I started a new business

awwww, you guys! Making me glad I didn't post the you tube video of Hitler complaining about Obama now. Mr. Green

Thanks so much for the encouragement and luck!

@McGentrix,

Best of luck to you.

Some suggestions:

1. Look into case modding in addition to building high-end gaming systems.
2. Document, document, document what you sell to people. When they call you up for help with their display, it will be easy to help them find that graphics driver.
3. Are you going to provide support as well? Check out how to use RealVNC's "listening viewer" to provide support without your clients having to modify their firewall.

Website design suggestions (I emphasis suggestions, as I'm no web designer):

I don't like the bare-metal PC on your webpage. Build a fancy PC and put up a picture of it.

I'd change this:

Quote:

Copper City Computers"Dedicated, professional service for your home and business. Specializing in personal computer maintenance and upgrades, Copper City Computers can also help your small business with ALL your IT needs. Server setup and network planning, wireless communications, printer selection and purchasing.

to something like this:

Quote:

Copper City Computers
*Dedicated, professional service for your home and business.
*Specializing in personal computer maintenance and upgrades

Full-service IT for small businesses:
*Network planning
*Server setup
*Wireless communications
*Printer selection and purchasing

Some other services you might provide: backup, restore, data archiving, tape management (you'd set up a delivery service, perhaps?), off-site backup, life cycle management, cabling/custom cables, network documentation, emergency/after-hours support, etc.

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@McGentrix,

Also, the image at the bottom with about us, contact us, etc. looks like hypertext links; I expected to be able to click on them.

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@DrewDad,

DrewDad wrote:

Also, the image at the bottom with about us, contact us, etc. looks like hypertext links; I expected to be able to click on them.

So did I! Your suggestions are valuable. Thank you.

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@McGentrix,

Agree with the others here on the red being too strong. It's a bit of a strain on the eyes.

Wishing you the best of luck with this new venture, McGentix!

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@Green Witch,

Quote:

If the website is going to be your main marketing tool I think it is worth the investment to hire a professional artist/webmaster to do the design and then you take over the maintenance. Nowadays people judge a company by it's website, it's a first impression and can attract or repel customers before you have any other form of communication with them.

Just read this comment by Green Witch & think it's a good one, McGentrix. Especially at this early stage, when you're attracting brand new customers.
People do tend to make these judgments based on first impressions. They have nothing else to go by, really, if they've had no previous dealings with you, hence have no real insight into the quality of your work. After a while (assuming you do quality work Wink

) you'll gain new customers by word of mouth, as well as through advertising. But in the initial stages the appeal of your advertising presentation is critical.

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If I needed such a service and came accross your Web page, I would think that it looked quite good, however, I would always have the nagging thought in my mind, "I don't know this guy from Adam. He doesn't seem to have a store front. Is it a small company of professionals, or one guy working from his garage? What if I approach him and he's horrible?" This isn't because of anything at all negative about your ad. I think it's very well done. I would always have this thought with any ad that didn't show too many specifics. I should add, by the way that I get all my computer maintenance done and purchase all my computers from one guy working out of his garage. It's really more the "what if I approach him and he's horrible" concern. I think it might re-assure your potential customers if you put in a little more specific information about your operation. The first thing that comes to mind is an hourly rate. I'd be more likely to take a chance on a service seen in an add if I knew that I wasn't going to be charged an unreasonable rate.

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Good luck on your new business! That's the American spirit we like to see.

Re: your web site:
Size up the phone number (very important!)

Get some testamonials on your site ASAP. People will really respond to stories about how your business helped other people and businesses.

Add a little column that gives a Tip of the Month. Change it monthly.

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@msolga,

msolga wrote:

Agree with the others here on the red being too strong. It's a bit of a strain on the eyes.

Wishing you the best of luck with this new venture, McGentix!

I have changed the red and made the logo more artistic.

I plan to have a rates page added soon. I finally got my website on google so that is good.

I think the advice I am getting is outstanding and I REALLY appreciate it. I need to get my DBA filed and get some accounting software so I can create invoices and such. So much to do!

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@McGentrix,

It looks good - the logo flows more as part of the web pages now. Nice work!

