Dangers of Hiring Unlicensed Contractors

Before you hire a contractor for those home improvements, HVAC work, or any other work that requires a person to be licensed - consider the following:

Fines for the homeowner: Hiring an unlicensed contractor is a violation of Florida Statute 455.228 which can result in a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for the home or business owner, and you could be liable for the court costs on top of that.

Also, if an unlicensed contractor files bankruptcy or skips out while working on your home or business, you are responsible for all fines, unpaid bills to suppliers, and for the wages of employees who worked for the unlicensed contractor.

Poor qualifications: Unlicensed individuals have not demonstrated the education, insurance, or qualification required of a licensed contractor. This can leave you with poor quality work or unfinished projects, which means that you could spend more money hiring another contractor to repair or finish the project.

Possible criminal background: Unlicensed individuals frequently have criminal backgrounds that may include fraud, theft, violent crime, sexual offenses, and substance abuse.
Likelihood of becoming the victim of a scam: Unlicensed individuals often disappear after taking your money, leaving you with very few options to help you get your money back or your work completed.

No coverage under homeowner’s policy: Homeowner's insurance does not cover unlicensed contractors so the homeowner is held responsible for hiring an unlicensed contractor and is therefore accountable for any work associated with the contractor. If an unlicensed contractor's carelessness leads to injury or damage to you or your neighbor’s property, you will be held accountable.

For more information, and how to avoid hiring an unlicensed contractor - please visit Sean McCutcheon's Air Conditioning and Heating, inc.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO is an intense race to be first in the listings - as more specialized tools are available and new technology is released - only web developers who stay on top and up to date will be able to deliver their clients true results.

Never trust any SEO company who claims they work directly with Google and can get you on page one overnight - it just doesn't work that way.

SEO takes time and a lot of work. Google rewards those who do it correctly and may penalize sites utilizing "black hat" techniques that artificially position sites high in organic listings.

Search Engine Optimization has changed dramatically in recent years. The shift is from one of Web page optimization and link-hounding to content and engagement optimization.

In short, Search Engine Optimization and Social Media are now undeniably intertwined. It has become extremely difficult to achieve any measure of success for important keyword searched without Social Media. Organizations that take advantage of Social Media can dominate their market.

Web page optimization and inbound links are still very important, but they may not be enough. Blog content dominates many question related searches. Video, audio and image are routinely mixed in on page one searches on Google and Yahoo.

Google frequently changes it's algorithms for indexing sites and seems to favor Blog-Type sites that have new, fresh, original and relevant content!

Some of the ways you can stay ahead of your competition are:

• Add a blog to the mix.

• Tag and thoroughly describe images.

• Create customer testimonial videos housed on YouTube.

• Write articles and press releases to submit to sites like EzineArticles..

• Create and optimize profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Maps and industry-related Social networking sites.

• Get very proactive about asking your customers to create positive reviews on sites such as Yelp and Google Maps.

What you distinguish to be the shade blue is in actuality the color red.

You have been trained incorrectly your whole life that red is blue therefore the sky is actually red and not blue.

Some people mistakenly think just because something is on the internet it must be true. So there you are - I just told you red is blue - and it's on the internet so it must be incontrovertible fact.

And besides - can you establish that the color blue in fact exists? Can you verify that everyone who sees blue is perceiving the same exact color? While you are at it - can you prove that you exist - or are you just a pigment of my imagination?

The internet is an ocean.

Your website is a boat.  It could be a canoe or a aircraft carrier, but some kind of boat.  Information like reviews and photos are fish that swim around in the ocean. 

Any fish you throw in the ocean will eventually be caught by someone, so be careful what you throw in the ocean.  And definitely do not throw trash overboard - because that stuff floats around forever.

Watch your domain name - do not let it expire!

A local Landscaping company let their domain name expire and recently hired me to build their new website. It turns out that one of their competitors saw their name was available and quickly registered it. The Landscape company had no idea that the web address on their flyers, business cards, and other material has been sending people to a competitors website for the last year.

I should also note - that when I go to this competitors website and try to call them - the number rings directly to a so-called "marketing company" - the person on the other end is always at a grocery store or you hear screaming children in the background.

So we have an unscrupulous marketing company and an equally dishonest landscape company. I have called and emailed, and have not yet heard back from the owner of the company - although the "marketing" person (who will not tell me the name of her company) claims she will talk to the owner and see if they will let me client have his name back.

They claim they thought my client was out of business - but if they would have bothered to make a phone call they would have seen that it was not the case.

