Renegade Conservatory Guy

A few weeks ago I posted the story about Nigel Gray the builder who pulled down a conservatory in Shoreham because a ‘rogue customer’ would not pay for the work he had completed.

Nigel contacted me on this website and we spoke on the phone, and he told me about all the publicity he had received, including being headline news in New Zealand!  I’m sure Nigel was not expecting the level of national and international recognition he has received when he picked up his lump hammer!

He also told me that he had been contacted by a chap called Kevin who was also experiencing a similar problem with an awkward customer, and they had set up a new website called roguetrader.com.

The website is designed to continue the campaign to change the law, and put in safeguards for companies who are unlucky enough to do business with rogue customers.  There’s a petition to sign and a blog, and all the latest news about how the campaign is doing.

For more information visit http://roguecustomer.com/  - Sign the Petition!!!

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I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately…

And the question that is occupying my mind at the moment is…. would a ‘How to run a Double Glazing Company’ website be useful?

I’m quite sure that I’m the only person in the world currently thinking of this, which could mean that there is no need for such a website.  If this is the case please try talk me out of it!

My thought process is thus:

It can be very lonely running a conservatory or double glazing business, especially for sole traders.  In my capacity as the MD of a national conservatory manufacturer, I regularly spend my time talking to and advising customers on how to run their businesses.  But I share bits of information with one business owner, and then not necessarily the same with the next business owner.

So, what I’m thinking is that I create a membership website for owners of double glazing companies (and their staff) and share all the knowledge I have gained over the years about how to build a succesful installation or manufacturing business.  The knowledge I could share would be:

• How to purchase products at the right prices (eg sealed units, silicone, conservatory roofs, advertising etc).
• How to price up conservatories and double glazing correctly to ensure profitability.
• How to advertise effectively using mediums such as TV, radio, internet, newspapers and so on.
• Reviews and podcasts about software products such as Window Designer, Vector or Adminbase.
• How to motivate sales teams, and how to improve conversion rates.
• How to manage installations effectively.
• The list goes on and on….

Crucially, I would make the site a ‘community resource’ so that there would be a discussion forum for members to talk to each other and share ideas.  And, the software would allow members to communicate with each other privately - imagine a Facebook for double glaziers!!

I would use Membergate to build the site as it is designed for exactly this type of website, and I am already familiar with the basics of how to use it, as we have built our ConservatoryTV.com website using Membergate.

We’re in a period of turbulence for business owners and their staff in the double glazing industry, and my thoughts are that if people work together to encourage best practices then individual businesses will prosper, and the industry as a whole.

However, my concern is that it may never take off for two main reasons:

• Most people in this industry are too apathetic and suspicious to get involved.
• Most business owners in this sector never go online anyway.

If you have a view on this, please let me know by posting a comment.

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Climbing the Google rankings for ‘conservatories’

I’m feeling quite chuffed with things today, as a lot of the hard work we have put into SEO for our Conservatory Outlet website is gradually taking effect.  We’re gradually getting more visitors each month to the site, and crucially the number of conservatory leads we are getting has been steadily rising.

Traditionally, we have always been strong with terms such as ‘conservatories yorkshire’, ‘conservatory company leeds’ or ‘upvc conservatories huddersfield’.  This is our core trading area, so it is important that we appear high on search engines for such terms.

I’ve always felt that a potential customer in huddersfield is likely to begin searching for:

• ‘Conservatories‘
• Then ‘conservatories yorkshire’
• Then ‘conservatories huddersfield yorkshire’
• Or even maybe ‘uPVC conservatories huddersfield yorkshire’

You get the picture, and there’s millions of these ‘long tail’ search terms we need to concentrate upon in our industry.

But more recently we have turned our attention on the main Conservatory Outlet site (and some of our other sites) to more competitive terms such as ‘conservatories’, ‘upvc windows’ and ‘double glazing’.

And it’s gradually improving if you see the position we are now getting for ‘conservatories‘:

A couple of months ago we’ve improved our position from page 5 on Google to page 1 - and now position 5 on the first page.  When you consider that the companies down the right hand side are paying around £3 per click then this is clearly a good place to be.  We’re also doing reasonably well for other terms such as ‘conservatory company’, ‘conservatory suppliers’ and so on.

I wrote a post about the best conservatory website in the world a few weeks ago, referring to the position of the ConservatoryLand website on Google, and you will see that they are still in P1.  Our challenge is to make sure our website dislodges ConservatoryLand as clearly that position makes a big difference.

So, how are we going to be top of Google?

Well, there’s no quick fix, but here’s just a few of the ways we’re going to push for higher rankings for ‘conservatories‘ and other key search terms, such as ‘double glazing’.

