What do you think a website should have?

[NewHorizon's Land]

As far as content. Pictures, web pages, etc.

What kind of stat data do you look for?

I am in the process of redesigning by website and I am trying to get it optimized well enough to generate leads.

I will have other domains linked to my "home" domain so I can track where people are getting the website address.

Any help is appreciated.

[bcwsport]

Populating each page with many word combo's and phrases that are representative of what you do as well as solid word combo's/phrases in your header/footer allow spiders to crawl your site and give a better performance on search strings w/out spending a dime. Links to other sites are great also. The pics are obviously the main reason anyone is on your site at all....more pics the merrier. Don't forget meta tags and meta phrases as well.

[NewHorizon's Land]

Thanks for the reply

[cgland]

Justin, it's been my experience that people are not really interested in reading multiple paragraphs on why you do things a certain way or how many steps are involved in your installation process. They want to look at pics of YOUR work. Lots of pics! Maybe with a description of the project and a few words about that particular service. Most people are very visual and need pics to help them visualize their own project. Check out my old site, it should give you a few ideas. As far as SEO, I'm clueless.

[mpickel]

Justin, it's been my experience that people are not really interested in reading multiple paragraphs on why you do things a certain way or how many steps are involved in your installation process. They want to look at pics of YOUR work. Lots of pics! Maybe with a description of the project and a few words about that particular service. Most people are very visual and need pics to help them visualize their own project. Check out my old site, it should give you a few ideas. As far as SEO, I'm clueless.

Did I overlook something, why is it your old site Chris?

I think the basics; pictures, contact, etc. I am also in the process of adding additional stuff that my clients may find useful. Mostly various schedules: best time to fertilize, best times to plant, etc.

[bigvictu]

What are the price ranges you guys spent/spend on building/mailtaining/optomizing your websites?

[mpickel]

I took the cheap route, and probably not the best way to go about it. I think I paid $100, maybe $200 for Macromedia Contribute (I think Adobe now). And then my annual hosting fees, which are right around $64. Everything I else I do myself. I don't really track the time I spend on it, but know I need to update how I host my pictures.

I asked around about having graphic artists design my site and most came back with $600-$1000 to do it. My favorite was someone told me they needed experience, was not sure how long it would take to do it, and wanted $75/hr to build it, but promised it would look real nice...

[Lawn Enforcement]

I've been building my new web site through Microsoft Office Live Small Business. It's $15 per year for them to host and 1st year is free. Check em out for yourself. I've found it's real easy to design. Although this is my first site I've ever built.

[JZap]

I took the cheap route, and probably not the best way to go about it. I think I paid $100, maybe $200 for Macromedia Contribute (I think Adobe now). And then my annual hosting fees, which are right around $64. Everything I else I do myself. I don't really track the time I spend on it, but know I need to update how I host my pictures.

I asked around about having graphic artists design my site and most came back with $600-$1000 to do it. My favorite was someone told me they needed experience, was not sure how long it would take to do it, and wanted $75/hr to build it, but promised it would look real nice...

FYI if you are going to continue to do this yourself. Check out Vista Print's website. They have a section to design your own logo and many other specials for the DIYer in the business world.

[mpickel]

I like my logo, and I order business cards from them. I check to see what else they offer, it seems they are adding new services monthly.