internet advertising

[kdr66]

I am a self employed joiner of 17yrs with almost 30 yrs experience in the building game but have recently struggled finding regular work due to the recession. Most of my work comes from the best type of advertising, word of mouth & recommendations but have decided to advertise for work through the internet. If there are any fellow tradesmen out there who advertise successfully this way please could you let me know which sites you advertise on. I am somewhat dubious about this as i recent went with Rated People whom i have to say are a total waste of time & somewhat of a rip off outfit..!
Many thanks in advance,

kdr66.

 

[jamieclick]

Hi kdr66,

Hope your well.

I would defo take a look at FreeIndex as people do request quotes on there and it is totally free.

Do you have your own website?

Jamie

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

Hi kdr66,

Hope your well.

I would defo take a look at FreeIndex as people do request quotes on there and it is totally free.

Do you have your own website?

Jamie

This is the first I've heard of Free Index. I'm going to have a look around on there.

 

[populo]

mybuilder is a good way of getting business. It works very well, you pay a monthly fee which isnt too much and then a percentage of any jobs you complete and are paid for.

If you have a way of replying to jobs as soon as they are posted, write good perosnal replies for each one and quickly respond if they have more questions, then it works in your favour.

Many of the tradesment write the same thing for each reply and you can tell straight away. I would concentrate on mybuilder all the time, so my business partner could just go and do the quotes, pass them back to me and i would type and email them over.

All our business came from mybuilder and had it not been for me lacking the time to do it (i only started doing it as i could see a way for my friend to do well as a tradesmen who took the time with cusomter service), we could have made a full time living from that site alone.

Rated people was a waste of time....

 

[valentinos displays]

Yellow Pages and Thomson Local works wonders for me!

 

[valentinos displays]

You can't beat word of mouth though like you said best form of advertising have you thought about doing some cheap flyers up to post through peoples doors in the local area seems to work and may help.

 

[longleaf1]

Hi kdr66,

Hope your well.

I would defo take a look at FreeIndex as people do request quotes on there and it is totally free.

Do you have your own website?

Jamie

yes the freeindex, building leads thingy is very good. You will get people wanting something for nothing but in general its a good tool!

 

[OldWelshGuy]

get yourself a really simple website, and do some promotion, get your site submitted to google local business centre (maps/places whatever theya re calling it today )

that will do wonders.

one thing though, make your website reflect YOU, don't let a designer make it all corporate, a trade site should reflect the service as closely as possibly. refer to you not we etc.

 

[Kyle Trump]

get yourself a really simple website, and do some promotion, get your site submitted to google local business centre (maps/places whatever theya re calling it today )

that will do wonders.

one thing though, make your website reflect YOU, don't let a designer make it all corporate, a trade site should reflect the service as closely as possibly. refer to you not we etc.

Could not have said better myself.

Make it personal and make it "real"

If you want help with google local listing , let me know , I am happy to help you out with no charge. (I remember being in that situation )

cheers,

 

[damatt]

I also use FreeIndex and had a number of jobs from it, they restrict the number to 5 who can reply, so the odds are not bad, but you do have to be quick.

I also do "5 aside" no not football, but every job I do, I go to 5 houses each side and drop in a leaflet. You do 5 small or 1 big job a day and that could be 250 extra local people who know about you, that is 13000 per year, all local.

Dave

 

[Borobar]

Can you make pub garden benches? If so how much I need around 10 good solid quality.

 

[GreenfieldCleaning]

I used this for one of our first website. Its free websites and hosting for a year by google. Check it out its worth a look certainly for a new starter type in gbbo.co. uk


Good luck

Richard

 

[EffectiveImpact]

Hi kdr66,

OldWelshGuy is right - create a simple website for your joining business.

As a website is a powerful asset for any business - and can be used to promote your products/services in many different ways.

Its also a billboard for your business - your online calling-card.

When people can check you out to see what you have to offer and the benefits your product/service has provided your clients.

Here's why and how to get the maximum benefits from having a website (I've made a list to help everyone).

Promote business and get visitors to contact you to buy your product/service.

Tell stories related to your audience.

Show that you understand their wants & needs - and can empathsise with their problem/pain - can get inside their head - and what they are thinking.

Concentrate on how to make your customers' lives better - their wants & needs.

Allow people to find out more about you - WITHOUT contacting you directly - research/check out your business.

Have an advert for your business working 24/7 - so anyone can find out more about your business easily.

Collect contact details of visitors so you can follow-up with them.

Increase your exposure on the internet - through distribution of your content.

Have a focal advertising/marketing tool for your business - your website can be used listed in all your advertising.

Allow easy update to stay current and on trend with changes to your customers buying habits.

Place special offers.

Tell them where to find you and how to get there.

Create a means of interaction to find out what your customers want from you - and their needs.

Allow people to find your business online - as more people use internet to find product/service they want - as easier than Yellow Pages.

