Websites

[Quantum dan]

PM me your mobile number and I'll tell you what you need to do and know over the phone.

Thanks mate. Pm enroute....

 

[localprofits]

Hi everyone

im starting up on my own after 18 years and am getting a website built. I'm being quoted £700 by someone recommended to me. Plus £200 by someone else to build a logo and supply it with business cards, email letterheads.

Can anyone spare some advice from your own experience about

website building for electrical services
ROI
what you should spend on and what you shouldnt
how many enquires should one expect from it once optimised etc

and anything else you can think of...

cheers in advance
daniel

Congratulations on taking the plunge and setting up on yourself. I think by all the support you are getting in this forum you are among friends. However I beg to differ on some of the "advice" offered. Firstly £700 is quite a considerable sum considering that websites have become easier to design and you can get one sorted in a matter of hours depending on knowledge and skill.

Someone has suggested a DIY approach and thats commendable if you have the time to learn and then do it. Maybe for your case its possible because you do not have a lot of work lined up yet but that will change when work starts coming in. The other I would say is you are an electrician, thats your specialty, should you be dabbling in web design and SEO?

Someone also mentioned their sceptism about SEO and I agree to a point, there are people who claim to rank your website in Google and then charge you thousands for it, do not fall for that. SEO is a specialized skill that can be learned just like any other skill out there. However there are more factors which contribute to getting ranked in the search engines. The amount of competition and the area you will be working in are an important factor. Google now makes it "easier" to rank local businesses.

In my opinion you are better off getting someone to do it for you. Send me a PM and I can help guide you through the process

 

[newtothis]

In the area of SEO there are a lot of cowboys; and people who happily offer misinformation after a couple of hours research.

One of the most basic mistakes you could possible make, ie shooting yourself in the foot with both barrels is.

To put a link with an tag to your business website from a forum, UNLESS of course you always behave and present yourself how you’d like to be perceived by your potential customers.

 

[D Skelton]

In the area of SEO there are a lot of cowboys; and people who happily offer misinformation after a couple of hours research.

One of the most basic mistakes you could possible make, ie shooting yourself in the foot with both barrels is.

To put a link with an tag to your business website from a forum, UNLESS of course you always behave and present yourself how you’d like to be perceived by your potential customers.

Don't really see how that makes a difference to SEO?

 

[newtothis]

Was just sharing some info with the forum on the pros and cons of having a link on a forum to their business website. Same goes for links from twitter & FB to your business website.

Every time you post you’re creating an external a link to your business website.

Eventually these links will appear in search results relating to your business website.

We have the entirely realistic situation whereby potential customers can read your forum posts, FB and twitter posts.

Goes without saying if your forum posts etc weren’t complimentary to the main aim of your business website you’d have a problem.

 

[D Skelton]

Was just sharing some info with the forum on the pros and cons of having a link on a forum to their business website. Same goes for links from twitter & FB to your business website.

Every time you post you’re creating an external a link to your business website.

Eventually these links will appear in search results relating to your business website.

We have the entirely realistic situation whereby potential customers can read your forum posts, FB and twitter posts.

Goes without saying if your forum posts etc weren’t complimentary to the main aim of your business website you’d have a problem.

Agree to a point, however if someone is searching for a company, they aren't searching individual names, they're searching for 'electricians london' or 'electricians manchester'. If someone wants do delve deep enough I'm sure they could pull up a whole heap of crap on any business currently trading with a website. That's the nature of business really isn't it.

As long as you stay true to yourself and don't allow any abhorrent views you may harbour to surface in the public domain you can't go far wrong.

 

[Octopus]

Was just sharing some info with the forum on the pros and cons of having a link on a forum to their business website. Same goes for links from twitter & FB to your business website.

Every time you post you’re creating an external a link to your business website.

Eventually these links will appear in search results relating to your business website.

We have the entirely realistic situation whereby potential customers can read your forum posts, FB and twitter posts.

Goes without saying if your forum posts etc weren’t complimentary to the main aim of your business website you’d have a problem.

and remember not everybody uses the internet to find trades people!

 

[newtothis]

and remember not everybody uses the internet to find trades people!

True ! :biggrin:

 

[fanscypant]

D Skelton your website is excellent considering you done it yourself. One thing though, it's not mobile friendly, with more people using their smartphones etc should should start thinking about getting a mobile version or making it responsive.

 

[newtothis]

D Skelton your website is excellent considering you done it yourself. One thing though, it's not mobile friendly, with more people using their smartphones etc should should start thinking about getting a mobile version or making it responsive.

That's not hard to resolve - it's just a case of adding an additional stylesheet for mobile devices.

 

[fanscypant]

That's not hard to resolve - it's just a case of adding an additional stylesheet for mobile devices.

yes simple :juggle2:

 

[D Skelton]

D Skelton your website is excellent considering you done it yourself. One thing though, it's not mobile friendly, with more people using their smartphones etc should should start thinking about getting a mobile version or making it responsive.

Thanks, yeah, it is something I have been considering of late. I've asked a few questions and have decided that this isn't something I will be able to tackle myself so will need someone else to optimise it for mobile use too. Just a question of sorting it out when I have time

 

[uksparks]

I must admit I was looking at my Google Wemaster tools and it said I need a mobile site, think I'll look at it this week.

 

[fanscypant]

I must admit I was looking at my Google Wemaster tools and it said I need a mobile site, think I'll look at it this week.

You have a choice between creating a subdomain eg me.electrican.co.uk and redirecting to this subdomain when someone is using a mobile or as someone else stated you need to create additional css stylesheets and rules for diffrent screen sizes.

This is why people choose Wordpress. You buy the responsive template and plugins and your off.

 

[shanky887614]

You have a choice between creating a subdomain eg me.electrican.co.uk and redirecting to this subdomain when someone is using a mobile or as someone else stated you need to create additional css stylesheets and rules for diffrent screen sizes.

This is why people choose Wordpress. You buy the responsive template and plugins and your off.

squarespace or godaddy make it easy as well.

i rent a godaddy domain name £5 a year ^^

if it works well for your sector its worth doing