Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

lostinrates

Doozergirl wrote: »

Sigh. Me, me, me. Sorry guys.

Don't be sorry. Nice people are here to listen to ''me'' moments. Rejoice in the nice thread ability to have ''me'' moments.

lostinrates

Doozer, if it helps from a clients experience?

We are looking for local builders right now. My architect has given me strict instructions.....local ''name'' first and not three but FIVE examples of work.

When you don't know an area or liv in one of those places where personal recommendation is as rare as hens teeth....internet would help...BUT my fear is it would push prices up. Making sure your client knows if you are good value despite being ''visible'' would help.

Personal recommendation is good...but then...I know my mother writes references for her chap all the time....and tbh....I'm not usig him here despite that he's willing to come to here. People have different ''expectations'' and you don't know what they are unless you know the people really well. And even then, its nothing like seeing the work...and seeing the value.

Shame you're not near me though!


FWIW also just told my drainage peeps I would recommend them....they've exceeded expectations compared to parents' chap last year ding a similar job. I'm very happy.



And....(fanfare)....when nice people visit me I can now offer you a working loo! Hurrah. Its still outside ATM....just it goes into a working tank! YIPPEE! Curry tonight I think

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

And....(fanfare)....when nice people visit me I can now offer you a working loo! Hurrah. Its still outside ATM....just it goes into a working tank! YIPPEE! Curry tonight I think

It's common statements like these, and what they convey, that lost you that 17%.

PasturesNew

Doozergirl wrote: »

one click wordpress,

Good move.

Once it's installed, go into the settings and set it up so that it works on pages, not posts. So it'll act "like a website" with pages. But also, it's a blog.

Think what you want on your "home page" and create that as a page. Then in the settings you'll be able to select that page to always show when people arrive at your website.

Use posts to post stuff that you're doing, that you like, examples, etc. These will get picked up by the search engines better than the pages in the early stages, and will held create traffic to your website.

Now, the thing is .... I could wax lyrical for the next 2 hours about keywords/keyphrases, plugins, etc. But I won't. For now it's enough you have started something

If you were closer I'd pop round for coffee/biscuits/cake and a quick lesson.

PasturesNew

Doozer, this is roughly what I'd do on Day One:

- get a better theme than the standard one. For now stick to the ones available through wordpress.org as they're better written/more robust and shouldn't give trouble: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/ This is the bit I get sucked into, I've lost weeks of time searching for good themes.

- get some plugins, these give you extra functionality. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

On day 1 I'd look at one that does a daily backup and emails it to me, all-in-one for SEO, Wordpress stats (but you need a free Wordpress.com account for that), broken link checker (in case any site you link to moves/changes), link within (at the bottom of each post it'll automatically show other posts you wrote that are similar, to keep your site visitors on your site). I probably use 30-40 plugins per site. It's another time sucker though!! If you've not much time, just get a plugin that does a backup for you and emails it to you.... even though you've no idea what to do with it, it's better to have one in case, than not

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think the name itself is apt: Burkes.

who's who is a useful tool when trying to fund raise/ask for donations to charity things. You can often see if someone has an interest or an angle that you can call on. You don't pay for entry....or maybe you can, I wouldn't know, but you don't have to pay to me included if noteworthy.

michaels

Its probably true - ones quoting at the moment asked me to send them the plans, I asked for the address and was shocked when they started quoting a street address - I explained I meant email address to be told that they don't do email!

silvercar wrote: »

You want a good builder not a fancy IT expert. A local well recommended handyman comes round to quote with a pencil behind his ear and a notebook. He can only just use a mobile phone and has never touched the web.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's common statements like these, and what they convey, that lost you that 17%.

Posh girls poo too.


Do you think that would work on a t shirt?

(I think its the ''aspirant'' who try and pretend they don't)

inspector_monkfish

lemonjelly wrote: »

I'm sure I speak for all of us in sending her Nice People's best wishes...:)

Did you find a copy of the magazine?

lostinrates

Yesterday when I was out I saw a fabulous hall table. A hall table is not an essential like heating, or sewage....or even an important like veg garden. But I love it. I'm wondering whether I can justify going back for it......its second hand so one chance only.....and sort of 1930s feeling.