[el mechanico]

I registered a web address with my name and my city. I should do the same for the surrounding ones? It cost 80 bucks for the year so keep doing it over and over? I used hostgator because I have an account there already

[worldwidetraveler]

(06-20-2012 11:58 AM)el mechanico Wrote:  

I registered a web address with my name and my city. I should do the same for the surrounding ones? It cost 80 bucks for the year so keep doing it over and over? I used hostgator because I have an account there already

I just bought a domain for 99 cents (one year). You got hosed.

Never purchase a domain where you host your website. I purchased the domain at Godaddy with a coupon. I think it normally costs around 12 buck a year if you don't add all the other bullshit Godaddy tries to sell you.

[el mechanico]

(06-20-2012 12:06 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  

(06-20-2012 11:58 AM)el mechanico Wrote:  

I registered a web address with my name and my city. I should do the same for the surrounding ones? It cost 80 bucks for the year so keep doing it over and over? I used hostgator because I have an account there already

I just bought a domain for 99 cents (one year). You got hosed.

Never purchase a domain where you host your website. I purchased the domain at Godaddy with a coupon. I think it normally costs around 12 buck a year if you don't add all the other bullshit Godaddy tries to sell you.

Baby steps. Keep in mind I can rebuild an automatic transmission while talking on the phone and drinking beer. I don't know how to do this stuff without coaching. The last one I made with coaching everyone said not Godaddy use Host gator. "Unless you want to pay Danicas salary" was said. Rio said Use Go daddy but I thought the two were the same pretty much.

I made a facebook page too my town and auto repair was not taken or used.

[Caligula]

(06-20-2012 12:32 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  

(06-20-2012 12:06 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  

(06-20-2012 11:58 AM)el mechanico Wrote:  

I registered a web address with my name and my city. I should do the same for the surrounding ones? It cost 80 bucks for the year so keep doing it over and over? I used hostgator because I have an account there already

I just bought a domain for 99 cents (one year). You got hosed.

Never purchase a domain where you host your website. I purchased the domain at Godaddy with a coupon. I think it normally costs around 12 buck a year if you don't add all the other bullshit Godaddy tries to sell you.

Baby steps. Keep in mind I can rebuild an automatic transmission while talking on the phone and drinking beer. I don't know how to do this stuff without coaching. The last one I made with coaching everyone said not Godaddy use Host gator. "Unless you want to pay Danicas salary" was said. Rio said Use Go daddy but I thought the two were the same pretty much.

I made a facebook page too my town and auto repair was not taken or used.

Pretty sure the 80 bucks you paid includes website hosting with Hostgator. The domain itself will have cost you $20 / year at most.

[worldwidetraveler]

(06-20-2012 12:32 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  

Baby steps. Keep in mind I can rebuild an automatic transmission while talking on the phone and drinking beer. I don't know how to do this stuff without coaching. The last one I made with coaching everyone said not Godaddy use Host gator. "Unless you want to pay Danicas salary" was said. Rio said Use Go daddy but I thought the two were the same pretty much.

I made a facebook page too my town and auto repair was not taken or used.

I wasn't having a go at you, just letting you know to slow down.

Say you're hosting a website showing indian trolls. Those indian trolls start complaining to your host company (hostgator). Hostgator doesn't like your indian troll website because they employ them. So they shut your site down. The problem is they also have your domain registration so you can't transfer your indian troll site to a different host.

It is better to register your domain with a separate company so you can change hosting companies. Godaddy for domains, Hostgator for hosting.

If you decide to buy more domains, I can pm you the coupon for godaddy. You can get .com domains for like 99 cent the first year. I think it ends in July.

[Hotwheels]

I suggested Mech get the domain and hosting at Hostgator as it is simpler for him. He's not an internet marketer.... Domain and hosting in one shot, no nameservers to fuck with, one click WP install, etc.

I've never had an issue with hostgator and since he's making a site for his shop I doubt he has any worries about getting his domain banned.

