Internet advertising DO NOT PAY anything.

[SirKit Breaker]

I have been told in no uncertain terms "Do not under any circumstances pay to advertise on the net". There are loads and loads of free sites to advertise on, and they work.

Get a free domain name, and then do a simple website.

Sign up to hotfrog, and put your domain name in the website box.
You can do this with no end of free websites.

QYPE, Freeindex are just 2 others, there are more, go and have a look

Cheers.........Howard

 

[topdjmatttolley]

if any of you guys need tips on websites let me know im always happy to help i have all my dj websites no1 on google for the seacrh terms i have chosen

 

[Dan]

Interesting.

I'd always say make sure you website is well optimised, it's easy for local terms like 'electrician in xxxxx' but not as easy for general terms that you'd be competing nationally for such as 'professional electricians' or whatever.

You can register yourself on loads of free websites, and even google's business listing thing, but you do want to consider NOT getting just a free website for yourself but get a cheap one done professionally.

We have a forum sponsor (yet to go on here as he's doing a few tilers websites at the mo) that charges £349 for a website, then hands it over to me, I optimise it FREE OF CHARGE, and then we give it to you. It's custom, and would look something along the lines of this: David Howe Tiling | Tiler in Durham | North East Tilers which ranks like this tiler in durham - Google Search

Though you're right, checkout the other websites below Dave's as most of those that rank are free listings that are his too. He ranks just as well for about 7 area's near him and always owns page 1 of google, not just the top spot.

Not worth messing around yourself and trying to learn how to rank it if you have the cash. I can understand having a go yourself if you're not too busy though.

If you ever need professional advice, my main business is Search Engine Optimisation and I provide all my advice FOC for forum members, I've even optimised a few guys websites on tilersforums that have not gone through our sponsor. I'd rather have you all ranking well than not.

Good luck, see you all at the top!

 

[chrisgc]

Dan

I wouldnt mind some advice on how to get my site noticed in google, if you dont mind?

Chris

 

[Dan]

What's your website mate? I'll take a look.

 

[chrisgc]

What's your website mate? I'll take a look.

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the reply.

My site is:

www.cgcservices.net

Look forward to hearing from you.

Chris

 

[SirKit Breaker]

Dan,

Have a look at The Electrician at some time when you get a minute please.

Cheers........Howard

 

[accordfire]

Ours is at

www.accordfire.co.uk

I may have mentioned that here and there :-/

It is a permanent work in progress, and I don't think I've reached the limits of the mess one man can make with a web site yet.

 

[Marvo]

If your time is limited then you can set up a blog in Wordpress pretty quickly. If you put some thought into the design you can make it easy to update and keep current and Wordpress is pretty SEO friendly.

I would recommend registering your favorite domain even if it's just to stop your local competition from registering it. There's nothing worse than a prospective client typing your company name into Google and landing on you competitors website.

 

[Dave Buchan]

The more directories/ listing sites that you register your biz and homepage on will increase the search engines finding you.

Personally I don't agree with a simple website, your site is your shop window to the services you offer and if it looks **** , potential customers may think the services you offer are also of poor quality.

If I were to give a quick example of this I undertook a PIR for a guy last week, after taking the initial phonecall said he would to hire me because " I had a nice website" ???

I know this might sound daft, and couldn't believe it myself at first but getting back to basics, human beings are visual in nature. If your potential customer likes what they see and can interpret from your site how your electrical services will benefit them, they will seek to get in touch with you. This should hopefully lead to more enquiries coming from your website.

Hope this helps

 

[electricians]

I think sometimes is may be worth paying for a listing on the internet . We only pay for Yell and the amount of work we get does pay . I'm not sure I will be doing this next year as Google tells us that now most people have learnt that you can answer any question by using the search box - why would you waste your time on Yell .

It very important to have a good website which is designed specifically for local search . There is no point having a 10 grand fancy pants website which no one will see . I use 123reg to buy , host and design sites , easy for anyone to do . It is important to have control of your site and continually add information - content is key . There are many people out there who will tell you they can guarantee first page listing - this is simply not true . I would recommend " The Art of SEO" as a great starting point for anyone who would like to make money online .

