So, let me start by giving you some Background:<br>
I have had a [I]small [/I]window cleaning biz for the last 4 years. I have been mostly floating on accounts that I have acquired from my dad, friends, and by word of mouth. I have dabbled in some door to door advertising, and I’ve picked up one or two residential accounts this way.<br>
I’m realizing that its time to step up my game. I don’t need oodles of work, but if I’m going to get anywhere, I really want to triple my residential business. The area that I live in has mainly a tourist-driven economy (mount snow, stratton, other ski areas), and many of the work I do is on second homes.
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where do I start? I have limited capital (maybe $500 to invest in marketing). I [I]do[/I] have resourcefulness, determination, and time.<br>
here are my main questions for you friendly business owners:[LIST=1]
[]In your experience, is it worth it to join the local Chamber of Commerce?
[]at this point, would changing my biz name be stupid/counter-productive, or would it have to potential for attracting new customers? (right now I just go by my name)
[]How important, really, is a website? where do I start with that?
[]Do print ads in newspapers actually work?
[*]What creative/bold ways have you found to promote your business? what has worked best?
[/LIST]
Thanks in advance for any insight you can give me!
I guess my post was kinda long and involved… I’m really just looking for comments on [I]any[/I] of these questions, not necessarily [I]all[/I] of them.<br>
Just really want to be effective with my marketing and not run myself in circles… Please Help!!!
Alright Alex…
Yes, change your business name. Alex Lacey window cleaning is good, but I bet your 21 year old creative mind can come up with something fantastically original and memorable.
I dont know about the chamber of commerce, I would wait on that if I were you.
Websites add credibility to your business, everyone who has a computer searchs for what they need online before they look in a book. Plus, its cheaper than a yellowpage ad.
Print ads MAY work, call some of the service companies in the paper you are looking at running in. I mean cleaning companies…ask if it is worth it.
You need to do your research my man.
Bold ways that others advertise may not work for you…use your imagination.
You will come up with something great. Stay positive, do your homework, search this forum and read up…
Well now that I am respond I can’t see you questions so I’ll do my best to remember what your questions were.
I have found local newpapers to be good sources of business. It comes in waves. I might go 2 months without a call from it and then get 4 in one day.
Websites have there place, but I wouldn’t put it high on your priority list if you have a budget of $500 to spend right now. When I started I didn’t have one and I was constantly asked if I had one. Got one cause I was tired of saying no and answering the same questions over and over. I get less than 10% of my business via our website/internet.
Changing your company name. Logic would say to get a name and stick with it, but it sounds like you haven’t branded your current name. Beside your current clients are most likely loyal to YOU not your company name. Keep the same cell number. In the past 6 years I’ve gone through 3 name changes. I’ve grown with each one.
Alright I’ll click submit and see what I missed.
Creative promoting? I wouldn’t try to re-right the book. Establish relationships with people in your community. Real Estate agents, house cleaners are good places to start. What else do you do besides windows? Who could be in a position to refer you when asked who does “x” service. Being out on jobs, especially highly visible commercial work always seems to strum up residental work.
At this point you are always working, be courteous and polite. When we are working on a residental job and a female is out for walk we always say something cheerful, sometimes just a basic “hello” or “good day”, when we have the time we’ll follow up with “would you like to get your windows cleaned today?”
Thanks, Tory and Dave for your advice! I’m gonna get started on my website today… I was really just being lazy, I guess, considering my experience in web design.
<br> As far as changing my name: I want to use “Infinity Window Cleaning” or perhaps just “Infinity Cleaning”. Everyone I’ve asked so far has liked it. The only obstacles I can think of is the popularity of the name… there are several businesses registered in Vermont with Infinity in their name. Will this be a problem? I also found Infinity cleaning in VA and Cali. Is there anything wrong with using this name, as long as i don’t try to move my business into a state that already has an Infinity Cleaning company?
<br> I’m also wondering about a good Domain for this. dot coms that are already taken are infinitycleaning and infinitywindows. what isn’t taken are finitewindows and finitecleaning. What do you gentlemen think? too confusing?
well, just purchased “finitecleaning.com” from everyone’s favorite discount hosting/domain service… hope i didn’t just waste 11 bucks 
You do realize that “finite” is the opposite of “infinity”, right?
Its a great name…you can pimp out the symbol for infinity and make it your logo, have a professional design it for you.
As for the domain…just starting out with a new site, DO NOT USE INFINITY WINDOW CLEANING as the URL.
Well, you can of course, but do some research and find out what people are typing to search for window cleaners in your area on google. Like brattleboro window cleaning.com or the bigger city near you where you want to do business in. Do it on a wordpress platform, SEO friendly and update that bad boy at least once a month.
Whatever the domain name, try to put window cleaning in the domain name, or window washing. It helps.
There are 3 other companies here in san diego that have the name Elite. Just not Elite Window Washing like mine. One is Elite Building Maintenance, one is Elite Squeegee, the other is Elite Windows.
Nobody said nothing yet, I did my ficticious name statement and it wasnt contested, so I am good. Keep the creativity flowing man you are on the right track. Just make sure you do your homework before you make your decisions. Especially with your site. It can be your most valuable asset, or it can be worthless.
haha, yeah, I know that… I just wanted to get something that was a real word, close to my biz name, and easy to write in a browser. really lpng domain names drive me crazy… How do you guys feel about registering multiple domains and redirecting them to the same site? for instance, get brattleboro window cleaning.com, or whatever… would that help at all with SEO, or would it be pointless, since it wouldn’t have any content, just a redirect?
Pointless. I know guys that do it, but think about it…all the seo work for several sites can be a huge waste of time when you could be working on one site. Plus, what you would be doing is really considered borderline “black hat”. Which means, you are trying to game the system that google has in place. Google will in the years to come catch just about everything and there wont be much you CAN do to game the system. The best thing to do is create a good site, promote it, and keep working on it. There is one guy I know like I said that does it, he is a great guy…and what he is doing is working okay for now…but I can easily outrank him with just one factor. I am not talking about Doug, I wouldnt be able to beat him…he is too smart for me. Start with the basics, a GREAT foundation to build an excellent website and you will do just fine.
Just don’t make the mistake that I did. I just asked someone to make one for me, and did not do any research at all. I had to make a whole new site because of that.
Good for you for buckling down and getting more serious. You can do it. You can pull this off with your $500.
Spend it carefully, and track the ROI of every dollar you spend.
Yay! my site is getting crawled by google! feels like some kind of milestone. now to get from page 2 to page 1 
Good luck