[worldwidetraveler]

(06-20-2012 12:54 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

I suggested Mech get the domain and hosting at Hostgator as it is simpler for him. He's not an internet marketer.... Domain and hosting in one shot, no nameservers to fuck with, one click WP install, etc.

I've never had an issue with hostgator and since he's making a site for his shop I doubt he has any worries about getting his domain banned.

Yeah, understandable... Ole E Mech isn't alone though. I, and I am sure others, will be happy to walk him through via phone, skype or pm's.

Competition is ruthless man. You never know what his competitors will do. No matter, it is better to set it up right then take shortcuts.

[el mechanico]

(06-20-2012 12:48 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  

(06-20-2012 12:32 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  

Baby steps. Keep in mind I can rebuild an automatic transmission while talking on the phone and drinking beer. I don't know how to do this stuff without coaching. The last one I made with coaching everyone said not Godaddy use Host gator. "Unless you want to pay Danicas salary" was said. Rio said Use Go daddy but I thought the two were the same pretty much.

I made a facebook page too my town and auto repair was not taken or used.

I wasn't having a go at you, just letting you know to slow down.

Say you're hosting a website showing indian trolls. Those indian trolls start complaining to your host company (hostgator). Hostgator doesn't like your indian troll website because they employ them. So they shut your site down. The problem is they also have your domain registration so you can't transfer your indian troll site to a different host.

It is better to register your domain with a separate company so you can change hosting companies. Godaddy for domains, Hostgator for hosting.

If you decide to buy more domains, I can pm you the coupon for godaddy. You can get .com domains for like 99 cent the first year. I think it ends in July.

I know you weren't. I need to move forward with what's convenient and right now it's hostgator. It was a hatchling package I got can I add the other domains there?

[worldwidetraveler]

(06-20-2012 12:58 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  

I know you weren't. I need to move forward with what's convenient and right now it's hostgator. It was a hatchling package I got can I add the other domains there?

I haven't used hostgator for domains but I imagine you can purchase more through them or you can purchase other domains from Godaddy and point them to your hostgator account.

I have one hosting account with hostgator and I pay about 35 a month for unlimited amount of sites. I just point my godaddy domains to that hostgator.

Edited: I just checked the Hostgator hatchling plan and you can only have one domain.

[el mechanico]

(06-20-2012 01:01 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  

(06-20-2012 12:58 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  

I know you weren't. I need to move forward with what's convenient and right now it's hostgator. It was a hatchling package I got can I add the other domains there?

I haven't used hostgator for domains but I imagine you can purchase more through them or you can purchase other domains from Godaddy and point them to your hostgator account.

I have one hosting account with hostgator and I pay about 35 a month for unlimited amount of sites. I just point my godaddy domains to that hostgator.

Edited: I just checked the Hostgator hatchling plan and you can only have one domain.

Upgrade it? I'll give it a shot

[worldwidetraveler]

(06-20-2012 01:22 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  

Upgrade it? I'll give it a shot

Do you plan on having a different site for each city? I'm not a seo guy so maybe others can help figure out a plan of action before you upgrade.

[johnwu]

Godaddy's hosting services suck for real development.
Hostgator is much better, buy it on there. If you've already purchased on Godaddy you will have to wait for 60 days from the creation of your domain till you can transfer it.

[Spike]

(06-20-2012 01:11 AM)Kurupt Wrote:  

Stuff you need to prepare for this:
- write up all the info you want on your site. keep it as short and clear as possible. this will be the content, which you can replicate across channels (if you have a yelp profile and a .com, for example)
- take a few nice phone pics of the RESULTS of your work (notice that good food ads don't feature ingredients, but finished dishes). if you have a smartphone and a steady hand you can take nice phone pics and apply some auto correct filters to make the pics look nice.
- go on namecheap.com and register a .com (not a .net, or anything else) of your business
- go on 99designs.com and start a competition to see who can design you a new logo. this is an awesome site - decent graphics designers all compete to get their name out there. they submit the designs, you pick the winning one and pay the winning guy whatever price you decided at the beginning. you pay upfront, so you must pick a winner but it just so happens that you get many choices after the competition ends - hence the name 99designs. it's that simple. browse around that site a bit to see some examples.
- after you have all this shit together, give it to a friend to put it together for free. this isn't a $2,500+ ecommerce solution or enterprise software, this is a simple local business page and it's 2012. you're after more customers, not bells & whistles

hope this helps.

