Who needs a Website but still hasn't got One?

I know this is a "doesn't have one" thread, but I figured I'd add my 2 cents. My website has been the BEST advertising/marketing device I have. I have had SOOOOOOO many customers tell me they found the website, liked what they saw, and called me. I got mine through GoDaddy and designed it myself. It took me some time because I'm not the creative type at all, but it was WELL worth the minimal financial investment. One job, and the site is paid for for the year.
 
I need one....Just starting PW and roof cleaning out of San Diego,CA...
I'm finishing my set up and will visit Jerry for the inspection and upgrades.
Definitely need a web site and just bought domain DirtFighter.com .
What do you guys think? Sounds catchy to me....
Regards,
Igor


I suggest you split the two. Most shared hosting accounts allow you to host more than 1 domain on your plan so it's not going to cost you double for two websites. You'll have to register two separate domains ($10-$15 more). The main reason for doing this is because you can increase your RFQ's for both. Lets say your single website is pressurewashing.com.....and it's meta tag (google snippet) is primary about pressure washing. Even if you rank high for roof cleaning, there will be people that make a negative connection (pressure washing + roof cleaning = pressure washing roof).

Take it one more step.....get a google voice number (free) and connect it to your cell. Use your google voice number for one domain and your cell number for the other.

Another advantage to doing it this way is that if you ever needed to manage these separately, they could be operated by two different people or if you decided to sell one side of your business, they would already be separate and unique.

I have 7 websites and 18 domains....currently propagating all to a private server.

I suggest Hover.com for your domain registrar, I'm moving all of my domains from godaddy to hover because godaddy refused to do anything to a guy that copied one of my websites. It wasn't just that they wouldn't do anything.....but how snotty they treated a customer with 18 domains over some jackwad with 1 domain.
 
After 4 years of being in business we still do not have a traditional website. We have a youtube and facebook acocunt and place those links on the backs of our business cards. Anybody do strictly truck fleets that also has a website? Since we specialize as a mobile truck wash, we have often wondered if a website would pay off or not. What do you all think?
 
Fleet managers are first going to the web to look for what they need because it is fast and fairly accurate. That and a lot of people are dropping their ads in the yellow page directories. For the investment Less than $75 a year plus the one time cost of the design, you can not get a better ROI on any other form of advertising. Even one job a year pays for the hosting and the domain with some left over.
 
I purchased and was going to start a page but realized its not as easy as it was 10 years ago. Looking into having a site designed. The biggest thing for me is that I live in what you guys would call the dark ages. Over half of my cover area still doesn't have cellular signal. Hopefully I will have it up and running by the end of the year. Any help would be great.
 
This thread is actually funny to me, not trying to offend anyone but not having a website is a joke to me no matter what business you are in. It is 2012, if you do not have some sort of website I can not see why you don't. A website is like a car or truck, it is a necessity of business.

Yes you can stay in business and make money without a website. But not having a website at this day and age just looks unprofessional PERIOD. Come on, I literally would not even let a company in my home if they did not have a website. There are so many options and ways to get one and the cost is very minimal. It almost seems like you can't afford to stay in business if you don't have one. I know there are guys probably making lots of money without one but you should definitely put $500 into a website and see how much more business you can get. If I was a property manager and I had to choose between a guy without a website, and a company with a website I would obviously choose the company with a website because they took the time to create a website and the other guy is too lazy or broke to get one. Sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings but hopefully this will make you go get one.

2012 without a website is like 1812 without a horse.
 
Yes you can stay in business and make money without a website. But not having a website at this day and age just looks unprofessional PERIOD. Come on, I literally would not even let a company in my home if they did not have a website. There are so many options and ways to get one and the cost is very minimal. It almost seems like you can't afford to stay in business if you don't have one. I know there are guys probably making lots of money without one but you should definitely put $500 into a website and see how much more business you can get. If I was a property manager and I had to choose between a guy without a website, and a company with a website I would obviously choose the company with a website because they took the time to create a website and the other guy is too lazy or broke to get one. Sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings but hopefully this will make you go get one.

2012 without a website is like 1812 without a horse.

It all depends on the area of operation as to whether a web site is needed. You are obviously young Ty and that is showing in this post.

Let me give you an example.... I was doing SEO for a local company and got them ranking #1 in about 7-10 different cities all around them. Call volume did not increase. They passed out flyers and got bombarded. It is all about the demographic that you are serving. For this business the web site did nothing for him. You have probably grown up in a big city so everyone uses their computer.

In smaller communities, word of mouth, print and radio are the big players. When communities like this pretty much know one another for, the most part, they would rather trust the recommendation from a friend or co-worker over what someone typed on a web site. We all know that referrals are better and easier sales than cold calls.

