domain names, advertising

[plumber0808]

ive recently went into partnership with another engineer, im looking into advertising options and how to go about them.

we're ticking over at the moment but would like to generate more work and think about the future.
we've had business cards printed and thats as far as we've got.
ive looked into setting up a website and would like to know who to go through to start one. also how much will i be paying to do so?

is it possible to set one up yourself and create the site yourself, im obviously not a web designer but i just press every button until i get what i want.

 

[PlumbersMate]

i done mine at vistaprint, you get a free 30 day trial. Check mine out at www.local-herts-plumber.co.uk but please be gentle, i am rubbish on computers

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

you can get one free off google sites and design it your self

 

[plumber0808]

did you design that yourself? if you did thats good

 

[PlumbersMate]

Well they help you with basic designs like backgrounds and stuff like that, but everything on there is pretty much my own doing, so thanks mate

 

[PlumbersMate]

ps only thing im really stuck on is id like to add some plumbing pics but dont know what ones i can use without being sued! lol apart from of course uploading my own ones, but like i said i am rubbish on computers!

 

[plumber0808]

you can get one free off google sites and design it your self

googled it and obviously got a lot of sites up all saying different things. just wondered who
people set them up with

and if its easy

 

[md68]

I designed my using Serif web plus. There is a free one you can download or for about £50 or so you can upgrade to something with a few more bells & whistles. It quite an easy program to use. See what you think. www.phoenix-heating.co.uk Its easy enough to buy a domain name and get hosting. It only costs me about £3.50 a month through vidahost.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

i have mine hosted through www.one.com costs me a little under £20 a year. designed it with xara.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

googled it and obviously got a lot of sites up all saying different things. just wondered who
people set them up with

and if its easy

mine was easy to set up

 

[plumber0808]

mine was easy to set up

looks decent, i was looking to set one up based on common searches for plumbing and heating and not one using my company name.

 

[dontknowitall]

I have used computers for 25 years or so and designed my own. I paid for a licence to use a photograph which is my logo. Fasthosts charges me £6.60 a month.

At the risk of boasting ... but also for ideas - I like things simple on a website and if looking for a contact number I detest having to click through 2-3 links just to find a telephone contact.

www.redlakeplumbing.co.uk

 

[plumber0808]

I designed my using Serif web plus. There is a free one you can download or for about £50 or so you can upgrade to something with a few more bells & whistles. It quite an easy program to use. See what you think. www.phoenix-heating.co.uk Its easy enough to buy a domain name and get hosting. It only costs me about £3.50 a month through vidahost.

i like that, did you pay the extra £50 to get it to that stage or the free one?

 

[md68]

Started off with the free one but then upgraded.

The thing with serif is that they keep contacting you and each time the offers seem to get better & better and if you ask for a discount they tend to do you a deal.

 

[justlead1]

Hi Marketing via a web site is the way forward, year on year more people are becoming web wise. Haveing spent a lifetime in the plumbing game in one way or another, on reflection salesmanship or the lack of it has been my downfall. Many time i have priced and got work only to find after a week into the jobs that the nearest quote was 4 grand more. Selling is most important but most neglect the learning of this skill. One tip to run with the site is to get the misses to plot up out side the plumbing/builders merchants in your area, and take down the info of all the trade vans that visit these places. Then target them with your service, via the web site (An email, phone call or letter setting out your stall and link to web site)
If it was to easy everybody would be busy. Good Luck

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

The more you do the luckier you get Lead Roofing, Lead Roofing Supplies and Lead Roof Slates
now thats a well laid out site i may be using you in the future just lead once i have used all my 5 inch lead flashings bought 30 of them 4 years ago got 4 left

 

[plumber0808]

Hi Marketing via a web site is the way forward, year on year more people are becoming web wise. Haveing spent a lifetime in the plumbing game in one way or another, on reflection salesmanship or the lack of it has been my downfall. Many time i have priced and got work only to find after a week into the jobs that the nearest quote was 4 grand more. Selling is most important but most neglect the learning of this skill. One tip to run with the site is to get the misses to plot up out side the plumbing/builders merchants in your area, and take down the info of all the trade vans that visit these places. Then target them with your service, via the web site (An email, phone call or letter setting out your stall and link to web site)
If it was to easy everybody would be busy. Good Luck

i agree marketing via a web site is the way forward to generate new custom.
im trying to research as much as i can before i go ahead with it, yours is very good.

my last company got a lot of work from their website which was very good, its easy to view a company this way.

 

[justlead1]

Thank you for your kind words. I am sure if you continue the positive stance things will be good. But please do not fall into the way of many in our trade, get the family involved, do not buy the wife a 4 wheel drive with your first bit of profit, reinvest, build something that can be sold in the future. There are many students studying computer graphics and web design, rock up to a university/college ask a few questions. You may well find someone who will design your site and use it in there portfolio. After all trainee plumbers pepper this site with similar requests.

 

[missplumb]

we built our website using www.wix.com , they are american but it is all very easy to do and theres hundreds of templates to start with. Most of it is copy and paste. I pay around $7/m which is about £4 and havent had any problems. if there wasnt the font type we wanted in their library (ie our logo) we made it from www.cooltext.com and just uploaded it to the site. I think the hardest part of going internet is informing google, bing, yahoo etc that your site is there and getting the domain names pointing to your site. Havea look at www.123-reg.co.uk for domain names, .co.uk are about £6 for 2 years license.
this is our site that i done all by my self LOL www.missplumb.co.uk