which website is better and why?

[huggytree]

Plumbers in Pomona Valley | Chino Hills | Inland Empire (http://www.theplumbersconnection.com/)
WaukeshaPlumbing | Plumbing Experts (http://www.waukeshaplumbing.com)

my new SEO guy is trying to talk me into a redesign now.....im not sure if I like his.........it gives tons of info in a small area, but its busy/cold

now that mine is all done ive seen some really good ones that make mine look like a piece of crap....the one he is offering is very informative....but does have a generic look to it...I don't know enough about how other people make their decisions to know if it will attract more customers or not...in some ways I think its a huge improvement and in others it isn't to me

he's not asking for any more money for it...just using my $300 a month SEO money towards it....ive signed a 6 month deal with him and paying him monthly......so the $1,800 would cover the roll into the new site...




thanks!

[Wozcreative]

Your SEO guy seems to want to just jam all the Call to actions on one page (which is what is on his example). That is a non-designer's "thinking" of how to market your business which never works.

Is this company called "Site4Contractors" ? Have you seen their "designs"? They are all exactly the same! All templated. Is this what their "designing a new website" will consist of?
Infact.. their own website uses the "epik" wordpress theme.

Are you... REALLLLY considering hiring these guys to "redesign" your website?
Have you seen their logo? It brakes all the "design" rules.
Their header also breaks SEO rules.
They don't have the "basic" SEO implemented in their own site.
Their navigation is even jacked up—did you notice? 2 about pages, two process pages, two home pages... then some other random pages in between. The drop down on one of the about is all wrong.

Anyway I just followed the link at the bottom of the example thinking this is the company you are going with. LOL! Oh lord.


The problem with your current site is just that proper call to actions are not in place.. you are "almost" there. They need to fix the seo integration on it (and since they haven't done it on their site.. I am not sure they actually know how!) All he wants to do is drop a big diarrhea of flashy buttons, input boxes, loud text etc.

Definitely not the way to go. At. All.

[huggytree]

this is my new SEO guy.....he offered to redo my website as part of the deal...im still waiting for my current website redo to get on the internet....im not doing anything until that happens

he hasn't shown me yet that he has done anything for the $300 ive given him for SEO this month

I like parts of his website.....it is very busy(I agree)......tons of info in a small space....

and I assumed it was a template already....that's why its so cheap to throw my info into it.....

thanks for your opinions Woz (as usual)

hoping to see my revised website this weekend

[Ryan]

The problem with your current site is just that proper call to actions are not in place.. you are "almost" there.

Completely agree with this. On my 19 inch monitor your phone number is almost below the fold. Assuming you're trying to generate more calls, you'd want to make your number more visible. I also think the slider of stock images under your header isn't doing anything for you. You'd probably be better off placing that quote section you have in the footer in where the slider is, or maybe your phone number with a contact form. Wouldn't be a bad idea either to throw your phone number in the header image.

[MyITGuy]

At the moment, waukeshaplumbing.com hands down.

The other site is extremely busy and will drive your customers elsewhere due to confusion and is considerably dated...it honestly looks like a Frontpage site from the late 90's to me.

The alternate site you referenced kind of reminds me of your old site and what you were trying to get away from (Dated look, too busy in certain areas) - Heres a reminder if it helps.... https://web.archive.org/web/20100316065333/http://www.waukeshaplumbing.com/

[JohnF]

Waukesha Plumbing needs a stronger call to action. But put one in and it instantly becomes far better than that first site. People know what a plumber is; you don't need to fill the site up with a laundry list of every possible job you could do. The way you have your list of services tucked into the bottom of Waukesha Plumbing works better than the way it clutters the page in Plumbers Connection. Plumbers Connection also overdoes the keyword packing in the top bar, and it looks a bit silly.

[cbscreative]

Ah, so Carl is your new web guy. I respect Carl and don't want to say anything bad about him, but design and content wise, we are worlds apart and I'm forced to agree with Woz.