We will see if the owner of the company does the right thing and transfers the name back to my client. If not - it won't be the end of the world - I have already registered the .net version of his name, and I will still get my client to the top of the search engines - the right way! The competitor put very little effort into their own site - and it's nothing more than poor design and a bunch of keywords on every page - which makes it highly irrelevant anyway - so it will just fade away.

The wonderful thing about the internet - it is a self cleaning oven - and sooner or later it will get rid of the garbage and reward the good websites.

As for losing domain names - this happened to another local company a couple years ago. They let their domain name expire and a company from China quickly registered it and told them they could have it back for $5,000.00.

If you use GoDaddy - they are very good about letting you know well in advance you have a domain coming up for renewal.

Unless you have a registered name, or can afford to pay a lawyer big bucks - there is not much you can do if someone takes your name. If you think there is even a chance you are going to use a certain name in the future - go ahead and register it. Also - make sure you get the .net and .org versions.

And one last thing - when hiring a wed designer, marketing person, or anyone - get references and ask to see their work - that will give you a good idea who you are dealing with!

Web Cramming And Free Websites

Small businesses and non-profit groups can be targets for a billing fraud scam called web cramming.

Sometimes a "web Design" company will contact a business by phone and offer a free customized website. They tell the business owner that after 30 days or so a monthly fee of $20 to $30 dollars will be billed for hosting services.

Customers are automatically billed for this service even if they did not authorize it. The charges start appearing on their phone bill. One version of the scam involves companies that offer "rebate" checks, that when cashed, will transfer the customers internet service provider. this scheme generally binds you to a contract, such as a long-term agreement with severe penalties for withdrawing.

And of course the websites are terrible quickly produced template designs - full of mistakes, and cannot be edited.

No business can afford to have a poorly designed useless website. If will cost you much more than that low monthly charge. Be aware of the effect your site will have on potential clients - often times it is the first thing they see.

How to choose a web designer

Every business needs a website. The questions is – how do you find the right web designer to take care of your internet presence? Will the web designer you choose take the time to know your business inside out, and be able to help bring you customers?

Unlike other traditional marketing strategies, a website has a global reach and can attract potential clients 24-7. Sometimes it’s hard for business owners to grasp the internets potential, but those who invest the time and money into a professionally built website will see the positive results immediately.

Unfortunately, sometimes it seems everybody and their brother claims to be a web developer. This is not a carefully regulated industry, you do not have to have a license to practice, and so many business owners just do not take the time to fully understand the potential effect a website can have on their business. There are even some business owners who make the important decision to hire a designer based on price alone.

There is no consistency or base line when it comes to web development companies – one company may charge $5,000 for a basic site while someone working out of their home with no overhead may claim to be able to do create a comparable site for a fraction of that amount. One day I passed a home with a sign in the yard that read :”Websites $400.00”.

With thousands of Web developers out there, ranging from individual freelancers to larger marketing and web design agencies, how can you make sure you choose the right one?

You need to decide what you want the website to do. Do you want a site that is nothing more than a glorified brochure? Maybe you are a small pizza restaurant and want to simply have a menu up on the internet. Of course, a properly designed and search engine optimized site will bring you more customers and more business, so you should always try to take advantage of all the internet has to offer. It is understandable that many businesses in this economy have limited budgets, so there is nothing wrong with starting small and having a plan to expand the site over a period of time until it is most effective. I would rather see a business do this than have no site at all.

So ask yourself what kind of information will you have on the site – what do you want to share with your visitors.

Remember – your website can be your single most important salesman – and he never sleeps. Many times your website will be the first thing a potential customer will see – so it is important to make a good first impression.

Those of us who are Web designers can spot another good web designer easily. But for the average person - choosing a professional can seem an overwhelming task.

Testimonials and referrals help greatly. If you are part of a Chamber of Commerce, or other networking group – ask around and talk to people who have worked with the designer you are considering hiring. If you use referrals and do your homework, you will have a much better chance of finding a designer who's right for you.

There are many designers who claim to be qualified but have no real experience. Some designers are great at creating beautiful graphics but do not have a clue when it comes to Search Engine Optimization. I actually know a business owner who asked his web designer to perform some SEO on his site – The designer refused to do the work and claimed he was only concerned with creating beautiful sites, and did not have time to waster on working with SEO.

Obviously you should ask to see examples of previous work. But also spend time talking with the web designer and make sure they are going to be the best person for your site, If you are a air conditioning contractor you probably don’t want someone who has only built restaurant websites.

Be clear about who owns the site once it is created. Some designers like to retain copyright, and can hold you hostage by not allowing you to edit or transfer your site. In my opinion - the site should belong to you no with conditions at all.