# What should be in your web sight???



## Dave Mac (May 4, 2007)

Im finally going to get one, and just wondering what everyone thinks shoud be in a good web sight??

I think

1. Lots and lots of testimonials, like at least 100

2. Descriprtion of the service's offered, breif description.

3. Photo's of jobs, probally have some of work trucks in their.

4. Questions and answeres on hiring a contractor.

what else, all comments appreciated,


----------



## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

Oh you're gonna hate me:

FIRST, correct spelling 


web *site*
 *Description*
 *services*
 work trucks in *there*


Sorry, the sev devil made me do it









But to be more constructive:

Look at different contractor sites and see what impresses you. 

Personally, when I see testimonials my first thought is that they are CREATED and not real. AND when I see more than a handful they loose what little impact they had.

service's offered, brief description - POSITUTELY! Most important

photos - of jobs -YES. Of trucks ? Why? Unless you have a most unique and drop dead gorgeous design or use a 1949 Ford Panel Truck.

Reason for hiring a contractor could go in your "brag sheet"

A well designed - simple but elegant - site will impress. The home page should reflect, in it's design, your style of work. Are you cluttered and disorganized? Then neither should your site be. Are you loud and flashy? Your site should reflect the answer. 

IMO, my home page reflects the image I want to project to my customers:

http://billarchibald.com

this is one of another paper hanger that is so far from what I think is wise. But that's me and Gerard is Gerard. To each his own

http://www.gerardjansen.com/ 

I would not put politics or religion ANYWHERE on my site. To easy to offend SOMEone.


You want to offer information, but you do not want to inundate them with too much. You want to entice them to call. A website for a trade is an introduction. You ain't gonna sell someone SOLELY by the site, but you want them to be impressed and curious.


----------



## Dave Mac (May 4, 2007)

Bill

that's exactly the type of feed back Im looking for, thankyou.

ps
Dont worry, I wont be the one doing the spelling on the web sight, lol


----------



## timhag (Sep 30, 2007)

daArch said:


> http://billarchibald.com
> 
> .


Hey Bill, nice site. Love your work. Oh, by the way, I was 6 years old in 1972. :wheelchair: lol


----------



## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

timhag said:


> Hey Bill, nice site. Love your work. Oh, by the way, I was 6 years old in 1972. :wheelchair: lol


Thanks Tim. I can't tell you HOW many hours I put into building that. The "window" was an idea I had and then had to find a way to build it so it appeared correctly with ALL browsers and screen sizes. 

Pure stubborness got me through it.





Age 6 in '72 !!!!! "


----------



## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

I used to (and still do on the odd occasion) build sites on a freelance basis or do the odd one here and there for myself. It would fill up the short/slow winter months but came to a point where I had to decide on either painting or web site building because it got so busy.

What deArch says is about right. Don't give visitors an information overload - Just enough that they get enough information to get your message across without boring them. Make the site look appealing and easy to navigate. If the site looks rubbish most visitors won't pass the Home page. The most important thing is getting clean code in the pages - Google loves clean code! When you're building it run it through the html validator at w3c.org and correct the code errors.

I've only just got around to building a site for myself (It's like getting around to painting your own place lol). It's almost there - A few bits of tweaking and additions to do then it's going live. I've got it on some other web space I have at the moment with the domain names pointing at it - www.thelocalpainter.co.uk or www.petethepainter.co.uk

I've tried to keep it clean looking, nice colours (coz that's what our trade is about) and informative, up to the point where enough is enough.


----------



## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

Pete,

Nice page. One suggestion, if I may, is that the 










is not big enough, or maybe it's the shadowing that caused it not to stand out.

Next to telling people what you do, telling WHO YOU ARE is next most important, or maybe even THE most important, at least IMHO.

