Websites Clients

[i2omani]

hi all,
i am new to this site and i thought i could ask few questions here!
i design webpages also i repair and fix pc. i have posted my site on the Internet for the past 3 yrs hoping i could get some clients.
zip, nada no one zero zitch...lol anyways i even posted a flyer next to the mail box on my apartment that i will do the whole visit for only $40 . i got the same result.
i am seeking some guide on how i could build my clients. i start offering my service for free now to my friends and relative and i also tell them that if they know someone they can reference them to me.

i am now re building our church site hope someone will see it and see my work maybe i will get lucky.

i ask every where i go if they need someone to fix their computers but they all say oh we already have someone.

your response will be highly appreciated

 

[Blues]

Hello and welcome and first I would say add your website to your signature so we can make some suggestions based on that as we have been given very little information to make comments on so far.

 

[i2omani]

signature added

Hello and welcome and first I would say add your website to your signature so we can make some suggestions based on that as we have been given very little information to make comments on so far.

Sorry, i added my page to my signature

 

[Bryce W]

i2omani, If I were you I would get rid of the Google ads as soon as possible. Why give your clients to your competitors?

You may gain 15c from an Adsense click as the visitor leaves your site, but it just cost you a $50 computer repair, or even a $1000 webdesign job.

 

[i2omani]

i2omani, If I were you I would get rid of the Google ads as soon as possible. Why give your clients to your competitors?

You may gain 15c from an Adsense click as the visitor leaves your site, but it just cost you a $50 computer repair, or even a $1000 webdesign job.

Make sense to me google Ads are gone now, thank you.

please i am open for all suggestions on how to promote my business

 

[ComputerLife]

I would also put more text. Describe what you do and how to do it. Make it really stand out.

 

[cmonova]

Site

Looked at your site and even though I am a big believer in CMS sites for certain things I do not think for your business it is a good place.

I actually was on there a few mintues before I saw the "popular" part and clicked on "business computer repair" then I realized that was the section I needed to be at.

I think for a novice person or someone that is looking for help that your site would confuse them if anything. You need to make it so when they go to your site it is right in their face. No need for the fancy things...You want people to know exactly what you offer.

You say about no business. Do you have a way to track visitors? Do you know how many you get total and unique, search strings etc?

 

[jj2000]

might help if the site was updated a bit more regularly all i see are dates from 2004,i can also not find where you are based and i think this is one of the most important things you could display ie the areas that you cover,i also think that you need to simplify it a little as at the moment it is too busy for a novice to navigate.

cliff

 

[TechnoKelvin]

Maybe it's just me but when I see years on a site that is a few years old (2004) and it doesn't look to be a regularly updated site, I leave.

There are many dead sites out there that never get updated and a red flag for me is any year that isn't the current.

Maybe get rid of the date it was created and possibly update what you do have so it doesn't say updated in 2007?

Just my 2 cents. I'll have more feedback once I finish my homework.

 

[Andyuk2007]

Its a nice looking website but you might want to change where it says "services request" to "services" or something else to make it easier for a newbie to easily see what kind of stuff you do.

update your link section with some guides on basic computer issues like clearing temp files or restoring a computer to an earlier time e.t.c. you could also modify your contact us page to include a way where people can book you to come out on a call out for there computer.

 

[i2omani]

guys,
thank you so much for all those feedbacks, really helps me out.
i kinda lost hope and stop updating my site

another question i have how do i become a contractor ? that way i guarantee that i will have some work to do?

 

[MHCG]

I figured out that you work in Roseville, CA by searching through your site, but when I do a google search for "Roseville California computer repair" your site doesn't come up on any results pages that I saw and you are not listed at all (that I could find) on google maps results. You're not on Yahoo local or any of the internet yellow pages. How are people supposed to find your site? They don't find it magically. With that said, I am still optimizing my site and trying to get on the first Google result page. I don't expect to get a lot of business from my website however.

You need to optimize your site to draw in the clients you're looking for. Use the proper meta descriptions, and page titles. Put content in there that people looking for computer repair or website design would search for. Make the front page more readable, get rid of the dates and "Written by", get rid of the column that has polls, who's online and popular because it's not applicable to bring in business. You're using Joomla (I can tell by your favicon.ico) so I know you can do all of these things because I'm using Joomla on my site. Add an extension to your Joomla to make your links "Search Engine Friendly". In the footer or header of your page add (business name, address, city, state, zip code, phone number)

The front page should be optimized to tell people what you do, where you do it and why customers should pick you over their competitors. They don't want geek speak.

