Making A Living Online With Construction Related Website

Jordy3738

Is anyone here making a living off of an online construction related website or blog?

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Free-Cabinet Repair eBook | Adjusting Cabinet Doors | Formica Kitchen Cabinets

Martin Co

I'm making a darn good one : ) All of my work comes from my website! Couldn't have made a better investment, above all, a good web guy to do it for you..

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MOTB

I think you meant to say "Are any contractors generating enough leads that are converting to a sale, all generated by your website?" Most contractors do not focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in order to generate leads, and rather go to other forum topics to complain about wasted money they spent on lead generation services (who all mazimize SEO to get the same leads that the contractors could get themselves). The answer to your question will become more positive over time once every contractor realizes they need a website and SEO to generate leads. For me, I make a living with a focus on making contractors more efficient with their business processes using the Internet. Best of luck.
Brian

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Helping contractors find work, manage jobs, communicate with others and get paid quicker using software over the Internet

jaymelone

I will be, come April when my site is live!

MOTB hit the nail on the head. You should inimally get a traditional website up and optimized. List yourself locally in the Google Local Business Center, Yelp, and the other top notch referral sites out there. Guest blog on DIY.com and other sites. Join the discussion on Twitter. Next up, start thinking about how the world of computing is quickly moving to mobile.

Technology waits for no one.

THINKPAINTING

No......we get leads from our site but many of them are like YP leads, tire kickers, looking for lowest price but Mercedes Paint job...

Its worth the investment but do it right and get a company like Footbridge or Clear Image which have affordable packages....

Do a seach on the web in your working area and see what companys come up...

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www.paintingexperts.com
www.thinkpainting.net

lawndart

Really? I find that the leads from my website are a much better quality than any other form of advertising that I do. I had a customer last Friday practically begging me to do their job (we're booked up 2 months). They said "my company was the only one they wanted to do business with" because of my website.

MOTB

I saw your site and believe you. Excellent site that promotes you do a quality job. I am sure you will still be asked about good deals, but no one will just approach you assuming you are the cheapest. You are practicing what you are preaching. Best of luck to you. Brian

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Helping contractors find work, manage jobs, communicate with others and get paid quicker using software over the Internet

THINKPAINTING

Wow! First off I know alot of contractors and none of them are booked for 1 week let alone 2 months...

As for website leads, for me like I said its no different than YP people are shopping and getting a few bids there are lots of contractors with good professional looking websites.

Hey if its working for you in this economy and your booked for 2 months God Bless ya.....I've been in this business since the 70's and never seen it this bad at least where I work...

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www.paintingexperts.com
www.thinkpainting.net

karunnt

Most business websites are really not professionally done. They don't have the feel that the business owner is sincerely interested in attracting customers from their website. And they don't look like they have been updated for month or years.

So what confidence do prospects have that they are even reading their email or contact form messages?

THINKPAINTING

Well. I think my website is pretty good, and most of my competitors are as well? Like I said if it’s working for you then great!

The fact is the web is the modern YP and when most people are looking for a contractor they now go to the internet and look at the first few company's that pop up on Google or yahoo or service magic...etc...

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www.paintingexperts.com
www.thinkpainting.net

MACSTAFF

Hey Jordy, Are you talking about web sites generating revenues or leads for business?
There are many web sites generating revenues from advertisers and membership fees and so forth.

Can you clarify your question?

tinner666

Steady stream of clients for me. I'm booked for about 3 months. And they keep calling.

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Frank Slate Roof Repairs, Richmond, Va.

lawndart

Thank you Brian. I think alot of people underestimate just how good some of these professional web designers are. I started out designing my first site. It generated some business, but I soon realized that I would be better off paying someone to do it for me, and boy has it paid off.

jhcontracting

Question: on the average what can you expect to pay for a good web design. I did my own and it is a bust. I get only 50 hits a month and nothing off of it. What am I doing wrong.

festerized

JH
You have to be careful on this site when asking about help with DIY web design/SEO
You may offend the guys who where stupid enough to pay someone else to do it for them LOL

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Addition Contractor Bayville Home Addition Monmouth Beach NJ Contractor Jackson NJ

“Photography is not art, It’s just a Xerox of what just happened”

custrel

Festerized, your site is fine, and I'm not slamming you by any means, but there are major differences in terms of look, functionality, style, font, and readability between your site and Lawndart's.

It's easy to see which one was professionally designed, and I can believe he gets plenty of traffic from that site.

I'm curious what the price range for a site like that costs.

lawndart

Your trying to do something that would be done better if you hired someone to do it. I had 52 unique visitors to my sight TODAY with over 250 page views. I get on average between 5-10 leads a week from my site right now. It's money well spent.

Thanks for the compliment Custrel, This site cost me $1,300 to build.. This designer was recommended by others who frequent CT, and they all have similar results. It actually was the best $1,300 I've ever spent on marketing my company.

lawndart

If you think paying someone to increase my leads by 800% compared to my old DIY site is stupid, you should probably pay more attention.

Not only am I receiving much more leads, the leads are of a higher quality than before. If you think that by me making more money now, because of my descision to hire a pro is stupid, then you should take a good look in the mirror.

festerized

Custrel thanks for the support
I have compared my site to other contractor’s sites and I wanted to do something different.
Every site I seen is flashy with lots of words. I was lucky enough to take and save lots of pics from my years of building. I have a great show case of projects in varies stages. Pics are a great way to connect with customers. Much better than just a bunch of mumbled words that you have to squint your eyes to read.
I know what I’m doing connects with customers, they all tell me it’s better than the other sites they have visited
Bdart, Yet another sully victim out to get me without prior inquires. Seems to be a pattern.
I joined this site to gain knowledge and share my own. Instead I’m getting bashed buy a guy who clearly has over run this site.
How many more are out there? I counted 6 so far

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Addition Contractor Bayville Home Addition Monmouth Beach NJ Contractor Jackson NJ

“Photography is not art, It’s just a Xerox of what just happened”

karunnt

Custrel,

Here is a few sample sites I created:

http://0i5q2uwrou.thelostmenu.com
http://4leroujlu7.thelostmenu.com
http://f0lexiukoa.thelostmenu.com (not finished yet)

They have a very basic Wordpress installation for demonstration purposes only. I have several sites in the works that have fancy javascript sliders, tabs, etc. I do not have experience with flash at all though.

I charge somewhere between $500-700 for the level of site similar to Lawndart's if the client provides the content. All I need is a brief description of the type of site and a few sample sites that the client likes. They only pay if they like the design. Then they pay 50% and I code the design into wordpress. Then they pay the remaining 50% and I install it onto their hosting account. One year warranty - I fix all errors.

Wordpress is pretty easy to understand and there are lots of info for the DIY'er on how to make it seo friendly.