Your website is how most clients will find you. Before they call, they look at your website to see your prices and decide if you’re worth contacting. A simple website with the right information works better than no website at all.
Setting up a website involves multiple technical components that must work together. Many new cleaners underestimate how complex this is or how long it takes. Some try to skip the website entirely and rely on Facebook business pages instead. This rarely works well.
This chapter shows you what technical components you need, what pages your website requires, and why social media pages cannot replace a real website.
What You Will Learn
- The technical components required to get a website online
- What pages your cleaning website needs and what goes on each page
- Why mobile-friendly design matters for getting clients
- Why social media pages cannot replace a proper website
- The realistic time and cost involved in creating a website yourself
The Reality of Website Creation
Setting up a website involves several components that must work together. Missing any element means your website won’t function.
Essential Technical Components
- Domain Name: Your business address on the internet (www.yourcleaningbusiness.com). You register through a domain registrar and pay annual renewal fees.
- DNS Configuration: Settings that connect your domain name to your website.
- Web Hosting: Your website lives on a server that stays online 24/7. Costs $5 to $50 monthly.
- Content Management System: Software that lets you create and edit pages without writing code. Requires technical knowledge to install and configure.
- Theme: Controls your website’s appearance. Premium themes cost $50-$200 and require hours of customization.
- Logo: Appears on your website, business cards, uniforms, and marketing materials. You can create a free one (we’ll show you how) or hire a designer for $300-$2,000.
- Security Certificate: Encrypts data and stops hackers. Without it, browsers display “Not Secure” warnings.
Each component depends on the others. Most new business owners spend 40-80 hours learning these systems, or pay web designers $2,000-$5,000 to handle everything. Free website services rarely look professional and often don’t work the way you want them to. We recommend you stay away from these.
Essential Pages
A website for a home cleaning company needs content across multiple pages:
Homepage: In a sea of websites this is the page your customer lands on first. It needs to grab your customer’s attention fast before they bounce to another site.
About Page: Clients want to know who will enter their homes. This page introduces yourself, explains your background, and shows your commitment to professional service.
Services Page: Details what you offer, what you don’t, and how your service works. Clear descriptions prevent misunderstandings and qualify clients before they contact you.
Pricing Page: Shows how you charge and lists prices and typical ranges. You should always display prices as it stops haggling from clients seeking unrealistic bargain rates.
Questions Page: Clients often have a hundred questions. The company that answers these the best usually gets the job. You can use this section to sell to your client too and also to show how other companies aren’t as good as yours. We’ll talk about this later, it’s called inoculation marketing.
Contact Page: Your website needs a contact page so clients can reach you. You can also display your phone number so they can call you directly. Consider showing the hours you’re available to take calls.
Your contact form should send the message to your phone, so you can respond quickly before the customer gets an answer from other companies. Speed counts in this business.
Payments Page: In this day and age everyone wants to pay by credit card or bank debit. You need a page that shows customers how to pay and links them to a cart or payment processor such as Stripe.com.
The Perfect Website
If you want to see the perfect cleaning website in action go to JustDusted.com. This is a demo of the website you can get when you sign up with MaidHost. It has been designed specially for small boutique cleaning businesses and comes with all pages and content ready for you to edit. Add a logo and edit the words, questions and photos and you can have a website up and running in an evening.
Mobile-Friendly Design is Essential
Most people these days search for services on their phones. Your website must display properly on mobile devices or you will lose clients. A mobile-friendly website adjusts its layout for small screens, keeps text readable without zooming, and makes buttons easy to tap.
Many websites claim mobile compatibility but deliver poor experiences on actual devices especially the free websites that litter the internet. Have a look at JustDusted.com on your phone to see how the site works on your mobile device.
Why Social Media Pages Fall Short
Some new business owners consider skipping website creation and relying on a Facebook business page. Social media has a role in marketing, but it cannot replace a proper website.
Here’s why Facebook pages don’t work as business websites:
- You don’t own your page. Facebook does. The platform can suspend or delete your page at any time without explanation. Competitors can make false complaints that eliminate your page overnight.
- Limited functionality. You cannot create detailed service pages, comprehensive FAQ sections, or payment integration. The platform’s changing algorithms mean potential clients may never see your content even if they follow your page.
- Poor search engine rankings. Search engines prioritize websites over social media pages. Try a search now and you won’t see lists of Facebook pages, only websites.
- Lack of credibility. Clients inviting service providers into their homes want assurance they’re hiring established, professional businesses. A Facebook page suggests a casual, possibly temporary operation. A website demonstrates commitment and permanence.
Our recommendation: Yes use Facebook as an extra for communicating and marketing your services online. It’s excellent for this. But you must always have a business website too.
Key Takeaways
- Your website requires multiple technical components: domain name, hosting, content management system, theme, logo, and security certificate.
- Building a website yourself takes 40-80 hours of learning or costs $2,000-$5,000 to hire designers.
- Your website needs specific pages: homepage, about, services, pricing, questions, contact, and payments.
- Mobile-friendly design is essential since most clients search on phones.
- Facebook business pages cannot replace websites because you don’t own them, they have limited functionality, they don’t rank in search engines, and they lack professional credibility.