I can vouch for 99designs. i started a 300 dolla contest and got over 120 designs in just a week. I can recommend a designer named Line14. He's a Philippine guy and did a great and professional job with my book cover.

[el mechanico]

I just bought 4 more domains on go daddy I tried to use the coupon but couldn't figure it out. All that password shit is tricky to me so I went forward @ 30 bucks. It's just the surrounding four cities and auto repair dot com. Like this...Clearwaterflautorepair.com.

Now I have to transfer them somewhere and try to make them all get to the same site. That's possible right?

[Big Nilla]

(06-20-2012 05:43 AM)RioNomad Wrote:  

(06-20-2012 12:41 AM)Big Nilla Wrote:  

Hate to break it to you man, but Penguin is a game changer. Read up on Penguin and you will be shocked. If you thought Panda was big, Penguin is even bigger. It has mainly to do with link profiles and anchor text variation.

Quick write up: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/217...d-Websites

I was in the same camp as you, that negative SEO can't happen. However, check out what happened to Dan Thies. Matt Cutts has said himself that negative SEO can happen, but that it is difficult to accomplish. Then again, who knows what that means as Matt Cutts never gives it straight.

Ok, don't want to derail the thread anymore. PM me if you have any questions about Penguin.

I looked at your link. Still don't think and haven't observed Penguin hurting my pages on high authority sites. When I mentioned that stuff, I did preface it could get a new website sandboxed. Mechanico seems to have a bit of a rebel attitude... just giving him possible seo options to consider down the road instead of wasting money on seo guys who just farm out their work to fiverr anyway. Ranking your own main websites is a bad seo strategy anyway.

1 big reason why i have less stress and make a lot more money online than other people... i don't rely on the whims of google and seo. It's a weak foundation that you have almost no control over.

Mechanico should piggyback on yelp and other high authority sites. Could do some of that fiverr stuff to his yelp page and be fine.

[el mechanico]

"Mechanico should piggyback on yelp and other high authority sites." How?

[Big Nilla]

(06-20-2012 02:10 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  

"Mechanico should piggyback on yelp and other high authority sites." How?

Build up your yelp reviews. Buy them on fiverr and or offer discounts to people who get work done in your shop if they post a good yelp review for you. "Hey, if you give me a yelp review (I can show you how and where to do this) I will take $50 off your repair."

If you got 100 yelp reviews over the next 1-2 years from that $50 discount, it would only cost you $5,000. Great use of advertising money imo. Get another 50 or so reviews from all your family, friends, and relatives you said you have in the area. Buy each of them dinner if necessary (50 more reviews for $10 each).

Get press releases pointing to your yelp page (and websites) and seo the press releases like I mentioned above. Throw up youtube videos and have them pointing to your yelp page (and websites). You could try to build up your brand by making funny videos using this... http://goanimate.com/

Maybe write a quick little ebook on car repair and throw it up on Amazon then use that book as authority proof for yourself. How many other mechanics have books published? Have posters of your book on Amazon around your shop and put on websites.

Those are just a few ideas off the top of my head. Remember though, I don't know much about your niche or business or have any experience working within the niche online. I don't know your target market or who your customers are either.

Leverage yelp, youtube, press release sites, and amazon.

This book would also help your cause imo... http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Everything...0312204655

And if all else fails, have Neil Skywalker show up as a celebrity who signs autographs and does a meet and greet.

[worldwidetraveler]

(06-20-2012 02:06 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  

I just bought 4 more domains on go daddy I tried to use the coupon but couldn't figure it out. All that password shit is tricky to me so I went forward @ 30 bucks. It's just the surrounding four cities and auto repair dot com. Like this...Clearwaterflautorepair.com.

Now I have to transfer them somewhere and try to make them all get to the same site. That's possible right?