You mentioned to Dave about google loving clean code. As you know there's a lot to SEO (search engine optimization). I was lucky to have a friend give me a brief lesson and some specific suggestions. Two weeks after I implemented his ideas, Google listed me first (after the paid ads) for all sorts of search parameters. Most of which were "wallpaper" and any number of the towns I like to cater too. Another parameter were the high end brands of paper I like hanging in those high end towns.

(e.g. google "Osborne & Little Dover MA")

I know next to nothing about this, I was fortunate to learn what to do.


----------



## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

Yeah I was gonna lose the shadow on the top image anyway and sharpen up the lettering - Like I said, there's a bit of tweaking to do yet.

Optimization really isn't that difficult. Using relevant keywords and using those same words (or as many as you can) in the text of the page raises the google ranks up quite a bit - Keyowrds matching the text = relevancy according to to the laws of the engines. The description can help with other search engines that look for that in their crawling (google doesn't use that method much in it's ranking methods). Getting link-backs to your site is another 'high on the list' for google. The whole engine was originally built around that philosphy - The more people that link to a site must mean it's a popular one. Putting your web site in your profile or signature will help on that score.

Like you said - Spelling is also something that you need to pay particular attention to. Not so much for the search engines (altho it's going to help raise the rankings), but visitors can be put off by bad grammar and spelling.

On the clean code subject - There's still a murky area around that one. New legislation here in the UK is forcing a lot of businesses to get their site's up to scratch and w3c compliant. One of the main functions behind w3c is to set an industry standard so that not only does the page display properly in all browsers (most should have similar Document Object Models - DOM's - but still handle pages differently sometimes), but makes the pages easy to navigate for people with disablities. This is where the disability discrimination act comes into play. It's possible for somebody with a disabilty to claim they are being discriminated against by a corporation/company/business if their web site isn't readable for them. That's another good reason for w3c compliant code - Make it accessable for all!


----------



## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

daArch said:


> IMO, my home page reflects the image I want to project to my customers:
> http://billarchibald.com
> 
> this is one of another paper hanger that is so far from what I think is wise. But that's me and Gerard is Gerard. To each his own
> ...


I just checked that site out ROFLMAO 

Does he get a lot of trailer work? That's a great example of what not to do lol


----------



## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

daArch said:


> this is one of another paper hanger that is so far from what I think is wise. But that's me and Gerard is Gerard. To each his own
> 
> http://www.gerardjansen.com/
> 
> I would not put politics or religion ANYWHERE on my site. To easy to offend SOMEone.


http://www.gerardjansen.com/stupid.htm That page is just great. :laughing:


----------



## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

JNLP said:


> http://www.gerardjansen.com/stupid.htm That page is just great. :laughing:


Yeah I gotta get me one of those pages. I think all business web sites should have a page where they slag off their customers to bits lol, That's gonna give your clients heaps of confidence in you :thumbsup:

I wonder if he really does get any leads from the site


----------



## mistcoat (Apr 21, 2007)

JNLP said:


> http://www.gerardjansen.com/stupid.htm That page is just great. :laughing:


The Pilot from Delta Airlines story was a cracker, I loved that :thumbsup:

That man is doggies danglers, daArch :lol:

mistcoat(UK)


----------



## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

TooledUp said:


> Yeah I gotta get me one of those pages. I think all business web sites should have a page where they slag off their customers to bits lol, That's gonna give your clients heaps of confidence in you :thumbsup:
> 
> I wonder if he really does get any leads from the site



He says he does. But he says a lot of things that I know are absolutely BS. 



mistcoat said:


> That man is doggies danglers, daArch



?????

I have NO idea what that means.


----------



## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

WOW!! Is that Lawrence Welk????


----------



## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

I have this strange feeling that I need to play Space Invaders!!!!!!!


----------



## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

Dave,
What do you want your site to do?
Create leads?

If you build it will they come? not likely, unless...
you build it with Search Engine Optimization in mind.
It doesn't have to be beautiful, or elegant, or classy or...
beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It should look ok.
It just has to work.

