[Mike_Boxall]

It's good although there are a few problems if you try and view it in 800x600 resolution.

Yes, a couple of people have emailed me about that. Unfortunately, web designers tend to assume more people use larger screen sizes than I think is actually the case. We'll be scaling the template down a bit so it looks better on smalleer screens.

Thanks for taking the trouble to comment

(by the way, you're added now!)

Regards

Mike

[Joe H]

Like the simplicity.

Dont like the fact full postal address is shown.
Town/city and sub district I am ok with but street name and house number not necessary.
Most of the businesses advertised dont have the need of, nor want callers. Showing full adresses just "advertises" to the bad boys - Ah! a business run from home - lots of gear for us to pinch to feed our drug habit (or whatever), maybe even get a van to drive away with.

Any chance of a rethink??

[Mike_Boxall]

Like the simplicity.

Dont like the fact full postal address is shown.
Town/city and sub district I am ok with but street name and house number not necessary.
Most of the businesses advertised dont have the need of, nor want callers. Showing full adresses just "advertises" to the bad boys - Ah! a business run from home - lots of gear for us to pinch to feed our drug habit (or whatever), maybe even get a van to drive away with.

Any chance of a rethink??

Hi Joe

You're the 3rd person to mention this. Personally speaking, I would be suspicious of a company that didn't show their full address but, as far as the directory is concerned, so long as there is a town and postcode listed then you don't need to put all the details in (what you will have to do is make sure there is a space in the first address field)

Regards

Mike

[lands]

17th September 2007

Hi

Finally we have the site online at http://www.spickandspan-directory.co.uk/

We're still in the process of adding data to it so some categories are empty at the moment. We're also finishing off some more functionality (each listing will have a google map attached to it, for example)

To see the difference between a Free listing and a Featured listing please search for 'Window Cleaning Traditional' in TR27. Tou can then select the first 2 or 3 results (including David Morris Window Cleaning) and compare the results.

We've done our best to accomodate all the suggestions that have been made over the past couple of months and I hope everyone will give the site a try for at least a few months and then let us have some feedback in terms of the business generated. You will start to see the site advertised heavily both online and offline over the next few months. We're keen to keep developing and improving the site so if you have any more ideas then please let us know.

In terms of pricing , there are 3 options. You can get a FREE listing with your name, address and telephone number or you can pay either £15 + vat per month or £150+ vat per year for a featured listing like the Dave Morris example above.

As an incentive for forum members to sign up quickly, we are offering a 10% discount on these prices for the next 2 weeks only. To qualify for this discount you must use the referrer code 'cleanitup' on the sign-up screen. Once you submit your information, the 10% discount will be applied on the following screen.

If you have any questions or comments please let me know

Regards

Mike

************************************

Hi

You may remember a while ago we mentioned about developing a cleaning directory to supplement the forum. At the time, it was said that a number of directories were in the process of being created and / or launched and we decided to wait and see what developed. However, none seem to have got off the ground successfully and we have now decided to continue with the development ourselves.

We are now very close to launching this brand new specialist directory. It will allow end users to find and compare cleaning providers in their area and will offer effective low-cost advertising for contractors of all types.

Our aim is for it to become the UK's leading online advertsing tool for small to medium sized cleaning compaines by providing end-users with specialist information not available elsewhere.

We're working with a number of third parties to offer unique facilities such as insurance verification and trade membership details and we have a comprehensive marketing plan that will guarantee a high volume of users.

What we would like before we launch is some general feedback on your experiences of other online directories you may have tried.

• What has worked and what hasn't?
• As an advertiser, what features would you like to see?
• What features do you think your potential customers would like to see?
• How much do you spend on online advertising?
• What proportion of your business do you get from online advertising?

 

If you have any questions or suggestions please post them here.

Regards

Mike Boxall
 

Mike,

the directory does'nt appear to have any status on google (i have searched). What exactly is driving usage?

Pete

[Mike_Boxall]

Mike,

the directory does'nt appear to have any status on google (i have searched). What exactly is driving usage?

Pete

Pete, the site only went live yesterday so Google won't have indexed it yet. It'll start appearing within the sponsored results from today.

Will keep you informed of it's rankings.

Regards

Mike

[Joe H]

Mike - re my earlier posting about not wanting full address shown.

How do I change my current entry to delete parts of the address.

Also - as I see it - theres not much too differentiate between a paying and free advert.
OK - the paid ones are always at the top (I presume - or are they?) but apart from an extra line or so and a pale blue   "more details"l ink   theres not much to catch a prospects eye.

For £180 +VAT should there not be more to make it stand out from the free ones....colour - something, anything....  after all the- paid ones are providing the others with a free ride.

[calmore]

It's good although there are a few problems if you try and view it in 800x600 resolution.

Yes, a couple of people have emailed me about that. Unfortunately, web designers tend to assume more people use larger screen sizes than I think is actually the case. We'll be scaling the template down a bit so it looks better on smalleer screens.

Thanks for taking the trouble to comment

Some people, especially the older generations, tend to have older PCs. 

(by the way, you're added now!)

Thanks! I'll add a back link next time I'm updating my site.

[Mike_Boxall]

Mike - re my earlier posting about not wanting full address shown.

How do I change my current entry to delete parts of the address.

Also - as I see it - theres not much too differentiate between a paying and free advert.
OK - the paid ones are always at the top (I presume - or are they?) but apart from an extra line or so and a pale blue   "more details"l ink   theres not much to catch a prospects eye.

