The renovators' website

Further to my last posting, here is another suggestion from Michael Stone's newsletter on how to promote your business. He quotes a note from Mark Ashton of Ashton Renovations in Toronto and Richmond Hill, Ontario. At $2.00 per lead, he clearly is doing something right.

Regarding our leads, we obtain 100 percent of them by way of the Internet. http://www.ashtonrenovations.com/ reaches our prospects through Google and by us advertising on a construction portal www.gopro.ca. We do not advertise in Yellow Pages, telemarketing, door-to-door, print in magazines, or newspapers. They are much too expensive per lead. And by the way, when prospects see a nice ad regarding services they need, what do our prospects look for: a web address for more information. Our advertising budget is $100 per month plus cost of site. We pay on average $2 per lead, some for jobs $100,000 to $150,000.
Our site, which is a year old, is now being updated to reflect newer technologies. Our project gallery page will have over 1,000 photos. It will also have video testimonials and a blog.
Advice regarding site:
1. Copy-writing is important and done ONLY by someone who can write;
2. Fill site with valuable info i.e products used, detail of services, process, extremely detailed info regarding your management and crew;
3. Photos during and after, with info about products and installation methods;
4. Crisp clean design. If your site looks bad, what does that say about your work?
5. Logo should have .com beside it;
6. Form page to fill out leads short and sweet;
7. Site may post Free Estimate depending on your market, which gets the lead. But never give free estimates! Explain only for simple small jobs, and given over phone.