My Crappy Website

[Angela]

My current website, for lack of better words, SUCKS. I am in the process of updating it with more photos, testimonials and so on. My question to all of you...what percentage of your business comes from your website?

OH and dear lord please don't try to look up my crappy website.

Thanks

 

[401Graphics]

My crappy website is a facebook page.

 

[jkdbjj]

My current website, for lack of better words, SUCKS. I am in the process of updating it with more photos, testimonials and so on. My question to all of you...what percentage of your business comes from your website?

OH and dear lord please don't try to look up my crappy website.

Thanks

95% for me.
Of course plenty of work is just repeat business.
If you invest time and money in the site, be sure to allocate money to SEO work. Without the SEO it's pointless.

 

[john1]

http://www.quickdiscountsigns.com lol

It's not terrible but could use some SEO which without it your sites pointless.

 

[Angela]

ummm..... john1 I do believe I asked to please not look up my crappy website. Thanks a bunch pal . Just kidding your input is very appreciated as is everybody else's.

 

[john1]

Well without seeing it there is no help for you to improve it

 

[HulkSmash]

Ive seen a lot worse. Trust me.

 

[Jillbeans]

You have "affordable" spelled wrong twice.
You also need to raise your prices. $59 for a set of mags? Ugh.
However, your website looks fairly professional even if it is lacking photos of your work.
You should see my newest local hack's site.
Love....jill

 

[visual800]

NOT that I am mister website or anything but there is just too many options on there. When I did mine I did signs, logos and printed, 3 categories to shoose from with pics on each one. i did wanna bore people with "facts" or "fabrication methods" just here I am and heres what I've done. I do not get any traffic but thanks to one guy on here Ive changed meta tags and hopefully it will at least pop up on first page if anyone is looking

 

[signage]

You should see my newest local hack's site.
Love....jill

Well lets see it

 

[4R Graphics]

Your site looks fine but I would put more pictures and less wording.

Most people are visual so pics grab attention and keep it you need enough wording to tell them what it is but dont go industry deep or you just confuse them.

You need 1 page with a good amount of wording and pics for each of your BIG sellers (or what you want to sell the most) the reason for this is SEO it has to do with keywords and there relevance on the page but dont flood every page with wording only the ones you really want to come up on search engines.

Also prices on your special page were a little low (at least for my area) but hey if thats your market then go with it. On the specials page or any page that you put pricing on you need to also put something in there saying that design is extra unless its part of the listed price.

I hope you are not doing a set of mags for $59 with design youll go broke and close up quick if you are.

So like I said if there is a design fee ontop of the listed price for the product you need to state that on the page somewhere (like the car dealers do) Example: 2013 FORD F150 $15,999* see the * then put somewhere else bottom of the page or wherever *Price does not include design fees. Fees are based on a per design/hr rate with 1 design and 2 edits standard.

If you dont do this you will either make a set of mags for me with 10 different changes for $59 or I will tell everyone I know how your website siad it was $59 but then you tried to raise the price by adding a bunch of design fees and stuff.
Just cover your @$# or dont put prices on the website.

Good luck

 

[JohnnyMac]

I am new to the site because I am getting into the sign business.

Currently I own a web design company. We've been in business since 1997. I build websites for a living and I haven't met a sign company yet that has a decent website. I am sure there are some out there. Facebook is great but that isn't the only source of traffic for your business. Not to mention that a decent website platform could make drag and drop files to your business a piece of cake, eliminating email attachments.

This isn't an advertisement, so I will contribute with some things to think about from my experience.

- Franchise websites won't rank in Google because the content is repetitive and Google recognizes it. This is called "blanding" and will force a franchise template website down in search results.

- If you build your own website, you can do it inexpensively and well if you are a designer and a programmer. Most people aren't, so it takes several thousand dollars plus to do it right.

- A poor design is worse than no website.

- Use only .COM domains if you can. The older they are, the more that helps with ranking. Not much, but it helps.

- A brochure website is a waste of time. Build a site with a solid portfolio application that includes good SEO. Update it weekly. Include before and after photos, not JUST the after photos. Since Google can't read images, you should write a couple of paragraphs about every project you show. Immense SEO response will ensue.

- Update Facebook daily or at least 3 times a week. No less. 10AM Wednesdays is the peak time to do so.

- Photos will get people to "connect" with your website. Graphics become cartoons with no soul and no connection.

- Never forget to ask for the sale. Showing what you do is worthless if you don't then show your prospects how to do business with you.

- Any new website should include a bill-pay system so customers can pay their bills online. It is cheap and easy.

- 99% of business owners don't understand what their home page should do. Its a powerful secret.

If I can help with any questions on here, let me know.

 

[SD&F]

I get 95% or more of my business from the web. My new customers come through there.
We have a large book of existing business, but it always helps to continue to draw in customers.

 

[SignManiac]

I do about 70% of my business these days from my website. The only advertising I have besides my word of mouth reputation and referrals. I designed my own but hired a web monkey to code it. I hate looking at code, it gives me headaches.

 

[Hicalibersigns]

Yep, about 90 to 95%. JohnnyMac's advice is good. Hosting your own blog is also good. Blogging is fresh content and every blog post is counted as a new web page. More pages of good content = higher rank. Pay per click has also yielded good results for us.

 

[signworldusinc]

90 - 95 % of our NEW business comes from our websites. It's important to have a good website and without having one that you are losing out on sales. Your website is your storefront open 24/7 make sure its presentable and informative.

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

It depends for awhile was getting alot now very little, I also seem to need a website redo maybe this will help get more work.
But I do use it for is portfolio so a update will do good