[emz_1988_8]

Hi everyone

Does anyone know the best way to advertise Domestic/Commerical cleaning? Also Commerical cleaning rates?

[Adam P]

if you have a website and the time to read a lot of tutorials about it i found google adwords was ok, seems to have paid for it self and more.

tried local paper didn't get much success from that, a bit so it didn't cost us anything but wasn't entirely sure.

one i'd like to try is localbusinessdirectory.com . they are in stores like tesco, sainsburys, homebase etc and have big boards with your business cards on them as well as something like 12 other companies. pretty expensive at £520 per year but they print and restock the cards/design if needed and i do see a lot of people looking at them so perhaps worth a try

[emz_1988_8]

Thanks for the help.

Must appreciated

[newbroom]

those boards in a store are a waste of money, i have tried this in a sainsbury i got nil response

[vacman]

I am not suprised. Alas most cleaners are hired via word of mouth.

Put an advert in the newsagents window and it'll only attract the sort of people who pay newsagent-windows-advertisiers prices 

Leafleting an affluent area is always a good start but expect a very VERY low return. As i say, its a start.

[deborah waters]

commercial rates tend to start at about 14p/h
phoning target companies is a good idea but be prepared first
boards in supermarket were a big waste of time for me
leafleting works but sometimes only one or two calls from a whole street covered.
yellow pages seems to be getting worse for me these days and yell.com was v. expensive!

[jesslou]

i started by putting ads in my local shops , then to next villages , after i did leafleting but didnt get much off that  , neitherdid i get much from newspaper ad
a friend of mine who has herown business suggested i got some magnetic boards which go on my car .
they were cheap and i got my logo and it free advertising for when im parked in town so for me i hve done well from them
word of mouth is also good

[Adam P]

trouble i find with a lot of people advertising and saying it doesn't work is when they have horrible websites. i have had a few responses this week from advertising in local newspaper and found that they all went to my website first and then quoted/booked from there. i think people still do look in many places but they perhaps want a more "professional" site then often cleaning copmanies have.

i will be going on yell soon when money permits as all the paid for adverts link to horrible horrible websites with no real usp, so when a customer picks who to go with it's all just random, until of course i arrive 

just paid to go on cleanersregister, ufindus, moreuk, and smilelocal. cost a fair amount at just over £600 for the year but again we are the only company now paying for the adverts that have a decent site.

honestly i think the best thing you can do is get a decent professional site and then advertising will be much more effective.

just my opinion of course and i have only been cleaning for myself since april this year.

[daveyc]

yell.com and thomson local offer a free standard online listing and its really simple to do.I also think a website is a good idea i got one and got a job within 2 weeks of starting it up.I also went through my local thomson and sent emails to companies i thought would benefit from my services.I too have the magnetic car signs as they are seen everywhere i go.You could also try googlemaps which i do but i find its a bit trial and error when it comes to the categories to choose for you to be in.Hope this helps.

[vacman]

trouble i find with a lot of people advertising and saying it doesn't work is when they have horrible websites. i have had a few responses this week from advertising in local newspaper and found that they all went to my website first and then quoted/booked from there. i think people still do look in many places but they perhaps want a more "professional" site then often cleaning copmanies have.

And i was beginning to think i was the only one who thought this. I can  never see why the visual effects have to take prioriety over spelling, grammer, and waffle. I know my own spelling isn't the best, but then i'm not writing a website. I am lost as to why the 'more is more' mentality is often applied to websites for small companies, with the correct use of capital letters going out of the window at the same time   

i also get quite bored of reading websites which 'big' the company up by running-down other companies or services; whay can't the person / company who's website it is be confident that the service the offer IS the very best and DOESN'T need to mention a 'lesser' organisation?

[vacman]

greenclean, i've just seen your approxomate prices on your website.......how do people rate this? I ask only because whilst i realise they are a guide-price, they do also seem to be on the steep side towards the end of the scale....do people overlook this and book a quote regardless?