Failing Miserably

[Dark]

Well, I've managed to get A+, Sec+ and Net+ certified, I've paid almost $3000 for the full Teamviewer software, I have another technician in Florida who's teamed up with me to man the phones and service customers while I'm at my day job and I've built what I think is a bad ass remote support website. www.nightowlremote.com and yet I have managed to not get a SINGLE customer in the three weeks we've been open.
Not a single person has rang the phone, not a single soul has click the 'chat with a tech button'. NOTHING
I spent over $150 on google adwords and facebook for online advertising. Lots of 'bot' hits but not a single customer. I spent $280 advertising in the local newspaper. Not a single customer.
Admittedly patience is not a strong suit of mine but come on. At what point do I throw my hands up in the air, toss in the towel and crawl back to my day job in absolute defeat?

 

[Computerpete]

Maybe people are new to the idea of remote support maybe if you organised a venue where you can get the residents in for a demonstration and try to get businesses in on it just and idea.

 

[cmonova]

You site is showing "1" page is indexed...obviously not good.

Not sure where you are spedning the money on google adwords or facebook but if you are trying to do "nationwide" it is a mass market that is extrememly populated with other businesses doing the same exact thing. If you are just shooting for the Odessa Tx area and surrounding areas try some local portals to advertise, community newsletters, facebook pages (buisness ones), linked in groups.

As far as "at what point do i throw my hands up..etc"....Well at least you did not quit your other job right

Patience is a virtue...trust me I have none....but in this business you have to deal with it

 

[BryanVest]

Well I know this isn't what you were referring to, but your sites SEO is really bad. Missing tons of on page optimization and you have 0 backlinks. With remote services though getting high on google is defiantly a major challenge with a lot of strong competition out there. It's not the biggest thing if your offline marketing is good, but it could help in the long run to work on.

As for my suggestions I would recommend marketing it offline better than a newspaper ad. I had this same problem with my remote repair site at the start. I won't hand out to many secrets, but you need to reach out to your local community first and then allow word of mouth to carry you along.

 

[Dark]

I'm more of a break/fix and networking tech and only do web development out of need.
Obviously I have a lot to learn in the SEO dept because not only do I not really know what you're talking about but, to further the insult to my pride, I don't know how to fix it. It will certainly take some study. I knew we'd be low in the search engines partly because we haven't been on there very long.

I can certainly understand why fellow remote tech people/businesses would see helping me as potentially shooting yourself in the foot but there are hundreds of millions of people in the US and Canada so my mentality is that there is more than enough work for all of us. Perhaps I'm just naive.

 

[BryanVest]

I'm more of a break/fix and networking tech and only do web development out of need.
Obviously I have a lot to learn in the SEO dept because not only do I not really know what you're talking about but, to further the insult to my pride, I don't know how to fix it. It will certainly take some study. I knew we'd be low in the search engines partly because we haven't been on there very long.

I can certainly understand why fellow remote tech people/businesses would see helping me as potentially shooting yourself in the foot but there are hundreds of millions of people in the US and Canada so my mentality is that there is more than enough work for all of us. Perhaps I'm just naive.

Sent you a PM with some advise.

 

[Martyn]

I'm also nearly ready to launch remote repair but I'm having the facility on my main site. I had a quick look at your repair site and I couldn't see any link to you remote site. Maybe I missed it but if I do then potential clients will. I see the two working side by side. There will be people liking you to call personally, others that will prefer a shop and some that don't want visitors and would rather a remote. I think you need to cater for all and maybe use the same site but with both domains pointing to it. Just my opinion, I'm no expert.

 

[MobileTechie]

I think marketing is everything for a remote support firm. A major advantage in remote is to have a much larger potential client pool so SEO is vital and yours is no good. No point in having a good site if nobody finds it.

Your other option is to convince local firms to use your remote service instead of the usual options and expand from there.

What is your plan to get the customers in?

 

[Dark]

I'm also nearly ready to launch remote repair but I'm having the facility on my main site. I had a quick look at your repair site and I couldn't see any link to you remote site. Maybe I missed it but if I do then potential clients will. I see the two working side by side. There will be people liking you to call personally, others that will prefer a shop and some that don't want visitors and would rather a remote. I think you need to cater for all and maybe use the same site but with both domains pointing to it. Just my opinion, I'm no expert.

The only reference to the remote site is the big blue link on the home page that says 'Night Owl Remote' and if you click the 'about us' link it takes you to the about us page of the remote site but with no links back to the old site.

I have been so focused on getting the new site up and running, getting my new tech lined out and testing and learning TeamViewer that I haven't gone back and put much effort into the old site. (www.odessanightowl.com)
Part of the reason is that the new site is built using Drupal, which I'm very new to and have been banging my head on, where the old site was with Dreamweaver(Which I was used to and still banging my head on). I was getting to be ok in Dreamweaver but I'm not a web developer and both of these programs are way out of my sphere of skill sets.

