New Roofing Contractor In Scotland (fife)

[Ridgetop Roofing]

HELP


I have just set up my own business in the Fife area. I have 5years apprentice experience so I know what I am doing..

However the problem is getting the work. I dont know the best places to advertise. Is there any ways i cld get work with insurance companies as well instead of paying hundreds on advertising?

I have just paid £1500 to the thompsons local for a year (half page in roofing section)I was also considering the yellow pages..



Hope I can get a lil bit of feedback to get the ball in motion..

Craig

 

[Thermo]

ridgetop, welcome and good luck with it all. I recently set up my own company and its a big step. Knowing where to advertise is a real thinker, as is the cost of it. Ive used the following:-

Yell.com - had a few jobs, but to get best value its worth having a website of some kind, which looks as professional as possible
yellow pages- only the free line ads in a few categories - they are rip off merchants
thompson - same again (ouch too late)
any business listing magazine i can find
friday ad - fairly cheap and do some good deals if you advertise over a period and its more specific to certain areas
local church/school papers
flyers - not had much back, but worth doing up and down a street if youre doing a job there
advertising on your vehicle and on the job your working on

I try and advertise locally otherwise i end up driving all over the place to look at work which can be a waste of time.

Whatever you do try and keep it simple and professional. Eg advertising on a car, put one number on there and make it so people see the ad and know exactly what you do, rather than some arty farty logo and ad that they cant read or understand

Best advertsing is word of mouth, being clean and tidy while you are working, putting in a good days work and doing a good job. Be polite to neighbours and passers by. You get noticed. If youre working down the road from 8 every moring till 5 people will notice you and remember you. Give a well presented quote and paperwork as well, it gets noticed

Good luck and it doesnt need to cost the earth if you are clever about it.

 

[sparkybird]

One of my sparky friends does a leaflet drop every so often in the local area - is always busy and only has to drive 15 mins to work!

 

[AdamW]

Here's a suggestion: Change the name of your company to something beginning with the letter "A".

Seriously. The only times I have called tradesmen out from the Yellow Pages, I turned to the correct section, and started at "A". All other things equal, being at the top of the list is better than being at the end!

I have noticed that yell.com seems to randomise the order though, makes it as fair for Zebra Roofing as it does for Aardvark Roofing.

 

[breezer]

i understand waht you say, but you thern get,

a roofing
aa roofing
a1 roofing

where does it stop?

mind you, i here that aaa roofing got stuffed, over the phone it was "yes, mate, tripplea roofing (expecting aaa roofing) his ad was under T for "Tripple A roofing"

 

[Freddie]

If you pay me £1500 i will find you some work and make sure you get money up front there tight bastards them Scots

 

[Thermo]

yell.com does randomise the listing every time, unless you pay for the link advert which is about 300-400 and then your link advert comes in the top lot every time.
I did this as i wanted the connection to the website and more and more people seem to use yell.com sitting in offices etc as they have the internet. It stuck in my throat to pay for it after the hassle i had with them, but once again ive had the last laugh with em, cos theyve still not taken the money for it!!

 

[kendor]

What symbol takes precedence? is it the one at the top of the ASCII list? for example you could call yourself ########## and follow it with all types of roofing covered or something like that.
Others have just called themselves a symbol so it's not unique but it will draw the eye somewhat

 

[WoodYouLike]

Here's a suggestion: Change the name of your company to something beginning with the letter "A".

There's a way around that (other than mentioned earlier). Our name starts with W = end of the list. If you're really unlucky it means ending up on the last (new) page of the category.
Our yellow pages ad starts with .W and now we end up in the beginning of the category

Problem with Yell.com is indeed the random selection. Not a main issue if people are searching for a category in a town, but when they search on county name it's just pot-luck. And yell.com only lists maximum 100 companies as a search result.

Other ideas for simple low-cost advertising: don't forget about appropriate online directories (like DIY-nots: find a supplier

 

[WoodYouLike]

Yell.com - had a few jobs, but to get best value its worth having a website of some kind, which looks as professional as possible

I agree. Having a web site nowadays is (my humble opinion) a must for avery company, small, medium or big. A simple brochure-like web site which gives your potential customers a first good impression, perhaps including images of work that has been done, doesn't have to costs that much.
I've done our diy sites myself and really enjoyed building it.
also important is to be able to track the amount of visitors your site is getting, where they come from (yell.com, search-engines, etc) to see which advertising is creating traffic most.

 

[Freddie]

Yell.com - had a few jobs, but to get best value its worth having a website of some kind, which looks as professional as possible

I agree. Having a web site nowadays is (my humble opinion) a must for avery company, small, medium or big. A simple brochure-like web site which gives your potential customers a first good impression, perhaps including images of work that has been done, doesn't have to costs that much.
I've done our diy sites myself and really enjoyed building it.
also important is to be able to track the amount of visitors your site is getting, where they come from (yell.com, search-engines, etc) to see which advertising is creating traffic most.

All well and good--------I am seriously thinking of a large commercial website for a new business venture that has nothing to do with roofing but research tells me that the majority of people find out about a website from adverts in magazines and the like. Just having a website and expecting people to find you out is as good as ****ing in the wind.

So you still have to spend money on ads in papers etc even though you have a website.

Onee thing though in this day and age with the building game booming i cant understand why you have trouble getting work

 

[Thermo]

freddie, your absolutley right, you do need to ge people there to look at it by paying out money first, but if your looking at two companies ads, and one has a website and the other doesnt, i think most people will have a look at a website and judge a company on it. That means youve already made a good first impression

 

[Freddie]

freddie, your absolutley right, you do need to ge people there to look at it by paying out money first, but if your looking at two companies ads, and one has a website and the other doesnt, i think most people will have a look at a website and judge a company on it. That means youve already made a good first impression

And another thing that really bugs me----Update the bloody thing reguarly, i hate ringing up off a website and find the prices are 2 years out of date, what the ****ing hell is the website if its obsolete.????????

 

[WoodYouLike]

Like changing your ads regulary you indeed need to make sure your web site is up to date (but that's not to much of a problem once it's up and running).

People find your web site through ads, yes, but more and more through search-engines. Webmarketing is very important i.e. making sure your websites contians words people are looking for. There are a lot of free programs/test-sites on the internet to help you with that.

 

[Ridgetop Roofing]

I am definately interested in starting a website... I have just bought a real good digi camera and started taking pics of work we do..

I need to know how I cld go about starting up a website and any good sites that could help me...

It's so hard trying to get work when you first start up. I pay £100 a week in two papers to advertise.

Cld anybody suggest a way to set up a website

Criag