My wifes new business

[dcramer16]

I'm not sure if I can post this here. I tried to find it in the forum rules, and couldn't. So Doug, please forgive me if I'm not suppost to be posting this.

Anyways, my wife decided that she is going to start a cleaning service. She enjoys cleaning, and has been keeping our house absolutely spotless for years. She's really good at it. So she had me put together a website for her and I just finished it. I was hoping you fine folks could take a look at it and let me know if you have any suggestions, find any typos, and your general thoughts about it. I've been working on it all day, I'm exhausted, and if I edit, hit refresh, review one more time I think I'll vomit!!!! Here's the address: www.cramercleaning.com Again Doug, sorry if this goes against the rules. I'm not looking to advertise, just for peoples opinions.

[dcramer16]

P.S. This site is filled with more grammar nazi's than Carter has liver pills. So if you find any gramatical errors, lay it on me!!!

[OhioStatePilot]

From the first view, the site looks pretty thorough with the information side and I'd say well done! I do have a couple of suggestions from a stylistic view.

I'd change the page background (the wood grain) to something that doesn't stand out as a tiled image. Either that, or try to use a design that's obviously meant to be tiled. I'm guessing the intent was to mimic a wood floor. Three directions I can think of off-hand would be either a parquet floor with each tile having perpendicular grain, a wood slat floor so the boards run the length or width of the page, or even a tile floor.

The text content is good, but some of the larger chunks tend to camouflage the information. I'd try to use a variety of sizes (think headings), fonts, or even colors to grab the viewer's attention. In some places, bullet points would work well.

I would also capitalize and unify the size of the form field labels in the guestbook and appointment pages.

The one thing that I haven't quite figured out, though, is that the company is "Cramer Cleaning", but the site is "Kramer-Kleaning". I know how hard it can be to find a good domain name, but that might throw off some potential customers.

[Joe Gremlin]

The site looks ok. OhioStatePilot's suggestions are all good. Although I'm no expert, I know that my graphic artist brother warns me against using too many font types/sizes/colors in any marketing I do for my business. I believe he says to pick three and make them work.

But the more important question is how are you going to drive traffic to the site? Are you planning to do a ppc type program or anything like that? Are you doing any SEO with it or better yet, paying an expert to do it? My experience has been that you can have the best looking website on the planet, but if you don't opimize it for google placement (SEO) or pay someone to place it (PPC) then you can expect traffic levels near zero.

I have found that with a geographically limited service oriented business, a large and well designed yellow pages ad is much more effective at getting the phone to ring than a website. This is how I've built my business and it works very well. I've got a website but I don't promote it at all. I don't do PPC and I've never done any SEO on it. So the only traffic that I get from it is people who have found me in the phonebook and want to get more info before they decide to call. It works very well in that capacity. The phonebook advertising is very expensive but in my business (computer repair) it has paid for itself every month and I've been doing it for several years now.

My experience has been that most people, i.e. the average consumer, i.e. people who tend to not post on internet forums, use the internet to shop on amazon and ebay if they shop online at all. But when they need a plumber or a roofer or anyone else to actually show up and do something, they pick up the phonebook. And as the saying goes, when they go the phonebook, they've got the phone in one hand and their wallet in the other. Good luck to your wife with her business. Let us know how it goes.

Edit to add: Also once you work out the domain name issues, get your wife an email account at that domain. You can make it forward to her msn account and no one will ever know but the email address should be either her name&businessdomainname or info&businessdomainname. Nothing screams unprofessional like having an msn or aol email address for a business.

[Joe Gremlin]

A couple of other notes. I would change some of the left nav bar headings. Home page should be Home and Services Offered should be Services and Discussion Forum should be Forum. Its nit picky but it'll look more professional.

[rd757]

After offering a service as my business. I'd use a quote generating program. There are many out there, that way you aren't nailed down to the rates you post on the site, but it allows for a standard rate across board, with the rate fluctuating for options they choose. Service oriented businesses gain a lot of momentum from word-of-mouth, I've experienced this first-hand.

"Your house looks great!"
"Oh thanks, my cleaning person does it!"
"Oh yeah? Who's that? I've been looking for one."
"Cramer Cleaning, they're great!"
"Awesome I'll give them a call!"

Wam bam, you got yourself another customer.

