Is a website any good?

[jackso]

Any info would be appreciated guys and gals. I'm a sole trader based in the north west of England and thinking of getting a website, moving with the times and all that, but not sure of how much business you actually get through them. I've been trading ten years now and never bothered with any serious advertising and just got work through word of mouth etc but have noticed for the past couple of years how the work has dropped off more and more over the summer months. Any feedback is much appreciated.

 

[mikeyc]

If you get a website built you need to find someone who charges to web promote, like blasting Twitter and pretty much every possible website with a forum or advertising section as you will need this to move up the Google rankings And onto top of first page. No point with a glitzy expensive site if no one knows where it is.

 

[rpm]

Read somewhere that google have just changed the way it rates you, something to do with your site being most suitable for mobiles & tablets I think it was.

 

[tomplumb83]

If you live in a city and your website comes top on google for everything related to plumbing then yes, you will do well from it

 

[Stanios]

I am curious about the effectiveness of a website. Seen so many terrible sites which look like a school ICT project. I think you can either go all out and have a sleek website with links, photos, reviews, descriptions of work you do, tens and tens of pages.


or just keep it simple, put your hourly rate and area you work in, what sort of jobs you do and that should be enough for most customers.

Also beware it seems some website designers are just plain lazy and lack any creativity. The pics they will put in your website are straigh from google "plumbing" image search. I cant tell you on how many different plumbing websites Ive seen this one photo

 

[lame plumber]

dont pay a diddle for seo or anything, still pop up on customer searches local to me so it brings in work on a regular basis, but I dont want my phone ringing off the hook all the time.

 

[tomplumb83]

I am curious about the effectiveness of a website. Seen so many terrible sites which look like a school ICT project. I think you can either go all out and have a sleek website with links, photos, reviews, descriptions of work you do, tens and tens of pages.


or just keep it simple, put your hourly rate and area you work in, what sort of jobs you do and that should be enough for most customers.

Also beware it seems some website designers are just plain lazy and lack any creativity. The pics they will put in your website are straigh from google "plumbing" image search. I cant tell you on how many different plumbing websites Ive seen this one photo

'Tis a good photo though, nice clean pipe, clean fittings and no coffee stains on the plans.
Spanner looks nice and clean too - 'you can always tell a good plumber by the state of his tools'.
Pic shows youre able to solder Yorkshire fittings too

 

[Stanios]

Pic shows youre able to solder Yorkshire fittings too

Too many plumbers fail to mention that on their websites