[Harold Mansfield]

I already gave you my advice. Get an overhaul to insure your site is dialed in and ready to receive inquiries, and your on site SEO is as best as it could be for what you are targeting. And then spend your money on web ads. Period.

You can learn more about SEO as you go. Ads target your audience immediately and are immediately measurable. SEO alone could take a year or more for your site to start attracting the targeted traffic you are looking for right now. Or it may not happen at all.

The thing is, I see people going from SEO company to SEO company and never get the results that they are looking for. In all of that wasted time and money, they could have had ads running and working for them, while learning a little bit more about SEO along the way that they could have done themselves.


I said this over 30 days ago. You are now starting to be one of those people. Jumping from person to person, idea to idea, without knowing what you are paying for, and not getting anything accomplished except spending money. I don't know by what criterion you are deeming people credible and capable of delivering the service that you are looking for, but right now you are 0-2 and you don't have anything even close to what you should, based on what you've spent and the time that has passed.

If I were you I'd do a full stop and re-evaluate the situation, and learn more so that you can determine your own plan of attack.

Or are you going to keep dumping money at people who look nice and talk a good game but deliver nothing, just because they are local?

[Wozcreative]

I agree with Harold..

Simple answer is A)Stop + re-evaluate.

But what we have been telling you is

1) Hire one person to fix your current on-site SEO. It should take maybe 5 hours of work.
2) Have him teach you how to do it when you add/make your own changes (should be about an hour of teaching and consulting.)
3) Hire an google ad person expert to target your visitors. Bonus if he can teach you how to figure it out yourself.

I knew the guy would do what he did with is other sites... use a template, copy everything over and make everything loud, nasty and outdated. All so he can show you he's working for your money. "SEO" specialists are garbage if they have to CHARGE LONG TERM! Ofcourse unless they are ad-experts (as there is cost associated with ads).

[huggytree]

1. I did just hire 1 person to fix my SEO....its taken 4 weeks+ and im now 3 days w/o email because he doesn't seem to know how to fix it
2. I have yet to find 2 people who agree on what SEO actually is
3. im not really interested in Ad Words

every 6 months its setup to evaluate how the SEO is working....if I see no or poor results ill be moving on.....or if he cant get my email working by tomorrow(day 4 w/o email) ill he hiring someone else(my frustration is in overdrive right now)

im still getting more internet calls then I did 2 months ago....ive made enough to pay for my new website already......so as bad as it may be its making me $$

[Harold Mansfield]

2. I have yet to find 2 people who agree on what SEO actually is

What's wrong with your Google?



3. im not really interested in Ad Words

You don't have to be, but you can't win online if you don't spend some money on advertising. SEO alone cannot help you beat your competitors. Especially not the way you are going about it.

[Wozcreative]

1. I did just hire 1 person to fix my SEO....its taken 4 weeks+ and im now 3 days w/o email because he doesn't seem to know how to fix it
2. I have yet to find 2 people who agree on what SEO actually is
3. im not really interested in Ad Words

every 6 months its setup to evaluate how the SEO is working....if I see no or poor results ill be moving on.....or if he cant get my email working by tomorrow(day 4 w/o email) ill he hiring someone else(my frustration is in overdrive right now)

im still getting more internet calls then I did 2 months ago....ive made enough to pay for my new website already......so as bad as it may be its making me $$

1. No you hired a dude that told you he was going too build you a website and then charge you a monthly fee. That's not SEO.
2. I think all the developers here agree on SEO, you just want to throw money at it because someone promises you something without understanding it yourself
3. Adwords actually gets you traffic right away. SEO is just helpful.. but adwords ACTUALLY GETS YOU TRAFFIC!

Regarding more internet calls.. YES! This is because your website has a better structure in how the code works, you have better content and your website is VERY CLEAR AND EASY TO READ!
All you need now is to hire someone to implement the on-site SEO that hasn't been done.. not have it redone with an outdated template.

Your current website is done really well in terms of design and trustworthiness. Trust that you have done a good job there.