questions about using facebook for finding a tractor related business or advertising

[davesl708]

I forgot to mention. I had a contractor recommended by my hot tub dealer to pour my pad. He did a good fast job so I had him bid my new driveway. He wasn't the low bid but had him do it. Turned out great and the way I wanted it. Took more gravel and concrete than was expected but he honored the bid.

Couple months later four neighbors asked who did the work. Also the HOA needed some spillway work done on the lake. He got five jobs from the two he did for me.

 

[TSO]

I started out in Craigslist and word of mouth. I still keep an active CL listing, but mainly it's just for exposure and recognition. My website gets lots of traffic, and I also built and manage it myself, so it stays current. But, I like using FB too, as it allows for quick networking and exposure... Plus a great medium to add current info and job photos. Seems like many people use FB for everything these days, and I like how easily you can be "shared" around that way.

I still get a lot of "New" customers calling (more than I can keep up with), but what really turned the corner for me was taking jobs for builders/contractors... If you are reliable, honest, INSURED, and do good/quick/reasonably priced work, they will pass your name around and do much of your advertising for you.

Best of luck!

 

[RDrancher]

I started out in Craigslist and word of mouth. I still keep an active CL listing, but mainly it's just for exposure and recognition. My website gets lots of traffic, and I also built and manage it myself, so it stays current. But, I like using FB too, as it allows for quick networking and exposure... Plus a great medium to add current info and job photos. Seems like many people use FB for everything these days, and I like how really you can be "shared" around that way.

I still get a lot of "New" customers calling (more than I can keep up with), but what really turned the corner for me was taking jobs for builders/contractors... If you are reliable, honest, INSURED, and do good/quick/reasonably priced work, they will pass your name around and do much of your advertising for you.

Best of luck!

Nice website TSO! You do some fine work.

 

[Piston]

John and TSO,
What are you guys using to build your own websites?

 

[TSO]

John and TSO,
What are you guys using to build your own websites?

I use GoDaddy

 

[RDrancher]

John and TSO,
What are you guys using to build your own websites?

Godaddy here too Matt.

 

[Degolyerent]

Did y'all pay extra to own your own Domain name? If you didn't Go Daddy owns it and you have to buy them out to change server or change names and abandoned the original Domain name.
John

 

[RDrancher]

Did y'all pay extra to own your own Domain name? If you didn't Go Daddy owns it and you have to buy them out to change server or change names and abandoned the original Domain name.
John

Yes, I own my domain name, and several others related to my business.

 

[streamin]

I do reputation "marketing" which means I help businesses get a 5 star reputation to get more customers. The more places online you can put your brand the better. When a person refers your company to someone else, usually the first thing they do is go online to check you out. What do they see? They will look for social proof (reviews) of your business to see what others say about you. So you need to be getting reviews from your customers, post them on Facebook, your website, LinkedIn, and anywhere you can. We do videos for them as well which rank really well, video is powerful. You have started your business on your reputation, that is what should be first before any advertising. You can advertise a lot, but with a bad reputation you won't get the work. Hope that helps...

 

[JJZ 109]

I've got a FB page for my business, but the vast majority of work comes from the website or word of mouth. I started out having a local guy build the site and GoDaddy hosted it for several years. I own my domain name. This spring, right as my season began, the site was hacked and redirected to a knock off item shopping site. I had to pay Jim Walker from TVC.net to clean up the mess. When he contacted GoDaddy, they admitted that a server had been compromised but didn't see fit to let me know about it. So GoDaddy was fired and the site is now hosted by TVC.net.
TVC.net checks the site nightly to make sure nothing malicious has happened to it. I had a completely new site built by Hibu (the Yellowbook people) and as stated, TVC does my hosting. Hibu also does what needs to be done to optimize the site for Google and other search engines. The site looks great, but these things don't come cheap. Phone books are rapidly becoming a thing of the past, so I believe that I'll drop the Yellowbook ad at renewal time.