(I have a successful DJ business btw)

RD

[dcramer16]

Originally Posted by OhioStatePilot

I'd change the page background (the wood grain) to something that doesn't stand out as a tiled image. Either that, or try to use a design that's obviously meant to be tiled. I'm guessing the intent was to mimic a wood floor. Three directions I can think of off-hand would be either a parquet floor with each tile having perpendicular grain, a wood slat floor so the boards run the length or width of the page, or even a tile floor.

I switched it to a plain blue background. The floor background was the least annoying one they had, that's why I picked it. It wasn't too bad, perhaps I can find a better wood floor pic. But for now I'll leave it blue, and see how I like it.

Originally Posted by OhioStatePilot

The text content is good, but some of the larger chunks tend to camouflage the information. I'd try to use a variety of sizes (think headings), fonts, or even colors to grab the viewer's attention. In some places, bullet points would work well.

I know jack about creating a website. So I have been using Andy's Webtools. It works great, but I don't get different sizes, fonts or colors.

Originally Posted by OhioStatePilot

I would also capitalize and unify the size of the form field labels in the guestbook and appointment pages.

Also a Andy's Webtools deal. I don't think I can make changes to that. I agree, they should be capitalized. I'll call them tomorrow when they open and see if I can do that. I took off the guestbook for now.

Originally Posted by OhioStatePilot

The one thing that I haven't quite figured out, though, is that the company is "Cramer Cleaning", but the site is "Kramer-Kleaning". I know how hard it can be to find a good domain name, but that might throw off some potential customers.

I started it out as Kramer Kleaning. I thought it would be cute. Yeah yeah After thinking about it, I decided to leave it alone and keep it Cramer Cleaning. This was after I bought the www.kramer-kleaning.com domain. So I also bought www.cramercleaning.com . Right now Cramer is the secondary domain and Kramer is primary. So again, when Andy's opens tomorrow, I'm going to see how to get the Kramer taken off completely. For now, you can go to both addresses, and it's the same stuff.

Originally Posted by Joe Gremlin

But the more important question is how are you going to drive traffic to the site? Are you planning to do a ppc type program or anything like that? Are you doing any SEO with it or better yet, paying an expert to do it? My experience has been that you can have the best looking website on the planet, but if you don't opimize it for google placement (SEO) or pay someone to place it (PPC) then you can expect traffic levels near zero.

I wasn't planning on doing anything you mentioned. I looked into it years ago and it seemed like it cost too much. What the plan was, and why I created the site, is the newspaper has 10 other cleaning services. None of them had websites. So I created one, so when we put an ad in the paper, we will have a website for people to go to, and nobody else does. I thought it looked a little more professional. If things go well, I'm going to even order my wife some Polo's with the logo on it. Hell, maybe I'll even order me a hat!

We are moving back to Midland TX in Aug, so I can start flying pipeline patrol again. I'm getting my old job back. Well, weekends at least for now. We have a good friend down their that has been cleaning houses for years. She makes about 60K/year doing it. So she has a lot of clients. Anyways, she was telling us that people call her all the time, and she has to turn them down, she's always booked solid. So mainly we are going to go off of referals. I don't think we'll need the website too much. However, I created it "just in case", and also so we would have something to put in the paper that made her look better, rather than just a phone number like everyone else.

Originally Posted by Joe Gremlin

I have found that with a geographically limited service oriented business, a large and well designed yellow pages ad is much more effective at getting the phone to ring than a website. This is how I've built my business and it works very well. I've got a website but I don't promote it at all. I don't do PPC and I've never done any SEO on it. So the only traffic that I get from it is people who have found me in the phonebook and want to get more info before they decide to call. It works very well in that capacity. The phonebook advertising is very expensive but in my business (computer repair) it has paid for itself every month and I've been doing it for several years now.

My experience has been that most people, i.e. the average consumer, i.e. people who tend to not post on internet forums, use the internet to shop on amazon and ebay if they shop online at all. But when they need a plumber or a roofer or anyone else to actually show up and do something, they pick up the phonebook. And as the saying goes, when they go the phonebook, they've got the phone in one hand and their wallet in the other. Good luck to your wife with her business. Let us know how it goes.

I like yellow page ads better than the internet too. I plan on doing that really soon.

Originally Posted by Joe Gremlin

Edit to add: Also once you work out the domain name issues, get your wife an email account at that domain. You can make it forward to her msn account and no one will ever know but the email address should be either her name&businessdomainname or info&businessdomainname. Nothing screams unprofessional like having an msn or aol email address for a business.

I am working on that. One of those things where I have to call Andy's Webtools in the morning.

