How much business do you get from having a website?

[Mobile detail]

Pretty straight forward. How many of you are contacted by customers that found you on your website alone? Do you get more business from people that you gave your card to and then they went and researched you webpage? Did you design/create your website or did you contract it out? Who does your hosting? How do you go about setting a site up?


Feed back please :props:

[MirandaAutoSpa]

In my area in Richmond VA people search like crazy online. I have had more customers find on online then anything else. I also have the best regular customers find us online also. Having a professional website, that is visually pleasing, simple and very informative is crucial for us.
I regularly update mine and change minor things to keep it fresh.

[PerezDetailing]

Pretty straight forward. How many of you are contacted by customers that found you on your website alone? Do you get more business from people that you gave your card to and then they went and researched you webpage? Did you design/create your website or did you contract it out? Who does your hosting? How do you go about setting a site up?


Feed back please :props:

I have a website and I do get a steady business from the site. But, I have had recent spike in individuals that did a search on YELP and found me via review sites. Just something to think about. I give my cards out always, but we always visit local shops, and car lots as well, and then other social media outlets. Advertising in local paper, magazines, etc. However, I think for every 10 cards I give, I only get 3-4 call backs, because of the website and strong reviews. I have mine through Go Daddy.com. I also hired another person to add and change the templates. The site is easy to set up... however putting information and what you want info you want on the site, is what is going to take time building. Then once your page is up and running, you then, have to get traffic to your page, backlinks,Ad Words, so much more. Because if you do a local search in your area for Mobile Detailing or any variation of that, see who is on the 1st page, this will tell you who is getting the traffic and it takes a lot of work for you to get on that 1st page. Your goal is to be on that page. But, Man there is so much more to a website than just putting up great photos. We are currently in the middle of changing our templates. We always ask our customers:
1. How they found us? (facebook,web search, etc)
2. Why initially chose us?
3. Can they leave a review about us?
4. What can we do to make our site easier for the customer to browse, etc.


But, it takes a revolving effort (WORK) to get your name out there, in the WWW.

If you need help, hit me up. Unless your in the Northern Virginia Area or DC. LOL. even then hit me up.

Jesse

[Agfan]

All depends I guess. I had one person that got their car done because of my website. Had it for two years then got rid of it.

[Mobile detail]

I have a website and I do get a steady business from the site. But, I have had recent spike in individuals that did a search on YELP and found me via review sites. Just something to think about. I give my cards out always, but we always visit local shops, and car lots as well, and then other social media outlets. Advertising in local paper, magazines, etc. However, I think for every 10 cards I give, I only get 3-4 call backs, because of the website and strong reviews. I have mine through Go Daddy.com. I also hired another person to add and change the templates. The site is easy to set up... however putting information and what you want info you want on the site, is what is going to take time building. Then once your page is up and running, you then, have to get traffic to your page, backlinks,Ad Words, so much more. Because if you do a local search in your area for Mobile Detailing or any variation of that, see who is on the 1st page, this will tell you who is getting the traffic and it takes a lot of work for you to get on that 1st page. Your goal is to be on that page. But, Man there is so much more to a website than just putting up great photos. We are currently in the middle of changing our templates. We always ask our customers:
1. How they found us? (facebook,web search, etc)
2. Why initially chose us?
3. Can they leave a review about us?
4. What can we do to make our site easier for the customer to browse, etc.


But, it takes a revolving effort (WORK) to get your name out there, in the WWW.

If you need help, hit me up. Unless your in the Northern Virginia Area or DC. LOL. even then hit me up.

Jesse
Ya I hear you on that bro. Yelp is a blessing and a curse. I actually might hit you up on some more info. I don't get the search engine optimization thing. Is it how you list your pics and stuff? If I set up a site through g daddy, and use there designer,do I get to name my Pics so if someone is searching for detailing, my pic will come up? I guess I'm asking to I get to write HTML code, and how hard is it to set up a site?

[Gurge]

Full time job working mostly on the weekends. My detailing work is primarily through word of mouth. however, I do get a fair amount of business strictly from the website. So I considerate it pretty valuable.

I had it designed for me by someone who kinda focuses on websites for auto reconditioners. I was very pleased with the results and it pretty much immediately paid for itself. done entirely through wordpress so very easy to change even though I'm a noob with web design.

