Wanting to Expand Business

paddyrg

Any tips on building my own site?

You could also try drupalgardens and wordpress (hosted) sites, they're a little more involved but still mouse-driven.

GolfBravo

Just had a quick look at mrsite.com sample websites - they're quite outdated in terms of SEO (H1/H2 headings, tags, lots of temporary redirects and duplicate titles, etc.). In other words their websites would be a nightmare to optimise for search engines, so customers would find it difficult to find your website. This is usually the biggest problem with most DIY website builders.

I would suggest you look at Wordpress (although it may appear a steep learning curve at first), preferably hosted but make sure they would allow you to install plugins, eg. Yoast SEO and Yoast Local SEO. Then maybe get a professional template (£30-£40) to make it look less "like a template".

The key is have the website perform well in local searches (within your local community). Also with Wordpress you could blog a little to get some inbound links, plus link it to your LinkedIn/Twitter/Google+. A new website starts from 0, so you need to concentrate on driving some website traffic asap - optimise the content for local searches, natural language queries and social media.

HTH

aj9648

Sorry to be dub but I thought Wordpress was primarily a blogging site?

GolfBravo

Wordpress is a CMS (content management system), it is used to easily manage content, eg. a blog.

Notable Wordpress users

paddyrg

aj9648 wrote: »

Sorry to be dub but I thought Wordpress was primarily a blogging site?

Primarily, but you can use the same tools to make a static site

hearth

A lot of small businesses use Wordpress for their company sites. The basic version of Wordpress is easy to install, but you'll need add theme and plugins for a business site. Ask around your friends and maybe they could help you.

Bonzowaite

GolfBravo wrote: »

Just had a quick look at mrsite.com sample websites - they're quite outdated in terms of SEO (H1/H2 headings, tags, lots of temporary redirects and duplicate titles, etc.). In other words their websites would be a nightmare to optimise for search engines, so customers would find it difficult to find your website. This is usually the biggest problem with most DIY website builders.

I would suggest you look at Wordpress (although it may appear a steep learning curve at first), preferably hosted but make sure they would allow you to install plugins, eg. Yoast SEO and Yoast Local SEO. Then maybe get a professional template (£30-£40) to make it look less "like a template".

The key is have the website perform well in local searches (within your local community). Also with Wordpress you could blog a little to get some inbound links, plus link it to your LinkedIn/Twitter/Google+. A new website starts from 0, so you need to concentrate on driving some website traffic asap - optimise the content for local searches, natural language queries and social media.

HTH

I agree that wordpress would be preferable and the learning curve is not that great provided you don't want your site to do anything ridiculously fancy. mrsite looks very expensive for what they are offering. I can't see much evidence of an active community of members to help each other out and the lack of any sort of free trial would put me off.

Bonzowaite

hearth wrote: »

A lot of small businesses use Wordpress for their company sites. The basic version of Wordpress is easy to install, but you'll need add theme and plugins for a business site. Ask around your friends and maybe they could help you.

I used Elegant Themes - very nice and only cost me $39 for 80+ professional themes.

aj9648

Hi guys

Just an update - managed to get my site up and running. Although I have had quite a few new clients, they have come through word of mouth or through Yell.

I am struggling with traffic to my site and getting clients through there - any hints??

Kayalana99

I was having those random conversations you do with my Dad last week, and he has a few websites around. He told me that he only uses his website for information purposes because really ~ your never going to get found by people searching the web unless you want to pay for google advertisng or loads of money / time climbing up the 'ladder' of google.

Whilst websites have their advantages, people really shouldn't (esp small businesses) expect to get people randomly finding their website and signing up. If you search pay roll into google how many companies would you find?

You can pay for advertising if you think it would be worth it....your best bet is to get out their and advertise your website yourself and use it in that respect.