How valuable has a business website been for getting customers?

[Druidess]

As someone launching a small business support service (also known as virtual assistant services) and who also knows how valuable good arborists are, I am curious about any guesstimates you have as to how much (percentage) of your business interactions are done via your websites, your Facebook pages, LinkedIn pages (although LinkedIn is considered more of a B2B vehicle).

I think I particularly find some websites to be terrifically fascinating in educating the public (read: potential customers) and would like to think it pays off in terms of consistently filling the "hopper" for jobs.

I'm considering small to medium tree service businesses as a niche specialty if it seems appropriate. Thanks everyone, and I think CAs are amazing specialists (who else but me would stand out for hours on a New England day in early January to watch a real pro take down a 75' Norway spruce in a friend's yard and find it mind-blowingly cool?)

Carol
Your Virtual Sherpa

 

[imagineero]

+1

We had a go at a lot of different types of advertising over the last couple years.... craigslist type sites, yellow pages, local newspapers, letterbox drops etc. Most of our business still comes from referals, and quite a bit of it just comes from being 'out there'. If I had a dollar for every time someone walked up and asked for a quote while I was doing a job.... oh, hang on, I do.

I cancelled my yellow pages advertising because as noted, it just invites (thankfully very few?) people who are looking to nickel and dime you down to the lowest price. Gave up also on cragslist style advertising which is only for lowballers and hacks. Local newspapers show a small response, and letterbox drops return around a 0.1% success rate - for every 1000 leaflets dropped you'll get around 1-2 good jobs.

Shaun

 

[imagineero]

Welcome to Arboristsite by the way ;-)

 

[Druidess]

Welcome to Arboristsite by the way ;-)

Thank you, Shaun. I have some general knowledge in the arborist/tree service arena via those I've gotten to know, and I myself get asked who'd I would recommend to friends and acquaintances. I just need the "recommendees" to return phone calls, or at least acknowledge they got the phone call. :msp_sad: One might not be able to take the job that instant, but it looks better if one at least says "I got your call and I won't be free to meet with you for X days or weeks". Customer might be willing to wait rather than call someone else (or get what I call a "Billy-Bag-O-Donuts" hack) and you score points for customer service. Maybe a separate thread on that.

I have seen some businesses write before on this forum about use of websites and Facebook and hope one of them can tell me what works and what doesn't and to what degree (like, did a noticeable increase of new business come from online and how much).

Cheers,

Carol

 

[cnpser]

I build sites for a living for now and with the expansion of smart phones it all depends on your location. Large metro areas having a web site is a must for exposure to more customers. I find that in more rural areas it can be a toss up with it leaning more towards not needing a web site. It all depends on your location and demographic.

A partner and I are looking to open a shop soon and we are not going to build a site because here most of the business you get is word of mouth so we may wait a while for it. We will sign up for a Google places listing though.

The other thing to look at is ROI, if you get one customer a year from your site where the bill is at least $70, you have covered your cost of the site for the year. The first set up will cost you some but after that it is just the domain and hosting.

 

[Jeffreycdecker]

I find my website is extremely valuable. I live about an hour and a half from new York city, close enough that we have a lot of weekenders that have properties here. They are able to find and learn about me through google and my website without having local knowledge or a local yellowpages. I get about 40% of my revenue through google and my website!

 

[mikewhite85]

I get most of my work from the web, especially yelp, which directs a lot of hits to my website.

 

[RAG66]

I have a web page, google listing, Yelp, Angie's list, etc. Not many people say anything about where they saw me. The referrals usually say "I got your name from..." The internet has helped me recover from the over bearing load of the yellow pages I carried for far to long. The funny thing is the concept of paid advertising has now moved over to the web. I am very careful about the type of advertising I pay for. It usually means price shoppers, time wasters, and generally unaware of what they are costing me to do they "bid". Sorry to bite the hand that feeds me but I can not stand when the "customer" wastes valuable time. My web page, when found, is used many times to email me for an estimate.

 

[ShermanC]

Referrals are key to building business, advertising establishes your presence.

Referrals are the best advertising and the cost to aim for quality work has no cost...it is an attitude.

Our town is small and our county is rural so we have two weekly newspapers. I run the same ad all year long in one paper, in the business and services directory to remind readers I am still in tree service business because I run another business doing wood turning and have been at the same place 15 years building sales and clientele. Many of the residences are for weekend and vacation use and properties change hands in a cycle of about 4-5 years. I have considered having a website but from the reports of other business people in service work the leads are few and far between. I usually have all the work I can manage if I'd just stay focused and do it!

 

[Naked Arborist]

I'd like to hear more about using the web to generate buss in my area. I am 15 minutes east of Philly PA. We have a dense population here and a lot of competition. My goal is to generate more work than I can handle. The excess will handed off to dependable companies in this area. My goal is to climb and cut. I'll take some firewood hear and there but going big time seems to be a losing proposition for me at this point. I might step away from this business in a few years and fall back on some of my many other skills. The time is coming when the body will not keep up and the risk will not be worth the pay. I do enjoy taking trees down and it is a great workout.

Back to the subject of generating more work from the web. Who has some ideas and services available for just this purpose? PM me

 

[Fairbanks Stump]

time wasters??????

My website is invaluable! as well as all the ancillary links that draw customers to it! web site design is as important as a good marketing campaign. A good site will encourage customers to call, where a bad site will leave them with more questions than answers!

I started my Business to help People with their tree Problems! I give my customers as much information as I can in as many ways as possible. If you cant afford to give up your Information because you are afraid of giving up "your" trade secrets! Then I'd say maybe you should increase your Knowledge base! The more info You give away the more you may be asked in the future for more! Set your self up as the go to expert in your field! IT WILL GET YOU MORE AND BETTER WORK than any Doughnut sack hack that thinks his/her info is worth more than the customer he is trying to attract??????

The customer is why you are in business! Treat every one like you want more of them!

- if you are doing more estimates than jobs - Improve your salesmanship.
- if you are doing more Jobs than estimates - raise your prices!

bottom line website is 1 of many good parts to the puzzle!

Jon

 

[nitrousbaby]

I get a handfull of customers from my website. Altho search engines and ad words will increase your calls hands down. A website does serve as a nice tool to show your customers you are a professional business.