So by your saying that not having a web site is unprofessional, the local barber, butcher, farmer (farming is a business), convenience store, restaurant (some very good mom and pop ones), farier, welder, auto mechanic etc. must be unprofessional. Some of these guys just do not need a web site.

There are a lot of business that not only survive, they thrive!

Ron, how long was your site propowerwash.com been blank? Most of it still is. You must be unprofessional based on what Ty stated above.
 
It all depends on the area of operation as to whether a web site is needed. You are obviously young Ty and that is showing in this post.

Let me give you an example.... I was doing SEO for a local company and got them ranking #1 in about 7-10 different cities all around them. Call volume did not increase. They passed out flyers and got bombarded. It is all about the demographic that you are serving. For this business the web site did nothing for him. You have probably grown up in a big city so everyone uses their computer.

In smaller communities, word of mouth, print and radio are the big players. When communities like this pretty much know one another for, the most part, they would rather trust the recommendation from a friend or co-worker over what someone typed on a web site. We all know that referrals are better and easier sales than cold calls.

So by your saying that not having a web site is unprofessional, the local barber, butcher, farmer (farming is a business), convenience store, restaurant (some very good mom and pop ones), farier, welder, auto mechanic etc. must be unprofessional. Some of these guys just do not need a web site.

There are a lot of business that not only survive, they thrive!

Ron, how long was your site propowerwash.com been blank? Most of it still is. You must be unprofessional based on what Ty stated above.

Pat, for a web designer I am surprised at your comments. First of all, Ron has a website, and I never mentioned anything about ranking with a website or getting calls from a website. I was only saying you need a website to show off your company and services. It is essentially the same thing as a brochure about your company. Not having a website at this day and age is ridiculous. I only get 50% of my business from my website. I have people cold call and a team of sales guys that go around and sell for me. But how stupid would I look if my sales guys shook hands with someone and passed out a card without a website on it! Even door hangers, flyers, whatever method of marketing you are using needs a web address on it. If it does not have one odds are the customer is going to go with someone that does. And I was primarily speaking of service companies. But, the local farmer, butcher, and companies like that should have websites so people that are not finding them online can start finding them online. example: http://hobemeats.com/ It would not hurt their business to have one and then they can put discounts on their site for customers who are already coming to them through word of mouth.

I am 28 years old and I guess that is considered young still thankfully, but I am smart enough to know the importance of a website whether it ranks on Google or not. Obviously, it helps more to rank on Google, but even if you are not showing up on Google it is important.

Pat, I'm glad you are sticking up for all the people who need websites considering you build them but all I am trying to do is get them to get one. It is archaic to not have a website for your company in 2012. And once they build one they will receive more customers from it, so really I'm trying to help them too.

And if I sound ignorant because I'm young and understand the new way of the world is online then I guess ignorance is bliss because I have doubled my gross income every year I have been in business so I must be doing something right. If you ask me you sound old and I would rather take my web business to someone who understands the importance of a website. There is NOT ONE company in business that could not benefit from a website one way or another.

Lastly, Ron obviously understands how important the web is because he started this forum once the internet became big and he is creating an App for his company. So i guess you are the only one who has not caught on...
 
HA HA.. It is not being old it is being realistic.

Yes I do build web sites for business and others but it is also my responsibility to advise what is best for a business and for some locations money is better spent on other things. Take where I live now for example, when I first got up here I put up a site right away thinking that I would get a lot of calls for local service with all the decks and log homes in the area. Well after the site had been up for 2 years, as the wood restoration was to be a stopgap measure, I got a grand total of 5 calls and only one of those was for a job. The other ones were for help.

It has worked for you because you are in a large metropolitan area. That is the area that you know, where I work with people all over the world and have seen the effects it has had on a business. Good and not so good.

Like I said, it depends on your demographics. Where you are you need a site, where I am it does not matter because no one looks at them. Same holds true in many areas of this country as well as other countries. Although that is getting smaller.

In the end, it is my job to get the business more work the most economical way possible. I look at is more as a consulting business than a web design business. There are also many things that you can do on the web besides websites to get in front of customers.
 
I agree with Pat, the area one lives in will dictate whether a website works for someone.I live in a rural area and not every one has gotten into the web yet. a painter friend of mine dId 150k in 2011 and not one call from his web site EVER. sure they are nice to have but it isnt a necessity. I do not believe it is unproffesional to not have a web site, some proffessionals dont want any more work than they already have.
 
Last edited:
I will just leave this thread alone. It's better for me anyway if other power washers think they should not have websites. But I make far more than 150k a year just off my website. Hopefully that is enough conviction for the next man to create one. Especially since u can get a site for as low as $500. I respect everyone's opinion and don't want to start trouble. Good luck to you all.
 
Back
Top