website - honest opinions please....

[Hybrid]

McNivens I notice on your site you've put down £350 average to supply and fit a bathroom suite. Is that a typo?

 

[johnnyplumb]

As Dancin says, always include a land line number on all your advertising material as it gives you a more professional image. Many people will refuse to call a mobile only number and others have had bad experiences from rogues using them (not singling out the travelling caravan living community if you know what I mean, hint, hint,).

A lot were buying non traceable pay as you go mobiles, having the mobile numbers printed on leaflets then putting the leaflets out round estates in their thousands. They then take as many deposits as possible from unsuspecting people and don't go back to do the work. The mobiles are not registered and not traceable to any one person so they get away with it. I know of a few elderly customers of mine who got fleeced in this way by leaflets offering driveways, roof coatings, Upvc cladding and landscaping "services". One of my customers got stung for 2 grand over a broken roof tile. Buyer beware!

I hate old folk getting cleaned out of their hard earned savings. Only the lowest of scum do things like that.

There called ' caravan utilising nomadic travellers' . most people just call them c.u.n.t.s for short.

 

[Guest123]

IMPSL mate at that one! They've just moved into Alloa and are illegally camping in a industrial estate. They've been cruising up and down our road every 10 minutes, "casing" the place. I've emptied the van indoors (she's no happy) but better that than it getting tanned by those thieving scumbags.

 

[Guest123]

....apologies Kay, for being off topic about your cool new web site!

 

[Dannypipe]

Laughed me head off at Jonnys comment.

Anyway Kay, good clean site. The pictures on the home page (with the exception of the tap which is a simple generic photo) are in my opinion not good. They're not exactly the gold standard that you want to show people. The brickwork on one photo, a bathroom suite with un decorated boxing in, and a boiler with the plastic wrapper still on the front panel. Try and get something genuine, that is really first class. This is your opportunity to show case your very best work. Its the first impression you will make on people and unless its exlementary, people won't care.

Other than that, it's very good.

 

[ecowarm]

And the sticker on the cistern

Back to the caravan utillising nomadic travellers, some just moved near us and the hospice boiler room broken into a couple of nights ago, stripped of copper even ripped down the ceiling, hope they never need their services,

 

[Puddle]

I think it looks really good kay-jay,I like the brick work but would agree about the qualifications,to in your face,would move from top...and add gas safe logo and any other logo you have

I like a map of the area covered as well

 

[Dannypipe]

And the sticker on the cistern

Back to the caravan utillising nomadic travellers, some just moved near us and the hospice boiler room broken into a couple of nights ago, stripped of copper even ripped down the ceiling, hope they never need their services,

Sickening. Some people are just plain scum. Whoever did that deserves locking up for a very long time.

 

[gravytrain]

i'm also not keen on the flash, it puts me off the rest of the site, just put some decent photos on each page
also there is no GSR logo anywhere. you've put a GSR number but it doesnt say anywhere that you install or repair boilers ??

i like your services page, but would swap that to your home page.

i would remove the qualifications, as has been said, they are meaningless to most people

also the list of things you do is written like a plumber
eg Taps and valves

if i was a customer..... Taps and valves what ???....whats a valve ??
you could say.... we repair or replace kitchen and bathroom taps

i would think about what people actually say when they ring up
and try to write your list of services to reflect what they ask for.

its not easy !!!

 

[anz]

sorry its cloud numbers

CloudNumbers - Mobile Landline Numbers

upto 5 numbers for a tenner

To me it looks like they charge you £9.99 per month for the five numbers and then you've got to pay for extra services such as divert to mobile (7 pence/min + vat), Call screening (£2), etc.

I've just signed up with another service, it's going to cost me £2 per month for the local number, divert to mobile is a little more at 10p + VAT per min. Call screening is included, so if I receive a missed call, I can call back for free.

It didn't take long to set up, 15 minutes, after researching.

I've just tested it and it works.

This service appealed to me because of the low initial ongoing cost of only £2/month. So it keeps my overheads down If I get no work. The company looks good, has been established a while, has good reviews, etc.

I've only just set it up in the last hour, so can't comment on reliability, support etc from my own experience.

The company is: https://www.voipfone.co.uk/

 

[anz]

Just had a look, you can get a months free trial if I refer you. PM me if you want.

 

[southcoastboile]

That website is nice m8, I do agree with danny pipe though, I think it would look more professional if you had some piks of some realy nice top of the range completed bathroom installs and swap them for your exising photos, bar the tap one. Also it doesn't put much emphasis on the fact you are gsr, a gs logo could be incorporated on you home page and mabee have another link to a seperate page which could go more into the gas side of things as you already have a page on plumbing. I didnt realise from a quick glance that you are gs, this could mean you are turning potential customers away. Looks good though!

 

[PlumbersMate]

A question for all of you with websites. Do your websites work in terms of getting you found? The websites ive designed myself, rank very highly for certain keywords but I think that due to them being designed by myself they might actually turn customers away due to my lack of web design skills.

Have had a quote from a designer for £750, which seems a little bit steep, but I do know that the sites do work, as two of my closest friends recommended him and they have got a fair bit of work from their sites.

Does £750 sound dear to you? and do your sites rank highly on google? Cheers

 

[dontknowitall]

LOL - you know when people come on here asking if a plumber's quote is too high? And the advice to them is to phone one or two more plumbers in the area to see what their prices are? dot, dot, dot.

Have you phoned one or two other website companies?

A bit cheeky, I know!!!

I just wanted a simple website and now how to do this search engine optimization stuff, so made a DIY website. It works for me and I'm not convinced that if I'd spent much more it would have generated much more business.

BUT!!! - That's because I had already created an image for my business, knew my logo, font type, colours, etc, etc, etc. I knew my type of customer, which area of the plumbing market I was in, etc, etc, etc.

I think many people (not just plumbers but even large businesses) don't even consider what their business image looks like, before the website. Then they let a designer loose on designing something and feel the website creation is really cool and buy the site. Then a few months down the road they find it's not bringing in the business they had hoped it would. The reason is frequently because the website looks nothing like the van they drive, for example, or it has pictures of smart taps and bathrooms and the work they do is heating (not very photogenic). With my website you're hit by a water leak (I mean a smart, luxurious water drop). My van has a massive picture of this on both sides. The typeface is the same font and colour on the website and the van. The background of my business card has this water drop. I wear sweatshirts in the same colour. Blah, blah. I'm rabbiting (again) but hopefully you can see what I'm getting at.

The £750 might have much more to do with matching the website to your business rather than just designing a few pages and rattling them off on to the internet.

 

[PlumbersMate]

I have asked a few tbh and some are as cheap as £300 and some as dear as £1000! lol I think I have a good idea of which corner of the market to target. Its a small corner but my estimate is (hope) that if I advertise solely trying to attract the bigger jobs and wider market ie' plumbing & heating overall then there is alot of competition already, but if i go in for the slightly smaller area i feel there is alot less competition. Hope that will work anyway?! lol

And im with you on everything being branded the same dkia, a local firm near me offers a great deal where you get your van sign written, 2 jumpers/hoodies, 2 polo shirts, 200 businness cards and also a board to leave outside customers houses, and this way you can use same colours, logos and branding throughout everything, but cant go ahead until ive got my website 100% sorted as i want this on my clothing, cards, board and van!!

Thanks for your advice mate you always break things down well and think outside the box so to speak.

Could you please give me an honest opinion on my two websites , i designed these myself. Anyone else please be as open and honest and critical as you can please. Thanks.

www.local-herts-plumber.co.uk and www.plumber-in-knebworth.co.uk cheers as always