my idea

[ocomys]

Hey all,

I had this idea that I'd create a site for my hometown that would have different stuff of use for the residents of my city. (ie: the best sales from the paper, the "TOP 5" of different things in the area...such as who has the best wings, etc)

http://www.ilovewashpa.com/ is the site.

Anyway, the idea was....if I could promote this through myspace....by browsing for everyone in my zip code and send them the link...maybe I could generate a following on the site and then eventually sell advertisement space to local businesses in the area. Also I'd have a place for free advertising for my graphics firm @ www.ocomys.com

So I sent out maybe 150 emails....(started out with females 18 yr old....then to 19....so on and so forth) I did it this way so I was sure I wouldnt send multiple emails to the same person and $#%& em off. Heh.

Anyway....people have came...but I don't think they're returning. I'm trying to post the best links etc on the forum...but only 1 person who I don't know has signed up. So far I've made $1.46 from adsense Any ideas on what to do from here? I also think I'll have to do way better with my SEO (or lack there of) if i type ilovewashpa in Google my site doesnt even come up! Anyways....anything blatant that you don't like about the site? Is it a terrible idea?

I appreciate any help!

[mattonline]

hay, well how long has your site been up, if it hasn't been up very long then google probs havn't indexed it.
Also i noticed you have a PR or 0, which isn't very good, but intime this will increase. To idex your site go to
http://www.google.com/addurl/
there you should be able to add it, and it will take some time for it to register.
Also posting your site on other sites will help increase trafic, because as google searches there website, they will spin off onto your from the joining link.

Here read more on that -
http://www.entrepreneurenterprise.co...splay.php?f=23
also take alook around the forum, it will really help.

Also upload you banner to http://1milpixel.com, this will also increase your traffic as it gets popular (also increase page rank)

[KarmaPolice]

I was at your site...
First glance is everything. I wasnt big on the background colors on the site. It made it look a little amateur. Check out some successful sites and see how they have their lay out and background colors etc.
Key is to make a site easy to use, navigate etc and easy on the eyes.
In your case I see some of the navigation links are buried in the black background.
The site should appear clean, simple to use (E.g: Google, craigslist, digg, paidcontent)
Then you add worthwhile content and after that worry about driving traffic through it.

Hope that helps.

Good luck.

[cokeclassact]

its a solid idea....but you just dont have anything on the site that i care about. yet. i would suggest you sit down and brainstorm...if you want help this would be a project i would be willing to get involved with...im working on some stuff of my own right now....but ill spend a little time thinking about it and if i come up with anything good ill let you know and maybe we can work something out.

[TheIdeaMan]

Hello,

There was a really nice post about this subject in another well known marketing forum. Maybe this will help you:

There are also some "real world" techniques that can help you raise a ton o' cash (but only if you are irish jk). Start brainstorming some ways to get local mom and pop brick and morter businesses to pay you for advertising. Maybe on a YOUR CITY.COM website? Plus you can "backend" their own website. Many (most) mom and pops don't have one...but many would like one. Especially if it would cost $500 or so. Now, before you start moaning about 'all the work'. All you will do is knock on doors. Guys on elance will be doing the web design for you for under $100/site. So that is $400 profit per sale. Plus which hosting company do you set them up with? Can you say H4P? Ca-ching. More cash in your pocket. Plus this is on top of the $100/month you charge to list them on your very popular YOUR TOWN website. Very popular, you ask? Yes. Because the first 5 businesses you featured on your site were done at half price-but only if they act before the press release is sent to the local paper. See where this is going? Your press release will easily get picked up in your local paper-and now you new site is famous.Ok, so how do you make sure your release runs in the paper? Make sure to call the chamber of commerce and get a list of what is hapenning in your town in the next week/month,etc. and place some articles about the town's events on your site...that way now your local paper will want to announce your site because it is useful.Another back end can be the ability of the mom and pops to have coupons on your site that people can print out and use...another news worthy item. Within 1 month of some door knocking and some 'hustling' (in a good way) you can have 75 local mom and pops online. That is $7500/month in almost pure profit. Plus it should be easy to get 8-10 of them to go for you web design special for 500. Another 5k. And 10 of the mom and pops have coupons on your site...another $500. Total: 8000k in residual income5k one time fees (4k profit)H4P residual commission another $50-100------------------------------------------ 13k for one months work of which 8k is residual. Do this every month and in 5-7 months you should have close to a 40-50k/monthly business that is almost all profitAnd getting 75 advertisers in 1 month would be easy. Most will come in from the press release and if you spend 3 hours/day you should be able to signup 2-5/day. If you really hustled you could get 150 advertisers (16k month residual income). And how many towns can you duplicate this in?There is money to be made in this world-but you need to look for opportunity and grab it while you can.
Jonathon page

The local businesses I approached all new what a website was...they just didn't know about the "inner workings" but then they don't care. Most people make it more complicated than it needs to be. You simply tell them that they will get a website for $500 and that it takes $25/month to keep it "on the internet". Don't get into domain names and everything else that confuses the issue. Just ask if they have any particular "www name" that they like and you will see what is available. Then follow up by giving them a list of www's that they can look over to pick the "name" of their site. People don't care about hosting or the details...they just want something they can show friends/family/customers-so that is what you are delivering. Everything else is secondary and not needed.
Jonathan page

-Chad