New website

The existing website is not as good as it could be.  It’s not very good to navigate, and I don’t feel that the user experience is good enough.  There’s probably too much technical information, and possibly not enough consumer friendly content.  Don’t get me wrong, we’re getting plenty of enquiries, but we could convert a better proportion of visitors to good enquiries.

So, we’ll have a newly rebuilt site within the next few weeks.  The site will have plenty of content that contains the important key search terms we are aiming for, especially within the titles of the web pages.

SEO

We have a search engine optimisation company advising on the rebuild of the site to ensure all the H1 tags, source code, and general terminology that I don’t fully understand, is correct and Google friendly.

The company, Blue Claw, are also building links to the main URL (and deep links to other pages) by submitting our site on relevant directories, and by submitting articles we have written on article websites, creating plenty of good links to our site from pages with specific related content.  Google looks at links as being votes for a website, the more good links you have to your site, the more Google likes your site and ranks it higher.

Blogs

We already post comments on existing relevant blogs, but as there are not many double glazing blogs out there we are creating our own blogs, which effectively act as micro sites.

They’re not great sites and the content is crap, but the key thing is that we are building links to our main site, and dealer sites.  Some examples are:

• uPVC double glazing blog
• uPVC windows blog
• Conservatory blog

Let’s face it, one of the main reasons for having the RCG website is to push links to our sites (you may have noticed!!)

Conservatory TV website

We have a website called ConservatoryTV which includes more general advice and information about conservatories.  We generate quite a few leads from this site, but crucially, there are plenty of links to the Conservatory Outlet site, and other dealers.  There’s a lot of video on this site which is all hosted on YouTube (with more links from there!)

Forums

We occasionally post on home improvement forums but this can be hard work.

PR

We have a PR guy, Iain McInnes, and he ensures that any news items and general press releases are submitted to the two main double glazing news resources - the Glazine and Fenestration News.  The press releases always carry a link to our website.

Buzz Marketing

This is the next stage of developing links and visitors to our double glazing websites.  I’ll tell you more about this as and when I know where we are going with this.

Conclusion

I’m just scratching at the surface of what is required for effective online marketing.  I probably shouldn’t be sharing this with other people from the double glazing industry, but I enjoy writing about this - so why not!  I’ll no doubt be keen to tell the world if, and when, we ever get to Number 1.

In the meantime, if you need any further advice on SEO and link building, please get in touch.

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I was listening to Radio 2 this afternoon, and my ears pricked up when I heard the story of a builder who received permission from his local council to remove a conservatory from a house where the customer hadn’t paid up.

In this particular case, the property was a council house, hence the perturbed builder was able to approach the council and leverage their support.  The customer was not unhappy with her conservatory, she just didn’t want to pay the £15,000 for it!  And, she used numerous lies and tactics, such as stating her husband had recently died, in order to avoid payment.

I’m sure all owners of window and conservatory companies have come across ‘rogue customers’.  We hear so much about rogue traders and cowboy builders, it’s about time we hear stories about awkward, cheating customers who try all sorts of tactics to avoid payment, or delay payment.

The stress these ‘rogue customers’ can cause to owners and employees of conservatory and window companies cannot be underestimated.  Many companies just give in to avoid further hassle.  It is no coincidence that on Adminbase (software for window companies) there is a ‘bastard’ button, which flags up very bad customers so the company knows never to deal with them again.

From listening to the callers to this Radio 2 show, there was a lot of support for the extreme actions of this builder.

In my experience 99% of customers are fair, and have every intention of paying on time when the job is finished satisfactorily.  But for the 1% of rogue customers, I believe that companies should stand their corner as the law and the public are on their side.

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Have you any idea which is the best conservatory website in the world?

You might think it would be the website of one of the following companies:

Anglian Home Improvements
Everest
Ultraframe
Synseal

But, no despite being some of the biggest names in the conservatory industry, none of these companies have the best conservatory website in the world.

The best conservatory website belongs to:

ConservatoryLand in Mansfield woodhouse, Nottinghamshire

And their website is www.conservatoryland.com.

They have the best conservatory website for one simple reason. 

They have been at position 1 on google for a long time for the term ‘conservatories’ and ‘conservatory’.

Companies, including my own, pay big money with Google Adwords to get on the front page of Google for the term ‘conservatories’ - as much as £3-£4 per click!

Conservatoryland manage to get to the first natural position on Google for no cost per click.  With millions of searches per year for this term, this puts Conservatoryland in a very powerful position.

They also appear very highly for other important ‘long tail’ conservatory keywords:

diy conservatory - position 6
diy conservatories - position 5
self build conservatories - position 8
conservatory prices - positions 5 and 6
conservatory suppliers - position 6

This is the beauty of the internet, as smaller companies can compete and beat the major suppliers for key search terms.

So how can ConservatoryLand beat the likes of Anglian and Everest to this top spot?

