Improve Your Site With Prices And Photo Media
Use Photographs, Videos And References Where Possible
If you are a Decorator, Plumber, Builder or similar whereby you need a website in order to drum up more business, and at the same time act as a C.V, you
should seriously consider including Photographs and References of previous jobs. You would be surprised how many people have an offline business, usually
for years, whereby they have not taken one photograph of their work.
The above said also applies to a Restaurant Owner, Cake Maker, Cleaning Company, Fabric Designers and Events Manager for example. If you are thinking of
building a website for your business/event/project start clicking your camera, if you haven't already, and build up a specific BEFORE & AFTER
portfolio of your work.
Use Close-Up, Detailed, Photos
Make sure your photos are close-up and detailed. With decorating jobs for example people do not want to see a distant photo of a painted hallway, they
want to see a close-up of how neatly you painted around the bannisters and skirting boards and whether or not you let any drips dry.
With a Restaurant people want to see the outside location as well as close-ups of the food and interior of the kitchen. Photos of a clean kitchen, nice
looking food and vibrant restaurant can add an atmosphere of relaxation, romance, and tranquility to your website. In the same way as a massage website
adds an atmosphere of calm, relaxation and peace with candles and special lighting.
Use Maps To Give Location Directions
Outside Location is important because it tells people how far away, or how near, your premises are to them and whether or not they need a car or public transport to get to your premises. So think about supplementing photos of your premises' exterior with a Google Map of your location and details of its Public Transport. Also give a link to a Street Map website just in case the Map, for whatever reason(s), cannot be displayed.
Maps and Photos can save people an initial "Inspection" trip to your restaurant, for example, especially if your restaurant is 10 miles away and they are
only browsing the internet for regional restaurants. On the opposite side of this; If they see you have a nice restaurant they may want to visit it or
book a table straight away.
In other words; By giving the service of a Map, Directions and Photos you are saying to website visitors "Eat in my restaurant because you can see it is
clean, with very nice food and in your local area"....."Why go to the competition's restaurant now you have seen mine!". Remember. People choose with
their eyes, especially when it comes to food. Think! Do you order from a food take-away leaflet with photos of delicious food on it or from a leaflet
with no food photos on it?
Give Each Employee A Pictorial Portfolio
If you have employees take photos of them, preferably working, and add a little Portfolio section or dedicated Work Force web page that introduces them - "David is our Floor Tiler....Helen looks after the Accounts....Etc". These can help to build up a rapport with potential clients, who also get to see the Age, Physical Build and Experience for example of an employee so that they can judge if your employee is right for them. This kind of portfolio is being used in the Website Design industry for example whereby you can see the programming skills of a certain employee.
Use Scanned, Signed, References
People these days want reassurances such as "References Available" but not by you telling them "I painted Mrs Smith's lounge and she was well pleased".
They want to hear it directly from your client's mouth, either via a screenshot of your client's "References Email" or via you giving them your client's
phone number - All with your client's blessing of course. In other words; Tell the client you are doing a website and would they mind if you took photos
(and even video footage) of your handy work and if possible can they give you references.
Instead of stating "References Available" why not scan your references? Certificates are a prime example of this. Scan them, Blur out any details that
could be frauded and then Upload them to your website as photographs. This small detail saves you from posting references and certificates, and means you
might not need to carry them around with you when meeting a client for the first time.
Do NOT Rob Photos Off The Internet
Besides being Illegal, Photos off the internet tend to be downgraded (compressed and/or too small), poor quality, .jpg (jpeg) files that may have a copyright notice or watermark on them. Use Royalty FREE Photo CDs instead. They make your website look much more professional. You can buy them on The Internet, from PCWorld UK (search for: photo), from Focus (search for: photos) and from Avanquest (search for: photo art) amongst other places, usually for £9.99 or less.
Look for 500,000 Images (4 CDs), 30,000 Photos (2 CDs), 15,000 Business Images (2 CDs) and 15,000 Educational Images (2 CDs). GSP also do one called 50,000 PhotoArt (3 CDs). These CDs combined will give you enough Royalty Free Images (Photographs and ClipArt) to create many categorized (themed) websites. Example Categories: Education, Food & Drink, Health & Safety, Nature & Wildlife, People, Religion, Signs & Symbols.
ALWAYS State Your Prices
How many times have you gone to a website, for convenience, to see what time a shop closes? Or to see the price of something, that you intend buying,
just because you want to know who is the cheapest? Probably a few times. Hence one of the reasons to put Open Times and Prices on your, business, website.
People go to the internet for Information and Prices.
In 2008 I rang around some adverts in the Yellow Pages for a painter friend of mine, for his advertising door-to-door leaflet so that I could guage the
going prices for a newly plastered 4m by 4m room (4 walls, one door and one window). Only to be met by "How many coats do you want?", "Do you want the
door and window primed and glossed or just glossed?", "Has the plaster dried out completely?". I eventually, after some frustration, told them
"Dry plaster, prime and gloss, 2 coats of emulsion for the walls with undercoat".
Prices ranged from £100 to £150, so I told my painter friend to advertise £120 even though the average price was £140. This was to cut out the competition
of course. And this is what I am saying here. Cut out your competition, and frustration for your visitors, by advertising your prices and giving them
photos. They have come to your website for something. Information and Prices normally. And if you do not give them what they want your competition will.
Do NOT Be An Old Book (Dinosaur)
An old book is someone who believes that if you state £25 for your services someone with a similar website and services will state £24.99. OLD BOOKS: Remember. Long gone the saying "If I tell you my secrets I will be out of a job". In todays information society, if you do not pass on your secrets and knowledge some other website with the same secrets and knowledge as you will. And they will not be out of a job. Quite the opposite! They will be selling E-Books!
Remember - Your Competition Is ONLY ONE CLICK AWAY
It is not like your local high street whereby there might only be one specialist D.I.Y shop, for example, with the next specialist D.I.Y shop 2 miles away. Quite the opposite. The internet is flooded with people like you and businesses/projects like yours. If they like your services but not the absence of your prices they will more than likely look elsewhere for prices. It's as simple as that.