Website Reviewing Business

[Search2Give]

Hi there,

I have recently been involved in starting a website services business called Smarta. At the moment we offer professional website reviews, where for £25 we will write a report tailored to our clients website. From the people we've chatted to you we're getting the opinion that it's a brilliant resource and people are definately getting their value for money, but as we've literally just started I'm not entirely sure how to get the word out.

We've got a fully functional website which can accept orders online, but I was wondering if you guys could give some tips on the best way to get new clients on a limited budget at this stage?

Thanks very much.

Chris

[benr123]

Offer 2-3 review copies so people can see whether your service is any good. (people who get the copies are obliged to review the report in an open forum or on their website). Maybe have a full review of an actual site rather than your sample. Your referral scheme is good but this page doesn't work http://www.smartauk.com/referrals.php (you get to it from the bar at the top of certain pages).

Change this on your front page. It makes no sense.

Testimonial

Welcome to Smarta Services. We offer a high quality web reviews service to small and medium sized businesses for the most competitive possible price.

Name Here
www.website.com

You don't appear to have any analytics software installed. Analysing weblogs is OK but if you are serious about maximising your conversions you need some advanced analytics installed. I would sort that out before you start promoting.

I would also ditch the bit about you all being students at Southampton University. I wouldn't pay 25p for a student to look at my site. I just don't think that students have the experience necessary to give good advice. Sorry if that sounds awfully prejudice against students but I remember that I thought I knew it all when I was at uni. Many more experienced people give these reviews away as a loss leader so you'll find it hard to compete charging money and freely admitting you are all still at university.

[PainFreeMarketing]

Hi there,

I have recently been involved in starting a website services business called Smarta. At the moment we offer professional website reviews, where for £25 we will write a report tailored to our clients website. From the people we've chatted to you we're getting the opinion that it's a brilliant resource and people are definately getting their value for money, but as we've literally just started I'm not entirely sure how to get the word out.

We've got a fully functional website which can accept orders online, but I was wondering if you guys could give some tips on the best way to get new clients on a limited budget at this stage?

Thanks very much.

Chris

Write some 'how to' articles relating to websites and what they should contain etc and include a resource box so that readers are redirected to your site and services.

Many people search the web for website advice, if you place your articles with top ranking article sites they'll find your info.

Ensure the articles are SEO'd but reader friendly and that the titles totally relate to the content.

I am one of the most read authors over at one of the Internets top article sites and can assure you that this is a great way to get your name known and site hits but ensure you are sincere and your articles do not read as ads or promote your own service.


Article sites to submit to:

http://www.searchwarp.com

http://www.ezinearticles.com

Helium - though this site isn't a fav. of mine, but it all helps.

Try not to submit duplicate content.

Have all titles as 'How to...........'

or

'Top ten Tips to..........'

good luck!

ps

I just checked your site

"With our detailed report you will be able to increase your search engine rankings and improve your conversion rates!"

Change this to

Increase Your Search Engine Page Rank & Improve Your Conversions with a Smarta Website Report

This is more positive and makes a bold statement.

Have these 'benefits' as bullet points so they stand out from each other and don't just read as paragraph text.

[Indizine]

Moved to marketing forum

[Search2Give]

Hi there, thanks very much for your reply.

With regards to the bit about students, and the testimonials - that will be changed ASAP. Thanks for recommending analytics as well.

You're probably right showing potential customers full review copies, although the only slight problem about that is that our reviews (and I believe those of our competitors) are template based, where about 3/10 pages (text dotted around the whole document) are tailored specifically to our customers, and the rest is just useful information about search engine optimization etc. It's probably still worth showing one full review though - thanks.

Oh yes - you say that http://www.smartauk.com/referrals.php doesn't work. It's .html not .php - as far as I'm aware all the links are fine (checked just now). Is there a certain place that is broken?

If I change all that, do you think it's something that could work?

Cheers,

Chris

[romanyt]

Hi Chris

There are many ways to get your name out there without breaking the bank.

Definitely excellent suggestions given to offer some free reports and write how to articles. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising.

You can do a special offer on Twitter for £1 to the first 5 people who sign up for your free report. You can do it with Twofferings.

Join social networking communities. This is by far one of th most powerful ways of connecting with other people. Start blogging and get involved and active within the community. Offer free advice in comments and in blogs.

Network, network, network, online and offline.

Comment on blogs that relate to your industry to drive traffic to your site, this is long term.

Remember to always add your image or logo, company info and name where ever possible this is all about creating your company brand and personal brand.

These are just a few suggestions to get you started.

All these suggestions will cost you little to no money. What I will recommend is that you set aside a good few hours a week and just focus on online marketing. It does pay dividends. It is not an overnight quick fix, it does take dedicated time and effort.

Romany Thresher

[romanyt]

Chris

Just to reply to the post where you are asking,
"If I change all that, do you think it's something that could work?"

The honest truth is that it will help but it is not going to suddenly bring in loads of clients.

Romany Thresher

[benr123]

Oh yes - you say that http://www.smartauk.com/referrals.php doesn't work. It's .html not .php - as far as I'm aware all the links are fine (checked just now). Is there a certain place that is broken?

If I change all that, do you think it's something that could work?

Cheers,

Chris

Its on this page at the top http://www.smartauk.com/services.html Click on that top bar that appears and you will see the broken link. You really need a good 404 page too.

If you are asking me whether you think that reviewing websites for £25 is a viable business, I'd say no (more below). For sure, I would use this as V1 and buy another domain. No one is going to appreciate a 10 page report where you openly admit that 7/10 of the pages are from templates.

How long does it take you to review a website? If it is over 4 hours, I wouldn't bother. You can get a job that pays £6.25 an hour easy. At 3 hours, its marginal. At 2 hours might be worth doing. £12.50 an hour is a good rate but can you do 37.5 hours a week? You are probably best getting a day job and doing this on the side.

I would give you more advice but I am too looking for something to do online that can make money. If I had any good tips on how to make this type of business work I would do it myself.

[Search2Give]

Chris

Just to reply to the post where you are asking,
"If I change all that, do you think it's something that could work?"

The honest truth is that it will help but it is not going to suddenly bring in loads of clients.

Romany Thresher

Sorry I should have been more specific - what I meant was do you think that this is a service worth paying for, and I will actually get clients? I want to give people something they need.

[PainFreeMarketing]

Sorry I should have been more specific - what I meant was do you think that this is a service worth paying for, and I will actually get clients? I want to give people something they need.

This service already exists and people pay more than £25 for it, so yes it is a service people will pay for as they already do.

It's usually one of many services provided though from what I've seen.

Meanwhile

I Googled 'website review' and the front page doesn't list any businesses that do constructive website reviews so there is room there for someone to dominate that niche on Google's front page.

I found this free review site but they don't provide the same service as you (I don't think)
http://www.sitecritic.net/site_reviews_critics.php