Originally Posted by Joe Gremlin

A couple of other notes. I would change some of the left nav bar headings. Home page should be Home and Services Offered should be Services and Discussion Forum should be Forum. Its nit picky but it'll look more professional.

Done. Not nit picky, better looking, thanks.

Originally Posted by rd757

After offering a service as my business. I'd use a quote generating program. There are many out there, that way you aren't nailed down to the rates you post on the site, but it allows for a standard rate across board, with the rate fluctuating for options they choose. Service oriented businesses gain a lot of momentum from word-of-mouth, I've experienced this first-hand.

"Your house looks great!"
"Oh thanks, my cleaning person does it!"
"Oh yeah? Who's that? I've been looking for one."
"Cramer Cleaning, they're great!"
"Awesome I'll give them a call!"

Wam bam, you got yourself another customer.

(I have a successful DJ business btw)

RD

I'm not sure if Andy's Webtools allows you to put in a quote generator. It's pretty basic. I don't even know if you can get into the HTML code and insert it. I'll find out when I call tomorrow.

I know about word of mouth. I used to own a successful DJ business when I was a radio DJ at a station. This was before I was a pilot. We're pretty much planning on running by word of mouth.



Thanks everyone for your comments. I made most of the changes mentioned. Some will have to wait till tomorrow. God this site is a pain!!!!! Hopefully it will all be worth it.

[wheelsup]

Change the title on the Home/index page to "Home and small business cleaning in Midland, TX and surrounding areas" or something similar. On the home page, where it says "Reliable Cleaning at an Affordable Rate" change that to read something like "A home and business cleaning service in Midland, TX".

Under my services page, title it "Home and Business Cleaning Service in Midland, TX". Where it says "My Services" as a header, title it "Home and Business Cleaning Service" (or leave out the business, if you don't want to clean businesses).

Basically on every page title, try to throw in what is relevant with that page and add "in Midland, TX" to it. So under rates, say something like "Rates for home and business cleaning service in Midland, TX". I use the "|" sometimes and "in" others. The | seems to work for SEO purposes just as well as the word "in".

Examine a site I made a long time ago (yes I know it sucks, but you should see the search rankings). I've circled some big items to hit, change your site to reflect that.



www.norfolkpt.com

I've circled some of the areas to concentrate on as far as SEO goes. They are big into worker's comp and physical therapy so you can see I used those words throughout. Notice I've hyperlinked to another page in my site. So on your first page (home/index) you have "hire Cramer Cleaning for your home maid services".

Make it link to your service page, ie

You provide the cleaning supplies and leave the cleaning to me! When you hire Cramer Cleaning for your home maid services, I'll work with you to create a customized schedule that suits your needs.

And get out from that cgi-bin web design company ASAP, that will also hurt your rankings. Just buy hosting and switch your domain over and use a free or inexpensive web design program when you get some time.

Here are some pics:







On a side note I think your strategy is a good one. If your competitors do not have web sites and you do (and a decent one at that, which yours is) I think you will win business if there is any to be had. I once went to a garage because they were the only one that had a web site back a few years ago. I simply did a Google search and they were the only ones with a site that was local. Presto, $220 in revenue from me alone.

If you have a web/internet phone like the iPhone, consider using a merchant account to charge credit cards. That will also make you look more professional and trustworthy. The charge for using them is typically 2.5% or so, at the rates you are charging it will be minimal.

[OhioStatePilot]

That's great advice, wheelsup. Getting high rankings with search engines is a whole different ball of trouble, but those are some good tips.

I definitely agree with getting out from under the "Andy's Web Tools" structure. If you need help with it you're more than welcome to shoot me a PM, or I'm sure there are quite a few people around here well versed in web design.

[dcramer16]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

Change the title on the Home/index page to "Home and small business cleaning in Midland, TX and surrounding areas" or something similar. On the home page, where it says "Reliable Cleaning at an Affordable Rate" change that to read something like "A home and business cleaning service in Midland, TX".

Under my services page, title it "Home and Business Cleaning Service in Midland, TX". Where it says "My Services" as a header, title it "Home and Business Cleaning Service" (or leave out the business, if you don't want to clean businesses).

Basically on every page title, try to throw in what is relevant with that page and add "in Midland, TX" to it. So under rates, say something like "Rates for home and business cleaning service in Midland, TX". I use the "|" sometimes and "in" others. The | seems to work for SEO purposes just as well as the word "in".

