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GlasWeld Blog

Local Searches: Stake Your Claim

Thanks to Google changing their algorithms, local searches have taken off. You and your colleagues may have noticed that more local listings are coming up for every search—which is ideal for small glass repair businesses like yours.

So, if you haven’t staked your online claim yet, now is a good time.

Just follow the three steps below:

1. Ensure that your physical location is listed on your website (in HTML not a graphic). Even if you are a mobile business, it is critical that you show a location in order to be found in appropriate small business local searches.
2. Create a Google Places listing and make it as complete as possible with content about your services, contact information, web address, hours of operation, photos and video. Eye-tracking studies on Google’s SERP (search engine results page) show that users heavily gravitate toward any Places’ listings, whether they are mixed into organic listings or concentrated in a grouping in the middle of a page.
3. Build a presence in the main social media outlets for your business, i.e., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+. Retweets on Twitter, Likes on Facebook, blogging and other social sharing can heavily influence search rankings today and search results are becoming more personalized.

Other Helpful Hints

• Check your current online business presence and determine what might be lacking by going to GetListed.org.  The site will give you a check list of the key sites that you should claim while establishing your online presence.
• Encourage your customers to recommend your services on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yelp, which will boost your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts further. Besides SEO value, having a presence in the social media outlets can help your lead generation activities as well. Studies reveal that more than 57% of companies have acquired a new customer through LinkedIn.
• As you create content for each listing, make sure it is written with your customers in mind, not robots. Think about what terms (keywords) they will use when conducting local searches and make sure to include those keywords in the listing.
• Another way to draft the right content for your listings is to think about the questions your customers might ask when looking for your service and create content that answers these questions.

Remember, people search—robots help them find the resources they need. Go ahead and stake your claim, so you don’t miss out on local searches that can bring in more customers. Good luck.

Headlight Restoration Gains Momentum

As more consumers opt for headlight restoration for aesthetic, economic and safety reasons, more automotive glass repairtechnicians are becoming trained by GlasWeld to do just that—at a price point that benefits both.

GlasWeld lit up the news airways last winter when they announced their professional headlight restoration products. The news that got the most attention was the fact that the system featured an equivalent coating to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) UV coating. This news, along with the proprietary UV curing process, made their headlight restorer more attractive than ever to technicians.

Thanks to GlasWeld

Sun exposure, road debris, climate, age and even design can all contribute to the discoloring and degrading of headlights. Thanks to GlasWeld, now there’s a cost effective headlight restore solution. So join your peers; expand your service offerings; and choose from two GlasWeld headlight repair kits available.

Windshield Crack is Sign of Stress

There are things that we take for granted. When we get home after a long day’s work, we expect the heat to be working and the TV to instantly click on upon our command.  When we get into our automobile the next morning, we expect the engine to start right up and expect our windshield to be free and clear.

Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Several things can stress a windshield: driving over an uneven road or pothole, having gravel or sand spray up causing a windshield chip, and extreme weather forcing the glass to expand and contract. All of these situations can cause a small defect that, in turn, can lead to a windshield crack.

Understanding that a windshield is already stressed before a repair, windshield chip repair technicians do their best to avoid adding more stress to the windshield during the repair process. Additional training and practice is the best defense against cracks and creating more stress in a windshield.

Learn more about our windshield repair kits and patented ProVac™ technology that provides maximum vacuum for complete repairs.

The Art of Flexing

It’s debatable whether “flexing” is considered an art form—but it’s certainly an acquired skill.  Ask a technician and they will say that the real skill comes into play by knowing how much pressure to apply when flexing. Through one’s experience and intuition, a good auto glass technician will know what the crack is doing all the while they are repairing windshield and especially during the flexing process.

Flexing and Vacuum Work in Concert

GlasWeld’s windshield repair kit products utilize flexing and vacuum to help eliminate any resistance the crack might have to the resin.

By working in concert, the products help the technician judge each stage better and ensure a better outcome.

For those auto glass technicians who have mastered the skill of flexing and want the products that will best support their skill, GlasWeld products are for you.

Why Start with a Two-Minute Vacuum Cycle?

Because the more air removed prior to adding resin—the better.

While the judgment of each windshield technician is best for determining how much vacuum time is needed for each break. In our experience, two minutes of initial vacuum time is about right to remove the majority of the air before introducing resin. Even when working with large open bulleyes that need less vacuum time or when working with starbreaks and complex combination breaks that may require more time, a safe average is two-minutes.

Tip: If you choose to use more vacuum time, your repairs may take longer. But if you use less time on vacuum, you may leave air in the damage leaving an incomplete repair.

Not all equipment is created equal

Ok, lots of products on the market can repair windshields, but all products are not created equal. Our products utilize vacuum, so more is removed from the break. And our products allow the resin to be injected while break is under vacuum ensuring a better bond first time around.

