help needed for my website

P

pampos

New member
Because there is no chance to get your customers i would like to ask if it is possible to PM me your website address just to get an idea how i have to design mine..Also if someone has a price list table it is also welcome :p

Thanks
 
It's not the design necessaily that is the most important if you are concerned with web traffic. Do you know about RSS Feeds?



Design ideas will help with layout, but make sure you get the source and metatags done correctly.



If you want more information on web development, email me.



My detail site is: The Auto Detailing Teacher | Professional Detailing Santa Barbara, California It serves a very niche market so it most likely will not fit for you. Also, prices do not matter at all between anyone. You need to figure out what you pay to do business and then charge what you need to make a living. Your per man hour should not be based on my prices or anyone elses.



I charge a min. of $50 per hour, while some friends of mine charge up to $100 per man hour. There are many variables that you need to take into account.



Best of luck,



Robert Regan

Auto Detailing Teacher
 
Hey pampos... I am going to disagree a little bit with WCD on the aspect of design. Design matters in all aspects of life including the web and a propective customer who googled your site might be turned off by the design and leave.



Your site should have a very clean design that is laid out in a manner that makes it easy for the user to navigate. They should know with just a glance where they are going on the site.



You also need to have clear consise information on your site.



I gotta run for now ill be back later though
 
i think that design matter,for example if you see an amazing car on the home page,you will click to it just to see more details about that car..

I am thinking to add an approximately price list,some advises for keeping the car as swirl free and clean as possible,explaining what i am doing exactly (the process maybe or something like that) customers cars,50/50 shots,pictures of paint defects etc etc..

What do you think about that??

Also the reason that i am asking for the price list it is just to know how it is going to be. for example :

washing+waxing

Paint correction + waxing

Full washing +paint correction(engine bay,wheels,interior +paint correction)

interior + paint correction

interior

etc etc



Also is it OK to post my web address to see what else it needs (it is not complete yet and it is in Greek : ) ),or it will be a spam??
 
Just a quickie Pampos,



Not car specific at all but ask those in the know about websites etc and there is a rule of thumb that when someone visits a website, they must be able to find what they are looking for within 4 mouse clicks otherwise they will get bored. This may not help with your website if there are not too many pages but something to think about.



Also I agree with 2K, clean design which looks professional, remember you want everyone who sees it to give you money!
 
trodd69 said:
Just a quickie Pampos,



Not car specific at all but ask those in the know about websites etc and there is a rule of thumb that when someone visits a website, they must be able to find what they are looking for within 4 mouse clicks otherwise they will get bored. This may not help with your website if there are not too many pages but something to think about.



Also I agree with 2K, clean design which looks professional, remember you want everyone who sees it to give you money!
Click to expand...



This is what i want to do.I want to add as much information as possible but with a nice and not boring way..

First of all i have to explain the difference of what i am doing and what the other detailers do.

I know it is not good idea to say that directly but i have to find a nice way to say that..For example today i detailed a car that have been polished 2 months ago.The owner paid about $200 and the car after that was full of holograms because of the wrong usage of a rotary polisher and they didn't even removed the swirls(i will post tomorrow the pics on C&B).

Believe me that i want to help my self to make money but i want also to ''help'' people not to paying for a bad service..I am also a customer in general and i don't want to be the idiot that gave my money for nothing.
 
[quote name='toyotaguy']i think mine is pretty well setup...glistening perfection is another site that I like, especially the pricing, yet I cant get people to pay close to that, so Ill continue to do my pricing...



enviousdetailing.com - Home (mine)





This has good navigation system. Good for 5 across the top and 4/5 down the left.



Across the top in usually the main areas of the site



Example: Home / Services / Gallery / Price List / Contact



Those are the core areas



Then down the left you want to highlight your services as this is the area that generates revenue



TOP: Home / Services / Gallery / Price List / Contact



LEFT SIDE:



Services

- Wash

- Super Wash

- Detail

- Super Detail

- Etc

- Extras



Also, aim for a basic outline of each page first and spread your work evenly across all pages. Try to avoid very long wide pages of unbroken text.
 
I do website design on the side. My advice is: if you are going to build it, build it right.



* Make sure the code (XHTML and CSS) is W3C compliant (preferably to XHTML 1.0 standards).

* Do not use tables as a means of layout design. Tables are meant to store data, not position it. Use CSS styling and div tags to create your layout.

* Make navigation as easy as possible.

* Content is key!



Here's my Mustang club's site, Mustangs Of Burlington -- Home. Something like this is a little too grungy and dark for a detailing website, but it may give you some ideas. This is just a simple 2 column CSS layout with a header and footer area.



If you want any more information or assistance on your site, shoot me a PM. I know I'm brand new to this site, but I plan to stick around for a while. ;)
 
In my defense, I was focusing on web traffic vs. design. Not that one is more important than the other, but web searches don't favor good looking design pages and that was my thinking. Design in itself is VERY important, especially in branding your business.



Pampos- make sure your website, business cards, postcards, etc. have the same "look". Use the same fonts, positioning of content (if you have a picture on the left side of your website then do the same with all other marketing material), and color scheme. If you can not get the same color exactly between postcards and website, then do black and white vs. trying to get it close.



Typical customer needs to see your business 7-10 times per year to remember who you are. Make regular mailings- but don't always mail about a special you are having. Use your postcards to build relationships. Do NOT focus on what YOU do, but focus on the customer. What does the customer GET for coming to you? Think about what you are really selling..a good detail or convenience? A good wax job or someone getting more time with their family?



Some good books on marketing are out there. Every time I seem to finish one and take pages of notes, a friend hands me a new one. Education never stops!



There is a 4-step process for making every sale- track your results with different marketing ideas and learn what it is your customers want.



