Do people find websites successful?

[Ruth Mills]

oh how fab!! It does look very professional! I just wondered what a ballpark figure was for getting someone else to do it for you.....i wouldnt know if it was £100, £1000 or £10,000 :lol:

Prices for professional web design do vary a lot, so my advice would be to shop around. Ask to look at a portfolio of sites that a web designer has already done to make sure that you like their style, and also ask people for recommendations (it's always interesting to hear other people's experiences of web designers - e.g. how prompt were they at setting up your site, were they easy to deal with, did they listen to your suggestions and take them on board, were you happy with the end result, did they charge a fair price, etc)...

Also it would be wise to ask exactly what you are getting for the money (i.e. how many pages will you get on your site for what they are quoting you), and if there are any ongoing charges, e.g. how much does the web designer charge for hosting your site? And how much do they charge for extra pages and updates? Do they provide a "content management system" that allows you to easily make changes to your website yourself? What about SEO (search engine optimisation) - do their websites do well on Google?

 

[Ruth Mills]

Also it would be wise to be very wary of being "cold called" by web companies, particularly if they claim to work for Google or offer rash claims of being able to get you to the top of a Google search - especially if they constantly mention "key words" etc.

Some companies have been known to cold call people and subject them to "high pressure" sales techniques - and then end up offering extremely poor value for money and can also have very unfair terms and conditions if you end up being dissatisfied with them and ask for a refund (even if you try and ask the credit card company for a Section 75 refund for example, the dodgy web company may still end up dragging their feet and delay refunding you your money).

When it comes to being cold called in general (and especially with dodgy web and SEO companies), it's also useful to ask *why* they are cold calling you - are they not able to get enough business otherwise?

I've heard of many cases where people have been speculatively called by SEO companies where they blatantly didn't need their services either - as they were already appearing near the top of a relevant Google search (which is probably where the dodgy SEO company found their details in the first place)...

 

[Ruth Mills]

does anyone know how to get your website high on google? as mine isnt:cry:


xxx

Probably the *easiest* way to do this is to get as many links *in* to your website from as many places as possible, e.g. add a text link to your site on your signature on salon geek so it appears at the bottom of every post you make on the site here... ask to swap "reciprocal links" with friends (so you link to their site and they link back to your site)... make use of the many "free listing" websites out there, e.g. FreeIndex, Hotfrog, Thomson Local, Scoot, etc...

That's because of the way that Google uses something called "PageRank" to rate how "important" your site is... the more links it finds *in* to your site, the more important it will rate it, and the higher up a Google search it will appear...

That is probably an easier and more powerful way of improving your site's position on Google than trying to modify the site's content to improve SEO (search engine optimisation)... although a lot of SEO is really just about the way you word things on your site - make sure that your geographical location features prominently on the text on your website - as that is crucial for people being able to find you... make sure that you mention the names of all treatments you do and brands of products that you use... make sure that the "title" of each page on your website is meaningful, and mentions at least the name of your business, and the town/county in which you are based, and also suitable words like "Beauty", "Hair", "Nails", etc... really a lot of search engine optimisation is just down to common sense and making sure you say where you are and what you do on your website in enough detail... it's certainly not the rocket science that a lot of SEO companies would like you to believe...

 

[KristaBurgess]

Hello,

My boyfriend says hed would of usually charged around 3 grand for what he has done. It included a basic design (he is no designer), and professional coding. Most of the cost is involved with the time spent marketing it, getting it top of search engines and so on.

The website is priceless to me now, I dont need any other marketing avenue. Almost daily I get new clients, and its only been running since January and its in the middle of winter. Also I only do Bio Sculpture Nails, if I was to do more treatments he could market to a wider range of people and get ALOT more work.

Im in the hertfordshire area, type in Bio Sculpture Herts or Bio Sculpture XXXX with any town city in hertfordshire im all over the results page.

Even if you just type in Bio Sculpture or bio Sculpture Gel as a generic word with no area, I achieve first page results. I get visitors from all over the world with them generic keywords.

He also set up google adwords which is paid for advertising, but I get more from just normal google listings.

It is worth investing in your website, you cant do it as good as a professional, but having a go yourself is definately a good start. Be careful choosing a company, as experience varies and alot of people talk a good sell but cant deliver results. Ask to see websites they have done, and find out how they rank in google, as its the ranking that will bring you the clients all day every day.

Pm me if you would like some advice form my boyfriend, ill put you in touch.

 

[Ruth Mills]

Hello,

My boyfriend says hed would of usually charged around 3 grand for what he has done. It included a basic design (he is no designer), and professional coding. Most of the cost is involved with the time spent marketing it, getting it top of search engines and so on.

The website is priceless to me now, I dont need any other marketing avenue. Almost daily I get new clients, and its only been running since January and its in the middle of winter. Also I only do Bio Sculpture Nails, if I was to do more treatments he could market to a wider range of people and get ALOT more work.

Im in the hertfordshire area, type in Bio Sculpture Herts or Bio Sculpture XXXX with any town city in hertfordshire im all over the results page.

Even if you just type in Bio Sculpture or bio Sculpture Gel as a generic word with no area, I achieve first page results. I get visitors from all over the world with them generic keywords.

He also set up google adwords which is paid for advertising, but I get more from just normal google listings.

It is worth investing in your website, you cant do it as good as a professional, but having a go yourself is definately a good start. Be careful choosing a company, as experience varies and alot of people talk a good sell but cant deliver results. Ask to see websites they have done, and find out how they rank in google, as its the ranking that will bring you the clients all day every day.

If your not in a competing area to me then my fella said he will near enough copy my website for your needs but wont do all the marketing, but will tell you what you need to do yourself to get the results. Hed want £500 though.

Does that include some sort of CMS (content management system) access where you would be able to log on and make updates to the website yourself without needing to have to go back to him every time you need a change making (e.g. a new treatment adding, prices updating, etc)... ?

 

[Haley]

I don't have a website yet as I'm only just learning nails BUT when I am
qualified I will have a website.

In this day and age its important to have a professional website as the internet is the most used place for searching. For example, where do you tend to look when looking for a new hairdressers or something? Yep good old internet.

How many people came across this forum online? Yep you all used the good old internet.

A lot of people who don't have websites won't understand what having a website could do for them, but beleive me (my partner owns a very successful web developement company) it will bring in the clients.