Here's a true story about why every local business needs a website.
Scott, the arborist, and his crew from Element Tree Services in Penticton had just finished doing a magnificent job of cutting, shaping and pruning the trees in my yard.
As I was writing a cheque for his work, I asked, “What's your website address?”
“I don't have one yet”, was Scott's reply.
“Are you KIDDING me?”, I asked.
“You guys do AWESOME work at very reasonable rates, PLUS you are new to the area, AND you DON'T have a website? Are ya NUTS?”, I spouted in my typical no-holds-barred fashion.
“Haven't got to that yet”, Scott replied.
“OK, well, there's plenty of competition in the area and if you don't have a website that highlights your expertise and services, you're losing business” says I, always the online marketer.
I COULD go on…. and on and on and on and on some more.
But seriously folks, if you have a business and want MORE business… you really need to have your own website.
What Scott has missed by not having a website was my testimonial for the fabulous work he did for me… and trust me, I've worked with enough landscapers and arborists in Penticton to know the difference between OK, good and terrific.
I would have extolled his virtues as a true professional to the world and his site would have been seen that much more readily in the local search results.
Too, because I'm on Yelp, Facebook AND Twitter and not shy to proclaim the positive — I'd have posted my exuberance at finally having found a GREAT arborist in my hometown of Penticton, British Columbia.
As it stands, other than for this post, I haven't been able to share my glee at having worked with such a knowledgeable and professional tree service specialist / arborist in Penticton.
With luck, his company, Element Tree Services, will benefit from this post.
However, don't count on all your customers sharing good news on Facebook, Yelp or on their blogs.
Bottom line? Get a website, especially if you have a local business and want MORE business.
It's NOT that hard and I can help… check out my blogging Academy if you want to save some money by doing it yourself (it's NOT that difficult) and have a BEAUTIFUL website, to boot.
Otherwise, the least you can do is register a domain name and get a quick website up with GoDaddy or Bluehost (the latter of which includes domain registration in their hosting fees.
Either way, it's such cheap marketing for your local business that you're crazy if you DON'T do it today.
Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!
Cheers,
P.S. I'm willing to bet that this post comes up in the search results for “tree services Penticton” at some point… and Scott WILL get the point… at that point. We can only hope. 🙂
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Cheers,
I too find it very hard to believe that many businesses do not have websites. And now the business owners who do have websites are starting to realize that they need mobile websites to accompany their PC website.
I think I might have addressed the issue in one of my blogs I wrote. http://www.patrickwebdesign.com/index.html/2012/07/27/world-rapidly-going-mobile/
In my research I got the impression that it’s a tough sell to someone who does not use the internet very much. I was doing some marketing with my new mobile websites, and I have found it virtually impossible to convince someone that they need a mobile website.
These non website business owners are going to be way out in left field by the time their competition starts buying mobile websites.
I live in south florida…probably 50% or more of the services don’t have a website.
Saludos
Ros,
This post is so good I’m going to change the facts (to protect the innocent!) and use it as the basis for a sales letter.
It’s also given me the idea of re-packaging an article I did about “Why you need a website” and blog it, but change the title to “tree pruning in Canberra”, or “Electrician in Canberra” or whatever.
Then when it gets on to page one, I can ring a tree pruner or an electrician and say “I’m on page 1 of google, I could put you there instead”.
Who knows, he may even see it there himself and call me!
I could even buld him a free mobile website, and offer it to him if he signs up for hosting and maintenance.
Then it’s a Facebook fanpage and all the other upsells.
Cheers
OK here we go. this is my site . need some advice .
thank you.
Not sure if this fanpage is theirs or not.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Element-Tree-Service/147132168695371
No website reference in the fanpage too.
Why not offer to build him a website in exchange for pruning and possibly other services?
BTW what’s a Yelper, even the spell checker doesn’t get it?
Ros, I understand where these small business owners are coming from… It’s that technician way of thinking which traps them.
Before internet marketing I was an electrical contractor who did not believe a website would help my business… I also thought that unless I spent more than $5,000 I was getting a sub-standard website which would end up being a waste of money.
Also, every day it was about getting through the jobs as quickly as possible. I had no interest in marketing, I was an electrician!
Every week I would spend 10 minutes on the phone to place a newspaper ad (for a week) which cost less than a hundred dollars. I never knew if it was converting and I didn’t have time (or care) to check. As long as I had the yellow pages ad, the sign on the van, the business cards, the referrals and the newspaper ad, it brought in enough work to keep me busy and that’s all I wanted.
The other electricians charged $75/hr, so I did the same. But, one day I was so busy that a client offered to pay 25% more to get priority on a large job… I realized then that I should probably pay more attention to attracting more of those clients. I asked him how he heard about us and he said “I searched online, found someone who then referred me to you”. I was convinced!
In the next few weeks I learned about WordPress blogs and set mine up, which eventually became my only means of advertising and then my entry into internet marketing full time.
