Web Updates & New Rates...

I made some additional changes to the ACE Computer website (www.acecomputernj.com) yesterday, adding the Google search box to all the pages. I think it is a cool feature and a nice convenience for visitors. The search box allows searches within the acecomputernj.com domain, which is a plus in helping customers find information on the site.

As always I tweaked keywords and text. It seems to be my major focus and takes a good bit of time. The goal remains to improve the site ranking on Google, Yahoo, etc. It is easily the task I work on the most in trying to improve the business. I also made a few quick tweaks to the Google & Yahoo pay-per-click ads I run and I have dumped the Microsoft AdCenter Ads for now. I am intrigued by a pay-per-click service available from SuperPages.com, but I am waiting on some additional support from Yellowpages.com.

Speaking of yellowpages.com I could not be more disappointed with the customer service and results of the ad. It is the most expensive of the monthly ads I am running and my sales rep, who talked a great game of help and support has been a ghost. I placed a call yesterday to complain and more than 12 hours later no response. The customer service is a huge disappointment. So are the results, which have been minimal for new business and the number of referrals to my site is under what I expected.

The opposite is true of MetroJersey.com. I have seen a nice increase in customer traffic from the site and gotten a few customers already. The sales rep was quick to get my ad online and made a minor syntax change for me right away. Overall it has been great and I hope it continues to funnel some business my way.

I made a somewhat significant change to my rate structure as well. I charge $45 per hour for labor, which I know is very low compared to national repair services and other local computer repair shops. Much of the work I complete is done within 1-2 hours. I have not gotten many longer running jobs, in terms of billable hours for web design, etc. I know the $45 is low but that ads up quickly when you have a job of say five hours. I made a change to offer $35 per hour for jobs requiring four hour or more. And that will be $35 per each hour, not $45 for the first three and then $35. I hope this brings in some bigger, meatier work.

Thanks for reading!