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  Ben Jakes September 27, 2016 at 2:02pm

  No no no no no. And no again.

  Checkatrade's market strategy works two ways- one- convince old ladies that if a tradesman isn't Checkatrade approved, he will rip them off. Two- convince naive tradesmen that if they are not Checkatrade approved they will never get any work.

  Over £600 a year plus VAT buys you a lot of advertising that actually works. Make your first few customers super happy, go the extra mile and ask them to recommend you to their friends. You'll not be short of work.
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  Scott H September 27, 2016 at 3:27pm

  I don't get any calls from Yell.

  Freeads, oh yes, I remember I did sign up to them too.

  I'd have a look around for local magazines, parish magazines and the like. Maybe a Facebook page and a website? 

  10% ish of my work comes from the website, very little from Facebook -  the leads I have from Facebook have in the main been looking for the cheapest, but one or two have come good.

  Started getting the odd enquiry from the signwiritng on the van, and now ( 6 months after starting) am getting the odd recommendation. 

  Gumtree is an interesting one, I find it difficult enough to get a private sale, that is actually getting someone to commit to coming round, wouldn't have expected good leads for business, but maybe there is some mileage in it.

  Wouldn't bother paying the big boys, local ads are the key, and much cheaper too.
• PRO

  Andrew Watts September 27, 2016 at 5:12pm

  Step back - before thinking about advertising, think about what services you are offering to whom. Then work out how to make them aware of you're existance.

  As an example, if you're going to offer a fortnightly garden maintenance round as a single man/van, you won't need many customers, you won't have a high churn rate, and you'll get lots from referals...therefore check-a-trade redundant.

  If you are doing the the fortnightly garden maintenance round - pick a nice estate local to you and leaflet it/knock on the doors and introduce yourself. Have professional leaflets / cards / uniform, be polite, tidy van etc and you'll get work. More will follow.

  Why not do some now in spare time whilst studying?
• PRO

  Busy Bee Garden Services Limited September 27, 2016 at 5:49pm

  We tried it and if most of your work is repeat work to the same customers then you can't get them to keep reviewing you and as such you can't get a fresh reviews. However if all your customers are one offs might work better. We had a lot of silly stuff with the reviews where clients would lock us out and then the next thing we know we were unreliable! Would check a trade do anything, of course not hence why we would never use their service again and the fee buys a lot of better advertising like Google.
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  Grant Love September 27, 2016 at 6:01pm

  I would spend all your time on your website its the future take a look at ours for some tips.
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    Grant Love > Grant Love September 27, 2016 at 11:03pm

    Why you take my web address off
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      Landscape Juice > Grant Love September 28, 2016 at 8:22am

      Please see LJNs terms of service: http://landscapejuicenetwork.com/main/authorization/termsOfService?...
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        Grant Love > Landscape Juice September 28, 2016 at 10:05am

        so why did you take my web address off
        • PRO

          Harry@VWGS > Grant Love September 28, 2016 at 10:14am

          Read the T&C's buddy, its all in plain writing mate...
        • PRO

          Gary RK > Grant Love September 28, 2016 at 10:39am

          Grant, you have been using your posts to advertise a business/businesses which is against LJN's ToS.

          If you wish to advertise or support LJN you may upgrade and the links sent to you explain the options and benefits.