[NCMCarpentry]

Well I'll be taking the plunge very soon and working for myself full-time. My company will primarily be doing small-scale general carpentry and renovation type jobs.

I want a website eventually but I don't know much about them and need to do a lot more research before I build one myself or have someone build one for me. Ideally I would like the majority of my work to come from word of mouth, that tends to give you the best customers in my experience and the website will just be something to farther separate me from the bottom feeders.

My question is, for a business card would it look unprofessional for a smaller company like mine to have an @gmail.com etc email address on it versus an @mywebsite.com address?

I think business cards could be a huge marketing tool for me and want to get some printed ASAP but would like some opinions before making a decision.

 

[JBM]

I have a gmail email.

Have professional cards made and it wont matter.

 

[WBailey1041]

I have a gmail account.

Ditto, No one wants cards. My site was 1k out the door, see for yourself. www.guttercleaningnc.com The brilliant assistant built it. Google gutter cleaning Raleigh NC or Cary, NC and I am the top or near with no seo work. I haven't spend money on marketing in years. Get a website, pay a pro to do it.

 

[BamBamm5144]

Ditto, No one wants cards. My site was 1k out the door, see for yourself. www.guttercleaningnc.com The brilliant assistant built it. Google gutter cleaning Raleigh NC or Cary, NC and I am the top or near with no seo work. I haven't spend money on marketing in years. Get a website, pay a pro to do it.

How many gutter cleaners do you compete against in Raleigh?

 

[NCMCarpentry]

Alright, well I'll likely get a couple hundred cards printed up while I am working on getting a website sorted. I have a few people I know who can get those cards into the right hands fast.

 

[WBailey1041]

How many gutter cleaners do you compete against in Raleigh?

Honestly, I've lost count of the "other guys". I'm sure there are more than 75.

 

[skillman]

Well I'll be taking the plunge very soon and working for myself full-time. My company will primarily be doing small-scale general carpentry and renovation type jobs. I want a website eventually but I don't know much about them and need to do a lot more research before I build one myself or have someone build one for me. Ideally I would like the majority of my work to come from word of mouth, that tends to give you the best customers in my experience and the website will just be something to farther separate me from the bottom feeders. My question is, for a business card would it look unprofessional for a smaller company like mine to have an @gmail.com etc email address on it versus an @mywebsite.com address? I think business cards could be a huge marketing tool for me and want to get some printed ASAP but would like some opinions before making a decision.

Don't worry about that email . Get some cards made up . Hand them out to friends , family plus tell them to hand out to there friends and family . Start the ball rolling . Then work on your website .

 

[SailingandSuch]

I did the cards before the website BUT I did have my domain address already so I could put it on the cards.

I had the website up shortly after I started handing out cards. I built my website myself, it wasn't hard but I tend to be a bit of a nerd and you can learn just about anything on Youtube.

Also, it's good have a catchy URL. I think I did pretty well on mine.
BuildWithRLS.com

Feel free to check it out here - RLS Construction http://buildwithrls.com

 

[Driftweed]

Cards are cheap. Get em. Should never not have a card on hand.

 

[TNTRenovate]

My question is, for a business card would it look unprofessional for a smaller company like mine to have an @gmail.com etc email address on it versus an @mywebsite.com address?

My feeling is yes, I don't care how small you are it can look unprofessional.

I did the cards before the website BUT I did have my domain address already so I could put it on the cards.

I had the website up shortly after I started handing out cards. I built my website myself, it wasn't hard but I tend to be a bit of a nerd and you can learn just about anything on Youtube.

Also, it's good have a catchy URL. I think I did pretty well on mine.
BuildWithRLS.com

Feel free to check it out here - RLS Construction http://buildwithrls.com

This is what I would suggest. For a few hundred bucks you can purchase the domain, hosting and get at least 5 email address. I would also agree that finding a catchy URL and something that wasn't more than 10-14 characters is ideal.

If I had to do it over again I would have gone with my domain. It's too hard to give out over the phone, so I usually have them either go to my site and use the Contact Us form or give them my g-mail address.

[email protected] (PINA!)