It took a long time to be convinced, and I was only convinced because it brought in thousands of dollars of profit, for much less effort than normal. Without having seen the result for myself, I probably would have never created a website for my business, which eventually became a valuable asset when I sold the business.
Cheers
Ian McConnell
Western Australia
Hi Rosalind. It is frustrating how so many fail to get the point. I suspect it has to do with a combination of lack of time and failing to see the value.
That said, I’m thinking that with the new Google+Local perhaps that’s all they need now, and that takes virtually no time to set up. (I’ve got a little instruction guide available at my website, for anyone who’s interested.)
Then, of course, they need to work the social aspect of the Google + Local pages to really leverage it.
Just blog about them, use your contact info and make a deal to send him work for commish… or free work 😉
I know people who do similar work and have had the same conversation about a web site with them. I was told they were always a week behind or more so the extra exposure wasn’t necessary. Some say they don’t want to be busier than they are. I get that, but I also understand well the frustration of the marketing mind. It makes trips to the store a challenge sometimes.
You’re right. And that means there’s still lots of opportunity for us local marketers/site builders 🙂
I’d recommend Namecheap for a domain name and Hostgator for hosting though, not Godaddy and Bluehost. Best to keep DNS and hosting separate to always maintain some control.
I’ve had that reaction too often when dealing with local businesses. It’s just hard for me to imagine not having a website up, no matter how local your business is. I prefer using businesses with websites, as that’s how I seek them out most often. You can’t trust to the yellow pages these days to bring in local customers when the internet is so much faster and easier to use.
Amazing! Just googled “tree services Penticton” and your blog is on the bottom of page one! (23:14hrs in Spain now)
When did you post the blog? If I understand the google results correctly, the entry appeared 4 hours ago!
If nothing else has, this has certainly shown me the importance of blogging.
Thanks
Penny
Hi Penny,
Ah, you searched with the quotes. Without the quotes, I’m only on Page 2. LOL
Cheers,
Ros
Hi Ros,
I hear you loud and clear! I’m a wood floor contractor from the UK. It only took me 14 years to get a website up 🙂 Luckily, I’ve been attached to a large retailer that gave me a lot of bread and butter work. However, like the old saying goes ‘I wish I’d have done it sooner!’…I finally jumped in using a well known host. Apart from the experience of building a website, it also had the knock on effect of opening my eyes to how essential this tinterweb thingy is for spreading the business name/services, networking and generally seeing what’s going on in my profession. Anyone with a small business or thinking of starting one, GET A WEBSITE!!
Didn’t expect this type of post from you Ros 🙂 Spot on!
Hi Wes,
Better late than never and you’ll definitely be seeing more of this type of post about local business blogging from me in the future. 🙂
Cheers,
Ros
dear rose
i would like you visit my website and tell me what is your opinion about it please.it is written in french language,i don’t know if you know french language,sorry!and how to have more traffic?
all the best!
Hi Ros,
I can certainly see where in some people’s minds, business needs nothing more than a blurb in the yellow pages. Of course lots of people only look there when they need specific services.
On the other hand, more and more people who are especially computer savvy are skipping the phonebooks, and going online when they need to find something. It works both ways, and businesses need to consider covering both I think.
Hi Jane,
No kidding and good point. I almost never open up a phone book to find local businesses anymore.
Cheers,
Ros
Oh, I hear you! I know a wonderful landscaper. He has works for several homeowners associations to take care of the grounds. He is a wealth of knowledge, very passionate – even started a movement to save native cactus from developers.
He agreed to be a guest speaker for our garden club. I asked him for his website and he DIDN’T HAVE ONE! He agreed that he needed one, so I put him in touch with my webdesigner son who offered to build his website for FREE, but he never acted on the idea. What is he thinking? The sun must have fried his brain! Living in southern Arizona, that’s a very real possibility. 🙂
thanx Rosalin
Now that a prominent Internet marketer has extolled the benefits to them of having an online presence, will they change their way of thinking, make it a priority and take action? Will other small business owners without a website read this and take the steps necessary to get a website up and running?
I’ve been calling local businesses without websites (and there are lots of them!) in my small city, and repeatedly I am met with a mindset, by the businesses owner, that they don’t need/want a website.
It will be interesting to see if in the coming weeks, Element Tree Services takes action on your advice, but I suspect if they haven’t identified the value already, it is going to take something monumental to change their perspective of online marketing.
Hi Greg,
I may have to call Element tree services to point out that they can now be found on the Web. LOL
Cheers,
Ros
Greg,
I run a few websites for small businesses in my small city. They are constantly bombarded by people wanting to create websites for them. They hate it!
I have found the personal approach works best but it takes heaps of time, effort, hand holding and patience.
I am not sure it is really worth it financially ( I do host their sites so there is some ongoing return) it is worth it personally as they have found the sites very successful.
Maybe do a couple of freebies or cheap sites for a start and build a local network?
Cheers from Australia