A work in progress but just want to see what you think (textbook website)...

**jdeer0618** · 10-12-2008 02:02 PM

I have decided to create a textbook website for students attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham. This of course will not be the only school. Basically, it is a network of students with books they don't need anymore that can be easily sold/traded to other students around campus. There are a few sites out there like this but in the second release I am going to integrate SMS text messaging to speed up the transaction process and I have not found a site like TextSlayer with SMS integration.

I think my main problem is that I have been going at this alone but I cannot find anyone interested in helping make this happen. The unfortunate things is that I lack the creativity skills and the technical know how to make this thing really shine.

Bear in mind I want this to be as easy as possible for students to use. Please let me know what you think.

textslayer.com

TIA,
JD

**HeyIdea** · 10-12-2008 02:11 PM

Hey Jdeer,

I really like your concept a lot. I think the SMS is genius. It plays right into the trend of mobile technology with smart phones and whatnot.. and who knows.. if the text books take off.. you could grow in various directions..

You should search hard for somebody to team up with you that can fill in the gaps where you are weak.. Put together a vision of a ways down the road.. what this project might look like if it really picks up traction.. sell them on that.. the opportunity to be part of something big..

Keep your head up and stay determined.. I think you're onto something..

**jdeer0618** · 10-12-2008 02:24 PM

HeyIdea,

Thanks for the info. I actually went to your YouTube site last night. Very creative stuff you have there. I saw that HeyIdea.com is using Drupal, are you doing that yourself or someone else? All of my sites use Drupal.

Anyway, I have a marketing plan for the new semester and since I attend UAB it will make it very easy to accomplish.

Thanks again.
JD

**pboychuk** · 10-12-2008 03:15 PM

How exactly do you plan to use SMS? Personally I would never go into the text book business because you already loose 90% of your customers to the university bookstore, offcampus bookstores and amazon. I would never buy my books at price, but I would never take the time to work with an individual, Id rather just buy them all real quickly online.

**jdeer0618** · 10-12-2008 03:28 PM

There is an API that interfaces with an SMS gateway and the site itself handles the incoming and outgoing "sorting" of the texts to make sure they get to the correct user.

As far as "going into the textbook business" I am not selling or buying anything from the student. It is just a place to post the books they want to get rid of.

Well when buying from an online source you are working with an individual the problem is that you are not always sure what you are getting, especially from ebay, and by meeting on campus somewhere you can ensure you are getting exactly what you are paying for. This also cuts out seller fees if selling and shipping fees if you are buying. You also don't have to wait for "processing and handling" times plus the time it is in transit to you. Best of all you support your fellow student!

Best regards,
JD

**fsav** · 10-13-2008 01:06 PM

Hey JD.

I've looked at your site quickly, and I have a few comments/ideas:

- You should try to create a Facebook plugin (you know, the box thingies), something like "books I have to sell/lend". The fact is, Facebook has strong appeal to university students, your very market I guess. As friends tend to take similar classes and therefore need similar textbooks, it could be a good match, and could allow for viral effects on a given campus. Which goes hand in hand with your SMS idea, since those on the same campus will benefit greatly from closing the transaction quickly, as you just said.
- Why the ads? Seriously, you're advertising your competitors! :P You'll still be able to grab some commission on inter-campus (payment processing) transactions, no?
- If you only want a new design, try to find a freelancer. You could get something really quick, much easier than finding a business partner.

Good luck.

**jdeer0618** · 10-13-2008 02:21 PM

FSAV,

Thanks for checking out the site. I do appreciate it.

Facebook plugin is something that I have been toying with for a while now. I think I may shoot for that in the next release with the SMS. I really just want to get this thing launched.

As far as payment processing I was thinking about just letting the students take care of it via cash, check, money order. I think having no processing on my end is ideal unless paypal has a profit sharing program and even then I don't trust that company one bit. Of course I could look for alternative sites for this that may allow me to make some revenue off that. I actually work for two credit card processors but there are not really any programs available to me like a paypal service where the money goes directly into the student's account once debited from the sellers account (I do mostly B2C). Any ideas on this would be great.

You also make a great point about the ads. I just have not gone into AdSense and started blocking the competition. My primary goal was to get a "feel" for what they would look like on the site. Actually I am considering getting rid of the them all together and see about making a small marketplace where students can buy products from there.

Regards,
JD

**MR. Pat** · 10-13-2008 02:52 PM

How do you expect to make money from this website.

Are you doing it as a hobby?

My opnion

If I'm going to work like a horse, It's not going to be for fun.

How will you profit from this?

-MR. Pat

**jdeer0618** · 10-13-2008 03:51 PM

This is something that I can go different ways on.

Originally I wanted to charge 1.99 per student per semester and they could post all the books they wanted.

Then I have thought about going free for the time being to see if I can get a good base and the then grandfather those people in afterwards charging for the new comers. I just really feel that I need to have a good base of users before charging a fee.

Input?

JD

**clp11479** · 10-13-2008 04:11 PM

text book market is pretty saturated. like someone else mentioned, you have on-campus book store, amazon, and already a slew of sites for students to sell their books, or to trade books with other students, or any number of offshoots of the concept.

**jdeer0618** · 10-14-2008 12:40 AM

Thank you for your input. However, with the price of everything associated with college going up I think that there is a market for this type of site. If nothing else just get the schools around me on the program and implement the per semester charge I think that one could make some extra cash. Maybe make enough that I can put that money towards another project.

JD

**EddieofKnox** · 11-06-2008 07:16 PM

I like the site and do have some suggestions. I ran a couple of Google searches for 'UAB' 'text books' and another for 'Alabama' 'textbooks' and found you have some stiff competition. My assumption is that these are the keywords you desire. You will need to use the words often and near the top and title of your page to get results. You will also what to get targeted in links (and even good out links help). When possible try to get people to link to your site with the link text "Alabama Textbooks". A googd place to start is in my signature

**jams001** · 11-13-2008 06:18 AM

this is really good job keep it up yo!!!

**RetireAt26** · 11-13-2008 11:55 AM

Nice work. I like the site and it's a great idea. Just a thought, but if you were also an affiliate with Amazon, on each text book page you could have a "Can't find the book you want here? Try Amazon." And then link to a textbook search. To make yourself some cash. Just a thought.

Best of luck.

**mbrand2222** · 11-13-2008 12:49 PM

I like your idea, too. Word of mouth will definitely be the best advertising since it is specific to one school for now. Good luck with it. I think it will catch on.