Web Sites?????

[Clean County]

What do you people pay on average for your websights? And is it worth it? It seems to me that a websight would make your company look more professional and also possibly get you more business because potential customers could see pictures of your work. I also understand that other pw co's could steal your artwork(pictures) thru your websight and use it for themselves but that doesn't really concern me to much. This seems like a no brainer compared to my dilemma of paying the $250 PWNA dues which are due next month. I'm still wondering if it is worth joining the PWNA again because if I don't pay the dues I still can go to the conventions so what do I need to be a member for? Anyway back to my question is it worth having a websight for this business? -John-

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[Dan Flynn]

I think they are a good asset to add to your companies marketing arsenal. If you advertise the site on your other marketing material. It will give your customers the opportunity to learn more about your company and to see your work.

If you have a simple, but make sure it looks as professional as possible. The price will very. You have to decide on a few things.

1. Do you want a free web space. (not recommended) I think the pop up ads and the free site name planted on it looks unprofessional and cheap.
2. If you build it , you will need lots of time to learn.
3. You will need to purchase software.
4. You need a Domain name.
5. If you decide to go with a host, instead of a free one. It will cost a monthly fee.
6. You need a digital camera or scanner for pictures.
7. You might want to have an optimizer to shrink picture file size, to load faster.
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   The list can go on. But the start up cost can be covered if done by yourself for around 250 give or take. Then if you keep it relatively simple the cost per year will run any were from 100 to 300 per year for a simple site with limited traffic. Limited traffic for a site that is designed for just your customers is pretty much not a factor. You can have a 1000 pages and a couple hundred hit per month and that will not effect your cost at all. 10 to 25 per month plus 35 per year for your domain name.
   
   This site gets 35,000 to 65,000 individual visits per month. Which means someone stops by then leaves. They may return later and that would be another visit. Then you can count the page views. Which is all the pages viewed from each visit. That runs 300,000 to 400,000 per month. That means that while someone is visiting the site they are visiting different pages.
   
   So the more visitors, pageviews, pages made, pictures added increases the cost per month. Then if you start to add different scripts, guest book, software and so on to added new feature your cost will grow. You can just take it one step at a time.
   
   Let say it is 250 per year for a simple professional site. Then you start marketing your site. You can count on having a few customers check it out and make there decision to hire you. I think it is a good investment and you will get a return on your 250.00.
   
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   Dan Flynn
   Timberland Power Wash
   www.powerwash.net
   Houston, Texas.

 

[Dave Olson]

Hi John,

We currently pay $40 per month to our local ISP for hosting our site. We also pay about $35 per year for our domain name registration.

We first put up our pages early '96. I am not aware of any business that we have received because someone visited our pages! However I still believe that more and more people are looking for goods and services on the web. There are many yellow page sites on the web.
Most of our work is industrial and commercial. All it takes is one job and it would be very worth while!

My wife does all of the work on our pages. I invite you to check them out, she just changed some of them for Valentines Day

Dave Olson

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Tidy Powerwash Service, Inc. P.O. Box 781, Catlin, Illinois 61817 Phone 217-427-5557, Fax 217-427-2632 We are a commercial cleaning contractor serving East-Central Illinois and West Central Indiana since 1984. http://www.tps-inc.com/preswash.htm

 

[tzahlman]

Hey John

I got my domain name registered for around $13.00 a year. The host That I'm going to use asks a $500.00 startup fee and then around $9.00 a month but includes everything. All I need to do now is get going on it. Hope this helps. Tom @ CleanImage Powerwashing

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[Straight Shot]

<FONT face="Arial">
John - I completely agree with you "...look more professional and also possibly get you more business..." when it comes to a website.
I have built and maintained many large and small sites (although, I'm too busy, washing these days!) and I truly believe that you'll get everything out of that you put into it!
We have it on all of our marketing material and we have talked with many customers who found out about us via word of mouth and used our site to contact us and get more general information.
Although, I know coding and have even worked for an Internet service provider I currently use a simple cut and paste website service through QuickBooks Pro.
You get the software, a free domain name, and free hosting for a period of time (when we started in 2000). It is completely integrated into our financial software, so with a click of the mouse I can instantly be reviewing our traffic, editing, or even completely changing the design. Our free term recently expired and we are now paying only 9.95 per month. As content and design is concerned - KEEP IT SIMPLE! Many people make these really cheesy sites with lots of fluff and sparkle - it's like a cluttered room you don't notice the beautiful paint or furniture just the mess!
Feel free to check out our site! You could do the same with next to nothing!
Good luck!
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Christopher Vaughn
www.StraightShotPressureWashing.com
559.816.2402