 

[pcplumber]

My feeling is yes, I don't care how small you are it can look unprofessional.



This is what I would suggest. For a few hundred bucks you can purchase the domain, hosting and get at least 5 email address. I would also agree that finding a catchy URL and something that wasn't more than 10-14 characters is ideal.

If I had to do it over again I would have gone with my domain. It's too hard to give out over the phone, so I usually have them either go to my site and use the Contact Us form or give them my g-mail address.

[email protected] (PINA!)

I do business with many companies that use gmail and I think no less of these people. There are many reasons companies use gmail such asause it is easier to make changes, easier to set up, etc. For my email I use [email protected] and that is an entirely different name that is not associated with my website.

I started several businesses, and I am currently starting an underground utility construction company and I am purchasing a nightclub. The thing that is the most critical before a website is having business cards because you need to give them to vendors and everyone you meet. Creating a website is not a sure thing, may take a year or more before you get results and you may never get adequate results.

Since you are starting your business I will re-write some info regarding where to get customers.

One terrific place to meet people who need your services is to go to real estate club meetings. Go to meetup.com and you will find a meeting almost every day that you can go to and you will always meet people who want to do business with you.

I go to a club in Los Angeles (Manhattan Beach area) called FIBI. The information you get at this club is super amazing. They never try to sell you a service or product and you will meet very successful investors who will tell you everything you need to know to be successful. You will meet investors more than willing to put up all the cash for a deal. You won't need one penny and they will do all the due-dilligence and split the profit 50-50. There are several FIBI clubs throughout the country. I learn more in one 2-hour meeting than I can learn from reading books for an entire year.

The problem with real estate right now is there are millions of investors who have $millions and they can't find enough good houses to invest their money in. You will find hundreds of these investors at real estate clubs looking for people like you who may be able to find good investment deals where they can put their money to work. You find the deal and they split the profit. It is that simple! You really can get rich in real estate without investing one penny of your own money. In fact, find a few good houses to flip, make a little profit on them and you will have people throwing money at you to get in on the action like people throw their money on a hot crap table. You will also meet these people at club meetings and then you will realize what it means to get rich by using Other People's Money

 

[TNTRenovate]

I do business with many companies that use gmail and I think no less of these people. There are many reasons companies use gmail such asause it is easier to make changes, easier to set up, etc. For my email I use [email protected] and that is an entirely different name that is not associated with my website.

I started several businesses, and I am currently starting an underground utility construction company and I am purchasing a nightclub. The thing that is the most critical before a website is having business cards because you need to give them to vendors and everyone you meet. Creating a website is not a sure thing, may take a year or more before you get results and you may never get adequate results.

Since you are starting your business I will re-write some info regarding where to get customers.

One terrific place to meet people who need your services is to go to real estate club meetings. Go to meetup.com and you will find a meeting almost every day that you can go to and you will always meet people who want to do business with you.

I go to a club in Los Angeles (Manhattan Beach area) called FIBI. The information you get at this club is super amazing. They never try to sell you a service or product and you will meet very successful investors who will tell you everything you need to know to be successful. You will meet investors more than willing to put up all the cash for a deal. You won't need one penny and they will do all the due-dilligence and split the profit 50-50. There are several FIBI clubs throughout the country. I learn more in one 2-hour meeting than I can learn from reading books for an entire year.

The problem with real estate right now is there are millions of investors who have $millions and they can't find enough good houses to invest their money in. You will find hundreds of these investors at real estate clubs looking for people like you who may be able to find good investment deals where they can put their money to work. You find the deal and they split the profit. It is that simple! You really can get rich in real estate without investing one penny of your own money. In fact, find a few good houses to flip, make a little profit on them and you will have people throwing money at you to get in on the action like people throw their money on a hot crap table. You will also meet these people at club meetings and then you will realize what it means to get rich by using Other People's Money

Whether you do, people do raise an eyebrow when they see it. It's not but a few more bucks a year and they are just as easy to setup with the majority of big name hosting sites. Godaddyv takes ask of 30 seconds to create one.