Avoid making it a monumet to yourself and address what your prospects want. Nobody will care about your trucks, they will care about what in it for them.

Include information for your visitors, lots of information.


----------



## tsunamicontract (May 3, 2008)

Dave, think in terms of benefits, not features. Everyone can feature quality painting expert prep blah blah blah we go the extra mile blah blah blah. Think about why the things you offer benefit your customers. People buy things for the benefits, not the features.


----------



## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

I don't think having photos of your company truck is bad. Not having a photo of your truck only, but rather your truck parked by a house you just painted.

My reasoning for this is it shows you actually painted that house. Normally people wouldn't question these types of things, but recently we had a customer strongly questioning if we really painted the houses in the photos. Made me want to start posing or parking my truck in front of every house when I snap a photo. :laughing:


----------



## vermontpainter (Dec 24, 2007)

JNLP said:


> I don't think having photos of your company truck is bad. Not having a photo of your truck only, but rather your truck parked by a house you just painted.
> 
> My reasoning for this is it shows you actually painted that house. Normally people wouldn't question these types of things, but recently we had a customer strongly questioning if we really painted the houses in the photos. Made me want to start posing or parking my truck in front of every house when I snap a photo. :laughing:


I would love it if that happened.


----------



## Dave Mac (May 4, 2007)

George Z said:


> Dave,
> What do you want your site to do?
> Create leads?
> 
> ...


George, I expect to get about 100 leads a month from it j/k lOL, although that would be nice. You are the man!!

Actually the main reason for now is just to add more credibility, and professionalism, kind of like joining the BBB around here. Im just trying to get it up asp, and then will explore what are other things it can do for me. 

I really dont have any idea of what to expect from it, other then its another nice tool to help close jobs.


----------



## Dave Mac (May 4, 2007)

JNLP said:


> I don't think having photos of your company truck is bad. Not having a photo of your truck only, but rather your truck parked by a house you just painted.
> 
> My reasoning for this is it shows you actually painted that house. Normally people wouldn't question these types of things, but recently we had a customer strongly questioning if we really painted the houses in the photos. Made me want to start posing or parking my truck in front of every house when I snap a photo. :laughing:


 
J that was kind of my thinking, actually a nice house, with my sighn in front, and the truck, all with company logo, I was thinking this would also help in branding that I always read about when researching marketing.


----------



## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

JNLP said:


> I don't think having photos of your company truck is bad. Not having a photo of your truck only, but rather your truck parked by a house you just painted.
> 
> My reasoning for this is it shows you actually painted that house. Normally people wouldn't question these types of things, but recently we had a customer strongly questioning if we really painted the houses in the photos. Made me want to start posing or parking my truck in front of every house when I snap a photo. :laughing:


Good point. 

You get two for the price of one. Recognition of your truck and picture of a job. 

With skill, you can make it look like the real subject is the house and the truck just happens to be there.


----------



## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

I think a picture of your company vehicles helps to show that your not going to be pulling up at there home in some oil leaking, smoke blowing piece of crap.


----------



## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

Who cares about anyone's truck.
No customer has this sweet vision of a paint Contractor, 
driving up their driveway and parking in a clean van that doesn't leak.
How sexy is that?
They want colour, they want the experience. 
A non rusted van that doesn't leak is expected, a given, a "so what"
And if you have to prove to a prospect you painted a specific house 
by parking in front of it you lost the battle anyway.

Like any other medium, a website should be about benefits to the prospect.


----------



## TooledUp (May 17, 2008)

I think the easiest way to think of a web site is like an online brochure. Put the detail in there, photos, information and an enquiry form with phone number etc. Stick your van in there if you like - When you get a nice looking brochure through the post from those double glazing sales people with a photo of their van parked outside a house, do you really think that's from a real job? Nope! It's posed for specifically for that brochure. Same with T.V. ads. The web is just another form of media.

