My site has been up and running for about one and a half years. Started out with a cookie cutter site on GoDaddy, then found a site called Digital Point Forums where a lot of talented people in the web industry frequent and many of them are either freelancing or still in school. I found a programmer and web/logo designer who could also help me with SEO. I then had a more professional site put up. In the beginning I did all the work myself, but could never make it past the 2nd page on keywords. Now I'm on the first page for any keyword that you could think of in Houston. If I had to do the math, most of my business still comes from word of mouth; but even word of mouth now is mostly people asking for references on the net and enthusiast forums. I've been in the auto reconditioning industry in one way or another for 17 years, and was just really never a fan of the computer because I was always working and now I'm addicted with all the new technology. There's just so many ways to market your business on the net, and more gadgets come out everyday. O.K, I went off on a tangent, but to make a really long story short the web has been good to me. I could go on and on about what my site needs(still has a long way to go), but in the beginning I wanted a flashy site, but I've learned that a site that people can navigate, has a lot of info, and relevant content for SE's to spider is a must.