 

[accordfire]

Very mixed views.

For us, the web site, Google, Bing - those are the ways in which we advertise, as much as we do any advertising. I means, we have line entries in Yellow pages, and the phone book etc., but a lot also depends on the market you want to reach.

There's no point in our business majoring on local search, as we have an average customer distance of 130 miles! We specifically look for multiples, and larger sites. We're B2B all the way, and don't do domestic at all.

The dynamic is totally different for us than for a lot of the "part P" guys here.

All that said, Google is the new Yellow Pages, however you look at it. 9 out of 10 will search Google before opening the Yellow Pages today (if they kept it when it got delivered). That holds true even down to looking for the number for the local Chinese.

An that's really where SEO, content management, and targeting the RIGHT directories comes in.

It ALL comes down to getting the customers you want to your site, and compelling them to do something (contact you) once they're there.

I'd rather have ten visitors a year on my site who all bought something, than be page one in Google all the time with two million irrelevant page hits from people who have no use for what we offer.

Its a key thing that none of us really seem to think about when we buy a domain name, and crack open a copy of Dreamweaver, or whatever - Wordpress, and start carving out our space on the net. What we NEED, is targeted traffic - people who will buy from us - and not just traffic - people who might be looking for something that isn't what you offer.

I've long held the theory that the people LEAST qualified to write commercial or business websites, are the owners of them, or those too involved in what the website is about. You need to think like someone searching for you and what you offer.

And then you need to nail them when they get there. Otherwise it's simply dead money, and time.

Google Analytics is worth spending time with - it's a steep learning curve as the terminology is "new age" - but once you start understanding what sort of hits you're getting, and how people interact with your site, you can learn to do a lot less damage. Take bounce rate, for example - that can show you how ineffective the pages you've got people landing on are.

To be sure, it's not something that you can do in a weekend and see instant success from any longer (if it ever was).

 

[IPAlarms]

There are many people out there who will tell you they can guarantee first page listing - this is simply not true.

You are on the ball there. This will happen more and more as businesses start to move away from traditional advertising to online advertising via their web site. Here is an example of what some scammers are upto in the UK at the moment... Search Engine Easy

As most people do not have a clue about search engine optimisation, many of them will fall victims to these guys.

 

[mattyevz]

yer, i agree dont pay for any advertising on the net. its all about using good SEO techniques.With abit of research and hard work you can get to the first page no problems.

 

[andekoch]

Interesting.

I'd always say make sure you website is well optimised, it's easy for local terms like 'electrician in xxxxx' but not as easy for general terms that you'd be competing nationally for such as 'professional electricians' or whatever.

You can register yourself on loads of free websites, and even google's business listing thing, but you do want to consider NOT getting just a free website for yourself but get a cheap one done professionally.

We have a forum sponsor (yet to go on here as he's doing a few tilers websites at the mo) that charges £349 for a website, then hands it over to me, I optimise it FREE OF CHARGE, and then we give it to you. It's custom, and would look something along the lines of this: David Howe Tiling | Tiler in Durham | North East Tilers which ranks like this tiler in durham - Google Search

Though you're right, checkout the other websites below Dave's as most of those that rank are free listings that are his too. He ranks just as well for about 7 area's near him and always owns page 1 of google, not just the top spot.

Not worth messing around yourself and trying to learn how to rank it if you have the cash. I can understand having a go yourself if you're not too busy though.

If you ever need professional advice, my main business is Search Engine Optimisation and I provide all my advice FOC for forum members, I've even optimised a few guys websites on tilersforums that have not gone through our sponsor. I'd rather have you all ranking well than not.

Good luck, see you all at the top!

dan,
if you could have a look at my site and let me know what I could do it would be much appreciated. built it myself while work was slow.

address is www.plumbandelec.co.uk

thanks