Whether or not you realy did paint that house in the photo is irrelevant. Use your site and adapt it to get the image you want over to the customer.


----------



## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

George Z said:


> Who cares about anyone's truck.
> No customer has this sweet vision of a paint Contractor,
> driving up their driveway and parking in a clean van that doesn't leak.
> 
> ...


Really!! I don't know about where you do business, but down here people are impressed when you and your employess show up at there home not looking like the stereo type "painter"


----------



## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

aaron61 said:


> Really!! I don't know about where you do business, but down here people are impressed when you and your employess show up at there home not looking like the stereo type "painter"


In Toronto.
My point is this:

Any for of marketing should talk about the customer needs,
less about the painters truck.
So we have a new truck, big deal, that's nice.
*"What's in it for me"* marketing should be what the website is about.

Something I posted on Contractor Talk:

*



The We We calculator

Click to expand...

*


> *Future now, a proponent of persuasion architecture,*
> *has a nice little tool.*
> *It analyzes the "about you" or "about the customer" focus of a webpage.*
> *Type in a url and find out. Ours needs work just found out.*
> ...


----------



## Dave Mac (May 4, 2007)

Actually its a subtle way for market branding, you want people to know your logo, you can see my logo a mile away and know its us with out even being able to read the words.

Their is no right or wrong answere, only way to find out out is experiement and come to your own conclusion. I know I want my logo to be a household thing for us. Again it called market branding, just like the golden arches of mcdonlds.

My cusomer want clean neat professionals, and that is not the norm for painters around here, so it is one more thing that seperates us.

Not sure a small picture takes away from talking about customer needs, if anything it re inforces their need for a clean professional.


----------



## vermontpainter (Dec 24, 2007)

Dave

When your site is up, please pm me a link. I would be happy to check it out and make suggestions if you are still looking for opinions.


----------



## Dave Mac (May 4, 2007)

Thanks Scott, I appreciate that.


----------



## JNLP (Dec 13, 2007)

George I respectfully have to disagree with you on this one. Maybe where you are it's like that, but not in the areas I target.

Quality of the job & what you can do for them is 95% of what they're looking for, and most of your marketing information should indeed be on it. However atleast in the areas I target, image means alot. They also care about what the neighbors will be thinking. These are the type of people that will usually go with the over priced company in brand new chromed out truck than the guy in his half decent 89 F150 even know he does the same nice work. No joke you can ask Tim, these people complain when anything they do not like the look of is on the property of their neighbors, and you get a nice little visit from the communities manager pressuring you to move it where it can't be seen. Didn't happen with us, but another contractor.

As for proving you did a job? Nothing wrong with showing you were present on that job. Some people are skepticle when hiring contractors thanks to the hacks & media out there. As for the job I had to prove, I was the high bidder & won it. No loosing there my friend. :thumbup:

So in the end, yeah you don't need to do a photoshoot with your truck. But it's not going to hurt having it show up "non-staged" in a photo here or there (just like if you were in a photo with a company shirt). Will let people see a little more of what they're going to get when they hire you.


----------



## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

JNLP said:


> George I respectfully have to disagree with you on this one. Maybe where you are it's like that, but not in the areas I target.
> 
> Quality of the job & what you can do for them is 95% of what they're looking for, and most of your marketing information should indeed be on it. However atleast in the areas I target, image means alot. They also care about what the neighbors will be thinking. These are the type of people that will usually go with the over priced company in brand new chromed out truck than the guy in his half decent 89 F150 even know he does the same nice work. No joke you can ask Tim, these people complain when anything they do not like the look of is on the property of their neighbors, and you get a nice little visit from the communities manager pressuring you to move it where it can't be seen. Didn't happen with us, but another contractor.
> 
> ...