Be used with Social Media like Twitter & Facebook.

Your competition is doing it - and you don't want to be left behind.

Provide information to be seen as an advisor - so they know, like & trust you.

Show your results - testimonials & case studies.

Put multi-media on your website - as people absorb information in different ways - use images, audio, video, written text.

Do you want to have to ask your webmaster to update your website - or have the ability to do it yourself to save you time and money - and act fast to changes in your market?

I trust you find these reasons useful - and not too overwhelming.

If you have any questions - post them here and I will do my best to answer them.

Have a profitable day.

To your success,

Dave

 

[JamesM]

I agree with the website idea..

You'll also need to create a Google Places page (free) to get listed in Google Maps..

Very easy to do and will take you about 10 minutes.

Keep the Google Places page clean, i.e. don't cram as many keywords as possible in there.. less is more.

Good luck.

 

[Luna]

I agree with the others regarding FreeIndex. Brought quite a bit our way

 

[holmewoodorg]

I am a self employed joiner of 17yrs with almost 30 yrs experience in the building game but have recently struggled finding regular work due to the recession. Most of my work comes from the best type of advertising, word of mouth & recommendations but have decided to advertise for work through the internet. If there are any fellow tradesmen out there who advertise successfully this way please could you let me know which sites you advertise on. I am somewhat dubious about this as i recent went with Rated People whom i have to say are a total waste of time & somewhat of a rip off outfit..!
Many thanks in advance,

kdr66.

Just type in free classifieds into google they are the best adoos et al. My advice would be 10k leaflets, drop them off in newsagents, etc locally or do a leaflet drop far better than having a website. Im a web designer and that is my advice.

 

[ClynshawsInc]

You need a website and as others have said it needs to reflect you.
Posting variant ads on free classified ad sites will help to lead potential customers to your site. Use celver keywords and these ads can easily get to the first page of search engine results.

 

[damatt]

Can you make pub garden benches? If so how much I need around 10 good solid quality.

Hi,

I sent you a PM in response to your rquest for a price for the 10 Benches.

 

[JamesF]

Hi,

FreeIndex is a great directory that allows you to fill in a profile for yourself and find clients looking for tradesmen like yourself. When registering on FreeIndex try and complete you profile as much as possible and get some of your previous clients to give you a reference on your listing.

Other good places to advertise would be the Brownbook directory. It also offers free listings that give you some great leads.

Hope this helps.

 

[Amira Griffiths]

Now days internet & media plays very vital role in getting success in product launching. Some Advantage & Dis-advantage are as follows.

Advantage of Internet Marketing
1. Low Cost
2. Product Presentation in Market
3. Trouble Free
4. Update Ads

Dis-advantage of Internet Marketing.
1. Scope
2. Additional Cost

 

[Prestige-SEO]

Before spending money on advertising costs do some keyword research and see if people actaully search for your services online in your area, if they do, i would suggest setting up a basic wesbite, and a google places with some web promotion.

 

[Phil Girdlestone]

Hi,
I promote a number of local people online from lawyer to an aerial fitter and I also create online marketing strategies using email, social media, search engine marketing and Adwords for a shipping comapny and funeral director. My company also creates offline strategies and can implement video marketing dependent on budget. I wanted to say this simply to qualify who I am!

Yes, I think it's important to have a website but of course it's all dependant on your budget. The aerial fitter paid £200 for his website with £150 pa managed hosting and I created a PPC campaign from which he has started to see results i.e. the phone is ringing! He also has a Google Places listing which I think should play a part in any local business marketing.

However, having said all this, I personally get the majority 85% of my business via word of mouth and business networking groups- my website simply backs up my networking and I place a link to it in my email signature.Traditional Business Networking is a slow burner but all the tradesmen I know have regular work- a lot of which derives from their networking activities.

With all marketing- don't put all your eggs in one basket and track the effectiveness of each channel and activity- then measure, test and tweak forever.

Phil

 

[maxine]

I think OWG's post is great advice.

Aside from repeat business and word of mouth referral most of our work comes via web.

Freeindex works well for us and also myworkman.co.uk

Also, I wouldn't underestimate the power of a facebook business page either

 

[Matt1959]

there are rich pickings to be had from having websites if you are a tradesman and dont let anyone tell you otherwise. Heres a fantastic example - me = niche trade, small but well put together modest website thats high on google locally. I get an email enquiry from 150 miles away and approx 10 email exchanges later including some with some photos of the item the person wants work done to and I get an order worth 2.5K. I havnt seen the item, I havnt spoken to the individual concerned and I collect said item on Monday. All this is down to an effective website and I guess also ensuring you write emails properly....

one off cost of typical website for a trade say £400.00
hosting 12 months £30.00
domain name per year £3.00
cost over 5 years is £9 a month/ £2.25 a week

can you afford not to do it

PS I also get 95% of my work from the web and its been my saviour...

 

[Attaintm]

You could also try Approved Index