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Hi,
I am thinking of starting up a web site & was wondering on other people’s opinions.
I am just a one man band, no agencies or work providers. (Happy that way)
I dont sell spares by post or currently accept credit cards, although that can change if neccesary
Does any one else who is a one man band have one?
How do you find it?
Is it worth it?
How much to set it up etc? & where do I go for more info?
Any opinions would be very much appreciated.Toni Paz
Re: Web Site
Tony, I’m not a one man band but do have some knowledge of this which may be usefull.
If you are paying a set fee with an isp, like BT for instance, you should have a small amount of web space as part of that package which will be more than enough for a few pages giving information about you’re services. You will then have to create the site yourself or pay someone to do it. To be honest, there are many fairly reasonable bits of software out there now that can create basic sites quite easily with the user having no knowledge of HTML etc.
Speak to you’re isp on how to go about uploading it etc, it’s all actaully quite straightforward these days.
I think personally we all need a web presence these days as more and more people are using it a source of information.
Dave.
A web site is like a shop window to us, but you can do so much more with it than that and TBH I really, really need to find the time to update mine soon.
This format of a CMS site generally won’t work for us nor would many online commerce type sites work well, even for booking calls. There’s too many variables in our work and many problems as you all know can be solved on the phone without a visit. Also we are mostly all pre-diagnosing now, you can’t do that if you allow someone to book your calls for you, hence my objections to pre-booked calls in any format.
But what you can do with a site is save yourself a lot of grief, like uploading a copy of your current insurance, CORGI registration certificate and area maps of coverage which saves the hassle of faxing them to people. Easy, simple and effective. The point is to make life easier.
It can be a good advert, I too have had many enquiries from our site from all over the place and not just the UK. I would say it’s worth a bit of effort.
Now I’ll hide ’cause ours is shocking at the moment, I’ve had a new logo and designs in my head for it for months and no time to do sod all with it. 😕
K.
Re: Web Site
We done our own. http://www.sedgemoordomesticappliances.co.uk it looks a bit dated now and the music is cheesy on P1. I haven’t done a good enough job with the following pages as I could have made them findable in their own right. I concentrated on the 1st page & didn’t put any thought regards adding the company name etc. onto the following pages. It is that bad, I’ve still got Merloni on it, must update it sometime.
The trick is, no matter how good it is, people need to find it. You need to get it up onto the likes of Google, Yahoo & Jeeves. The best one is to get it onto Yell.com. That is what service companies etc. use these days to see who is where, and a good site will tell them a lot. Some of our service partners are very keen to add us as a link to their sites as well, that endorses us and brings in a bit.
I’ve recently starting using a web host, he is very active in keeping us on the top of search engines, as he keeps our web site an a high profile for very little cost.
It is all good fun, but very time consuming.
Alex
Re: Web Site
Alex wrote:I’ve recently starting using a web host, he is very active in keeping us on the top of search engines, as he keeps our web site an a high profile for very little cost.
It is all good fun, but very time consuming.
Yes and doing the search engine optimisation yourself, although fairly easy, is hard work at times but it keeps the old grey matter busy.
As for time consuming, tell me about it!! 😉
K.
P.S. Alex, please, please, please get shot of that music it’s dreadful! 😆
Re: Web Site
kwatt wrote:
P.S. Alex, please, please, please get shot of that music it’s dreadful! 😆At least I didn’t use bagpipes. Have you heard the music when you are hold with Anglo iberian? It sounds like Rolf Harris with a stylophone.
I’m about to embark on a total revamp, but too busy with customers wanting our services. It will get sorted, in the meantime, turn down your speakers.
Re: Web Site
Alex wrote:in the meantime, turn down your speakers.
Or better still turn them off altogether, that is truly awful 😆
On the subject of bagpipes, a good idea to jazz up Ken’s site with some lovely music, click on the picture 😉
Dave.
Re: Web Site
Alex, I remember looking at your site years ago and it hasnt changed….a bit! And I have never been brave enough to ask you, the background, is that kitchen roll?
Re: Web Site
Dave_Conway wrote:On the subject of bagpipes, a good idea to jazz up Ken’s site with some lovely music, click on the picture :wink:.
I’m guessing that you’ll pretty much guess my response to that. 😉
K.
Re: Web Site
eastlmark wrote:Alex, I remember looking at your site years ago and it hasnt changed….a bit! And I have never been brave enough to ask you, the background, is that kitchen roll?
At last I’ve got round to having the site improved.
So much so I’ve put a link on my postings as below.
Alex
Re: Web Site
Alex, the kitchen roll thing was not a criticism. If someone has taken to trouble to scan a piece of kitchen roll then they get full marks for originality.
Re: Web Site
Thanks for the replys on this. Its good to have a look at 1 or 2 other sites.
I will set up a web site but it will proberbly take me a whileregards
ToniRe: Web Site
If anybody wants a good site created & haven’t got the time or a clue etc. Give this guy a go. Austen Macrow on http://www.austdesign.com he will set it all up for you at a competetive rate. Tell him where you found him, as I may get a pint out of it.
Don’t worry he didn’t do mine, I will take the blame for that one, but I’ve given him the task of doing me a new site completely. If and when it meets approval I’ll let you know.
Alex
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