Due to the low overhead nature of the remote service I had hoped to go strictly remote. As it stands my local business is out of my house and I was at a point where I had a choice, pay all the expenses of opening a shop or spending the money for the remote software. I chose the latter mostly because if I opened a shop I couldn't man it till after 5pm. With the remote service I had someone in Florida willing to sit online and hold the doors open without getting paid an hourly wage during the day while I was at my day job making the money that keeps the doors open.

 

[Dark]

I think marketing is everything for a remote support firm. A major advantage in remote is to have a much larger potential client pool so SEO is vital and yours is no good. No point in having a good site if nobody finds it.

I agree 100%

What is your plan to get the customers in?

My first step is going to be to heed some advice that was recently sent to me and focus my mental efforts on my SEO. Currently the only thing I know is to try to put good keywords and metatags in your code and thought I had done that.

 

[parker.casey]

Trying to get customers with nothing but a website is pretty difficult ...

 

[JRDtechnet]

I think it's about how people seek out your business, for example I'm on the first page for 'remote computer repair' in google but I hardly ever get any hits or calls specifically asking for remote repair. Maybe once a month or so I'll have an inquiry but it's usually for malware removal and unless it's a previous customer I won't do remote malware removal anymore because I'm afraid of removing the virus only to get a stop error on reboot that I can't fix remotely leaving a customer with a dead computer that on the other side of the country.

Anyway, I think you should target people looking for computer repair, rather then just remote computer repair or online computer repair. Most people won't know to search you out that way but if they contact you looking for computer repair that's when you offer them your remote services. Oh and ditto on what everyone is saying about your SEO.

 

[Bryce W]

Some constructive criticism of the site taken from a customers perspective:

Front Page:
Id remove the "Tech News", "Latest Threats" and the Windows 7 Pro ad from the site as well. Why would you want to send anyone away from your site?
Also, there doesnt seem to be a flow or call to action. I arrive on the site, read the front page from top to bottom, OK I am sold... now what?

Software Page:
Who cares? I just want my computer fixed. (A customer doesn't recognize any of these brands and dont care).

Security:
Doesnt really need a whole page, just a little note next to the Paypal button is enough. Again, ditch the advertising. Why would you send people away from your page?

How To Get Help:
Probably should put this on the front page. Lose the ad.

About Us:
This is fine

Download:
A "call to action" should be pointing to this page.
Again, from a customer perspective. What is a "main support module?"... "what is safe mode?"... what is the "host program?". These are your problems, not mine. All, I know is I want my computer fixed.

Make a Payment:
This page is fine.

Service Request:
Little hard to read, paragraph it a bit.


Again, not trying to be nasty, just giving you some constructive criticism. I want to see you succeed and thats why I am telling you this.

 

[Dark]

Awesome suggestions. There are certainly some changes to be made.
The Windows 7 ad doesn't open away from my site, it opens a video thingy within the site; or it did, I haven't played with it in a while. The drivesavers link does and I'll attend to it. (Most likely remove both)
Wrapped up now doing some domain and hosting moving around but will get to the site when I get a chance.

Thanks to all for your suggestions.

And thanks for giving me a place to vent.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

I'd change the live chat button. Honestly I don't know why I had trouble but at first glance it took me a bit to find the live chat.

Edit: Oh and I don't know anyone that has had good experience with facebook advertising.

 

[BostonGeek1]

Unfortunately, the type of business you have set up, is built exclusively on one-off residential leads. This type of business lives and dies by a constant stream of leads. Since you have so many players in this market, prices are low, so you can't charge much. Also since this market has been around for a couple of years now, at best it takes an experienced SEO person at least 5-6 months of work to get to the first page. Finally you need experience in conversion/usability testing for your website, because frankly it took me about 30 seconds to figure out HOW to get in touch with you. Also there was no tech to talk to. There's no number to call that's visible, and your huge logo (which frankly I don't know why you made so big, who cares what your name is), completely draws the eyes away.

Try using crazyegg.com to see what people are doing with your site or some other free feedback sites. The truth is you're going to need all the help you can get in the market you're in.

Think about it this way, if anyone could put up a website, some facebook and adwords ads, in the amount of time you have, they'd all be doing it. Obviously you've got A LOT more to learn than you thought.

 

[Cbrooks]

I don't know how to say this in a nice way but your website makes me feel as though i'm about to get a virus and not help..

 

[Dark]

Patience is, in my opinion, one of my biggest problems. If I'd have waited one more week this thread never would have happened.
We got six calls last week and are on track to do as many this week.
Still have some website work to do and when I get the time I'll get to it.

Thank you all for your helpful advice and suggestions. Y'all are my favorite group of computer nerds/geeks/techs. (however you define yourselves)