Hi , I built a web site on home inspector pages last week. Building the site off their template has been ok however the web site will not show up on search engines like advertised. I haven’t been able to get any response from the website support contact links. Does any one have experience with this web hosting Co. are they off line on Mondays. Thanks, August
It’s a very basic website platform (I actually helped build it originally). You should consider upgrading to Home Inspector Pro or HomeGauge or a more robust service.
One thing to keep in mind, also, is that search engines won’t necessarily list your site in just a week. New sites can take months to climb in search engine ratings. Your hosting company should help with that, but here are a few random tips that you can do on your side to help:
- Make sure your site is listed in your InterNACHI forum signature. Search engines like to see lots of links to your site from other sites.
- Get a Google+ page for your business, complete the full profile, and put pictures on it. Then get your clients to leave reviews. This is enormous in Google search engine rankings.
- Not as many people use Bing, but it’s still big, so it won’t hurt to have a Bing Locations page, either.
Search engines can be maddening and take time to optimize for! I’m sure if you poke around on this message board you’ll find more tips from other inspectors.
Tim is correct. No one holds the crystal ball to getting you on top of search engines. It really depends on how your site is coded. SEO is a series of events and if you don’t have things in the correct places more than likely it’s going to be a long time before you see great rankings in the search engines. I have guys calling me from all over the country wondering why after years in business and having a website up for so long they are dropping to page 2 or 3. Once I point it out they are like well I’ll be. Pay someone to do it for you. We will build for $399 and host for $25 per month. The fee also includes making changes such as text and pictures when you want them. I am #1 or within the top 3 on Google, Yahoo, and Bing and have been for years now.
The problem is only other Inspectors comes up if I search the name of my site. If I type in the name of my website on Google that is my business it should pop up without competing. However I cannot even get hold of anyone from inspector pages to help. No response for anything so I’m seeking a new host now.
Hi,
I agree they should be responding - not sure what’s up with that. That’s terrible. But it’s highly unlikely a new site will show up in front of more established sites within the first week, especially if those other companies have the same or similar name. There are many ways to help increase your search engine ratings (part of them are the hosting/designing company’s responsibility, but a large part is your responsibility, such as creating a Google+ page), but just remember that it can take months, not a week, to show improvement.
Tim
In 2008 I had built a contracting web site scratch, launched it and bam it was in the mix. After Google placed it always has been on the first page. It has a more unique name however. I thing those two factors make a big difference I do remember I could always find it though a search even ten minutes after launching it. My contracting site is on a lot of community list serves. I think that helps as well. I dont think I have ever seen an inspector referral on neighborhood service referral sites.