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Cutting grass online?

ChrisFarleyChrisFarley subscriber Posts: 20
edited October 2007 in Building A Website That Works
I have a small lawncare company and was wondering if there could be potential with setting up a website in which people can pay to have their grass cut ahead of time.  I could also offer the other services that i normally do like delivery of mulch and tree work as well as landscaping.  What do you think? Could it work? Usually i have found the best way is to price jobs when you see them but, if there was a way for people to enter their address or how large their yard is then i think it could work.  You could have a guarentee that someone will be out in 5-7 days to do whatever service they paid for. And have their money be dropped into a paypal account.. Is this possible, i am a newbie to making a website.  Thanks for the input. 
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Comments

  • sddreamweaverssddreamweavers subscriber Posts: 5 Member
    It`s an idea that I think has a limited audience, that is unless you broker the deals out to larger areas. If you are the one cutting the grass there`s only so much you can personally do. But still a good way to start off slowly.
    Here`s my thoughts of how you can do it for $15:
    1. Plan you idea out well on paper
    2. Start out by creating a free website from www.weebly.com to test your market without putting money forward. Don`t worry about e-commerce for now--people can pay you after you finish the work anyway.
    3. Add a comments section and ask people to give you measurements of their lawn or estimates of other type of work.
    4. Respond to their email with a quote and time you can do the job.
    5. Print your own business cards after buying the templates at your local office depo (buy the ones with seamless edges--try Avery, about $15 for 200)
    6. Advertise on all FREE local classifieds in your area.
    7. Go door to door around your neighborhood and leave cards starting with the homes that have ugly lawns.
    So that`s how I`d test it out without much money out of your pocket.
    B
    3. In addition to this I would suggest creating flyers for the areas that you would like to conduct business in and putting them on every doorstep.
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  • WeblineWebline subscriber Posts: 13 Bronze Level Member
    Perhaps it would work better for people you have already provided services to .... in that way you already know lawn sizes and other criteria, and it could maybe be a nice feature to keep them as repeat customers.For new customers, you might want to visually see their projects first; I would think there would be issues if you under quote & receive payment the first time for a certain customer, then have to raise your price for them the next time because of inaccuracies without seeing the actual project first.
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  • ChrisFarleyChrisFarley subscriber Posts: 20
    Hey everybody well i put a little website it is a work in progress. Its http://balawncare.weebly.com</A> so check it out. Let me know what you think or if you know anybody who needs there grass cut.ChrisFarley2007-11-7 15:10:56
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