Putting Your Residential Cleaning Business Website on the World Wide Web
One of the first things a prospective client will ask almost any business these days is, "What is your website address"? Besides these clients asking you about your website, there are many people that no longer open a phone book when they are looking for a product or service. Instead they go to Google or Yahoo to look for everything from cleaning services to auto repair shops to restaurant menus.
Even if you are a small cleaning business with just a few accounts, you can look like a "big" business with a website. In addition, a website gives you a place to showcase your services, let prospective clients know the geographic location you provide services to, and it is a great place to post testimonials from clients.
How do you go about setting up a website for your residential cleaning business?
Before you even begin thinking about design concepts or hiring someone to design for you, consider the following:
- What is my niche (residential home cleaning only, or service add-ons such as: window cleaning, floor or carpet care, construction cleanup, move in/move out cleanups, decluttering, etc.)?
- What is the purpose of my web site?
- Will I be selling products as well as providing information about my cleaning company?
- How will I promote my website?
- What is my budget?
- What do I need to get the site up and running?
You can design and publish a website yourself; you just need to be a little computer savvy and have some time to devote to the project. Or you can hire a website designer. A website designer may seem like an expense you don't need, but a good website designer can offer you tips on the right design for your business. They can also make your website stand out among the billions of other websites there are on the Internet today.
If you want to do the project yourself you can either learn how to use HTML (hypertext markup language), buy an editing program such as Dreamweaver, Coffee Cup or Microsoft Expressions, or use an online web design company. Doing a quick search on Yahoo or Google for "online website builder" will bring up pages and pages of companies that offer this service. Some of the online companies include: www.homestead.com, www.ebizwebpages.com, and www.citymax.com. Charges and specific services will vary depending on the company you choose to work with. If you are going to use an online service, take the following into consideration before signing up:
- Pricing. Is everything included in one price? Do you even need what they have to offer? Many online services will offer many bells and whistles such as shopping carts, auto responders, and newsletters. Are you paying for services you will never use?
- Ease of use. Can you easily understand how to get information on your website?
- Support. Is support available 24/7? Is there a phone number you can call for answers or do you have to submit an online support ticket and wait for someone to get back to you?
- Do they offer a 30-day free trial so you can see if the site will work for you?
- What business tools do they offer: site statistics, helping you with promoting your site, online forms, chat rooms, etc.?
- What happens if you want to move the site to another hosting company? This may not be possible if you use their on-line software to develop your website.
Should you use a professional? A professional designer will have knowledge of web design and give your site a professional look. If your website comes off looking like an amateur designed it, you could lose customers. And a good designer doesn't just make a site "look good". They know the value of content and how to balance between visual elements and text so a reader can easily follow your site. A good designer will also know where to place important elements - such as keeping your phone number prominent and visible.
How do you choose a good web designer? First, ask for recommendations from people you know that have websites. If you don't know of anyone with a website, look through the phone book or better yet, do a search on Google or Yahoo for website designers in your local area. If a designer comes up at the top or near the top of the page, that designer has a good idea what search engines are looking for in a website. Call a few designers and see if they can give you a quote or will meet with you. Just like cleaning, there are many variables involved in designing a website and a good designer will need a lot of information before they can give you a quote.
If you want to design the site yourself, where do you begin? There are three things you will need: a domain name, a hosting company and a way to create your site.
1. Domain name. Your domain name should be something that clearly identifies your business on the World Wide Web. You can buy domain names from several different companies - GoDaddy.com, NetworkSolutions.com, or do a search on the internet for "domain name registrars". GoDaddy and Network Solutions have both been around many years and are considered reputable. We prefer working with GoDaddy for domain name registration, as their website is simple to use. Costs vary for domain names from $10 to $25 a year. Be aware that the only thing you get for the domain name fee is the use of that name.
2. A hosting company, which provides the computer (server) where your website will be located. This is a computer that is connected to the internet 24 hours a day 7 days a week. What should you look for in a hosting company?
- Look for one that has been around for several years
- What kind of support do they provide - is it 24/7? Do they allow phone calls or do you have to ask for support through e-mail or send a support ticket to get help?
- How do they back up your website?
- Where are they located?
- Does their website look professional?
- Costs - do you pay monthly or yearly? Is there a discount for paying for the full year?
- Do they have tutorials available?
3. Software to create the site, to upload the site, and to
create or adjust photographs and graphics.
There are many website design software programs you can buy and there are even a few free programs you can download. Well-known programs include FrontPage (although Microsoft has stopped making FrontPage and has switched to a program called Expressions), Dreamweaver and Coffee Cup. These programs are called WYSIWYG programs, or What You See Is What You Get. You can also use Notepad (which most computers have) or Textpad. With Notepad or Textpad you will only be working in HTML code and not be able to see the actual website until you look at it in an Internet browser.
Because websites contain photographs and other graphic images you will also need a program to either create or adjust images. Photoshop is a popular program, but is also expensive. Photoshop Elements is a smaller version of Photoshop and runs around $100. There are also free photo editing programs available on the Internet and are suitable for resizing graphics as well as making small changes (lightening, darkening, adjusting contrast, etc). Following are a few free photo editing programs:
http://www.getpaint.net/
http://www.gimp.org/
http://picasa.google.com/
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/PhotoPlus/default.asp
Some people can pick up web design and HTML concepts quickly, while others find these ideas hard to learn. Depending on your particular situation you might want to buy a book that explains HTML or the software program you bought or take a community education class. There are also many free tutorials on the Internet for both HTML and most website programs. A good site for learning HTML is www.w3schools.com.
Once your website is built you need to have a way to transfer the files from your computer to the hosting company. These programs are called FTP (file transfer programs). Once again there are free and paid programs available. Transferring files is a fairly easy process. You get the FTP information from your hosting company and use that information to log onto your site. Your FTP program will have two windows - one showing the files on your computer and one showing the files on your website. There is an arrow between the two windows and you merely highlight the file you want to transfer and click the arrow. Each FTP program is slightly different and your specific program will have detailed instructions on how to transfer files.
Once up and running it is up to you as to how often you update your website. Including new information and updating frequently is helpful to customers and attracts the attention of the search engines. Unless you are adding additional services or expanding your cleaning service area, your updates will most likely be minimal and be fairly easy to do.
With fewer people and businesses using the traditional methods of phone books and newspapers to find the services they need, it is important to expand your marketing efforts on to the World Wide Web. An investment of a few hundred dollars or an investment of your time into learning how to get a website up and running can pay off in new clients and profits for your cleaning business.
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Jean Hanson helps owners of residential cleaning companies build a more profitable and successful cleaning business through her online community at MyHouseCleaningBiz.com. Read inspirational cleaning success stories at http://www.cleaning-success.com, and sign up for House Cleaning Profit Tips at //www.myhousecleaningbiz.com.
