How Much Do You Spend On Your Website?

[somerset-electrician]

Just wondering really as I am currently getting some quotes from a few local companies. I am not really concerned about custom designs, functionality etc.

All I really want is a good portfolio style site where I can show off some pics, give info about the services and give contact information.

The main focus would be around the SEO for the site, obviously it needs to perform well. I am already in talks with someone about the SEO and they look really good, but I want to know what a rough price you may end up paying for this as well? At the moment they base all prices on a monthly contract, so one advantage is that I can leave whenever I want

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

[No message]

 

[PC Electrics]

My original website i did myself using MS Publisher - really easy. I use 1&1 and they charge from

 

[NozSpark]

I'm probably going to be updating my website in the near future,,,, what it's going to cost, probably about as much as it'll cost to wire my neighbours new computer workshop (labour only)... He does IT stuff and his wife does websites.

However my original attempt has cost me nothing bar the domain name and hosting... <

 

[nsbs]

my mate who is a plumber has just spent around

 

[Sidewinder]

Mr Canoe Sir,

I think you and I are going to have to discuss websites & hosting shortly!

 

[NozSpark]

Slightly off topic...

Is it worth while having several domain names.....

eg.

joeblogselectrical.co.uk

joeblogselectrical.com

myareaelectricians.co.uk

Etc..

....directing all traffic to the same website?

 

[chrishaworth]

It's worthwhile having a domain name which is the same name as the most common search term you expect - mine is dualheating.com which brought it up on page 1 of Jeeves and Yahoo when I searched on dual heating. Google is different, it goes on the number of links to your site plus how long it's been going. I added a links page to my site and did reciprocal links with as many of the local businesses as I could. After 5 years, I now come up on page 1 - the first non-paying entry.

Cheers, Chris

 

[kerching]

A few years ago my Son got a First in Multimedia and Web Design. That cost me untold

 

[calltronics]

SEO is glorified hype to sell and mislead those who don't understand it, it makes mere mortals thinks it's summin special that requires an expert and hundreds of pounds thrown at itTry a Wordpress site with something like All in one SEO plugin - both completely free

Totally agree with Canoeboy, SEO services are a complete rip off. They simply can't guarantee anything and the quality/rating of the links they provide are worth squat.

However a home designed website and I would go to say a DIY wordpress site will undoubtedly not have the correct content and structure to provide the fundamental bases on which to build your rankings in the search engines.

Plus at the end of the day if your an electrician looking for business through search engines forget it you'll never make a business.

If you have a unique angle/product or service name then that will work as you'll be up in the results.

But at the end of the day your clients need to know what unique word to search for.

A prime example is "CalCard" AND "Calibration Checkbox"

CalCard is unique and appears in the top results first page which is where you want it.

Calibration Checkbox is universal and as such I battle for first page with some serious competitors.

dualheating.com example from chrisaworth is a prime example of unique but identifiable word to search on. Plus it is in his domain name which ups the ratings.

joeblogselectrical.co.uk

joeblogselectrical.com

myareaelectricians.co.uk

This approach is no longer rated by the crawling BOTS and all the web sites are treated as one.

It does have the advantage though of capturing all the clients who type it in wrong, but I do believe that these days its not worth the price of domain registration.

What would be better and gain more rankings would be domain names such as: -

joe_blogs_electrical.com

blogselectrical.com

electician_blogs.co.uk

These all then generally put the names electrical, electrician and blogs higher in the search rankings.

SEO is a very complex and changing environment but it's success is achieved at the web site creation and design stage.

No matter how much money you pay an SEO company you'll never raise a bad web site up in the ratings.

So in conclusion for a simple 4 page web site(which is in fact your brochure) costs usually around

 

[Robojin]

SEO

I often get the odd SPAM from these people explaining how they can improve web traffic etc etc, the first thing I do is try their company name on google, for some strange reason they don't seem to get a result on the top 20 pages (usually get bored at that point), so surprisingly I add them to my SPAM filters

 

[calltronics]

This is one of the best references and explanations of SEO I've come across.

I attended a 5 day introduction course on SEO and didn't realise myself just how much is involved in getting a company on the first page.

This article though is a great starting place for those who want to know how it works and what it means: -

hope you get good pointers from this: -

SEO Basics - a knol by aaron wall

Cheers - Calltronics

TestCal CalCard Calibration Resistance Checkbox