How to 'get the word around'?

[ajb]

http://i34.tinypic.com/fu1jl1.jpg
Recently I have near completed my new website which is basically an online advertising/listings site for pubs, bars, restaurants etc. I am in the middle of registering the name DrinkLinks, which will be running as a sole trader initially and determining its success hopefully to a LLC.
What the company does?
-It caters for the needs of both the general public and food and drink establishments. Users can log onto the website free and search for establishments in their area. An advanced search box can find the location, opening times, days of business, name, wether or not there is a happy hour etc.
-Establishments seeking to advertise can sign up on either a basic, standard or premium account. Below is a list of the features within each account type;
Basic: Ratings of establishment (user defined), comments, description from the establishment and/or us, location, ability for customers to order food through our website, website link if available, contact details, happy hours and opening hours.
Standard: ALL OF THE ABOVE plus pictures, event notification to users via email and sms and google map integration.
Premium: ALL OF THE ABOVE plus sms integration. The sms integration is based around an sms gateway. Anyone in the general public may send an sms to DrinkLinks which a location and type of establishment for example 9 Oxford Street Bar and will receive a text back with 5 of the closest or top listings found in our database. Credits for the texts are unlimited for each establishment so there are no additional costs. Each text costs 50c and NO SUBSCRIPTION is required. In other words unlike many mobile services there is no small print.

Costs;
-Basic $7.50/month, $90 per annum
-Standard $10.00/month, $120 per annum
-Premium $15.00/month, $180 per annum



I have two requests from the users here on YE, what do you think of the idea personally? Also the logo, to make it a bit easier to see it is meant to be a city skyline formed from beer and the clouds are the beer head/froth. The quality is very low and website development is still in progress so this is a VERY rough outline of the aesthetics.
The second request is marketing this to establishments. I have no problem getting the sms service out to the general public but my secondary target market being restaurant, bar, cafe owners is a bit tricky. I was firstly going to arrange a small team to make calls phoning up and asking if they would be interested but then again I hate it when people try and sell stuff on the phone. I cant find any resources outlining the owners contact numbers. A problem for me is contacting them personally as I am only 17 which would obviously put them off being that I am underage. I am launching this in Australia before taking it over the the USA and UK. Any advice on how to overcome this problem would be greatly appreciated and any comments, suggestions or additional features would also be kindly received!

Regards Andrew Burchell

[jeremylorino]

I suggest that you hire a "front-runner" for your website. This person will act as the owner/operator. Make sure this person is very charismatic and well spoken. I know there are firms out there where you can hire someone to do this job. If you have trouble finding a firm like that just hire someone that fits the bill.

And also before you roll it out to the U.S. be sure to check and recheck the market for similar products and if found be sure to know why you are better than them or just be better at marketing.

Any other questions pm or email movement@hpwventures.com

[ajb]

Thanks a lot Jeremy for your response,
http://i35.tinypic.com/21mxic7.jpg Here is a new template I have created, what does everyone think? I have been researching the market and no company yet has all the services on offer here, although many are free some require up to an enormous $49.99 a month! I am also introducing a service called snippets which will be available to the premium users, short one minute 'travel show styled' videos talking the users through the establishment at both night and day for a more extensive understanding of the bar/restaurant etc. I will offer only the basic version for the first 6 months and once a high level of traffic and high database of establishments is achieved I will then offer the premium service. Any ideas and comments are appreciated!
Regards Andrew Burchell
ajb225@hotmail.com

[malahverdian]

It seems like you are wasting a lot of valuable front page real estate with what is essentially a country selection portion. Where are you going to be marketing this site first? I would have that be the default country and spread to the other continents when the time is right. It's not going to make much sense to have 100 bars randomly scattered across the world, than to have your 1st 100 bars centralized around London or Sydney...

Also within the design, the bubbles are a bit busy, the outlines of the country are low res, the logo doesnt pop at all and looks weak. The nav color text blends with the orange tab color it is on. And I guess I could assume it was a bar search site, but nothing on the front page tells me exactly what it is.

[ajb]

The country logos are very low quality currently as they are still be worked on. As I live in Sydney at the moment I think your definitely correct in saying stick with one country first before expanding out. Ill have a little blurb on the front page explaining the actual purpose of the site and services etc. How do you think I can make my logo stand out more? And do you think I should redesign the site totally to be more, fitting? Thanks a lot for your help
Regards Andrew