I don't think we disagree on that 5%.
All I am saying is it should be a given.
A rusted beat up truck leaking oil,
Painters smoking in the front of the house, and throwing their cigarettes on the diriveway, 
these and the usual stereotypes will hurt your image, should never happen.
But I would keep that to the 5% of the marketing materials you mentioned, 
even a bit more than 5%.
For example:
we close jobs before the work vehicles even get there.
The neighbourhood marketing starts after that, and all the above become important at this point.

Semantics, semantics...
"What's in it for me" is what marketing is about.
I suppose looking good to the neighbours is part of what is in it for them.


----------



## nuevopintor (Nov 23, 2008)

Dave Mac said:


> Im finally going to get one, and just wondering what everyone thinks shoud be in a good web sight??
> 
> I think
> 
> ...


well you are thinking in the right direction... but i dont agree with 100's of testimonials, the site should have pictures great descriptions, a good FAQ and question answer page is always a great idea, a good site map will help in browsing and future SEO. also mention about the latest technology you will be using to do the job.


----------



## dallas painting (Jan 21, 2009)

Great topic, 

i was recently looking at the metrics for my site blueoxpainting.com - i had a bounce rate over 50% - not good.....

"bounce rate" means the visitor visits only one page and them leaves the site.

so i put a small thumbnail and link that says "visit our gallery" right on the front and the bounce rate has gone down to 30% just like that!

a custom form for requesting an estimate is a good move as well, 

something like "when would you like to start your project" what is your preferred method of contact, additional space for comments, etc.

i also have a link to our blog, the Dallas Painting Blog, it is supposed to be for all dallas painting contractors to find useful tips, dallaspaintingblog.com

i truly believe that every business should have a blog, ours is on wordpress. highly recommended. 

to your success

matt


----------



## onthecoast (Mar 4, 2009)

daArch said:


> Oh you're gonna hate me:
> 
> FIRST, correct spelling
> 
> ...


I see the bottom link used Microsoft Frontpage, With a little effort he could have made something decent. That site looks terrible.

http://billarchibald.com looks awesome, Great work.


If anyone needs a freeby webdesign tool check out www.blocknote.net or google "frontpage express 2.0 download". Both decent, lightweight easy to use programs.


----------



## WisePainter (Dec 27, 2008)

daArch said:


> IMO, my home page reflects the image I want to project to my customers:
> 
> http://billarchibald.com


Ok first of all wtf is wrong with your head for doing that one green room wallpaper nightmare?!? I got a nosebleed just from trying to comprehend all of the different angles from the ceiling to the walls!
Whatever you were on that day, I want $10 worth...

:notworthy:



daArch said:


> this is one of another paper hanger that is so far from what I think is wise. But that's me and Gerard is Gerard. To each his own
> 
> http://www.gerardjansen.com/


I am going to need $20 worth of whatever he _is_ on.


----------



## onthecoast (Mar 4, 2009)

WisePainter said:


> Ok first of all wtf is wrong with your head for doing that one *green room wallpaper nightmare?*!? I got a nosebleed just from trying to comprehend all of the different angles from the ceiling to the walls!
> Whatever you were on that day, I want $10 worth...
> 
> :notworthy:
> ...


LOL :yes::yes::yes::yes:


Makes me dizzy


----------



## onthecoast (Mar 4, 2009)




----------



## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

WisePainter said:


> Ok first of all wtf is wrong with your head for doing that one green room wallpaper nightmare?!? I got a nosebleed just from trying to comprehend all of the different angles from the ceiling to the walls!
> Whatever you were on that day, I want $10 worth...
> 
> :notworthy:
> ...


----------



## painttofish (Aug 28, 2007)

dallas painting said:


> Great topic,
> 
> i was recently looking at the metrics for my site blueoxpainting.com - i had a bounce rate over 50% - not good.....
> 
> ...



Good site matt. I think your bounce rate may have something to do with the chick laying on the couch? kinda provocative for a painting contractor site. I don't see the need for it. Eyebrow raiser.


----------

