Website Re-design

For all those who say, don’t post prices on your website, these are just two articles of the hundreds I have read that disagree. I do believe as consumers we are trained to look for the information we want and as a society the first thing we want to know is how much will this cost me and is it affordable to me. If we don’t see that information quickly we go to the next sight to find what we want to know. Ultimately the price. I do respect everyone’s opinion on this and will for many reasons post my pricing.

@ Kevin Wood- I don’t mind at all, I do appreciate you taking the time to do this and will incorporate many of your thoughts. Thank You

@Chris Jacobi- I couldn’t agree with you more, That is something I am working towards and the best way to present it. Thank You

http://www.candocanbe.com/marketing-small-business/do-you-display-your-prices-on-your-website/

Matt, all industries are not the same.

I host several thousand home inspector websites. I’ve done this over and over with inspectors using Google Analytics and can guarantee, as a fact, that posting your prices is a bad move. The ONLY exception to this is if you’re one of the cheapest in the area. I’ve had guys who were #1 on Google for large cities call me and tell me they were going out of business. I got them to change their prices to ‘starting at’ prices only and to call for details and they’re business went up 1000 fold and they’re still in business.

Dominic- That actually makes sense to me. I am not struggling by far just wanting to take things to the next level. I have never posted prices on the website before yesterday and actually did some research on the topic and figured I would give it a try. Thank you for the advice

Matt when you have some of the biggest experts and most knowledgeable Inspectors in the industry give you advice you look pretty foolish to not take that advice.
Your business and do as you wish however .

Good luck just the same.

@ Bob, I never said I wasn’t taking advice from anyone, did I? If I didn’t want others advice I wouldn’t have asked. I have repeatedly thanked everyone for their advice and not dis-respected anyone.

Why is that…

Google will assume that text that is similarly colored or the same color as the background is intentionally being hidden and only there for SEO purposes, and not actual content. On this site it certainly appears so. Google wants to rank sites based on actual content. So, include your keywords in your text, but if you make white text over a white background, they do notice and they do ban you.

Because Google doesn’t like hidden text.

Hidden text and links

Hiding text or links in your content to manipulate Google’s search rankings can be seen as deceptive and is a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Text (such as excessive keywords) can be hidden in several ways, including:

Using white text on a white background
Locating text behind an image
Using CSS to position text off-screen
Setting the font size to 0
Hiding a link by only linking one small character—for example, a hyphen in the middle of a paragraph
When evaluating your site to see if it includes hidden text or links, look for anything that’s not easily viewable by visitors of your site. Are any text or links there solely for search engines rather than visitors?

However, not all hidden text is considered deceptive. For example, if your site includes technologies that search engines have difficulty accessing, like JavaScript, images, or Flash files, using descriptive text for these items can improve the accessibility of your site. Remember that many human visitors using screen readers, mobile browsers, browsers without plug-ins, and slow connections will not be able to view that content either and will benefit from the descriptive text as well. You can test your site’s accessibility by turning off JavaScript, Flash, and images in your browser, or by using a text-only browser such as Lynx. Some tips on making your site accessible include:

Images: Use the alt attribute to provide descriptive text. In addition, we recommend using a human-readable caption and descriptive text around the image. See this article for more advice on publishing images.
JavaScript: Place the same content from the JavaScript in a <noscript> tag. If you use this method, ensure the contents are exactly the same as what’s contained in the JavaScript, and that this content is shown to visitors who do not have JavaScript enabled in their browser.
Videos: Include descriptive text about the video in HTML. You might also consider providing transcripts. See this article for more advice on publishing videos.

Seemed like you were arguing for keeping middle of the road pricing up front on the home page from your replies and yes I was thing why did he ask ? lol

Home page is where you grab people in and price is first thing they ask because they do not know what else to ask.

Your splash page tells them price is the most important so guess what…you just lost.

Make sense ?

The second part of my reply is in hidden text designed to hit the subconscious .
Just kidding as the main worry is I am hiding SEO keywords not related to content which is not cool if you think about it.

Bob is great

Just copy and paste this on your site for a big help…to me hahaha.

Thank you Bob, and no not trying to be argumentative, I didn’t even have pricing on there when I first posted this question yesterday. There was never any intent to hide words, and on my screen could read it just fine (that has already been changed). I will be implementing a lot of the changes discussed here. I will be leaving pricing on there for now as I have a large referral base and can afford to do so to test the waters, though the prices are going to be changed.

Well if going with pricing use Russ Rays model and use tiered levels of service as the the way to go.

I will check that out thanks for the tip

I post most of my prices on my website, and I am the most expensive in my rural area. Most of the people who call already read my site and are ready to book. If you cannot sell yourself in print, then do not post your prices. Some people want me to actually sell them an inspection over the phone, I just tell them; Are you wanting to hire an inspector or salesman? You got to have things on your site that makes people want to call you. Qualifications are the main thing my clients look for. I stay very busy with very few Realtor referrals.

Matt, I have a cheap idea for you. Find an old phone around the house, go and activate it on your plan…don’t need data or anything else just phone service. Place a new phone number on that site and post your prices.

Make another website and don’t post the prices with a different phone number, seee which one get called more. Just an idea.

Matt,

The MOST important part of a home inspection website is the Sample Report, you must have a sample report that will MAKE people call you for pricing.

Since I do not having pricing on any of my websites, the first thing I’m usually asked is if their report will be in the same format as my sample report.

People are looking for sample reports more so than an entire page of qualifications. I been doing this for a LONG time, I’ve tried every which way imaginable, but having various Sample Reports on the homepage is what sells the inspection.

I track who clicks on what pages, most people do not look at any other pages except the Homepage, then the Sample Reports (on the homepage), then my fee page, which makes them call me.

Make a sample report which does not look like most other sample reports, make a unique report, and keep delivering the same product to everyone.

Its really that simple.

James Braun writes:

Yep. That’s been proven. It’s #1 because visitors are looking for them before they even get to your site.

#2 is the overall look of the site. It has to look professional. Unlike qualifications, no one sets out looking for a professional website, but once they get to your site, your site’s look is unavoidable.

#3 is the sample report, but for those who open it. It generally isn’t opened often. Count the visits to your site and compare it to the number of times your sample report is viewed. You’ll be surprised at the ratio. Now if you have a great sample report, it really works to convert the visitors who open it, but most visitors don’t.

Very good advice guys. Thank You!

That is simply not true, Nick, I have three sample reports above my home page button, since the user is already on the homepage, the first thing they click is the sample reports.

When they call they tell me they’re looking at the sample report.

I track the clicks on Google analytics, the sample reports beat the home page click by a 2-1 margin because I have three samples to view, then they go to the fee page, which asks them to call.

I have qualifications on the homepage too, so I guess they don’t go any further.

Sample reports are the most important aspect of a website, people tell me over and over again, this is why they called.

Dale when I checked your website I did the same thing and went to your sample report, after that I had full appreciation as to you and your professional abilities. Not so much when I have seen others. I agree it is very important.
Home Gauge rocks my friend.

Dale has one of the better reports out there.