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Web Sites
What do people think about wed sites. Are they worth having
How much work do you get from them? -
12 Replies
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Simon, I have had my web site for some time now and it brings us next to no work at all, but I believe that people expect you to have one these days so I would not do away with it.
At the end of the day I suppose its like anything, how much do you want or can afford to spend. I made my site myself and it is pretty ameteurish. If I had spent the money to have a web designer do it for me I expect my site would be a lot better and this in itself might bring me in more work from the web, I just dont know. Also I know very little about meta tags, keywords etc so I expect a lot of people never even find my site. If I had the site done properly it would be easier to find and this could bring me in a lot more work.
I know some sign companys do quite a lot of business from their web sites. No doubt some of the members on the boards have had more success than me.
To cut a long story short, yes I think they are a good idea and I think most people should have one. On how rich it will make you I cant comment. -
There are different types of wed sites :-
Churches are the most popular, and we get a fair amount of work from them doing their church signs.
Second most popular are Registry Offices – these are a waste of time as I have never done any work for a registry office.
Ships are also quite popular, as I believe the captain of a ship is allowed to perform a wedding ceremony. However I have never done any signs for ships either – but imagine these can be quite lucrative. You need to watch out for the salt water though………Oh – You mean Web sites…… I thought you said Wed sites 😳 😳 😳
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D’oh 😳
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I suppose it all depends on what you want your site to do. My own site is foremost intended to be an “Online Brochure” allowing me to showcase the work I do. I know many new customers look at this site before coming to me as it gives them an insite into the type of business I run. MY yellow pages advert and all my business stationary have the website address so I get a lot of local people looking at it. This works very well for me , and because the site was set up and run by myself – it’s a very cheap way of having a “brochure” about my business.
I also offer a range of safety signs through the site – again with some success as this is something that can be fairly standardised and offered as a mail order service.
The downside is that when you offer a custom service like signmaking – it’s often best to deal with people in person. And for this reason a website offering custom made signs is not a good mail order prospect.
You will also receive a number of “daft” enquiries – typical examples are surfers who like to fire off requests for prices which are unlikey to result in sales – yet you spend time and effort in responding to these requests which is time wasted that you might have spent more productively.
On balance I would recomend any signbusiness to set up a site – if nothing else it allows you to showcase your work and does bring in sales that you otherwise might never have had.
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I have a website for my other business which, for what it cost, is brilliant and brings me orders in nearly every day. I should get one for T-shirts and Signs but want to get it right from day one and this is where a lot of people (in my humble opinion) get it wrong. You must know exactly what you want to say and what image you want to portray before going down this route. Either that or change it all the time and make your web designer rich!
E.G. I’ve just done some signs for a village flooring shop who list amongst their clients the Versace or is it Armani..Restaurant in London, plus a host of other typically upmarket gaffs. I’m looking for some basic bog standard wooden flooring for my office and having seen their site wouldn’t dare ask them for a price. They just look wrong for what I want.
On another point I’m also against ‘home made’ websites. Unless someone can point me in the direction of one that’s different I think that most look awful and these days for £300ish you can get online with several pages looking spot on. (:)
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Sound advise, Martin..
Thanks every one!
This is something i will have to look into further.. (-) -
For our other business, selling fencing equipment we have a webstore http://www.battling.com as a marketing tool for that business the website is a fantastic tool. If you offer a range of standard products, stocked or not then a webstore is great idea.
We bought a pachage called EROL, Electronic Retail Online (www.erol.co.uk) the guys who wrote it are the ones who man the helpline and I have to say they have never failed to resolve an issue we have had quickly and professionally. The software is not bomb proof but it is reliable, functionally rich and cheap.