The best advertisements that I've found for my business are word of mouth and the vinyl graphics on my car. I'll probably have a local phone book advertisement when the next one comes out, I'm sure that will bring in business also.

 

[MHCG]

I noticed that in your robots.txt, you don't have your sitemap file identified. You should use that to help search engines find all of the pages of your site. Also, the Meta description should be a description of your services, not all of your keywords again.

 

[cmonova]

site

Do away with the Joomla and just have a 2 to 4 page site that is clean and layed out nicely for people to understand what you are doing.

Your site is the first impression and it's worth putting the money/effort into it. I've always said a site is useless if it's not making you money. Your site should be your best/cheapest investment you ever make for a profitable means.

I looked at Roseville Ca and also Sierra Vista AZ and both those places should not be too difficult to get first page in search engines if your site is done right.

 

[TechnoKelvin]

Also, this is well worth the money (Since it is very cheap through Amazon) buy Search Engine Optimization For Dummies (SEO)
http://www.amazon.com/Search-Engine...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208833094&sr=8-1

It will help you a lot when it comes to the right and wrongs of getting Google and other search engines to find your site. Or at least it helped me.

Also when I get the chance sometime this week I'll get my girlfriend to go to your site with a preset problem and see if she can figure out what she needs to do to do business with you. I find it very helpful to have someone non-technical see if they can understand and navigate your site.

 

[MHCG]

I looked at Roseville Ca and also Sierra Vista AZ and both those places should not be too difficult to get first page in search engines if your site is done right.

FYI, I just recently started putting some effort into the optimization. I canned my old site and started over with Joomla. How could I have optimized it better without Joomla? I think it's about as close to hand coded as you can get. For me, Joomla is just providing the template and backend to add content.

 

[Nathan H]

Hi IMO

Do away with the parts on your site that say "You are not authorised to view this please log in"

I found it on a few pages..

I ignor all sites that have that.. you either want my business and give me info or you do not!!!

Yes you may want a member only area, which subscribers can access.

So put it in a member only section or something.

Please dont be disheartened, I'm not trying to put down your hard work, you have done great, I personally feel front page shoud include:

• Company Name.
• What you do.
• Where you do it.
• Easily available contact information, such as Phone, Fax, Cell, E-mail.

And I agree do away with the poles etc....

Sometimes Less is better!

Good Luck & and I hope youe Website starts generating some business for you soon...

 

[focuz]

WOW, all this designing critique making sure everything is optimized and your number one area for search engine visibility is completely reversed.

Your meta tag description lists keywords and your meta tag for the keywords lists your description.

I tried to click on 'services' and was told I wasn't authorized.

I would get rid of the 'news' page don't see a purpose for something like that on a repair business website. If you do alot of webdesigns, I would change 'news' to be your portfolio page.

You shouldn't need a search function on a simple 4 page site either. I am going to have to agree I would lose the joomla install and just have everything solid html. Its alot easier for seo when using straight html then having to adjust everything within joomla.

[edit] In addition I like to have my phone number listed in bold right within the header. This way someone doesn't even have to click on a page to be able to get my info.You have to remember your main focus group is older people that havn't been taught much on computers. So wording has to be big and bold to make things easy to read and navigate.

 

[MHCG]

Until someone can point out how you can't optimize Joomla to be just as optimized as straight coding I call BS. Adding optimizations and functions is as easy as uploading a zip file. There's something to be said for ease of use and ability to modify it.

 

[cmonova]

seo

Until someone can point out how you can't optimize Joomla to be just as optimized as straight coding I call BS. Adding optimizations and functions is as easy as uploading a zip file. There's something to be said for ease of use and ability to modify it.

I believe in html it is easier to tweak the pages and image tags vice using a cms solution like joomla. And if you look at the site....is it optimized? no....Is it well put together? no... Point being it is "easier" for him to just use some plain html pages, get his point across to customers without them being confused, and also be able to do some editing of the html for search engines.

I've done html, joomla, mambo, phpnuke, etc...and have never had the success i've had with straight html sites in seo endeavors. I have many sites on the first page if not number 1 of search engines and with cms solutions it is not as easy to do.