot of it you just have to do by hand. Furthermore, there is a lot more to getting top listings than just being submited. You have to know a lot about Meta Tags and how each search engine indexes their listings. You have to submit yourself to the appropriate catagory. And you gotta understand how things like Open Directory work.

I recommend anyone interested in REALLY getting listed visit the following pages;

http://selfpromotion.com/yahootips.t?CF=Frank%20Feldmann
http://selfpromotion.com/index.t

As a result of all my research, my company is now indexed in the #1 spot or very close to, in most of the major search engines. If you go to Yahoo and type in "lawn mowing tigard oregon" guess who's at the top of the list? That is an incredible feat.

On Hot Bot, we are the #2 AND #4 listing for "lawn care Beaverton" (another city we service).

Similar results on all of the big pages. But you're not gonna get these kinds of results typically from just entering your name into a submission site.

They say if your not in the top 10 or 20 in a search, your chances of a client ever finding you are almost nil. So it's important for companies who really want to be found to take time to do all the research and try to get listed as high as they can. But it takes a lot of effort.

[cclllc]

I use homestead also.Very easy to set up.

http://cclllc.homestead.com

[Davis TLC]

I also use homestead, it is easy to set up a website using their software. It can give you some experince before you try to tackle a harder program for web building. They have some tips on getting your site on the major search engines. I have just submitted mine this week. In my area I'm the only one within 20 miles at least that is on the web.