Need some general advice, lots of questions.

**mattnelson** · 05-15-2008 04:02 AM

Hi guys,

Okay, I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur and also like technology and web so have been planning on starting up a portfolio, but I don't need for money as i live at home because im still at the equivalent of high school. So i decided dabbling into social entrepreneurship is for me. Ok so im gonna shoot some questions and more info.

1. I am trying to decide whether to make a site to showcase my portfolio, what the sites benefit, and to kinda publicize to make all the sites get more attention. Im thinking wait until i got at least one site up and running before this. What are your thoughts?

The first project i have lined up is going to be codename "letterbox". As you know all major retailers send out circulars and also have them published on there website. A lot of New Zealanders don't bother reading these circulars as most of you yourself don't do, or maybe only read one or two. So my plan is to create a site that has all these retailers circulars in the one place. Users signup, register their email and select what retailers they would like to be contacted about when new circulars are listed. This site would be free for both the Corporations and consumers. NZers are extremely green focused so I feel this idea will take off. Profits will go towards tree planting I'm thinking. Now to pick your brains.

2. Hosting - Hostgator is what I'm tending towards. My question is can you upgrade from a normal account into a reseller account as another project that I'm thinking about in the future is a hosting company. Just want to make sure that is possible

3. Advertising - To start with I'll be using a PPC account and then hopefully when numbers get up, I will start offering the single advertisement spot i have planned (banner on every page, but the same place on every page, with probably only one company advertising at a time but that isnt concrete). Google Adsense from what i have heard wont be suitable for me as by saying proceeds will go towards tree planting and carbon offsetting i am encouraging people to click on their links, against the TOS (a search engine in Aus recently lost its adsense account over this. Is there any other PPC company which would be lenient in this kind of situation that you know of?

4. Will Corporations be keen on the idea. I believe so, they are not spending any money (unless it is a voluntary contribution) only the hassle of sending me jpgs whenever a new brochure is out. Infact the might even start saving money if I got 10000+ subscribers (long term goal) with the traditional advertising costs. Would you guys that own companies go for a thing like this. Also if they refuse to send me the jpgs. Can i poach them off their sites or will i be done for copyright?

5. CMS - I have never done CMS before but it will be necessary for subscribers to choose what circulars they want to get notified about, and i need to get it to spit out a fresh mailing list for every circular if people have changed their preferences. Are there any scripts available for this? or how much would it cost for a programmer to make this happen?

6. Photo gallery - To begin with during the beta phase i was thinking about using a free photo gallery like Idut - Idut Gallery - A free and open source image and photo gallery for websites to display the pages. Does anyone know of any better software out there that is easy to implement? Considering after a couple of months there will be backlogs of previous catalogs and stuff.

7. Junk Mail Free Stickers - Where do i go about buying these cheaply? They must be able to survive rain?

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this and I look forward to hearing your suggestions. If you could please use the number of the question you are referring to that would be great as it would make it simpler.

Also i apologize for any inconsistencies, spelling errors and just general rambling as one of my friends is in ICU and i'm writing this to take my mind off things.

**Mega B** · 05-15-2008 04:41 AM

I have read this post a couple of times and i am not sure how to answer it but as you have stated that most people just bin these items if they come with the local papers or in the UK they even pay the Postman to put this crap through the letterbox,i would think that most people glance at the pictures and if it looks good they may read a little more to see what the product/service or offer is and either they keep it or bin it but as you say the drop out rate must be high and i would say it is just like a website if it does not grab you in the 15-20 seconds you hit the exit button.

Having a website with all these flyers on in theory sounds good by saving trees etc but who in there right mind would sign up to receive this service if they junk it in the 1st place i have to admit i would not but people may think differantly.

I dont thing finding people to advertise on the site would be a major problem but the concept of the sites does not grab me,this is only my thought on this project and i hope i am wrong.

I wish you all the very best and hope it works for you.

**mattnelson** · 05-15-2008 05:31 AM

Originally Posted by Mega B

I have read this post a couple of times and i am not sure how to answer it but as you have stated that most people just bin these items if they come with the local papers or in the UK they even pay the Postman to put this crap through the letterbox,i would think that most people glance at the pictures and if it looks good they may read a little more to see what the product/service or offer is and either they keep it or bin it but as you say the drop out rate must me high and i would say it is just like a website if it does not grab you in the 15-20 seconds you hit the exit button.

Having a website with all these flyers on in theory sounds good by saving trees etc but who in there right mind would sign up to receive this service if they junk it in the 1st place i have to admit i would not but people may think differantly.

I dont thing finding people to advertise on the site would be a major problem but the concept of the sites does not grab me,this is only my thought on this project and i hope i am wrong.

I wish you all the very best and hope it works for you.

hey mate,
your not the only one that feels this way. Its kinda hard to explain but i will use myself as an example. every week at my place we get various circulars. Supermarkets, department stores, electrical stores, hardware stores etc. I bin all but the electrical store circulars without looking at them. And this is why i wanted to do a site like this. So much paper is being wasted without being used. This site would be ideal for people who either don't want to subscribe (the no junkmail stickers are free for everyone), or only like one or two of the circulars they recieve every week.

Hope that kinda clarified things, but it probably made things more confusing at the same time.

**JLeezer** · 05-15-2008 05:53 AM

At first I was going to agree completely with Mega B. I despise getting these circulars and probably would not sign up optionally to receive them by email. However, after reading your last example, I understand a little better that I might be able to gain some benefit from this.

I personally like getting the electronic retailers' ads (Best Buy, Circuit City) and office supply stores' ads (Staples, Office Depot). Now, instead of having to flip through all the ads to see if those are in the pile, I can just pitch the whole pile and get my circulars online at my convenience...instead of junking up my table if I don't feel like reading through them at the moment.

I think it could be tough to succeed, but if you explain it well and market it perfectly, you could have something.

**mattnelson** · 05-15-2008 05:59 AM

Originally Posted by JLeezer

At first I was going to agree completely with Mega B. I despise getting these circulars and probably would not sign up optionally to receive them by email. However, after reading your last example, I understand a little better that I might be able to gain some benefit from this.

I personally like getting the electronic retailers' ads (Best Buy, Circuit City) and office supply stores' ads (Staples, Office Depot). Now, instead of having to flip through all the ads to see if those are in the pile, I can just pitch the whole pile and get my circulars online at my convenience...instead of junking up my table if I don't feel like reading through them at the moment.

I think it could be tough to succeed, but if you explain it well and market it perfectly, you could have something.

Yeah its gonna be tough getting people to understand before they become uninterested. The homepage will explain this i hope.

I am tossing between to ideas currently for the future of the site once it gets out of beta phase (still gotta start alpha phase). I was thinking if i allowed viewed to tag pages. I.e if a page from Dick Smith Electronics is full of laptop computers it can be tagged "laptop", "notebook" "macbook" etc etc. but i think that would mean sticking to a gallery which isnt flash based. i think, i dont know scripting and its capabilities to well