Building an empire

treescaler

treescaler

Location
Chattanooga, TN
My company, Andersen Tree Specialists, just expanded from Nashville to Chattanooga. I have been appointed owner/partner of this new division. Although I have many contacts here, it is still tricky getting our name out there.

What are some suggestions that you buzzers could give that will help promote my company to the right clientele?

Currently we have volunteered at the local Arboretum. We are also preparing to join a BNI. I have built a website http://treescaler9.wix.com/andersentreechatty and a facebook page as well https://www.facebook.com/andersentreechattanooga but those only go so far. Go check them out and give us a "like."

Any suggestions on how to recognized in a search engine?

So I guess I'm really just looking for all the suggestions I can get. Listening intently...

Andersen Tree Specialists Chattanooga
 
Donate on arbor day.. Take out ads in the local classifieds paper. Don't try putting the local little guy's out of business. Maybe try bidding on bigger projects for DOT or towns for steady income and getting your trucks seen. Employ locals
 
Im told wix leaves lots out to be recognized in search engines. Coupled with the fact your still using wix's free domain name doesn't help.
 
Im not an internet pro, but we have one that visits the buzz and im sure she'll chime in. Shes currently doing mine as i had one in the works with wix but trashed it after a talk with her. Shes doing a great job on mine so far!
 
Thanks, Brendon! Yes, it's me here, the computer maven with a tree fetish. BTW, Brendon, you need to get going on those domain registrations at GoDaddy
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Wix is not a good platform for more reasons than there are bumps on a log (in fact, some friends I have in the IT industry don't think Wix is going to be in business much longer). Normally I do Wordpress websites but for Brendon's needs and his hope to spend a little time on the site, we went with Weebly which has a free version as well as a paid version. Weebly websites have better structure to the content you put into it which helps search engines like Google to "read" it. It is a drag and drop interface and if you have the time you can probably figure it out. Some Weebly users move up to the more complex platform that Wordpress offers. I can take a look at your website as it is now and make recommendations.

Google Places for Business is one of my main recommendations. It's free, and helps you build internet visibility in a field that may be crowded; you can also get reviews submitted to your Google Business page once it's established and the more reviews the better ranking you'll get (even bad reviews, believe or not, will help--I guess it is like Oscar Wilde's quote, "The only worse thing than being talked about is NOT being talked about").

Submitting a website to Bing, Yahoo, YP directories help. And creating your own profile on Yelp! might be a good idea. Again, get more reviews.

Will check out what you have, and you can always PM me.

Carol
 
Also, try out guest appearances at local BNI chapters--they cost a fortune and each chapter is different in terms of effectiveness. Local Chamber of Commerce is less costly and may be a better alternative.

I would agree on taking advantage of upcoming Arbor Day to maybe offer do some education at local school (keeping in mind the adults present to subtly pitch your skills). Watch for certain community activities like plans to build small parks or playgrounds and offer to help; same with land conservancies that might be looking to establish walking trails and may need some professional know-how how to prune trees and thin thick stands (and identify dangerous trees that need removal). The Arboretum's great idea but the little community efforts may reach people who might otherwise not recognize your name.

Carol
 
Could you elaborate a little more on why Wix isn't so good? I did a Wix site myself and have gotten good reviews from customers and lots of work. I also get decent search engine rankings, I think. Just wondering if I should be already thinking about upgrading. Thanks!

www.arboreco.ca BTW
 
+1 for Weebly! My website was made using weebly and a bit of know how.

www.rutterurbanforstry.ca

Obviously not a slick professional design but it looks great. I think anyway.
We get good search engine results and spend a little on adwords.

With a new business of mine we hired a pro designer to complete the website at a cost of about $3k. They set everything up for us, complete with editing ability.

www.biothermic.ca

The two sites may serve as a good comparison of what you can do for free with limited savvy and what a professional can do for you.

vince
 
Hi Matt,

I see that you sprung for a premium version of Wix and that has given you some added advantages over the free version. Wix, as I have read from many experts in the field, has a couple of disadvantages. One is that if you decide to change your template or theme, you cannot just try on a different theme, you have to build all over from scratch. Some web designers are frustrated also that you cannot employ added HTML or CSS code to customize the site a bit.

The inability to move your Wix content between templates is a hint of what happens if you want to export your content to another platform: per my research, you can't. You're stuck with them. Weebly has imposed more structure to how the information is stored and this actually makes it easier to move between templates. If you decide to go to Wordpress in the future in order to add some tools like being able to build a email newsletter customer base, Weebly allows you to export your files to do so.

I'd be interested in what searches are bringing customers to your website. Is there a difference in performance between the French and English texts and searchability?

It may be you've got enough content and return on your investment with Wix to keep it the way it is. If your traffic starts to flatline, you will likely be looking at a major reinvestment of time and possibly money.

I see another post about Weebly so I will shut up!

Carol
 
Connect as a "friend" with the local shade tree commission or environmental commission. Offer to do a presentation to their members. Same with a master gardeners group. Check out property managers, community associations, and rental property owners. Put together a presentation to use.

Your website is a great marketing tool but it still leaves it up to the client to seek out the service. This is the low hanging fruit.
 
Here's a tip for you all on how well your website is doing (this is another Hubspot freebie).

Go to this site, https://marketing.grader.com/

Type in your website's URL and your email and then run the report. You may be amazed to see the results. A gorgeous site may actually grade very poorly in terms of moving a potential customer to a buyer, and an okay site may grade much better. Hubspot will give you free advice on what can be improved.

A really low rating (I've seen as low as 18 out of 100) should have you looking at substance over a pretty face.

G'night.

Carol
 
Nice avatar druidcarol, looks like a women doing ballet!
Thanks for the posts too, my brother was just recommending wordpress. cheers.
 
Oh dear, I hope I haven't become known as a total "buzz kill".

I do know that I am pretty passionate about getting the most out of a web design besides something that looks attractive or cool. That said, my interest in helping the arborists on this forum is largely because what you do is visually stunning and cool and perfect to feature on the internet. And a way to separate the real pros from the weekend warriors out to make a fast buck.

The most common things I see missing are blogs or some type of updated page of advice or news that keep the interest of the indexing robots (or spiders) that crawl around looking for something to do. You don't put anything new, you look dead to them. And it has to be consistent and relevant to your business and what makes you unique and you will need to bring aboard some social media that has others visiting your website to reinforce your awesomeness. That can look like a Facebook offer for anyone who links to your website and types in a special code on a page created just to capture that will get, say, 15% off a spring tree service to deal with some of winter's damage. Maybe reward regulars by offering them an extra 5% discount on their offer when they share the offer with a friend who has yet to like your page. when the offer is done, you disable the website page where they could sign up for it with a nice message saying "please watch out for more offers on our Facebook page" or wherever you go in social media.

Cheers,

Carol
 
Me too. Of course, when you go to get "graded" you are being audited by a company that is trying to sell you their services. I'd say that no one gets a good grade until they have opened their wallets a bit.
 
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