web sites. Are they worthwhile?

[Crystalalan]

Over 70% of my work comes  thro my website .  Hosting costs about 100 quid for 5 years . 

If you dont know about html , css and some php - don't bother just pay somebody to do it for you ,  and more importantly pay for SEO otherwise is pointless having a website at all.

A  new website can't appear on the 1st page in google overnight- it takes 2 to 4 months and if it takes longer then you hired the wrong guy / company 

Yes. Thats incredible and over time a lot cheaper then checkatrade. I will definately get the professionals in though. At the risk of sounding thick what is SEO?

 

[Crystalalan]

I have had a site for around 8 years now and it brings in business, all new custys have to sign up to GoCardless so the payments page on my site does the job nicely, I come out top on Google and also Facebook searches as I have had my fb page for almost 5 years, 

You need to pay to have a domain name/web addy which is usually £10 a year I pay hosting fees to https://www.tsohost.com of £4.58 a month @Gav builds websites pretty sure he has an offer on at the moment of £130 for a basic site I have seen his site builds and they are worth more than that and even £300 for a custom website https://thrivewp.com/wordpress-website-design/

Thanks iron giant will look into it

 

[Iurie]

Yes. Thats incredible and over time a lot cheaper then checkatrade. I will definately get the professionals in though. At the risk of sounding thick what is SEO?

Search engine optimisation.  

If done properly your site will be in the search results , hopefully on the 1st page . If you have a site and is not optimised ppl cant find it - is like having a shop on Highstreet with the main door locked 

 

[Iurie]

The good news is - seo is not rocket science and most web designers know at least the basics , also is very likely that the person / company who will design your website will be using a "ready made website " , a CMS like joomla drupal or wordpress , these software are developed by professionals round the clock  and they are already Search engine friendly- only  change the text a bit

Google my business is also great - you can link your website there 

 

[Crystalalan]

cheers mate

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Yes. Thats incredible and over time a lot cheaper then checkatrade. I will definately get the professionals in though. At the risk of sounding thick what is SEO?

All my work comes through Checkatrade and 0 comes from my website but I think its better to have both. Once you are established then you can drop Checkatrade but I am very happy with Checkatrade as long as it pays for itself.

 

[smithy78]

I get enquiries most days via my website, I don't always take the jobs on but having a website has been great in building my business. 

I currently use Tsohost for hosting and it only costs £4.31 a month but I'll be looking to go with another company when my renewal date is up, they have a major problem with emails at the moment, Microsoft have blacklisted them and when you try and email it just bounces back. 

 

[Chris33]

I get enquiries most days via my website, I don't always take the jobs on but having a website has been great in building my business. 

I currently use Tsohost for hosting and it only costs £4.31 a month but I'll be looking to go with another company when my renewal date is up, they have a major problem with emails at the moment, Microsoft have blacklisted them and when you try and email it just bounces back. 

Speak to @Gav regular updates on his hosting, edits updated rapid. A man I trust with my sites. Recommended 

 

[Diamond geezer]

Speak to gav,but he talks of maintenance at £27 per month.Is this nesecery iam thinking of getting a webb site you see Thanks

 

[ched999uk]

Speak to gav,but he talks of maintenance at £27 per month.Is this nesecery iam thinking of getting a webb site you see Thanks

It all depends on what you want from a web site. If you want it to provide additional information to people who see your sign written van or a flyer then a web site doesn't need much work at all once it's built.

If you want google to show your site to people who search for a window cleaner in your location then that takes lots of work (commonly referred to as SEO - Search Engine Optimisation). There is also Google Local to do.

I would say speak to who ever is offering a service and ask what they do for the money. If they are just 'maintaining' the site and keeping virus stuff updated etc then £27 is maybe taking the mickey (unless that also covers domain registration and hosting). If they are doing SEO then it's cheap probably too cheap. Think about £27 compared to your hourly rate. How much work do you do for £27? 

 

[Gavin]

Our plan for £27/month includes hosting, daily backups, security monitoring and malware protection. Also free malware removal if the worst should happen. Our plans are a proactive approach though so the aim is that won't happen. Along with 30 minutes of my time each month to edit or add content to the site. Think of me as your "web guy" I guess. 

Also included in the plan is updates to the website software it's plugins and themes. All of which are tested and also have a visual regression tool to have another layer of checking an updated hasn't broken anything. 

With designing a site we make sure the content and it's foundations are SEO friendly but don't offer an SEO service. As mentioned above there is a lot more that plays into SEO and takes time and work. 

Like phones and computers website software needs to be maintained, updated and looked after. Can you get away without? Yes probably. Is your website an asset to your business? Yes it is. 

If your site is hacked or an updated breaks something then you are stuck having to deal with that yourself. I have had many people recently contacting us because they have never updated anything or even taken a backup. They have now been hacked and lost their ranking in search and potentially their reputation if left unfixed. 

It all depends on what value you put on your site and business really. 

 

[doug atkinson]

The one thing I would strongly advise is register your own domain in your name. Too many people do it through the website designer or web host and then they own it not you.

They then can charge silly money if you want to move elsewhere and own it.

Find a host there are plenty about and then if you cannot build a website get someone to do it for you. If you have control over your website it is better that way.

 

[Gavin]

The one thing I would strongly advise is register your own domain in your name. Too many people do it through the website designer or web host and then they own it not you.

They then can charge silly money if you want to move elsewhere and own it.

Find a host there are plenty about and then if you cannot build a website get someone to do it for you. If you have control over your website it is better that way.

Most definitely. Way to many services hold customers to ransom over their site. No way to do business!