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Advertising my new bussiness

Hey all

In November i startted up my own Black Cab Service Company , my dads a cabbie and ive got a couple of numbers of drivers he is happy to use .

so far since startting up the website , ive spent about £140 Thats for the domain name , Webspace , 2,000 bussiness cards and a very small amount of advertising .

It has worked and there is a small amount of interest coming and so far after working out each job amount , i only need another £75 to start earning a "profit" its not profit cause its still not viable to hire in people to work for me as Admin/Office staff

My question is , on the cheap ( idealy £30 or less) how could i go about advertising in my local area? Im due to have a rest day from driving this friday and saturday and im going to use that to go and deliver about 1,000 cards door to door around our street , but what else can i do?

Thanks alot
Mitchell
Cashback: £0.00
£2 in a pot :£2.00

currently trying to become a millionaire , 1 penny at a time .....:rotfl:

Comments

  • steve1980
    steve1980 Posts: 2,334 Forumite
    I'm going to be cruel to be kind.....you're website is awful. It looks like it's been put together by a child (no offence if it has). Thanks for the Google Ads advertising all your competitors, that's a nice touch.

    You may want to check the spelling of some words on your site.....deliveries instead of deliverys is one of them.

    You can't say that all cabs take credit card payments in one breath and then say it's only via Paypal in the next.

    You mention about all the facilities that your cabs have but then go on to say that clients have to let you know!

    As your site is built with a flash background you can't scroll down the page unless you move the mouse to the right or left of the screen away from the cab picture.

    There are different fonts on most pages, not the best look to a site.

    As for your "profit" are you forgetting about the cost of the cab, tax, insurance, wear and tear etc?

    The major thing that really makes me want to scream......

    Registrant:
    London Black Cabs

    Registrant type:
    UK Individual

    Registrant's address:
    The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
    address omitted from the WHOIS service.

    UK Individual who is non trading? I don't think so.
    Estate Agent, Web Designer & All Round Geek!
  • Premier_2
    Premier_2 Posts: 15,141 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    steve1980 wrote: »
    ...You may want to check the spelling of some words on your site.....deliveries instead of deliverys is one of them....
    ...We wont sell on any details given and the only emails your get from us is 100% connectted to ...
    :doh: :eek:
    "Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 2010
  • CKhalvashi
    CKhalvashi Posts: 12,134 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Hey all

    In November i startted up my own Black Cab Service Company , my dads a cabbie and ive got a couple of numbers of drivers he is happy to use .

    so far since startting up the website , ive spent about £140 Thats for the domain name , Webspace , 2,000 bussiness cards and a very small amount of advertising .

    It has worked and there is a small amount of interest coming and so far after working out each job amount , i only need another £75 to start earning a "profit" its not profit cause its still not viable to hire in people to work for me as Admin/Office staff

    My question is , on the cheap ( idealy £30 or less) how could i go about advertising in my local area? Im due to have a rest day from driving this friday and saturday and im going to use that to go and deliver about 1,000 cards door to door around our street , but what else can i do?

    Thanks alot
    Mitchell

    Carding is one of the best ways to get going.

    As you’re in London, one of the things I refuse to do (apart from use Addison Lee) is get into a taxi paying cash. If it’s private, fair enough, but not for work purposes. Advertise accounts that will be paid by the end of the month, and for god’s sake credit check the company first.

    I know that Radio Cabs radio rent is around £20/week, to use as a top-up, so bear this in mind when pricing, especially when we owned a cab firm (2001-9), we were charging £100/wk as a drivers main source of income. This was outside London, though!

    One of the novel ideas is a Russian/Polish-speaking taxi service in my companys neck of the woods. I’d rather use this than a cockney accent, as I like to be able to speak my first language. This company is doing reasonably well.

    Just for clarification, are you running Hackney plates, or PHV? I can advise further when I have this!
    💙💛 💔
  • Mitchell285
    Mitchell285 Posts: 25 Forumite
    edited 15 February 2012 at 3:35PM
    # 2
    steve1980 , Thank you for your comments , although harsh , they are constructive . i will be spending the next couple of days sortting out them issues along with trying to sort out a way of letting the page scroll better .

    The card payments i thought made sence , our cabs do take cards , but some can only be taken via paypal for pre-booked jobs .

    I dont pay for the wear and tear , cab faults or any other forms of cab relatted issues . all our drivers are self employed and work for themselves , all they do is send a text when there startting for the day or night and then send another text for when they have finished .

    Also, with regard to Font on differant pages , they are the same . I made sure of that. all font names are the same and even down to the size of things . but i will double check .

    Ill be looking into GPS soon to get a better idea on where cabs are at any one time , as ive found a decent company that will do it for a good discount for 10 cabs or more , but thats later on , next year if at all .

    The WHOIS i dont know how to change , ill look into that when i can log onto the site on a safe connection .


    # 4
    CKhalvashi , can i ask ( maybe its a personal reason) why you wont pay cash unless its a minicab? Some of our drivers are on another radio circit Which charge £27 a week + 1 per job or £68 flat rate .

    We only use Proper Hackney Carriage Cabs and dont even touch Mini cabs . id rather walk instead of get in one of them . There a huge problem in London and do no good to those that work years to get the full licenses.

    I appreiate all the help you two have mentioned , i wont take any of the harsh stuff to heart as i know that your only trying to help .

    Thank you
    Cashback: £0.00
    £2 in a pot :£2.00

    currently trying to become a millionaire , 1 penny at a time .....:rotfl:
  • blacksta
    blacksta Posts: 919 Forumite
    Advertise in the local paper. stay away from companies that try to sell ad spaces in a local supermarket or pet shop - it is a waste of money and doesnt work
    I owe £3233 @ 0%
  • am
    am Posts: 47 Forumite
    Less is more with design. Apply this to your website.

    Try this for a comprehensive guide to digital marketing. Most of this is relatively in-expensive to do and applies to all types of business including yours.
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