Should I?

[rogercbryan]

Should I?

I’ve made numerous posts about my current web project Welcome to GoGets Business Services!. I’ve sunk a ton of money into this site based on an idea I had. The problem has been that I was not aware of the intricacies of the needed development. This caused me to get about half way through the project only to hit a brick wall.

I’ve taken the past month to write a detailed RFP and I’ve just gotten my first quote back. The developer wants $5600 to finish the project and make the site functional. I’m torn here. I have a little over $13.5K in the project and it still has no income streams. The few people that have seen the whole business plan say this idea has huge potential.

On a secondary note I have an interview with Johns Hopkins on Thursday to try and get into one of their Masters Certificate Courses in Web Design and Development. The course is 18 months and it is supposed to give you the skills needed to do most types of basic non-network development. I bring this up because if I’m going to finish the site then I need the skills to manage it and grow it. Also, the only reason I’m considering the course is I would like to grow my skill sets when it come to online business.

None of this has anything to do with my primary business and there is still a change that I’ll never recoup my investment. I’ve tried to convince myself that this is a learning experience… but there has to be a line when it comes to the financial investment needed to learn something new.

I’m looking for guidance.. motivation… direction.. a swift kick on the ass.. anything

[RLorenzen]

Hmm..$13.5K..would any of the work you've paid for thus far be savaged for the redevelopment or will you be starting completely from scratch? I haven't seen your business plan, but it seems like after all of this is said and done and the site is finally completed, it may take a long time to break even....I'm also not sure what sized businesses you're targeting here, but that will effect how they buy (or at least it will in the Search Engine Optimization section..)

I think the site is a great idea and I like the concept a lot...at the same time though...you can only put in so much before you just have to stop and cut your losses....does this site have the profit potential where it's worth sinking another $5-$10K in?

[zharlene]

I have a question: what exactly is the site about...is it an article directory + web services? It's quite similar to some scripts I've seen around.

[rogercbryan]

The site is supposed to be geared toward small businesses in the start-up to 2 year phase. What I've learned about entrepreneurs is that they all seem to have the same problems when it comes to starting a business. I want to create a resource center that uses affiliates (good ones) to satisfy the business needs of these entrepreneurs.

My projections show an income stream of $1000 a month within 90 days of the launch of the site. The problem is profitability. I have to have a marketing budget and the initial launch of the site (1st year) included reinvesting all income back into marketing. Initially the site was supposed to cost $10,000 to develop and $10,000 to market which gave me my $20,000 budget. As you can see the development has eaten up almost all of that.

I would have to find a way to double my income in order to justify increasing my total budget from $20,000 to $30,000. This would mean more marketing which would mean more investment. I hate trying to rewrite a business plan by chasing numbers. You always tend to miss something.

Rlorenzen- you have been introduced to some of this plan... you should have a good idea as to what I'm trying to do.. I have a large client base that I would like to sell these services too (SEO, Web Development, Content Development, Article and Link Submissions, Directories, Classifieds.. and eventually Legal and Financial Services). If I can offer these services in an organized and trustworthy manner I think I can sell them.

Any ideas?

I'm still like 50/50... I'm going back and forth with the developer trying to squeeze ever last service I can out of him before I commit to this last phase.

[rogercbryan]

I have a question: what exactly is the site about...is it an article directory + web services? It's quite similar to some scripts I've seen around.

Don't take the current appearance of the site as what it is supposed to be. The current layout is developed off of a free script for article submissions. I used the site Article2008.com Free Articles for your web site and newsletters. Submit Your Articles to Our Articles Directory and make a back link to your site. as a template for the functions of the new site. This last phase of development would completely redesign the site.

I'm currently only on the function side of the design process... not the layout side.. the hopes would be that the site will be much more then just an article site.

[RLorenzen]

If you already have the client base that will buy these services then I would continue with the project. As long as you know you have a pretty good chance of getting customers right away.

[zharlene]

I honestly can't imagine it's costing so much. I think I've been spending too much time in the webmasters world that I keep forgetting how much things cost in the real world.

I say continue with it though.

[rogercbryan]

If you already have the client base that will buy these services then I would continue with the project. As long as you know you have a pretty good chance of getting customers right away.

lol.. they are all going to be like Capital Auto Auction at first... I'll need to bend over backwards to sign a few.. then the ball should start rolling.

[rogercbryan]

I honestly can't imagine it's costing so much. I think I've been spending too much time in the webmasters world that I keep forgetting how much things cost in the real world.

I say continue with it though.

It all has to do with my SQL db. I spent a ton of money getting a bunch of different websites info into it. The db has 20,000 members... 60,000 articles, and 6.5 million directory listings... along with a complete store front and classifieds section...

The problem came when I wanted to use the info in the db. I have so much of it that no programmer wanted to touch the functionality side. My very first quote was actually for $40K... which I politely turned down.

[RLorenzen]

Were the 20,000 members buying services on the other sites or were they forum members, blog members and those sorts of free members?

[stand856]

Have you ever looked into getting a programmer that is not from states, i would assume the pricing would more the likely be half of $5600 that you mentioned.

[rogercbryan]

Were the 20,000 members buying services on the other sites or were they forum members, blog members and those sorts of free members?

authors.. directory posters.. traffic surfers... I had an internal mass email system built into the db so on the day the site launches I have a good base of people to market too. Also, much of gogets.com is a combination of other sites. So when the new site is ready I can redirect about 2000 hits a day to the new site while still letting the users get the same (even improved) services.

Does that make sense?

[rogercbryan]

I really need someone to play devils advocate here and to tell me I should not do it and why.... I want to make sure I'm looking at all sides of this.

[RLorenzen]

authors.. directory posters.. traffic surfers... I had an internal mass email system built into the db so on the day the site launches I have a good base of people to market too. Also, much of gogets.com is a combination of other sites. So when the new site is ready I can redirect about 2000 hits a day to the new site while still letting the users get the same (even improved) services.

Does that make sense?

That would be a concern for me....most of those members probably paid nothing to use whatever service they were using. Will these members be willing to buy web design, seo, etc? We could assume that since they own websites these services would be needed by them, but besides that assumption do you know whether they are a target market or not? If these members are people that can't afford these services then they won't contribute much to gogets.com...just my $.02 though....

If you have revenue projections put together, how do they stack up against how much you'll be spending on getting the site launched?

[rogercbryan]

Have you ever looked into getting a programmer that is not from states, i would assume the pricing would more the likely be half of $5600 that you mentioned.

You get what you pay for... I've used all kinds of independents and have been disappointed every time.