Always communicate clearly and listen well- read your customer in the first two min. of a conversation and give them what they want, not what you think the car needs. When I order a coffee at Starbuck's the cashier doesn't try and talk me into a mocha.



There's so much more, but I'm getting ready to take a nice cruise tomorrow and still have to pack.



Good luck with the good information that has been shared thus far and sorry if my focus on web traffic and design was confusing.



Rob
 
WCD said:
In my defense, I was focusing on web traffic vs. design. Not that one is more important than the other, but web searches don't favor good looking design pages and that was my thinking. Design in itself is VERY important, especially in branding your business.



Pampos- make sure your website, business cards, postcards, etc. have the same "look". Use the same fonts, positioning of content (if you have a picture on the left side of your website then do the same with all other marketing material), and color scheme. If you can not get the same color exactly between postcards and website, then do black and white vs. trying to get it close.



Typical customer needs to see your business 7-10 times per year to remember who you are. Make regular mailings- but don't always mail about a special you are having. Use your postcards to build relationships. Do NOT focus on what YOU do, but focus on the customer. What does the customer GET for coming to you? Think about what you are really selling..a good detail or convenience? A good wax job or someone getting more time with their family?



Some good books on marketing are out there. Every time I seem to finish one and take pages of notes, a friend hands me a new one. Education never stops!



There is a 4-step process for making every sale- track your results with different marketing ideas and learn what it is your customers want.



Always communicate clearly and listen well- read your customer in the first two min. of a conversation and give them what they want, not what you think the car needs. When I order a coffee at Starbuck's the cashier doesn't try and talk me into a mocha.



There's so much more, but I'm getting ready to take a nice cruise tomorrow and still have to pack.



Good luck with the good information that has been shared thus far and sorry if my focus on web traffic and design was confusing.



Rob
Click to expand...



Many thanks!!!Have a nice cruise :cool:

The good thing is that i have been a sales man before that so i know some tricks about selling to people....

The other good thing is that i am studying psychology and believe me it helps me a lot with a strange way..

My business cards/website/fliers have the same design/image/concept so when a customer will see that design he will know who i am without words...

I am always asking the customers what they want me to do on their cars and then i give them the options that they have....

I don't know how 'hard' are other markets, but Cypriots customers are very difficult to approached...

They thing that they know everything about everything,and for them it is matter of 'brand'.

For example they will buy an old Mercedes without any extras(and maybe they don't even like it) just because of the name...

If you have the big name on the market they will follow as a lamb the shepherd....
 
All has been good advice... I also like Moe's website and wish there was enough demand here for detailing at those prices, but there simply isn't... charge what you can, but try not to over work yourself... I would say $40/hr is the minimum any quality detailer should be charging...I'm @ $50-55/hr. now.. and even though it's low compared to some, it works for me and enough people are willing to pay it.



My site is LUSTR Auto Detailing - Quality & Professional Detailing Services in the Chicago Area... I designed it myself not for marketing purposes through web searches, etc. in mind, rather just to showcase my work and provide some information... I'm working on putting together an info/diy sections with instructional videos, etc.
 
lecchilo said:
Since we're talking about websites, I'm curious what you guys think about mine...
Click to expand...

It's a pretty nice design. Simple and to the point. I'm not much on image rollovers like your navigation menu, but it doesn't look bad. I believe the header image is a little on the large side though.



My biggest problem is that the site is laid out using tables. This is a big no-no in modern web design. Tables are supposed to be used to display tabular data, not to position data and elements. The layout should be created using CSS (cascading style sheets) and div tags.
 
4fit? said:
It's a pretty nice design. Simple and to the point. I'm not much on image rollovers like your navigation menu, but it doesn't look bad. I believe the header image is a little on the large side though.



My biggest problem is that the site is laid out using tables. This is a big no-no in modern web design. Tables are supposed to be used to display tabular data, not to position data and elements. The layout should be created using CSS (cascading style sheets) and div tags.
Click to expand...



I'm not trying to argue here just learn... why is it a big no-no? I'm not an expert on web-design as I just learned Dreamweaver partly through school and partly on my own, so I did the best I could with what I know... I know there are the new styles, etc. and I was thinking about maybe doing it in flash in the future, but for now this suits me well, at least until I learn how to do the other stuff haha...



I just want to know why exactly it's a big no-no, since it works fine, etc.... again, just want to learn
 
lecchilo said:
I'm not trying to argue here just learn... why is it a big no-no? I'm not an expert on web-design as I just learned Dreamweaver partly through school and partly on my own, so I did the best I could with what I know... I know there are the new styles, etc. and I was thinking about maybe doing it in flash in the future, but for now this suits me well, at least until I learn how to do the other stuff haha...



I just want to know why exactly it's a big no-no, since it works fine, etc.... again, just want to learn
Click to expand...



Here are a few good articles regarding tables vs CSS layouts (note: not my titles).

Why avoiding tables (for layout) is important

CSS Layouts Vs. Table Layouts - Alternate Browsers and Accessibility Issues - Accessible Web Design

Why tables for layout is stupid: problems defined, solutions offered



And I wasn't trying to say that you did a poor design. Was just trying to point out a few things. Also, it is becoming increasingly important in modern web design to make pages that are W3C compliant. W3C is the committee that makes the "rules" that web designers are suggested to adhere to. Here is the W3C check of your homepage.



Again, I am not downing your design. It certainly serves it's purposes and is an overall pleasing design. I am just trying to share a few tidbits of information that I wish people would have shared with me when I was first getting started. I am just now back in school for Web Technologies, so most of what I know is through research, practice, and tons of trial and error.



Cheers

-Jeff-
 
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