Examine a site I made a long time ago (yes I know it sucks, but you should see the search rankings). I've circled some big items to hit, change your site to reflect that.



www.norfolkpt.com

I've circled some of the areas to concentrate on as far as SEO goes. They are big into worker's comp and physical therapy so you can see I used those words throughout. Notice I've hyperlinked to another page in my site. So on your first page (home/index) you have "hire Cramer Cleaning for your home maid services".

Make it link to your service page, ie

And get out from that cgi-bin web design company ASAP, that will also hurt your rankings. Just buy hosting and switch your domain over and use a free or inexpensive web design program when you get some time.

Here are some pics:







On a side note I think your strategy is a good one. If your competitors do not have web sites and you do (and a decent one at that, which yours is) I think you will win business if there is any to be had. I once went to a garage because they were the only one that had a web site back a few years ago. I simply did a Google search and they were the only ones with a site that was local. Presto, $220 in revenue from me alone.

If you have a web/internet phone like the iPhone, consider using a merchant account to charge credit cards. That will also make you look more professional and trustworthy. The charge for using them is typically 2.5% or so, at the rates you are charging it will be minimal.

Thanks for all the great advice! After trying out Andys Web Tools, I kinda want to get out. You're not able to customize much stuff, that I don't like. But at the same time, you're not able to customize much stuff because they make it simple, and simple is what I need. I got a site, it doesn't look goofy and crappy, and it only took me about 14 hours to create. I don't have time tonight, but tomorrow I am going to try and implement your ideas into my site. Thanks again, that was good stuff.

[IslandFlyer]

Small typo.

How do I pay?

New customers are required to pay cash for the first two weeks. After that, I will accept checks. Payment is to be make on the day of cleaning




Good luck. Looks like great start!

[OhioStatePilot]

Wow, Andy's is expensive! I recommend DreamHost (they're who I use). They charge I believe $119 a year instead of monthly, but it comes out to just under 10 a month... and they've got plenty of capability.

[dcramer16]

Originally Posted by IslandFlyer

Small typo.

How do I pay?

New customers are required to pay cash for the first two weeks. After that, I will accept checks. Payment is to be make on the day of cleaning




Good luck. Looks like great start!

Great, thanks! It's amazing that I have been all over this site many times, and a few little things are still popping up.

[t-cart]

Looks great! Good luck with it!

[dcramer16]

Wheelsup, I went to answer your post a minute ago, and IE closed out on me. So here's the short version of what I wrote. I applied most of your ideas. I couldn't do a few things cause of the limitations of Andy's, but was able to do most. Thanks for all the tips!

[wheelsup]

No problem. Give it a week or so to register on Google. Then test it out with a search of "house cleaning in midland, tx" before and after. Really what you want to think up are keywords that you think your target audience will type, not the ones I came up with. Just sit down and think like a customer. For example in the site I mentioned above they wanted to attract physical therapy and workers comp clients. So I tailored those key words into the material on the site.

You also might want to maybe think about "maid service in midland, tx" as another focus keyword. Just play around with it. And install a counter that will tell you how people found your site. Also you might want to look into putting a java counter on the site and pages to see where people are coming from if the web hosting you have doesn't allow for that. Check out www.whatcounter.com, it's free. It will tell you the keywords people typed in to find your site if they are referred from a search engine.

[dcramer16]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

No problem. Give it a week or so to register on Google. Then test it out with a search of "house cleaning in midland, tx" before and after. Really what you want to think up are keywords that you think your target audience will type, not the ones I came up with. Just sit down and think like a customer. For example in the site I mentioned above they wanted to attract physical therapy and workers comp clients. So I tailored those key words into the material on the site.

You also might want to maybe think about "maid service in midland, tx" as another focus keyword. Just play around with it. And install a counter that will tell you how people found your site. Also you might want to look into putting a java counter on the site and pages to see where people are coming from if the web hosting you have doesn't allow for that. Check out www.whatcounter.com, it's free. It will tell you the keywords people typed in to find your site if they are referred from a search engine.

Dang man, #2 on the search list!!!! Thanks a lot for all your advice.

[wheelsup]

No prob, I learned all of the above basically by mistake when making a flight school web site.

[badasscrustacean]

I understand we're not all graphic designers, web designers, etc, and if this is the first site you've created, good on you (if not, sorry for being presumptuous). However, let's be realistic, the site needs work--more so considering you and your wife are trying to build a company around that site. I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but I just don't see much of a reason and yank you around and I'm not going to sugar coat things.