For £180 +VAT should there not be more to make it stand out from the free ones....colour - something, anything....  after all the- paid ones are providing the others with a free ride.

Hi Joe

You'll see a bigger difference between the free listings and the featured listings when you compare the results. As an example if you search for window cleaning in TR27 and then compare the top 3 listings you'll see the difference. The featured listings will begin to stand out more when we add more features over the next few days.

Regards

Mike

[Mike_Boxall]

It's good although there are a few problems if you try and view it in 800x600 resolution.

Yes, a couple of people have emailed me about that. Unfortunately, web designers tend to assume more people use larger screen sizes than I think is actually the case. We'll be scaling the template down a bit so it looks better on smalleer screens.

Thanks for taking the trouble to comment

Some people, especially the older generations, tend to have older PCs. 

(by the way, you're added now!)

Thanks! I'll add a back link next time I'm updating my site.

The site's been designed for 1028 x 768 but we are now looking on how to better optimise it for 800 x 600. We'll keep you updated.

Regards

Mike

[lands]

No sign on google yet Mike

Pete

[Mike_Boxall]

No sign on google yet Mike

Pete

Hi Pete

Google can take days, even weeks, to crawl a site for the first time so it doesn't surprise me that it hasn't been indexed yet. It is already appearing as a sponsored listing and this is attracting users. There are a number of new features and modifications being added to the site at the moment and we've had nearly 200 new advertisers added over the past 48 hours (there are now nearly 6000 listed in total). We wouldn't expect everything to happen instantly which is why we're offering the 10% discount for those that sign up in the first 2 weeks.

Will keep you informed as there are obviously lots of forum members listed.

Regards

Mike

[lands]

OK, but if you are paying your way on google it should be immediate.

Pete

[Art]

Might be an idea to make it free until it's fully optimised

Arthur

[stevegunn]

How's it doing on google I cannot find it?

[lands]

How's it doing on google I cannot find it?

How's it doing anywhere for that matter. Perhaps you can share where the detail on where it is being marketed.

[Mike_Boxall]

Hi Guys

The site is starting to get indexed in the natural listings by Google and we're also doing lots of pay per click advertising focusing on geographical areas where we already have paid listings.

Google visibility will increase over time as the site gets more use and more links. There's also something called the Google Sandbox which stops new sites getting fully indexed immediately. You also have to understand that the site has been developed with the end-user in mind not Google and the 10% discount we're offering (simply type in cleanitup as the referrer code) is there to reflect this.

I can tell you the system had over 2000 search queries in the first week and, ironically, I've seen it listed in lots of 'competitors' directories which themselves are full of Google ads. It is being used and it is generating business!

There's lots more going on I'd rather keep under my hat for now as I've already heard of other other 'new' directories people are planning to launch (but I guess immitation is the sincerest form of flattery!)

It's interesting that there are people who spend thousands on Yellow Pages and other advertising but can't yet make their mind up about trying the directory for a couple of months for the £15+ vat (less the current 10% discount)

Will keep you all updated

Thanks

Mike

[lands]

Mike

Have put my card details in and it asked for a valid from date or issue number. My issue number is a single digit so I doubt I got that wrong but red message appears saying there is a problem. Can we do over phone?

Pete

[Mike_Boxall]

Mike

Have put my card details in and it asked for a valid from date or issue number. My issue number is a single digit so I doubt I got that wrong but red message appears saying there is a problem. Can we do over phone?

Pete

Hi Pete

Yes, sure.

We're currently updating the system and it will be offline for a couple of hours but will call you later.

Regards

Mike

[Mike_Boxall]

Mike

Have put my card details in and it asked for a valid from date or issue number. My issue number is a single digit so I doubt I got that wrong but red message appears saying there is a problem. Can we do over phone?

Pete

Hi Pete

Your listing is online now - will call you tomorrow for details. It seems a few people had a problem last night but we were making changes to the database structure. Other payments seem to be coming through fine now.

Please let me know how it does for you.

Regards

Mike

[ianharper]

how mnay have linked? i have today

from webpronews.com

What is The Google Sandbox Effect?
Submitted by Jakob Jelling on Thu, 08/26/2004 - 14:07.
Comment Comment | Email Email | Print Print

In the age of fair competition you may find it hard to believe that a search engine may hinder the appearance of a new website.

This is what is currently believed to be happening on more web servers today. Some programmers have viewed Google as uncomfortable to rank newer websites until they have proven their viability to exist for more than a period of "x" months. Thus the term "Sandbox Effect" applies to the idea that all new websites have their ratings placed in a holding tank until such time is deemed appropriate before a ranking can commence.

However the website is not hindered as much as the links that are reciprocated from other users. Newer links that are created are put on a "probationary" status until again they pickup in rank from other matured sites or placed directly by an ad campaign. The idea behind the hindrance is to prevent a fast ranking to occur on a new website. The usual holding period seems to be between 90 and 120 days before a site would start obtaining rank from reciprocal or back linking.

Some advice has been given to have companies you are going to reciprocate back add your link first to the website. This may help grandfather your site in, thus reducing the waiting time associated with "new" websites. People have noticed a 0 page rank when first signing up and receiving a bolstering 7 page ranking after 4 months. Why the delay? The fact is, that if people realized how easy it would be to get a high ranking, would that take away the credibility of the engine. It depends on whom you ask, but it does seem to be happening frequently to newer subscribers. Do not discontinue back linking, your rank will eventually appear.

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.sitetube.com. Visit his website for the latest on planning, building, promoting and maintaining websi