Website Or No Website
- Thread starter lou101
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My opinion is no. They take considerable time to design and set up, lots more time to keep updated, carry considerable annual expense, with very little in return. Generate and lock in a web URL with GoDaddy or similar and just keep it locked up for future use if needed. Only costs about $5.00/year.
Set up a Vimeo channel for video and a share site for stills and data work. Lots cheaper, easier to work with, and all they require is providing a link to the location. You can set up something on Facebook but understand you’ll be bombarded with e-mails trying to entice you to buy targeted ad space. Tip; they are a waste of money. If you were to set up a Facebook site you should still maintain your work at Vimeo and a photo/data share site and embed your stuff on FB from those locations.
Set up a Vimeo channel for video and a share site for stills and data work. Lots cheaper, easier to work with, and all they require is providing a link to the location. You can set up something on Facebook but understand you’ll be bombarded with e-mails trying to entice you to buy targeted ad space. Tip; they are a waste of money. If you were to set up a Facebook site you should still maintain your work at Vimeo and a photo/data share site and embed your stuff on FB from those locations.
It depends on:
1) your clientele.
2) Are you doing it or paying to have it done?
3) If you're doing it yourself are you good at SEO?
For me and how my business runs YES a website is not only a great "Bang for the buck" but it has paid for itself MANY times over. For us it's an essential item.
But let me clarify . . .
1) My clients ask for and look for samples of our work. We quantity this by always asking, "How did you hear about us?" and more than half the time they say they found us via web searches and our website.
2) We have experience with Website Development and Marketing so we did our own.
3) We are good at SEO and if you're not, you are going to pay for it and pay fairly often to try and remain on the top of searches.
1) your clientele.
2) Are you doing it or paying to have it done?
3) If you're doing it yourself are you good at SEO?
For me and how my business runs YES a website is not only a great "Bang for the buck" but it has paid for itself MANY times over. For us it's an essential item.
But let me clarify . . .
1) My clients ask for and look for samples of our work. We quantity this by always asking, "How did you hear about us?" and more than half the time they say they found us via web searches and our website.
2) We have experience with Website Development and Marketing so we did our own.
3) We are good at SEO and if you're not, you are going to pay for it and pay fairly often to try and remain on the top of searches.
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Ya, I think you need a website for credibility. You probably won't generate any sales from it initially (until you get good search ranking) but you'll definitely lose some sales if potential clients do searches and you have no website.
Buy a domain and use wix, squarespace or homestead to be up and going with something simple in a couple of hours.
C.
Buy a domain and use wix, squarespace or homestead to be up and going with something simple in a couple of hours.
C.
I wanted to come back and expand a little bit on my previous post...
I think "Pavement Pounding" is the #1 way to earn business. I don't see any "significant" way around face to face networking and self promoting. Shaking hands and talking to prospective clients is the foundation of this industry unless you happen to fall into a honey hole.
With that being said, if you don't have some way to show some of your work and your credentials to prospective clients "EASILY" you're losing out. I was meeting with a new group of Corp clients last week and when we sat down to talk #'s the owner said, "We've already stalked you and checked out your webpage... your work is very good... are you sure we can afford your services?"
I replied with ,"You can't afford to NOT use our services" and smiled smugly. That was the hit of the meeting but it goes to show your clients are probably GOOGLING you before you even realize it. BTW they found me through a Google Search on "Area Name+Aerial Photography" so SEO and such is VERY important. They found us without us evening lifting a finger.
A good website is working for your 24hrs a day 7 days a week. If you factor the cost to set up, maintain, and modify your website and add-in that it's working for your 24hrs a day you will see a good and efficient website is a LOT of Bang for your Buck!!!
I think "Pavement Pounding" is the #1 way to earn business. I don't see any "significant" way around face to face networking and self promoting. Shaking hands and talking to prospective clients is the foundation of this industry unless you happen to fall into a honey hole.
With that being said, if you don't have some way to show some of your work and your credentials to prospective clients "EASILY" you're losing out. I was meeting with a new group of Corp clients last week and when we sat down to talk #'s the owner said, "We've already stalked you and checked out your webpage... your work is very good... are you sure we can afford your services?"
I replied with ,"You can't afford to NOT use our services" and smiled smugly. That was the hit of the meeting but it goes to show your clients are probably GOOGLING you before you even realize it. BTW they found me through a Google Search on "Area Name+Aerial Photography" so SEO and such is VERY important. They found us without us evening lifting a finger.
A good website is working for your 24hrs a day 7 days a week. If you factor the cost to set up, maintain, and modify your website and add-in that it's working for your 24hrs a day you will see a good and efficient website is a LOT of Bang for your Buck!!!
Russ Still
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A website should be considered the cornerstone of your company and marketing, but in itself, may not be the big thing that brings in business. Your goal should be to spread you net as widely as possible, and everything then comes back to your website where potential customers can learn more about you. If you don't have one, people may look for you and wonder why you don't have one. Here's a video that may help you.
Looking for leads? I don't think so.
We look at our website as our Front Door to the Office on a busy street. If someone is "browsing that busy street" and you don't have a front door how can they find you? If someone is "Googling" your company to research your work and/or abilities and they can't find you they may just keep going and never look back.
Russ Still
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If you want to cast a wider net specifically for leads, create a free listing at DronePilotsCentral.
This is a free service, both to you and your potential clients. People search geographical areas, then browse the listings in that area. Make your listing really stand out so that they will want to contact you!
We stay out of the way - clients contact you directly and you keep all the money. Nice and simple.
www.DronePilotsCentral.com
This is a free service, both to you and your potential clients. People search geographical areas, then browse the listings in that area. Make your listing really stand out so that they will want to contact you!
We stay out of the way - clients contact you directly and you keep all the money. Nice and simple.
www.DronePilotsCentral.com
Dave Vermeer
New Member
As this thread is a bit old now, you may have moved on from this already. Still, I’d encourage you to look at a website as an investment. It also shows prospects that you’re “in it for the long haul”. With solutions like Wix and Squarespace offering website builders and cheap hosting, the time and money spent to get your own website up and running is so much lower than it was a decade ago. You can set up a simple site over a weekend, and then spend a few hours here and there keeping it up to date while it works for you 24/7/365 days a year.
As others mentioned, it likely won’t bring you immediate leads. But as you get established online and word of mouth gets around, your website can often be where prospects end up and then reach out to you. Whether that’s through organic traffic from a Google search, or they find your website via a social media page.
I’d also consider how many of your customers are businesses vs. consumers. A consumer might give a local business a break for only having a presence on Facebook or the like, but businesses expect a website. All other factors being equal, a consumer or business might choose a competitor instead, simply because they have a website and you don’t.
As others mentioned, it likely won’t bring you immediate leads. But as you get established online and word of mouth gets around, your website can often be where prospects end up and then reach out to you. Whether that’s through organic traffic from a Google search, or they find your website via a social media page.
I’d also consider how many of your customers are businesses vs. consumers. A consumer might give a local business a break for only having a presence on Facebook or the like, but businesses expect a website. All other factors being equal, a consumer or business might choose a competitor instead, simply because they have a website and you don’t.
Mavic Mac
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As @Dave Vermeer stated a lot of people believe a business should have a web site. I use to be in real estate in the late 90s and for personal reason I got out of the business. Back then a client never departed without some type of real estate related handout/flyer with my contact info on it. When I got back into the business in 2014 I ordered a bunch of similar type printed material. When my broker saw it she told me I wasted my money on the stuff. She said I needed a web site, a Facebook acct, an Instagram acct and a Linkedin acct. That was because prospective clients use the internet to find properties and agents.
