Business advice

[WaftyCrank]

I purposely left the title ambiguous so hopefully drag in enough people with varying opinions because my questions I think are varied and I'd like differing opinions.

As some of you know I run an offline business as my main area of work and dabble here and there in domains. My offline business does rely on online visitors to get the business so the two are tied. While the business is busy my site has dropped in recent months and I'm struggling to know why (possibly because I've not had time to pay attention to it). Here's the story:

I run www.sheffieldlaser,co.uk and www.goodvibrationstattoo.co.uk
Two differing but linked businesses, the laser clinic operates from my tattoo studio. The laser clinic came first and I used to use my Facebook profile for sheffied laser a lot. Since starting good vibrations I've hardly used my Facebook profile for Sheffield laser. For the first 12 months of business I've concentrated on the tattoo side in order to build reputation which I now see is hurting the laser clinic.

I am considering hiring someone to run my online campaign for the laser clinic to handle Facebook, Twitter and new blog content for my own site. Now the site is ok and works but I moved from wordpress to joomla because of a malware issue and I've never really got to grips with the new content management system. I'm considering another redesign to something like http://2.8hourslater.com (ignore the content and look at the layout of the site).

Question 1 Can the site have a dynamic area where blog content could be updated in your opinion?

Question 2 Do you think it would be worth hiring someone to run the online side of thing? Facebook, Twitter, original blog content etc? What would you expect to pay for this?

Question 3Would I be better placed having a custom website for the tattoo side of things? As you see I use a Facebook page and profile to keep the info up to date which is brilliant but doesn't rank well (its almost impossible to do any SEO on).

Sheffield Laser used to be the leading site in Sheffield for tattoo removal. The main search term was 'Tattoo Removal Sheffield' and now I'm taken over and not even on the first page of google for my own site. I held the top spot for a good 18 months or more until maybe end summer last year. I want to regain that top spot and would welcome any advice (as harsh as it needs to be) because I respect the opinion of the people on here and feel the advice is very valuable.

Thanks

Kirk

 

[willbon]

I don't know enough about the SEO stuff to comment, but re getting someone to do the social media stuff... I see every day weird and irrelevant comments posted by some of these clowns on FB pages and to me they complete their tasks to the minimum and will never be able to give the content that the owner / manager of the business can... they're usually unconnected to the business and the content they offer is poor.

A great social marketing experience can only be truly great if done 'in house'.

Maybe also look to other places where your customers are... are there any forums, events or other websites where future customers can be first engaged in the social media marketing relationship?

 

[retired_member36]

Wafty, you might want to get in touch with Alien, he offers a blog management service, (may also be able to help plug you some facebook and twitter stuff). Ive had content from Alien and its spot on!

 

[Murray]

Ranking for the keywords you're talking about shouldn't be too hard at all.

Saying that you're already top of the local listings, so It's not all bad.

The thing that surprises me about your sheffield laser site is that you don't have things listed clearly..

Really you should have "Sheffield Tattoo Removal Clinic" in the top banner, your address and phone number.. you don't want people to have to work hard to contact you.

I think having someone random run your twitter, facebook & make blog posts would be a waste of time, especially the blog posts.. it's a myth you need to regularly updated your blog for SEO purposes.

As said above I think your social side should stay in house.

For the services you offer friends telling friends is probably better than anything google can do.. so the main thing is being the best at what you do.

Other ideas to drum up interest might be having a charity day.. invite the local news.

Try and do some weird record.. invite the local news.

I'm just rambling now lol.

 

[WaftyCrank]

Sorry for the delay in returning. Thanks for the advice everyone. Worth some thought on all counts. Suggys I was thinking of a content writer to get together some good unique content on the subject for my business so thanks for that.

I think if I can offer general advice with a mile sales pitch built in so it's sort of seen as an authority on the subject then this I feel will help me in good stead. Worthy of an investment in this area I think.

I also take on board that doing updates in house is the best option, I tend to agree with you. Maybe I should time manage myself better to ensure this is done. Surely a couple of hours a week would be suitable to keep this up. I need to kick myself up the arse I think

Murray, wow... I thank you for the comprehensive feedback, it's very much appreciated. You're right, the site isn't ideal. It's OK, but lacking in areas. Would you be willing to offer some advice on how you'd set it out (even linking to other sites doing the same) so I can use this to maybe have a site rework.

What did you think to the site being similar to the http://2.8hourslater.com website? Having all the content on one page and some fancy javascript moving you around? Do you think this could work? I always feel as much content on one page will help SEO if done correctly. My issue was if I introduce a separate page with a blog roll to keep content current, I'd at least want to link a snap shot of this on the main website... could this work do you think with the change I'm considering?

Thanks

Kirk

 

[boxfish]

Can't you amalgamate both areas, tattoo & removals, into one branded site?

The audience you are targeting is the same I would have thought.

You could theme it as contrasting characters such as a Devil for tattoos and an Angel for removals, they could then be the faces of your social media campaign, bickering and fighting with each other in a humorous way.

 

[WaftyCrank]

Can't you amalgamate both areas, tattoo & removals, into one branded site?

The audience you are targeting is the same I would have thought.

You could theme it as contrasting characters such as a Devil for tattoos and an Angel for removals, they could then be the faces of your social media campaign, bickering and fighting with each other in a humorous way.

Lol I like that. Not sure how it would work though with dual brands?
The Sheffield Laser site is very female orientated and made to look like a clinic. Good Vibrations is a tattoo company as you would expect, leaning towards a masculine audience. Not sure they could co-exist on one site.

Also the laser clinic offers hair and thread vein removal so really needs to be kept separate I'd have thought. I like the way you're thinking though.
Maybe the Good Vibrations could look that way while keeping Sheffield Laser running separate??