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@McGentrix,

McGentrix wrote:

Check out my new website and please offer constructive criticisms. I created it with MS Publisher, but I do plan on redoing it eventually when I get someone to some graphics for me. It's a decent start.

Computer and technology websites really can't seem home made, or it will seem low tech. For a more professional design you can buy pre-made templates at under $50 if you aren't yet ready to drop a lot of money on a custom design. Two recommendations if you want to go that route are:

templatemonster.com
4templates.com

Quote:

I have to figure out the best way to market the thing now and get it noticed on the web and in town.

I recommend doing PPC marketing through search engines. Specifically I'd start with Adwords (from Google) and target very specific local keywords (e.g. "computer maintenance in <city>"). With good traffic analytics (I recommend Google Analytics) and a fine-tuned SEM campaign you can build up businesses quickly and measure the ROI for your marketing spend very well.

If you have any questions about search marketing I'd be happy to answer them.

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@McGentrix,

McGentrix wrote:

I have changed the red and made the logo more artistic.

I hope you don't mind my continued criticism, but the logo needs a fundamental overhaul. It isn't so much a logo as a graphic with some nice 3d effects right now. A good way to measure the strength of the logo is to see how well it works in 2 colors (e.g. black and white) and that logo relies on texture that makes it difficult to incorporate in a good design.

Logo design is not easy at all, so you shouldn't feel bad if you aren't great at it right away (I've only made one logo in my lifetime that I'm proud of) but you can get a very cheap ($300) logo from a place like logoworks.com. If you want to do it yourself, I recommend that you start with clipart (even great designers often start with pre-purchased clip art for logos).

Another resource I forgot to mention is istockphoto.com. I noticed your first design had a image of a computer, but it wasn't great and you seem to have removed it. At istockphoto you can buy photos for about $1 each and pick from a large selection. The right stock photography can really improve a website, so I recommend giving it a look.

I also noticed you are using a gmail address, which looks unprofessional. You already have a domain, and you can easily get free email hosting (on gmail software to boot) by using Google Apps for your domain. You just point your domain MX record at google and they give you free email hosting using your own domain addresses. The free version of this service can be found here:

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

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Do I mind more criticism? Hell no! This is what I want!

Thank you for all your input. I have been playing with google apps all morning now. For some reason godaddy does not have any MX records available for my domain so I am trying to set that up.

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Looks 'noble' now, I think.

The only disturbing factor (in my opinion) is the google-map (on 'service'): it's a bit out of the otherwise and general "noblesse".

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@Robert Gentel,

Alrighty! I now have email setup for @coppercitycomputers through google apps. I will change the webpage tonight when I get home from work to reflect this new change. I really appreciate that advice. I did not like the gmail address either.

I had a straight B&W logo originally. But I did not like the way it looked on the web page. I could not figure a way in photoshop to make the background transparent so all you saw was the actual logo.

Next is checking istockphoto.

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@McGentrix,

McGentrix wrote:

I had a straight B&W logo originally. But I did not like the way it looked on the web page.

I don't think the logo should be black and white, just that it should look good and be recognizable in monochrome. If it doesn't that means it's using gradients and texture that won't always translate well.

Quote:

I could not figure a way in photoshop to make the background transparent so all you saw was the actual logo.

Here's a tutorial for that:

http://www.mediacollege.com/adobe/photoshop/transparent/background.html

But do note that if you plan to put a gradient behind it, or if the edges of the logo look pixelated you'll want to incorporate the background into the actual logo.

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@ehBeth,

ha! the logo's a moving target, it seems

this one seems a bit mmmm nubby - not as good as the one I liked yesterday (unless it just looked better on the monitor at home)

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I have nothing useful to offer you in your new endeavor, but i do wish the best of luck, and hope that all that hard work and dedication can do will achieve a success for your.

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You've chosen a congested and very competitive business with razor-thin margins, witness my fave local computer store chain here in the lower mainland of British Columbia Canada. http://ncix.com/

Not to throw a fried switched-mode power supply on your endeavors but...that's a tough cookie to hang your hat on (mixed metaphors aside).

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@McGentrix,

Congrats on the new business! One suggestion from your website: I think the business users might think your system was not really business oriented when you are advertising gaming systems. I suggest moving that to a page describing custom built systems.

1 Reply

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