Get a $1000 website for $300

[3000rpm]

If you can afford it, spend a minimum of $1000 on a website for your detailing, PDR, or other automotive appearance business. Choose someone local with a reputation that you've verified.

If you can't, do this:

Step 1: Reserve domain.

Time required: 10 min.

Cost: $15/yr

Go to http://namecheap.com and follow the directions.

Step 2: Get a logo.

Time required: 3-5 days.

Cost: $30

Go to Cheap Logo Design - Affordable Business Logos

Choose a design that's as simple as possible, and with no more than 2 colors. You'll be using this for shirts, letterhead, and vehicle signs, so simplicity and reproducibility will keep costs down.

Step 3: Get a foreign web designer.

Time required: 2-3 weeks

Cost: $250

Elance.com connects you to foreign contractors who do amazing work for very little. Check out this Filipino web designer who works for $15 an hour. She's got 23 reviews, all of them 5 stars. Her portfolio is full of gorgeous stuff.

Create an account and post your job description and budget ($250). Note that you want your site built on the Wordpress platform, as this will make updating the site simple. Provide as much detail as possible: how many pages your site will contain, an example of a site that your site should look similar to (but not a copy of), and how long you're willing to wait (designers prefer 2-3 weeks).

Within 3 days, you should have at least 20 applicants. Review their portfolios and reviews and make your choice.

Provide them the following:

1. Photo of yourself.
2. Your bio. How long have you been in business. What do you love about your job?
Logo.
3. Before/after photos of your work. 8-20 photos.
4. What makes you different. This is critical, so give this some thought. Maybe your prices are lower than your competition, you're more experienced, you're the only mobile service around, you have an unmatched guarantee, you have received awards, only you--the owner of the business--do every job. Whatever it is that's different, make it clear, and make it clear on your home page.
5. Testimonials, certifications, or awards. Quotes from customers. Quotes of reviews on Google Places or Yelp. Angies List awards, IDA membership.
6. Services and prices. How long do your services take, what do they cost, and what are the steps involved. See how Mr. Sparkle of West Babylon, NY presents his services menu.
7. Contact info. Phone numbers, email, and address (if you're fixed-location).
8. Meta title information. This tells Google what you do and where you do it. Ask your designer to title your home page: "[City you service] [service you offer] by [your business name.] IE: "Atlanta, GA Mobile Car Detailing by SuperShine.

Over the course of 2-3 weeks, your designer will send over mockups and drafts for your approval. Don't be picky. Trust your designer. Get it done. I've seen clients drag 2-3 week projects into 2-3 month projects because they didn't like color schemes and distances between photos.

Step 4: Get hosting.

Time required: 15 minutes

Cost: $4.95 a month.

Never use Godaddy. Ever.

Go to Bluehost.com and sign up for their $4.95/ month hosting. Decline every upsell.

Email your web designer your Bluehost login and passwords.

Your site will be live within 24 hours.

Step 5: Register with Google Places.

Time required: 15 minutes

Cost: Free.

Follow the directions in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3ggved_e-M

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

That was a great post, and as someone who is struggling with getting a quality website live I really appreciate you taking the time to do this write up. What is your reason for not using godaddy (I only ask because that is where my domain is registered).


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[3000rpm]

That was a great post, and as someone who is struggling with getting a quality website live I really appreciate you taking the time to do this write up. What is your reason for not using godaddy (I only ask because that is where my domain is registered).


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They upsell and auto-bill you to death.

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

Understood, I have no experience with any other service so nothing to compare it to. I'll be more observant in the future. Is transferring where my domain is registered an option?


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[kochdalton87]

Great article. I'll have to check into it when I have a little more time to sit down and study it. Thanks for sharing!

[3000rpm]

That was a great post, and as someone who is struggling with getting a quality website live I really appreciate you taking the time to do this write up. What is your reason for not using godaddy (I only ask because that is where my domain is registered).


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Understood, I have no experience with any other service so nothing to compare it to. I'll be more observant in the future. Is transferring where my domain is registered an option?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

It's a hassle.

Just keep your domain reserved at godaddy but in the future reserve your names at namecheap.com

[AeroCleanse]

Or you could use free web hosting such as Weebly or pay for Squarespace.

[rlc1044]

Weebly is pretty good I prefer Weebly


RLC Mobile Auto Detailing - Augusta GA car wash and detail, car detail and auto detailing ,mobile detailing

[RawDetail]

I've been a Web Developer/Designer for the past 15 years and it's what I do for a living. I've worked for some of the largest companies in the world and I will tell you this... Unless you want a headache don't work with Indian companies or companies overseas unless 'True English' is their first language.

Btw, I always use Godaddy for domains. You can usually get a dot com for around $7 as they always have coupons. A simple Google for 'Godaddy.com coupon' will usually do the trick and quite often you'll be able to pick up a dot com for $2.99 or less.

Also remember this, you get what you pay for in web design. If you only pay $300 you are going to get a generic 'business template' and you won't stand out as a business. With this kind of budget you also won't have any SEO techniques properly coded into your site.. Remember Google looks at sites and if the code is almost identical to other sites it will take points off of your search engine rankings.

[Dr_Pain]

Nice!! subbed for future reference