Hi we have been running our decking company for about 6 months now and need more places to advertise , we have a facebook group called just decking tried leaflet drops and the local rag . I'm toying with the idea of a website but not sure if it willpay for itself . We have a good portfolio of work just check out facebook , we just are stuck in what to do next advertising and spreading the word can anyone point us in the right direction please ?

A website can benefit a business and drastically increase the workload, but only if its search engine optimised.
If you do decide to get one drop me an e-mail (see my signature for my website) and i can either sort you out with one or if im too busy i can let you know which companys are good value for money etc

A web site is money well spent (from my experience).
If you have only been running 6 months, its gonna take some time to build a reputation.
Recommendation is far and away the best form of advertisment (guess you already knew that though!!).
Best of luck.

A website can be used as a brochure to steer people to for photos of your work, testimonials, etc, but the amount of traffic is extremely low for decking related keywords.

I just did a quick check and the best geo-related keyword 'decking sheffield' gets just 4 searches a day so if you were at Google No. 1 you could expect at least 1 click a day from that phrase. Other keywords for Sheffield or even Yorkshire were too low to consider optimising for. Oddly enough Sheffield Forum ranks No. 1 so it might be pretty hard to knock off the top spot with a new site for a long time to come.

So i'd say only invest in a website that can display some information and photos that you can point people to look at once you have come into contact with them, or on marketing materials such as flyers. This acts as your brochure and keeps printing costs down, as people will want to see examples I would imagine. Keep the investment minimal until such times as the cost, as you rightly say, can be considered worthwhile.

You can also use websites for adding listings in online directories and Google local listings too.

indizine which tool you using mate? i got 320 monthly global searches for "sheffield decking" with google's keyword tool.

p.s. good note about the local listings, i get a lot of work from these

Thanks all I'll take a look at google local listings and try that out first . Also mentioned was keyword tools , where do I find one of those because if I am going to invest in a website this sounds like a good idea . If anybody could advise me on a cheap flyer printer that would be helpful . Again thanks a few ideas to look into now

Vegas22, you're probably looking at broad match figures there because my software tool (which is not the basic free Google tool) gets its figures from Google and I only consider exact match results for effective optimisation ;)

Loads of information on how to optimise your website (http://www.indizine.co.uk/how-to-optimise-your-website) and free keyword tools (http://www.indizine.co.uk/free-keyword-tools) here.

Don't forget to add a free listing in Freeindex (http://www.freeindex.co.uk/signup.htm?ref=R63089)- it's the best online directory in the UK for Google ranking and actually getting local leads from it.

Im using wordtracker , googles keyword tool and another (which i wont post ;) ), i find a combination of the three works a treat (ive managed to get some great traffic with them for my clients and myself) but they are all still showing good search results for various decking keyphrases.

on exact match for geo-related phrases?

not an exact match (none of them give exact same results! plus googles one is always a little generous!) but an average between the three seems to be consistent. To be honest i still prefer the google keyword due to its "what people are paying for" bit (professional term their! lol). it helps me decide what words are best etc.

anyhow i digress!

also forgot to mention, just decking, why dont you put your facebook group link in your sign? should help get a bit more traffic etc.

you could also try a free website first to test the water sort of speak. although im sure indizine will agree with me on this one use a well known bit of kit like wordpress or drupal etc and do a litle bit of reading on how to use it first. Dont go buying a "build a site in 30 clicks" (aka mr site) software or you'll just regret it later since it wont perform well in google etc and will cost more (since the others are free and better!).
you will need to optimise it for google but simle seo techniques could help you do this for free first, although you may need to use some serious seo techniques to get the best results though.

regards cheap flyer printing, i user various companys depending on what the client wants.
For the cheapest printing i use vistaprint.com, below average quality paper (but ok print quality) but is cheap as chips.
if you want some quality printing i use e-printing.com, very good quality paper andprint quality but you pay for it.
Depends what you want really.

none of them give exact same results!

Vegas22 - what do you mean by that?

im pretty sure googles said in the past that the statistcs it passes to 3rd party software isnt always 100% accurate and should be used as guidlines.

If it was always 100% accurate then the google keyword tool would be all you'd need as far as i can see to find out whats popular searches (assuming your mainly seo-ing for google).

what i get in wordtracker doesnt always match up with googles keyword tool.

ah well my software does far more than give keyword results.

Also, I get the same figures as quoted on Google KTE so i'm happy they are accurate in that respect.

When I said were your keyword results 'exact match', I meant 'exact' as in exact/phrase/broad match terms, not exact as in accurate.

Thanks Vegas for the signature tip , also I've sorted the local listings on google . All really helpful tips here so far . I suppose the next step is to try out a free website before I commit to a paid one , soo one more question which is the best ? To try out

Sorry people I forgot thanks at the end then because all these ideas are spot on

how are you with a bit of html, ftp and the likes?

sorry indizine but i wouldnt know where to start , but i can do a mean mortice and tenon joint

sorry indizine but i wouldnt know where to start , but i can do a mean mortice and tenon joint
A basic website does not cost the earth, I would employ someone who knows what they are doing its boring stuff try getting a quote from Kipper or Indizine who both post on this section and all the other spider people who post on here.

I do the same line of work and i have a website. I'm struggling as well. I've handed flyers out, created a group on facebook and advertised where i could. Word of advise though. Don't use Yell.com. Never had one phone call from anyone.

Im using wordtracker , googles keyword tool and another (which i wont post ;) ), i find a combination of the three works a treat (ive managed to get some great traffic with them for my clients and myself) but they are all still showing good search results for various decking keyphrases.

I was told Wordtracker is less relevant these days; do you disagree with this?

Decking would seem to be not the highest priority for the average joe at the moment.

Perhaps consider widening your offer? If no one is looking for it (however you decide to measure & count) - no one will be buying it.

To confuse you further, have you looked at longer tail keyphrases? (3 more words) - I target those with my blog posts.

also, try contacting gardening and lanscaping companies that dont offer decking service and see if you can get an opportunity there for referrals/working together etc