I know that several of you have a range of products on offer in addition to a possibility to customise and make to order. The benefit of a product like EROL is that it provides a structure to your website while allowing you to input plenty of artistic personalisation, just take a look at the range of sites produced using the software, links can be found at http://www.erol.co.uk
Martin is spot on when he says that you need to consider exactly what you want your site to say. I suggest that your website should be a showcase for the products you offer for sale and for simple things for which you have already formularised a price a webstore is ideal. If for example you normally make vinyl signs then it’s simple to offer set sizes of sign in one, two and three colours on a variety of substrates for those who ‘just want a sign’. I’d suggest it may reduce the time taken by you to help customers who might otherwise prove frustrating. An opportunity for your customer to explore the range of possibilities in their own time before coming to you for specific advise. Additionally an existing sign customer might not know that you produce t-shirts at a reasonable cost but curiosity often causes people to look at websites of existing suppliers.
If you wan to showcase your products with prices and the option to click “Buy” then I can’t recomend erol enough. Alternatively take a look at http://www.mikethesign.com for a perfect example of artistic teasing. Mikes site leads you to wonder what magic he could create for your business. The whole look is expensive and high quality which I guess is precisely what Mike is aiming to convey.
So back to what Martin said “You must know exactly what you want to say and what image you want to portray before going down this route”
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Another case of horses for courses I think.
I appreciate all the above comments and I am sure that they work well for the individual businesses concerned, however my own case is perhaps a little different. I am after a very specific type of client and don’t want, and don’t have the time to deal with, the “daft” enquiries which I feel that web site advertising would bring.
We don’t normally advertise at all, relying on recommendations and referrals, but if I were to do so I would want it focussed far more tightly on my area of interest and am more likely to place an ad in Fleet News or even, as we have done in the past, have a stand at the Fleet Motor Show, than shotgun type advertising on the web.
When I started this business I had an ad in Yellow Pages but, for the reasons above, did not renew after the first year.
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As an ex Yellow Pages Salesman and an advertising executive of the highest calibre (or so my mum used to tell me) I’d say that your ads were wrong John?
An advert can be ‘tightened’ to appeal to exactly the right customer but unfortunately the typical approach of most advertising people and most businessmen footing the bill is to encourage response measured by phone calls, readership, footfall etc., Not as it should be…number of orders, or rather the value of such………WHY? Because despite what they say most businesses do not have an effective way of finding out where people heard about them. If they feel it’s working they’ll rebook. If they feel there getting the wrong response they’ll cancel…. (hot)
I could list plenty of reasons why you MUST advertise in Yellow Pages! (:)
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I wouldn’t want to argue with an advertising executive of the highest calibre Martin, and I understand your reasoning but…..
Whilst the number of companies I would actively seek as clients nationally number maybe a thousand how can advertising to the masses be of any value to me, however tightened?
Also, my prospective clients don’t pluck suppliers out of the Yellow Pages. There is too much at stake for them. They take guidance from consultants, their highly paid marketing consultans, their leasing companies and other people in their own industry. These are the people I have to impress.
Anyway, I thought you said you were an EX Yellow Pages Salesman. 😀
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Got me there John 😳
I made the fatal mistake of assuming I understood your business…which of course I don’t. The biggest single reason for being in Yellow Pages is to ensure people can find your number..e.g. Mr Brown of Browns Pet Supplies may reccomend you but the reccomendee will often go to YP for your phone number, or if he forgets your name will search the YP in the hope he’ll have his memory jogged. Of course if your that specialist the cost would outweigh the benefits.
I wasn’t at Yellow Pages for many months (soon got fed up working from 7am till 12 every night,) but long enough to know how well it worked for people.
Sorry to hijack this thread……..wasn’t the question about websites!!? Now one of those you should have John…..you CAN make that specialist!! (:)
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The thing with websites is that it has to be kept updated with a fresh look. Also you need to ensure there are links to your site in all the right places on the Net.
The main thing is that it is a place to show off your work to prospective customers, who give you a call on the phone etc. Also you call always refer to it in e-mails, flyers, on your vans buisness card etc. Your be suprised how many people will have alook at a Web site first, before giving a company a ring.
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