Website hosting

Ok, this should reveal my ignorance of websites but here goes. I never had a website until about 2 yrs ago. I signed up with what was Yellow Book USA at the time, now HIBU, as part of my yellow page advertising to build and host a website for me.

I worked on it for about a year ( by phone through them ) and amazingly enough it became the top ranked website in my area on the "Local" Google search engines and has held that spot for about a year.

Unfortunately as we all know the yellow page directories just keep increasing their charges every year and the calls/jobs that I'm getting from these ads are declining steadily to the point that I'm afraid It no longer makes sense to pay for their services.

I'm looking to switch my website hosting to someone else but of course I don't want to lose the top ranking in the process.

So what would be the solution to this problem?

Good to see you followed my advice. It can't hurt, but can help. :)

I help DIY'ers locally too. I have an arrival fee, followed by an hourly fee. Zero material costs on these. :)

I agree tinner. I don't mind helping the DIY'ers a little bit online. I throw some tips locally too, but not to the wannabe's. Only to the guys w/ a day job.

Intimidating - lack of better words :laugh: I mostly bang 30 year(at best) asphalt shingles, while your hanging a rock on the roof. I impress people locally w/ my work is all I'm saying, this forum is a tough crowd.

Willie, do you track your statistics? I guess this wasn't mentioned before, but signing up for Google Webmaster Tools & Analytics is a must.

You know, I thought somebody would have caught this and commented on it.

"Looks like there is a lot to it, so I'm going to use my good sense along with my wallet and defer to someone here locally who knows exactly what they're doing."

I still think it would be OK for DIYre's to post here. GIve them the correct info to DIY, and you're not cutting anybody out of work. They either do it correctly and you make a friend that will give you referrals, or they give you, or another roofer the job and referrals. Either way, it speaks volumes for the honest roofers out there and makes better Spoke Persons for the industry as a whole. :)

:) I figured I'd post this here because I couldn't find the relevant thread about 'marketing'. I post on other forums, and have a live link in my sig. It's amazing how many contact me privately for more advice, or to just take the job. Many start out as simple as this. [quote]"Thanks for all the pics Tinner! Looks like there is a lot to it, so I'm going to use my good sense along with my wallet and defer to someone here locally who knows exactly what they're doing. I know my limits. If you want to take a working vacation to the gulf coast let me know!" :)

:( Now, I have to make a decision again. I probably should go until the snow melts. Maybe I can get Shelby to give me a hand, and maybe even some advice. :)

flatbed Said: Thankss tinner. Your right, Ive been meaning to add a signature but, well lets face it, I mostly use shingles. You guys are intimidating w/ your 100 year roofs!

Thanks's tinner. Your right, I've been meaning to add a signature but, well let's face it, I mostly use shingles. You guys are intimidating w/ your 100 year roofs!

Yeah, for anyone that didn't already know, my name is Chuck. When I first made an account with RCS Wayyyy back in the day, ( around 2001? ) SillyWillie was the username. Then I quit posting for a while and couldn't remember the password when I came back so I created the username OleWillie and a new password. SillyWillie is what my daughter and I jokingly called each other back then when she was like 7 years old. Today she's a Junior at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. :ohmy:

Willie and I spoke. Now I remember/realize what the comment about "FB" was about. I was speaking to FlatBed.

Look what I found. This link should be in every post a certain user makes here, and elsewhere.

http://chucksroofrepair.com/Chuck's Roof Repair

Been snowed in since yesterday around noon. :ohmy:

Just woke up from a nap to see your replys.

What would be your number? I clicked on the Email Me tab but it doesn't do anything!

Here's Flatbed's site. http://www.carbondaleroofer.com/

So, why isn't it in your signature FB? That could get you leads, you know.

Willie, I thought you were going to call me.

I don't see your website. It's not even in your signature either.

I'm spending too much on advertising and looking to cut back. I've got too many yellow page ads. Paying for 2 different areas/counties with HIBU and one with YP. The YP ad gets enough business but the HIBU ads are not working so I want to drop them but my website is tied up with them in a package.

I would like to switch the web hosting somewhere else to seperate it from the yp ads. I may end up dropping them all eventually as most of the work is coming from the website.

I still offer domain names, hosting, website tonight, etc. All you have to do is call.

As for losing your ranking, it's based on your domain name and won't change when you change hosting.

Weird, OS posted something the other day that did the same thing. It added RCS before the link name.

As far as keeping your rankings, that I can't help you with. I built a website with Weebly last Monday. That's right, one day. They help you build it and host it for free but if you want fancy stuff and to transfer your own domain over, it's $99/yr.

The fact that I used Weebly would make a real html developer puke, I'm sure.

http://www.carbondaleroofer.com

It's still crappy I know, but it's a works in progress. One [size=4]COLD[/size] day to build it though! I just haven't figured out a way I'm satisfied with to get my logo on there.