[el mechanico]

Whoa, So I make a profile on yelp? Then have my customers and friends write reviews? I can do that so I would need a personal profile first then add my biz right?

I admit it would help if Neil was here

[Caligula]

(06-20-2012 02:10 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  

"Mechanico should piggyback on yelp and other high authority sites." How?

Go on this page: https://biz.yelp.com and click "Create your free account now" -- then encourage your regular / happy customers to post positive reviews on there.

Go to http://www.google.com/placesforbusiness and do the same. This way if someone searches google for "Auto repair near ..." wherever you are you are more likely to pop up on google maps, etc. Also encourage your customers to leave positive reviews on your google page.

Make sure they mention some of your unique selling points vs. the competition in their reviews.

These are as important as a website since most business will be local and google will serve up the listings accordingly.

[Caligula]

Also check these guys out - or sign up to their list to be notified when they launch - https://www.yourmechanic.com - they're going to be giving local mechanics a tool to promote themselves. They're backed by some heavy hitters so I'm sure it will become a good promotional tool.

[Hotwheels]

(06-20-2012 02:35 PM)Caligula Wrote:  

Go to http://www.google.com/placesforbusiness and do the same. This way if someone searches google for "Auto repair near ..." wherever you are you are more likely to pop up on google maps, etc. Also encourage your customers to leave positive reviews on your google page.

Make sure they mention some of your unique selling points vs. the competition in their reviews.

These are as important as a website since most business will be local and google will serve up the listings accordingly.

This is what I was getting at concerning google places. Getting ranked there has been much easier than getting a generic site on the first page.

[el mechanico]

(06-20-2012 02:43 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

(06-20-2012 02:35 PM)Caligula Wrote:  

Go to http://www.google.com/placesforbusiness and do the same. This way if someone searches google for "Auto repair near ..." wherever you are you are more likely to pop up on google maps, etc. Also encourage your customers to leave positive reviews on your google page.

Make sure they mention some of your unique selling points vs. the competition in their reviews.

These are as important as a website since most business will be local and google will serve up the listings accordingly.

This is what I was getting at concerning google places. Getting ranked there has been much easier than getting a generic site on the first page.

I think so..Yelp profile made. I saw one other place on city search. Nobody around here has more than 10 reviews on anything. The shop a block over is on top of everything and he spends thousands on advertising. He's also extremely violent. If I can get on top he's going to lose it big time.
Do I need my site running before I goto google places?

[Big Nilla]

One thing I want to stress is don't try to do too much, too soon, online. Focus on 1-2 things that you're comfortable doing and are easy for you. Sounds like getting yelp and google reviews is the ticket. Once that's going good and you've mastered that aspect, add in 1 more thing and master that before trying another thing. Master and dominate 1 thing at a time... don't jump around trying to do too many things superficially and not mastering any of them.

[Hotwheels]

(06-20-2012 02:55 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  

(06-20-2012 02:43 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

(06-20-2012 02:35 PM)Caligula Wrote:  

Go to http://www.google.com/placesforbusiness and do the same. This way if someone searches google for "Auto repair near ..." wherever you are you are more likely to pop up on google maps, etc. Also encourage your customers to leave positive reviews on your google page.

Make sure they mention some of your unique selling points vs. the competition in their reviews.

These are as important as a website since most business will be local and google will serve up the listings accordingly.

This is what I was getting at concerning google places. Getting ranked there has been much easier than getting a generic site on the first page.

I think so..Yelp profile made. I saw one other place on city search. Nobody around here has more than 10 reviews on anything. The shop a block over is on top of everything and he spends thousands on advertising. He's also extremely violent. If I can get on top he's going to lose it big time.
Do I need my site running before I goto google places?

As I recall you can get on google places without a website. You can always add it later.

btw-Places is also called local. It's the different looking listings in the first page search results that are generally local business places. I've seen them with just a link to google maps as they didn't have a website.

Google will automatically do the map link after you fill out the info. They will also either call or send you a letter to verify the business before it'll go active.