Issue 134

July 01, 2007

 Let's take a look! 

Today I want to talk about CleanOutLook.com an online business that builds websites for professional cleaning companies.

But before I start talking about about them why don't you give the link below a quick once over. It will show you what they're all about. On the right hand side of the page I've linked you to they display links to Their Most Recent Clients. You can click on any of them if you want to see what professionally designed websites for cleaning businesses look like.

I won't talk about their prices since I won't make anything if you decide to use their service. But I will say that they seem reasonable to me. Especially since most online cleaners who created a site without expert help either used some rather simple software package designed to let amateurs create their own site quickly - with the kind of results you'd expect. Or they invested the time and effort to teach themselves how to create a functioning site from scratch - all the while running a cleaning business!!!!

For the rest of you, who want an attractive, well-functioning site and want to be able to get some sleep at night after putting in a full days work building your cleaning business, I'd suggest you look CleanOutLook.com over.

 Reasons why you should have a website 
 But not a do-it-yourself job 

(1.)  Even a new start up company looks more established with a professional looking website.

(2.)  Having a web presence for your cleaning business should be one of the first items listed in your marketing plan. A website that shows up in the search engines allows you to be in front of prospective clients 24 hours a day 365 days a year. Although a website for a cleaning business isn’t going to replace traditional marketing efforts it is an important addition which allows your potential clients to learn more about you or request additional information before making contact.

(3.)  As a business owner your time is money. The hours spent putting together a website could have easily landed you a decent sized, revenue generating account. Possibly several of them!

(4.)  Having a website that no one finds could be compared to buying a carpet extractor that is bought to sit in a corner of your garage. Simply put it is money wasted.

(5.)  Do it yourselfers usually rely on web-based ‘web site builders’ or WYSIWYG (what you see if what you get editors) or worse yet they use Microsoft Word or Publisher to create a website.

(6.)  Amateur sites generally do not optimize well meaning that they are not Search Engine friendly which will reduce the likelihood of your site getting good results in the search engines.

(7.)  Not only do these sites tend to look less professional than a customized, hand coded sites, they don’t allow the level of customization and personalization that should be your first consideration in establishing your ‘brand’.

(8.)  Online site builders are slower to use than professional methods of web design. For an untrained designer this 'cheap approach' could turn out to be very expensive in terms of the time involved.

(9.)  Contract cleaning is a highly competitive market. By outsourcing these time consuming tasks to professionals who specialize in services for your industry you can concentrate on the customers that are the lifeline of your business!

 The Free Stuff 

This section is the reason I wanted to do another article on CleanOutLook.com's website. You can jump straight to their Freebies Section or read through my list of their current goodies below.

• Website Templates They created this first section for those of you who are determined to go-it-alone and build your own website. I don't recommend it but if you do, this is a good place to start - goodluck!
  

• Tri-Fold Brochure Template Along with their neat template for a professional looking brochure they also have several free articles for you here, including: How to Write a Cleaning Proposal which is a good solid introduction to the subject if you are terrified at the thought of writing your first one.

• HTML codes This is a nice collection of basic HTML functions which you will need to know how to do if (against my advice) you decide to create your own website.

• Free Documents This is a list of simple documents written as WORD and EXCEL spreadseet files. They're pretty basic but they will help you get a quick, low cost start on your business. They include such things as:
  Background Check Release (WORD file)
  Residential Cleaning Tasks Checklist (WORD file)
  Expense Account (EXCEL file)
     -   They currently have 11 of these handy forms available for you.

• Free Advertising This actually takes you to their sister website, Cleanpeers.com which I'll talk about a little later. All you need to know here is that if you click on this link you will be able to get yourself listed as a cleaning site in your home state. Couldn't hurt.

• Free eBooks I contrbuted one of the two eBooks in the current list, so I have to admit to a little prejudice. It's composed of about 15 articles that I wrote a while back and put into PDF eBook form. I didn't have anything to do with the other eBook so I can say that I liked it without sounding self-serving.
  
  This second, free eBook is basically a dictionary of cleaning and business terms clearly explained. Here are a few of the terms they have under the letter F:
     Fixed Expenses – Costs that remain constant within a narrow range, regardless of your company’s sales volume.
     Flash Point – The temperature at which the vapor from a product will ignite.
     Float--The particles, dissolved finish, dirt and debris that is lifted of of floor and held in suspension by a stripping solution.

• How to Write a Cleaning Service Proposal This is a neat article on exactly what you should have in your proposal, how long it should be and a lot of good basic information about creating professional quality cleaning proposals. Frankly, I'm jealous, I would have done something like this for my own site, if only I'd thought of it first.

• Free Logos This is just what it sounds like. If you see a business logo you like, help yourself!

• Free Links One of the ways Search Engines judge how popular your site is (and therefore how high it should be in their listings) is by counting the number of relevant links you have. Free Links has a list of people in the business you can swap links with.
  
  If a potential customer from my hometown of Salinas, CA looks on google for "cleaning service"+Salinas+California - then, assuming your cleaning business is in Salinas - you want to be on the top of the list. Using this page to swap links will help you get there.

• Free Cleaning Pictures A lot of cleaning business sites - and believe me, I've looked at a lot of cleaning business sites over the years - suffer from using very familiar looking graphics for cleaning business. There seems to be a limited amount of cleaning graphics out there and if you've seen them before chances are your customers have too. Here's a chance for some original graphics on your website.

 CleanOutLook.com's Sister Site 

I'm not even going to try to list all the stuff they have available on CleanPeers.com there's just too much. However, the one thing I will say is that they have a wealth of Cleaning Forums more than I've ever seen listed in one place before:

Australian Forum
Big Mop Commercial Forum
Big Mop Residential Forum
British Independent Cleaners
Cleaner Network
Cleaning Pros
Clean Link
Clean Talk UK
Cleaning Talk
CMMOnline
Commercial Floor Care
Dirty Grout Board
Excellent Supply
Global Cleaning Assoication
Grime Scene
ICS Cleaning Specialist
International Janitorial Cleaning Services Association
Independent Cleaners Purchasing Alliance
Marble Cleaning Forum
National Window Cleaning Directory
OCIBR (Official Cleaning Industry Business Resource) - and yes, in answer to your unspoken comment, it is a lame title but they have a good forum
Power Washer Main
SCSF (Small Cleaning Services Federation, UK)
US Cleaners Network
VLM Cleaning Tech
Water Works NW
Wassoclean

In case you're not familiar with the way Forums work, they are online locations for people in the cleaning business to gather and learn from each other. You can ask a question, make a comment, answer somebody else's question or just read through the conversations generated by these questions (they call them threads) to increase your professional knowledge.

Here is the Intro to one of them, the Grout Cleaning Forum as an example of how they work. As a general rule, you need to register to get full use of the Forum but it won't cost you anything to signup.

It can be a lonely old world out there when you're working to turn your dream of a cleaning business into a succes. Forums can be a great way to learn of new business opportunities, discuss common problems, and just generally interact and socialize with people who are your peers but not your competition.

Tell a friend about my newsletter!

See you next time, until then, Keep It Clean!