Well, the site is well built for search engines to begin with.  I must admit I don’t like the look of the site and find the pages slow to load, but this site has been built to be search engine friendly.  When you’re number one on Google, you’re going to get lots of visitors, and ultimately LOTS OF CUSTOMERS!!

And the site has lots of websites linking to it in comparison to other websites out there:

                                          Google Links                Yahoo Links
Conservatoryland               91                                2,481
Ultraframe                            8                                  355
Synseal                                  8                                 260
Anglian                                 131                             3,460
Everest                                  42                               823

The Screenshot below shows the Google link stats:

Anglian clearly has a strong SEO plan and link building campaign, with more links than Conservatoryland, but crucially ConservatoryLand has specialised on ‘conservatories’, whereas Anglian have also concentrated on other home improvements such as double glazing, kitchens etc.

And the way Google is changing, the more natural links you have to your website for terms such as conservatories the better your site will perform.  Did you notice in that sentence, I created a sneaky natural link to my own site - I’m working on beating ConservatoryLand to the top!

The picture is completely different for ‘double glazing’, though.

If you type in ‘double glazing’ on Google, you’ll find the big boys have put real effort into SEO, taking 6 out of the top 10 positions.  At the time of writing the top 10 is as follows:

1. Zenith Windows - national installer
2. Everest - national company
3. Anglian - national company
4. Planet PVC - no longer trading
5. Safestyle - national company
6. Double Glazing On the Web - small company from Dorset
7. Weatherseal - national installer
8. DoubleGlazing.com - an eBuilders portal site
9. DoubleGlazing4Web - A website that feeds to Safestyle’s main website
10. All Double Glazing - information website.

So, if you’re a smaller double glazing company, you’re going to find it far tougher to compete on the term ‘double glazing’ and the pay per click rates are far higher.

To conclude

The internet is going to become far more important for the conservatory and double glazing companies in the future, so you need to start working on building links to your website now, for terms such as double glazing (see, I did it again!)

And, now matter how small or large your double glazing firm is, the internet is a fair playing field (well, sort of), and you’ll not get traffic to your site without putting in the effort.

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If you have a look at some of the double glazing websites out there, you’re unlikely to be impressed with what you see. When talking to smaller installation companies, I often find that most owners will state that they have a website, but they get very little business from it.

It’s hardly surprising when you see websites like this one or this one.

The worst websites are the ones you can’t find - if Google can’t find your double glazing company’s website, then your customers are unlikely to find you!

There are some exceptions to the rule, and I recently wrote very positively about the Masterframe Sash Windows website, and the Timber Windows website.

And I’m delighted to say that one of our dealers have created a great website:

The Conservatory Outlet is an installer of conservatories, pvc windows and pvc doors in the North West of England - mostly Lancashire, Cheshire and Merseyside. Crucially, this website has been built in to be search engine friendly, so within 6 months it is hoped that the site is ranking well for keywords such as ‘conservatories’ or ‘double glazing manchester’.

It is very easy to navigate from the Home Page to the main areas from the website - conservatories, windows and doors. There’s also links to Special Offers and the Conservatory Showrooms in Leyland, Holmes Chapel and Knutsford. For those looking to get a quote or ask a question, there’s clear links such as ‘Free quotation request’ or ‘Download a Brochure’.

It’s also a great looking website - clean lines, great colour scheme and not too fussy.

In fact, I’m so impressed, we’ve decided to follow a similar theme for our own conservatory company’s website!

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Double Glazing industry picks up

The word on the street is that sales are up!

It was a very poor start to the year for many fabricators and installers, mainly due to pretty poor sales in November and December. There were obviously a lot of casualties with Zenith / Staybright, Shepley Window Systems, Budget Windows, Pennine Windows, and My Planet just a handful of those going bust!

Our conservatory manufacturing business was well down in January compared to the year before, but February was pretty good, and March is looking excellent at the moment. In fact our Q3 results will be far better in 2008, than the equivalent in 2007.

Our conservatory installation company also had a very average January, but February has been one of the best months on record, mainly due to an effective TV campaign we have been running. March is also already looking excellent with customers keen to visit the showroom and place orders.

A number of our trade conservatory companies are also getting busier after the slow start. I’m not sure what has changed - whether it’s better weather, lower interest rates, or just that we’re excellent at selling conservatories and double glazing.

So forget everything I said in January!

What recession???

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UK window industry - we’re ahead of the rest of the world!!

I’m a big believer that the UK fenestration and glazing industry needs to rapidly improve it’s product range and service to the consumer. There’s challenging times ahead and those companies willing to try new things will succeed as a result.

Despite this, I still feel we’re light years ahead of the rest of the world!

A few things have happened at work this week that have made me think this way:

Firstly, I had a potential trade customer with a small window company in Tenerife get in touch with my company. My first thought was to fix up an appointment quickly, and get on the next plane out of here! The company supplies UK products to ex-pats who cannot purchase the type of quality windows, doors and conservatories they were used to in the UK. I was told that there are ‘major opportunities in Tenerife!’