Time is of Essence When Removing Glass Scratches

GlasWeld knows time IS money in this business and how speed is top of mind for technicians doing flat glass repair. So we have designed our scratch removal equipment to work hand-in-hand with a technician’s skill for optimal repair speed.

Figuring out how to take a deep scratch out of a perfectly flat glass surface without leaving any visible distortion can test all technicians. One of the most challenging parts is the abrading process—actual grinding or sanding of the glass, which requires great equipment, skill and the right touch.

While a technician feathers, they need to know just the right amount of pressure to apply. For instance:

• When a technician applies too little pressure to remove a scratch from glass, it can add considerable more time to their repair.
• On the other hand, when a technician applies too much pressure—either from actual force or from the friction created by a higher temperature—it can break the glass.

Perfect your abrading skills and save even more time through our on-demand scratch removal training.

Advancing Glass Repair Services

Innovation comes naturally to us at GlasWeld. Besides sharing new glass repair services with the industry, we have introduced many products that have made glass scratch removal more economical and achieve higher success rates.

In fact, thanks to GlasWeld’s product engineers, large-scale commercial architects and developers should not be afraid of utilizing more natural light in their office complexes, mall storefronts and resorts because scratch protection and removal isn’t cost prohibitive any longer.

Office workers can work in more pleasant environments and the public-at-large can enjoy more attractive buildings in their community—all because of glass and the ability to repair it.

We’re proud to be the glass scratch removal industry pioneer and innovator since 1982. And we will keep up the good work through technologically advanced products that bring improved repair accuracy, ergonomics and more content to the market.

The Three Forces of Gforce

Forces in nature can stop each of us in our tracks to desperately seek out shelter or bring an awe-inspiring moment. Both types of events are triggered by contributing factors that are similarly at play when GlasWeld’s Gforce glass scratch removal system is used.

Science, and many years of acquired knowledge by our product development team, have played a role in how Gforce has been designed. It utilizes and applies three natural forces synergistically, and perfectly, to remove almost any kind of glass damage—even deep scratches that you can feel with your fingernail. What’s more, it removes the damage without fear of distortion. The forces are:

1.       A uniquely developed chemical compound

2.       Thermal Heat that’s generated by friction from the process

3.       A mechanical force created on the glass surface

Together, the three forces above work miraculously. See for yourself.

It’s no wonder market leading window and door manufacturers, glaziers and contractors use our Gforce flat glass scratch removal system. And why GlasWeld is the premier manufacturer and distributor of glass repair equipment in 50 countries around the world.

Learn more.

Weigh Safety before Replacing a Windshield

When an original windshield is installed in a factory, the conditions are absolutely perfect for creating the most optimal bond between glass and frame. This video depicts its superior bond.

In a collision, the glass may break but the polyvinyl layer between the two layers of glass is flexible enough to cushion the impact. Along with the roof of the car, proper windshield installation protects the vehicle occupants in the case of a rollover by keeping them in the safety of the passenger compartment. This video illustrates what can happen in a collision.

If the original windshield is damaged, there are two choices: one can either repair the original windshield, or replace it. The advantage of repair is the factory’s windshield safety seal won’t be broken. When the windshield is repaired and not removed from the car, it saves both the very expensive windshield and the original safety seal—and ensures greater safety for owner and their occupants.

So get the word out with your customers on the safety benefits of windshield repair and GlasWeld’s windshield repair kits.

Doing Our Part to Lower Carbon Footprint

Ecofriendly and environmentally conscious statements might seem overused today, but their actions continue to be important. Take the example of windshield recycling, which is enormously difficult because of the following:

• Glass takes more than 1 million years to decompose in our landfills. And about 15 million windshields wind up there each year in the U.S. alone.
• The use of plastic laminates makes windshield recycling even worse. Individual layers have to be separated before they can be recycled and some elements, such as heating and radio antennas, can’t be placed in glass furnaces for remolding.

Wasted energy and the release of greenhouse gasses into the air when a new windshield is produced are other considerations. The production of one windshield is equal to the energy necessary for conducting 10,000 repairs. Also during the manufacturing process, emissions of combustion by-products (sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxides) and high-temperature oxidation of atmospheric nitrogen are released into the air causing additional harm to the environment.

All of the above is why GlasWeld continues to do their part promoting ways to lower carbon footprint. Do yours, by promoting windshield repair instead of replacement whenever possible. GlasWeld certified windshield repair technicians have been trained and certified on the best practices in windshield repair. Learn how you can become a certified windshield repair technician or find a technician to repair your windshield today.

Sources:
The Boston Globe
Earth911.com
Environmental, Health, and Safety Guidelines for Glass Manufacturing, World Bank Group
British Glass, Glass Manufacture: A Mass Balance Study
California Department of Conservation
Sadechaf Technology