Drumming up business!

[Hellmooth]

Hi guys,

I've recently started advertising having gotten by for nearly 2 years by word of mouth!

I've started paying for Yell.com and various other online advertisers.....does anyone have any tips or advice on who to use?

Cheers!

 

[HandySparks]

Do you have a website?

 

[Leesparkykent]

Hi guys,

I've recently started advertising having gotten by for nearly 2 years by word of mouth!

I've started paying for Yell.com and various other online advertisers.....does anyone have any tips or advice on who to use?

Cheers!

.Have a decent website built
.Get your business “pinned” on Google maps
.Build your Google My Business page
.list your address and all the areas you work
.post your details on as many free business directories you can find that allow links back to your website
.Social media is a must IMO to get yourself up on google rankings
.have a look about the best ways to write your meta description.

You don't have to spend a fortune on google Adwords but I bet it would drive more traffic your way than yell.com

 

[Hellmooth]

Do you have a website?

I didn't even see you had posted, could only see lees earlier!

yeah I do, how did you put the link up for yours?

 

[Hellmooth]

.Have a decent website built
.Get your business “pinned” on Google maps
.Build your Google My Business page
.list your address and all the areas you work
.post your details on as many free business directories you can find that allow links back to your website
.Social media is a must IMO to get yourself up on google rankings
.have a look about the best ways to write your meta description.

You don't have to spend a fortune on google Adwords but I bet it would drive more traffic your way than yell.com

Cheers Lee, do you have a website?

 

[Leesparkykent]

Cheers Lee, do you have a website?

Just a holding page ATM. I had a website I created myself, but tbh it was crap. I'm in the process now of having it built by someone who knows what they are up 2. When it's sorted I'll PM you the link.

 

[Marvo]

.Have a decent website built
.Get your business “pinned” on Google maps
.Build your Google My Business page
.list your address and all the areas you work
.post your details on as many free business directories you can find that allow links back to your website
.Social media is a must IMO to get yourself up on google rankings
.have a look about the best ways to write your meta description.

You don't have to spend a fortune on google Adwords but I bet it would drive more traffic your way than yell.com

^^ As Lee said.

Also manage your existing and past customers to the max, it's much easier to get repeat business from an existing happy client than to get business from cold selling to new ones. Market to them but keep it low pressure, you should get a full set of contact details for every customer you work for, make a list of their email addresses and keep in touch every few months. It's more effective if you can personalize the emails although without a CRM setup in place this can be time consuming. In the emails inform them of any legislation changes and what they may mean to the customer, maybe offer a couple of 'specials' and tell them any news about your business, if you get a new employee....introduce him to them, if you've done any prestigious jobs recently tell them, if your wholesaler has a great special running, offer it to your customers at cost and profit from the installation work......anything in fact so it's almost a newsletter.but a friendly/ personal/informative one. Give them the option to opt-out but if you email is informative and useful most will not.

 

[HandySparks]

I didn't even see you had posted, could only see lees earlier!

yeah I do, how did you put the link up for yours?

I think I edited my 'Signature' on the 'About Me' tab on my EF profile. However, I've just tried, and can't work out how I did it. Maybe the editing permissions on the forum have changed recently?

It's worth having a good website and linking to it from as many relevant places as possible. 'Good' doesn't necessarily have to be flash or expensive. I do my own and just make sure that my home page has a well thought-out selection of keywords that I think customers will be using, so that it gets well placed by the search engines.

 

[Welchyboy1]

I think I edited my 'Signature' on the 'About Me' tab on my EF profile. However, I've just tried, and can't work out how I did it. Maybe the editing permissions on the forum have changed recently?

It's worth having a good website and linking to it from as many relevant places as possible. 'Good' doesn't necessarily have to be flash or expensive. I do my own and just make sure that my home page has a well thought-out selection of keywords that I think customers will be using, so that it gets well placed by the search engines.

I got a good website done professionally, very visible, high up on my local searches without paying for SEO, very inpressed at first

Every time i open my email its full of spam, i get around 20 cold calls for every call or enquiry about work, the work i do tend to get from it has been emergency call outs, tiny jobs or people fishing for a price over the phone

all in all i wished i didnt bother really

 

[DuaneMHunt1976]

Well could always write the company name on your bottem and streak at some football game..be band but all positives.

As for web sites, and ive made some and they do look naff but could pinch some layouts easy enough
basically find web pages you like and pinch the code and convert some to how you like
lot better than a desk top publisher andwith better style a tag bit hard

 

[HandySparks]

I got a good website done professionally, very visible, high up on my local searches without paying for SEO, very inpressed at first

Every time i open my email its full of spam, i get around 20 cold calls for every call or enquiry about work, the work i do tend to get from it has been emergency call outs, tiny jobs or people fishing for a price over the phone

all in all i wished i didnt bother really

Interesting. I have had very little e-mail spam via my website. However, I don't have my e-mail address as a clickable link.

Most enquiries are by phone, and an increasing proportion are because they've found my details with a Google search, so well worth while.