Then we had an Anglo-German couple in our conservatory showroom last weekend. They were so keen for our sales rep to come and quote them for a P-Shape conservatory in Hamburg, that they were willing to pay for our guy to go over and quote - flights and all. Apparently, you just can’t get decent conservatories in Germany!

Finally, I stumbled upon a forum for expat Brits living in Australia, discussing double glazing down under. There were a number of people on the forum complaining about the standard of Australian windows, and comparing them unfavourably with the ones they had left behind! I once lived in Perth, Western Australia, and to be honest, I can’t remember much about Australian windows, other than they were as flimsy as the secondary glazing we get here.

And then in the US, the vogue is for English conservatories, and from what I hear there’s real opportunities for UK suppliers to sell product over there. Apparently, the product range in the US is simply not as good as those offered in the UK.

So maybe we shouldn’t beat ourselves up too much. What we need to do is make sure the British public understand how lucky they are to purchase Great British windows, doors and conservatories!!

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Synseal fights back with conservatory roof test video!

In a previous post I discussed an Ultraframe Roof Video which had been doing the rounds suggesting that only Ultraframe roofs could withstand the extremes of the British weather. The video showed the Wintech test centre putting a number of conservatory roof systems through rigorous testing, and the comments posted on my blog suggested the industry was split as to the validity of the video.

I had my own concerns about how independent the testing of non-Ultraframe roofs actually were. And, more specifically, the finger seemed to be pointed at the Synseal (or Global) roof system in particular, with the roof apparently failing spectacularly at 30mph mph wind speeds.

Well, Synseal decided to take their roof back to Wintech (the same place Ultraframe had visited) and fit their conservatory roof to Synseal recommended standards, and see how it would actually perform.

The results are as follows:

The Ultraframe roof video implied that a Synseal roof would fail at wind speeds as low as 30mph, while Ultraframe roofs could withstand hurricane force windows of 130mph.

So, how can Synseal visit the same testing centre, fit their roof system correctly and find that the roof actually withstands 160mph wind speeds???

OK, I’m going to be accused of being biased towards Synseal. But, in my previous post I pointed out that I’ve fitted hundreds of Ultraframe and Synseal roofs, and both systems are fit for purpose.

My point is that Ultraframe have clearly twisted the rules here, and fair play to Synseal for setting the record straight. The Ultraframe video was clearly complete nonsense, and the suggestion that independent fitters were used to fit competitor roofs is clearly wrong.

Surely fair competition involves selling the benefits of your own product, not trying to slag off the competition unfairly!

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Window Industry in recession - will the interest rate cut make a difference?

It’s clear to me that even though the economy as a whole may not be quite in recession, our particular part of the economy is clearly in recession. According to the BBC website:

A technical definition of a recession is two successive quarters when the economy shrinks.

Well, the window industry has had 2-3 successive years of shrinking, and the outlook is for further shrinking over the coming years.

The latest quarter point cut in interest rates will help, but I feel it won’t make enough of a difference to our industry.

The latest AMA report into the replacement window and door market confirms the problem:

The UK market for replacement domestic doors and windows is facing major challenges in 2008. The market is large, but mature, and volumes are declining. As companies compete for business in a strongly price oriented market, major problems have resulted in substantial restructuring in 2007, as the market adjusts and consolidates.

The following table highlights the problem:

AMA predict things are unlikely to change in the short term:

The overall prospects for the replacement doors and windows market for 2008 remain downbeat, with a forecast decline of around 3%, reflecting a combination of market saturation, continued pressure on prices throughout the supply chain and the impact of the current credit crunch. In addition, the economy is set to slow down in 2008-09 and falling house prices are also likely to slow the market. In the medium term, some recovery may be achieved and the sector will offer growth prospects in some niche applications.

Individual companies can buck the trend by differentiating themselves from the rest, and offering either different products or a unique type of service. But for those wishing to manufacture and install ‘bog standard’ shiny white plastic windows things don’t look good. Conservatories have plugged the gap over the last 5 or 6 years, but even demand for conservatories in the UK is falling.

We need to work together to stimulate demand for our products. I feel that we need to create an organisation which has the primary goal of advertising and marketing the main selling points of our products:

Instead of Synseal, Pilkingtons and Joe Bloggs Window Company all sending different advertising messages to the consumer, why don’t we all consider putting money towards a central body which promotes the industry as a whole to the end user.

I predict that a £10m TV advertising campaign selling the benefits of replacement windows and doors to the consumer would have a dramatic effect on the graph above.

There are lots of problems we face as an industry, but I believe the main problem is simple - a lack of demand for what we are selling.

The problem is getting people who compete with each other to work together…

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