TSD is Here to Respond!!!
Sorry for the delay in responding, I just found this post today.
I see that some of you have some Issues with TSD and I wanted to explain things and the industry that we are in so everything is understood completely.
First Darin is Right, Things change and there is room to grow... The biggest problem with keeping up with certifications, insurance, local state / city / etc... Permitting and all the other things that go along with it are manpower and the ability to police it.
I agree with ASD why would you want to "compete against the unlicensed hacks" But in this industry the woods are full of them, No matter what means you use to advertise, more than other industries and the policing is so great that we leave it up to the Consumer to make good choices. We have notices to the consumers telling them to check their local requirements, ask for insurance etc.... We do let them know, to help them make an informed decision about hiring a professional to do the work.
Would you not advertise in the Yellow Pages if there where unlicensed people in it? They don't check, they just want the money to put your ad on yellow paper and guarantee you no results. TSD does guarantee results or you don't have to pay anything.
Trust me when I say, we don't want them either "The Hacks", and when we find them, we cut them off.
We are diligently working towards a solution to this very problem......
To the leads are %100 pure *hit comment from mckeetree
If that were true we would have no members. We still have our first member that signed up in 2003.
For Example: Service Magic Leads are the same people that browse the internet for Tree Service vs. TSD Customers. They are not in different classes or better customers. Customer want the best price possible, many of them don't care if an Arborist is Certified / Insured / Bonded or anything, They just want the Tree DOWN, usually as cheap as possible. This goes for 60-75% (or more) of all consumers whether they call your Yellow Page AD, Newspaper AD, Craig list AD, or see a TV spot you have.
We have a VERY EASY policy for leads that you feel are Invalid, crap, scammers, spam anything you cannot bid on. You just log into your account and report it as Invalid, we delete them daily no questions asked.
TSD was started in August of 2003, since then we have grown to over 1000 active members, we have been through and disabled more than 2000 members because of complaints by customers, lawsuits, tree service scams ect...,Many Involving State DA's and Consumer Affairs. Many where on insured and state licensed tree companies. On the Internet for some reason they want to involve the referrer when there is a problem. If the a Consumer had a problem with someone they had used out of the Phone Book, do you think they would call the Phone Company / Newspaper / TV Station and complain?????
This is a VERY TOUGH business, In the past 4 years that the site has come up, we have seen 30 or 40 other sites come and go, we have always maintained a strong member base, good search engine placement, and loads of Consumers And Tree Service Companies Thanking us for the service.
Currently our price is $8 a lead. Service Magic is $18-$30 depending on your Market. Same Internet, Same People.
We work hard to connect Tree Services and Consumers instantly. We don't cold call people to create requests or Make up leads... Nothing of that kind, we solely rely on search engines, and Marketing like ArboristSite.com I thought that I was making a Great decision by joining AS to help consumers and Tree Service Companies alike.
Internet directories are a dime a dozen these days, They are EVERYWHERE. We strive to stay on top, you have to be aggressive with you Internet advertising to stay ahead of all the other competition. The Arborist Site Tree Care Directory would be a great Idea. I would like to team up and do it. The only problem with the numbers is that 20k/Yr would Only keep the site going strong for about a 5 day to 7 days.
Hopefully some of our faithful members will have something to add to this.
If there are Any Questions, Please feel free to let Me Know.
Ryan
TreeServiceDirect.Com