I find I get very few jobs from business cards alone (although I do get some). If I meet someone face to face I'll speak with them for a few, hand them a card, and encourage them to check out the website. It's entirely perception, but I feel people seem to take you more seriously when they hear you have a site.

Contrary to business cards, most people who contact me through internet searching alone see my prices, my face, photos of my work, and often it seems the 'sale' is made before I even answer the phone. As long as I sound personable and intelligent it's usually just a matter of establishing what needs to be done and setting a date. That is invaluable.

I don't do craigslist ads or facebook. I'm listed on most of the free listing sites (google places, yelp, manta, yp). I have an active blog on my site and ultimately I think google likes to refer wordpress blogs for whatever reason. So I come up in the search results even though the site has only been up for roughly 6 months

[PerezDetailing]

Ya I hear you on that bro. Yelp is a blessing and a curse. I actually might hit you up on some more info. I don't get the search engine optimization thing. Is it how you list your pics and stuff? If I set up a site through g daddy, and use there designer,do I get to name my Pics so if someone is searching for detailing, my pic will come up? I guess I'm asking to I get to write HTML code, and how hard is it to set up a site?

Yea man , shoot me a e-mail and I will send you a doc with a break down on it... perezdetailing@gmail.com

[richy]

I just launched my own website too. I do this as a side business and had always just got by on word of mouth. I do think it adds credibility to have a website. Besides, you have total control over how you wish to present yourself, your work, your personality even in how you write it and present it. I just need to get a logo done and then I can get cards made up and magnetic signs for my car.

[Mobile detail]

Logos would be nice. Who is going to do yours? I don't even know where to go to find someone who designs logos

[richy]

Logos would be nice. Who is going to do yours? I don't even know where to go to find someone who designs logos

I am waiting to hear back from someone on AG actually. I'm hopeful I will hear something soon.

[CEE DOG]

I designed my own using weebly.

First go register a domain at register.com or wherever. Just google register domain.

Then go to weebly or some other site and for maybe 50$ a year your all set. I just built it myself. It's pretty easy but very very time consuming for a few days. I spent about 2 weeks off and on but probably more than 6 full days of work... I can't recall exactly.

You can get something up in hours that is basic...

I have a full time job where I work more than 50 hours a week usually so I don't have time for details all the time. To answer your question I have only gotten a few jobs from the website that found me strictly there but I intentionally did a few things on my site to lower the chances of getting details. LOL, I know.... But I really wanted it anyway so I can hand someone a card if I choose to and they have full access to learn more after that. Also, my site is confusing as I have reviews and everything on there. If I was focused on detailing only and posted my Phoenix number I'm sure I'd get a lot more jobs from there.

I also get emails through my contact me page on my website of people asking me about a myriad of detailing products or how to take care of their car. Obviously I invite this more than most strictly detailing websites do. I do my best to give as much info as possible and then also link them to Live2detail and Autogeeks forums.

[Mobile detail]

What about web site optimumization? I'm worried that if I don't use the right words/picture captions, when people search, they won't find me.

Strangely enough, if you do a Google Search for my area with the words "mobile detailing" or even detailing, there is like 1-2 that pop up and 1 of those is out of business. Its crazy to think that in Los Angeles there isn't 10,000 results. It seems like there is a new detailing business in my area every week. The ones that do have sites, the are lackluster at best.

[PerezDetailing]

Logos would be nice. Who is going to do yours? I don't even know where to go to find someone who designs logos

I attached my logo so you could see his work, I had Eddy Arce do my logo, send him a e-mail at localgraphx@gmail.com. Great artist and especially good with graphic art.

[Denver]

What about web site optimumization? I'm worried that if I don't use the right words/picture captions, when people search, they won't find me.



SEO can be trial an error at the best of times and the "Google sands" are always shifting lol.

To help tune your SEO a bit , Google Analytics or similar would be worth installing. It has some easy to use tools and helps identify where your traffic is coming from and what your visitors are doing (Bounce rate, time spent on site). If the figures do not match your goals, you can experiment further to lower the numbers.

Don't go mad on the number of keywords you use and try to choose words where you have a chance to rank in the earlier pages. I'm sure there are words that everyone starts out choosing because they are very common search terms but, if you end up on page 5,000,000 - its not really helping people find you.