Should I make a website for this family business?

[iamme]

My parents own a dry cleaners and my father was asking me what I thought about making a website for them. At first I thought it might just be a waste of time. Then I started thinking that there might be some value in it. It would probably me mostly informational/promotional. There isn't much dry cleaning business that could be transacted over the internet. I was thinking that it would (hopefully) give customers the impression that we are "modern" and keep up with technology. It could give us an edge over local competition and we could talk about the benefits of dry cleaning versus cleaning clothes at home.

I was wondering, how much would it cost to register a domain and maintain a modest website? I don't expect much bandwidth would be needed. It most likely wouldn't be updated very often. Also, considering the cost and time spent setting up the site, is it worth it?

 

[fatbaby]

$8 a year for the domain.

About $40 a year (for decent bandwidth).

Unless its a chain or your store is getting some business, it will be a waste of time. However, it doesn't hurt.

 

[vi edit]

You can register for $8-$10 a year at a place like namecheap.

Hosting would be like $5-$10 a month at a somewhat established provider.

As for your actual content, I'd offer specials or coupons online, and maybe consider setting up a form to allow people to book cleaning appointments on there that you can send to the store for them to fill in.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Well, I don't think registering it is much, just make sure you do it on yo ur own and not through a website host, because later on it can be a pain. Check out netsol.com for registering one

You can get hosted at plenty of places for a few dollars a month. I've used addr.com in the past until I got a really good deal with another company.

If you want to make it feel more modern, post coupons on the website and little pages in the store talking about the website. Then people will actually visit it, bring in coupons and come by more often. The hope in that is that they will pass them along to people they know as well.

 

[iamme]

Do the hosting companies also give you email addresses?

 

[fatbaby]

Yes, most hosting companies give you 5-30 pop3 mail addresses.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
You can register for $8-$10 a year at a place like namecheap.

Hosting would be like $5-$10 a month at a somewhat established provider.

As for your actual content, I'd offer specials or coupons online, and maybe consider setting up a form to allow people to book cleaning appointments on there that you can send to the store for them to fill in.

Agreed.

I am hosting 2 local family owned dry cleaning businesses and 1 deli shop.

They don't need complex Buy.com sites with real time inventory, shopping cart or even credit card processing.

First they find the right domain which is usually the toughest part. It has to be a domain which is easy to remember and catchy, the shorter the better. Including your neighborhood or city is a plus.

Next they find some freelance web designer to code a site for them, not sure how much this costs. Or you could do it yourself.

The site should have basic details such as:

• some history or an about section,
• of course contact details such as business name, address, phone, fax and e-mail address
• some photographs obviously the front of the business, maybe an inside pic or two showing the equipment, etc.
• directions to your dry cleaners from 4 different sections of town or if you're located near a big store (or within a strip mall)
• using a mailing list (which web host providers offer for free) get people to sign up ... with this you can build your customer base
• OFFER COUPONS ONLINE! They print and bring in to save $2 or whatever or get a free shirt cleaned with 2 pairs of pants. Things brings business to the website.

Best of all, even though they have about 400 unique hits a month it uses around 800MB of bandwidth ... that's very cheap you could get away with $30/yr for web hosting.

It's well worth doing it!!!