Our Competition

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

You didn't find the Wizards site utterly annoying to look at too?

we checked it on my mac and his pc and on the pc there are all kinds of lines and errors that show up. On the Mac, the graphics are all smushed and the blinking of the pages are blinding. I can't even look at it for too long for fear of an epileptic fit.

I need to do something with Matt's background though. It's too 'flat' but I can't find something suitable that I like or works with that color.

The "rule" for getting to the 'meat' of the info you seek is no more than 3 clicks. If you can't find it in 3 clicks you've lost the visitor's interest.

If you look closely at the wizard's site, he used some lame site builder on his server to make that site instead of investing time to make one himself or hire a kid with good skills to do it for him if he didn't have 10K to spend.

[Biker Dude]

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The competition is flashy, glitzy. But the fact that I had to wait for it to load, and then click again annoyed me. I wouldn't have waited for it except you asked. If I ran across it while looking for services, I would have clicked back and gone on to another right away.

I like knowing who I am dealing with, so that fact that neither really mentions the staff bothered me. I pick businesses with real people, and the fact that yours doesn't have em weighed against it for me.

[Rhubarb]

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I'm staying out of this one

Do ordinary 'run of the mill' people really have all this technology?

When we bought our flat screen (some time ago now) the installer was very disappointed is was so small and suggested we exchanged it for a bigger one.

Since Matt has confirmed we have the right size for our little Edwardian living room, we're happy. Didn't really want to sit outside and watch it through the window

Our house was up to date when it was built have to only Gas lighting in every room not all these electronics. It's a real problem.

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Biker, good idea on the personal info. I'll run that by Matt.

Keep in mind he's only doing this as a side business and has a regular day job. Until the abolition of Obamacare we see no point in going fully legit on this business.

[JohnWho]

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Yeah, good point adding a little info on who is there.

After all, "Outta This World" might make people think there are aliens there!

[Biker Dude]

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Fair enough about that. And having stuff on the internet can be weird. But for myself, long before I would let anybody in my house I would want to know about them. So to me, to more up front, the better. Kinda like how on your competitions web site I didn't like having to dig for useful info, as a customer I am not going to jump through hoops before you let me get to know you.

I am picky about who I let in my house, and who works on my bike.

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Yeah, but when you take your bike to the shop, do you ask for a bio of the mechanic who's going to work on it? Or do you take recommendations from your friends on the person? Most of our work is word of mouth and by Matt leaving his card with customers on the day job.

If I were to call say, Geek Squad, I'm not going to ask for a biography and resume of the person coming over.

Many businesses do not give that kind of detail. We have to think carefully how to present this over the internet because there are repercussions to putting yourself out there too. Competitors can be vicious rumor spreaders. People who personally know you can be assholes too. Being in NJ is also looking for headaches in this area since there is a special brand of 'ass-holeyness' here.

[Havoc]

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Bad competition is good for business.

[Biker Dude]

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Word of mouth is good. And for the bike mechanic, he is always either someone I know and have worked with before, or I have a direct recommendation from a friend. Period.

You call Geek Squad, you are trusting that Best Buy knows at least something about hiring, and who works for them. You call a small business, you don't get that.

Oh I get the being careful thing. You might have to put more out there than you want. It's part of the cost of it being your business. Otherwise you would be working for Geek Squad...

[Rhubarb]

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Word of mouth is good. And for the bike mechanic, he is always either someone I know and have worked with before, or I have a direct recommendation from a friend. Period.

Agreed- everyone we give work is 'word of mouth' just about.

Even one of the psychologist nurses I've worked with is now our Plumber! He is brilliant and he says he find it's an easier 'shit' to deal with.

I'm disappointed with Barry our bike mechanic. He will never live down putting two back tyres on my bike. Idiot!