No real reason not to and you can't say that it doesn't look more professional and legit, especially if you have a website.

As for the website advice you need one. Abd the dinner you get it going the sooner you will benefit from it. I agree that it can take 6 months to a year to real see traffic so your advice to wait is the wrong advice.
Get the url, email, business cards and then start building the site as you can. WIX makes it super easy and had some decent seo tools.

 

[SectorSecurity]

I agree with TNT, pop on over to godaddy or your favorite domain register and pick a domain, and get email hosting, you can bundle in web hosting or leave it till later.

Will cost you about 20$ a year and will give you an email address you want.

They are very easy to setup, GoDaddy takes me about 5 minutes to setup a new domain, and email hosting.

 

[gastek]

My wife's cousin who has been in business for over 14 years has no email address on his cards. He doesn't even have a web site. He has a great business and never needed email or a web site. His business cards has his company name on it, his name, phone number and one line of text that says what he does. That's it. He gets work from word of mouth a those that do find him in of all places, the phone book.

 

[WBailey1041]

the phone book.

That's one sure way to waste money around here! I couldn't put my hands on a phone book if my life depended on it! Last year 3 different books sat in the front drive until recycling day, I peeled the magnets off for the fridge and tossed them in the recycling bin.

 

[pinwheel]

Some of you guys really overthink things. Yes, buy 500 cards, as said, they're cheap, but at least you'll have started the ball rolling. Next in line before worrying about a website, is spend some money on signage for your vehicles & some yard signs.

By all means, go ahead & get a website, but don't feel like it's 100% necessary to start building your business. There's lots more ways to get name recognition than a website. One of the best, is doing quality work, & make sure that every client you work for is satisfied when they hand you the check. When people feel they got good value for their dollar, they'll be very excited when they talk to their friends, family & co workers. Those are the people you want to be working for, not strangers who randomly found your name through a google search.

 

[TNTRenovate]

Some of you guys really overthink things. Yes, buy 500 cards, as said, they're cheap, but at least you'll have started the ball rolling. Next in line before worrying about a website, is spend some money on signage for your vehicles & some yard signs.

By all means, go ahead & get a website, but don't feel like it's 100% necessary to start building your business. There's lots more ways to get name recognition than a website. One of the best, is doing quality work, & make sure that every client you work for is satisfied when they hand you the check. When people feel they got good value for their dollar, they'll be very excited when they talk to their friends, family & co workers. Those are the people you want to be working for, not strangers who randomly found your name through a google search.

Sounds like you put some real thought into this, unlike us who over think things.

Word if mouth takes time. Yard signs abd truck lettering are great, but neglecting a website on day one is a mistake.

In today's world a sure says you are legit. Like it it not it's the truth. A domain us cheap to grab and in a few days you can build a decent WIX site with their templates abd seo tools. Work on it over the next few weeks and you will have both.

 

[pinwheel]

Sounds like you put some real thought into this, unlike us who over think things.

Word if mouth takes time. Yard signs abd truck lettering are great, but neglecting a website on day one is a mistake.

In today's world a sure says you are legit. Like it it not it's the truth. A domain us cheap to grab and in a few days you can build a decent WIX site with their templates abd seo tools. Work on it over the next few weeks and you will have both.

So, based on your logic, the man follows your plan & tomorrow he will have them beating down his door wanting him to work for them?

I have no clue how I was ever able to build a successful business without a website. To this day, I barely have a website & I've been doing this for the better part of 20 years. Yet, somehow, I field 2-10 calls a day with people wanting me to work for them.

 

[BamBamm5144]

So, based on your logic, the man follows your plan & tomorrow he will have them beating down his door wanting him to work for them? I have no clue how I was ever able to build a successful business without a website. To this day, I barely have a website & I've been doing this for the better part of 20 years. Yet, somehow, I field 2-10 calls a day with people wanting me to work for them.

I would say change your phone number and business name and try starting out from scratch without a website.

It isn't expensive to do a website and it adds legitimacy to a company.

 

[SectorSecurity]

Lets not confuse having a website and having a domain, you can have a domain name and email address at that domain without having to do anything regarding a website.