Here's my somewhat abridged list of things that need to be done:

• Ditch Andy's whatever.
• Get some cheap hosting at DreamHost, MediaTemple, or GoDaddy (provided it's not the $0.95/month special with ads all over the place).
• Integrate some more graphics--preferably of higher quality. To keep things legal, have search through flickr (http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/?), and check the boxes to search for images licensed under Creative Commons and are allowed to be used commercially.
• Get rid of the forum (unless that's something that Andy's thing does automatically--more reason to abandon Andy and ask for a refund).
• Learn CSS, then...
• Get ideas about using CSS & "modern" looking web design from:
  • cssburst.com
  • cssblaze.com
  • designshack.co.uk
  • welldonesites.com
• Redo the logo to look a little less outdated (mainly it's the font that is getting at me, the actual house part of the logo is pretty good).
• Put the name of your company back in the title. Or, at least put it before the text that's there now (i.e., Cramer Cleaning - Home and Small Business Cleaning... etc, remove the "surrounding areas" bit from the title too).

Also, while I don't discredit you for making cash an available payment option, I wouldn't make it a requirement for the first two weeks--that looks sort of, well, sketchy. Perhaps look into accepting money orders, or PayPal (it's 2009!) as acceptable methods of payment to cover those first two weeks. Yes, PayPal sucks, I know, and it costs $$ to accept PayPal, but I think it looks a tad more legitimate than requiring cash.

Just my two cents.

[dcramer16]

Originally Posted by badasscrustacean

I understand we're not all graphic designers, web designers, etc, and if this is the first site you've created, good on you (if not, sorry for being presumptuous). However, let's be realistic, the site needs work--more so considering you and your wife are trying to build a company around that site. I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but I just don't see much of a reason and yank you around and I'm not going to sugar coat things.

Here's my somewhat abridged list of things that need to be done:

• Ditch Andy's whatever.
• Get some cheap hosting at DreamHost, MediaTemple, or GoDaddy (provided it's not the $0.95/month special with ads all over the place).
• Integrate some more graphics--preferably of higher quality. To keep things legal, have search through flickr (http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/?), and check the boxes to search for images licensed under Creative Commons and are allowed to be used commercially.
• Get rid of the forum (unless that's something that Andy's thing does automatically--more reason to abandon Andy and ask for a refund).
• Learn CSS, then...
• Get ideas about using CSS & "modern" looking web design from:
  • cssburst.com
  • cssblaze.com
  • designshack.co.uk
  • welldonesites.com
• Redo the logo to look a little less outdated (mainly it's the font that is getting at me, the actual house part of the logo is pretty good).
• Put the name of your company back in the title. Or, at least put it before the text that's there now (i.e., Cramer Cleaning - Home and Small Business Cleaning... etc, remove the "surrounding areas" bit from the title too).

Also, while I don't discredit you for making cash an available payment option, I wouldn't make it a requirement for the first two weeks--that looks sort of, well, sketchy. Perhaps look into accepting money orders, or PayPal (it's 2009!) as acceptable methods of payment to cover those first two weeks. Yes, PayPal sucks, I know, and it costs $$ to accept PayPal, but I think it looks a tad more legitimate than requiring cash.

Just my two cents.

All very good points. I don't think you're being a jerk, and I appreciate you not "yanking me around". (And it is my first site) I'm going to look into getting rid of Andy's when I have time. But I'm really busy now, her business is exploding! We ran an ad in the paper, and have had it running for only 2 days, it's still got another 28 days to go, and we're already almost booked solid for quotes for the next couple days. I can't imagine what tomorrow is going to bring!!!

Andy's is charging me something like $30/month, so they will be going soon. I'm just going to have to have time to research what all it entails to ditch them, and get my site set up somewhere else.

Thanks for the advice everyone, wish us luck!

[TallFlyer]

Originally Posted by dcramer16

But I'm really busy now, her business is exploding! We ran an ad in the paper, and have had it running for only 2 days, it's still got another 28 days to go, and we're already almost booked solid for quotes for the next couple days. I can't imagine what tomorrow is going to bring!!!

Sounds like you might be cleaning houses yourself in a bit...

[dcramer16]

Originally Posted by TallFlyer

Sounds like you might be cleaning houses yourself in a bit...

Now lets get one thing perfectly straight.....I make the messes, SHE cleans them up.....