Need 30 Businesses for Free Advertising

[Siobhan_Jones]

Hi, I'm Siobhan Jones, I've created a website to help raise money for charities. It works in quite a unique way and is ideal for the economy in its current state.

Charities have seen a 30% decline in donations recently; my service provides a great solution that will benefit the businesses that participate.

I want businesses to advertise on my website, it’s free for users of the UK Business Forum (max. 30 businesses) in return for a testimonial. Normally, the advertiser would have to pay for the advert.

How It Works
Your business will receive customers through my website. You will need to donate 10% of the profit you make from these extra customers to a registered charity. You get to keep 90% of the profit.

This doesn’t affect your normal trade; your obligation is to donate the money from only these extra customers from my website.

I would like a variety of businesses to participate, especially those aimed at the consumer market as I plan a major publicity drive through the media that should attract a great number of consumers.

The adverts are arranged in a pixel system, I could have chosen a directory method but thought pixel advertising was more fun for the user, especially, in the first year of the service.

You will be entitled to £120 worth FREE ad space. You can have a larger area but would need to pay for the extra space.

As your business will be amongst the first on the site when the publicity campaign starts you will be one of the biggest gainers.

I’ve been working with a PR/Marketing expert to maximise the publicity, my aim is to attract 1 million regular buyers world-wide through this site by year 3.

Whether I succeed in this endeavour only time will tell but I will try my best. It’s a great concept that everyone can support.

We all buy goods and services as consumers and as businesses owners. If you had a choice to buy from suppliers who kept all the profits they made to themselves and those who gave some to charity, if the price and the quality was the same, which would you choose?

That’s the question I’ll be asking everyone in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia through the media, and let them answer.

Please visit my site One A Year Campaign (doesn't allow me to submit URL's) for more details. If you are interested in participating please message me. It won’t cost you anything, you can only gain.

Thank You.

Siobhan

 

[YODspica]

good idea.

 

[neildigital]

Great idea, pm sent...

Neil

 

[Bathead]

I like the idea. Sent you a PM.

 

[Calibre Designs]

Great idea and we do like donating to charities.
Please count us in if you will except a design and marketing company.

 

[Textlocal]

A fantastic idea!!

Please add me to the list (http://www.txtlocal.com)

I will pass ~ 40% of profit generated for the life of any customer passed to us. This can add up to an extraordinary amount of money!

So, every time a business purchases a bundle of SMS text messages from us, I will pass you money at the following rates:

100 £1.60
200 £3.20
500 £7.60
1,000 £13.20
5,000 £57.60
10,000 £72.80
25,000 £132.00
50,000 £172.00

Please PM me if interested.

Also, next week I will be launching http://www.lightningcards.co.uk and will happily pass you 50p from each of these cards too (just adding another 15 categories over the next few days, including Xmas and New Year).

Good luck with the project,

Alastair
Txtlocal Ltd

 

[willitbe]

Yes we like this sort of idea.We have just the products for this kind of venture.

Please PM me .

TxTlocal...Is CEO not a little bit OTT?

 

[Textlocal]

Sorry, was pasted from email - should have edited for the forum.

In some situations, using the title does have benefit (after all, since I joined this forum 2 years ago as a bedroom startup things have moved on somewhat!!!).

TxTlocal...Is CEO not a little bit OTT?

 

[glennmid101]

Hi Siobhan, a good idea, and look at the tax implication of charitable donations by companies.

Regards
Glenn

 

[gtspeed]

pm sent sound good

 

[LINGsCARS]

Let's get real you lot.

She can't give this away for free! Siobhan, nice try - but as ever you want money for nothing.

This website will only host the adverts for 1-year, before you have to pay again.

There are UK, Aus, Canada and US versions.

A 100 pixel block is £30 (no mention of vat), so the 1,000,000px available per year will net the site £300k. Multiply this by 4 countries and you get £1.2m per year. As a gesture, the owner says she will donate 10% of the £1.2m per annum to charity. Big deal

Now, forgive me, but how much does anyone think the participating businesses will donate to charity from this site? Not £1.2m per year, I will tell you! Apart from anything, you will have no way of telling (in reality) where the customers came from.

Let's get real, with regard to GT Speeds reply above, who thinks anyone who wants a bathroom in Spennymoor (for God's sake) will come via this site?

Apart from all that, this is just a rip off of MDHP, and as ever the upload of pics is much worse than it should be. There has been no thought put into it.

Read the FAQ!:

Is this website not-for-profit?

No. It's a normal business.

What will you do if you find out a business failed to donate to charity?

They will be warned and given a chance to fulfil their obligation. If they still fail to comply we will ban them from advertising in the future.

hahahahaha! big deal!!!!! As if... I wet my pants laughing at this rubbish.

There are no adverts currently on the sites, so... go ahead punks, make my day, upload your adverts! Hahahaha. Give your money to some business "to help charities"! Let's see your adverts up there! Come on!

You won't see me!

You are all talking while (for some of you, no names and I hate to be cruel) Rome is burning!

Nutters, all of you.

 

[Textlocal]

Ling,

I would be happy to pay a proportion of some business that I *might* get from this.... than not get the business at all.

Can't see there is anything to lose! Any new business that comes to us has the potential of spreading word of mouth to others - so my philosophy is to never turn down a free opportunity

Al

 

[LINGsCARS]

It is currently free because it is absolutely worthless.

She hasn't even bothered buying the AU or CA addresses.

Try Googling the title as words, you get nowhere near this site.

The only One A Year the owner has in mind is One Million Pounds a Year for herself.

 

[thedesigntailor]

If it works then great if not then nothing lost.

If it was me I would do away with the pixel system. Pixels cost nothing and the advertising is then all bundeled together.

Much better to give each business a profile page and charge more for higher listings. This means it can be search for or filtered too then making it easier for the user.

 

[LINGsCARS]

This is just a directory by another name. Every day someone wants to start one of them, this one (instead of that Cambridge adventure) spans the globe though

Not only that, but as a bonus after paying to advertise, you get to give away 10% of your profit too! Great! Then she gives away a further 10% of the money advertisers have paid her! Double great!

This forum falls into two definite camps, those who lap up every hair brained scheme as "great, superb, wonderful", and the side I occupy which I think is more rooted in the real world.

No offence, but you are all mental. Or is it just Sunday and you have all come over religious? Mention "charity" and everyone is so enthusiastic. I am willing to bet less than £1 will ever get to any charity from this scheme, which is almost thievery in playing on the "charity" angle.

If the word "charity" was not included and if it was not currently "free", would anyone truly say anything kind? It's rubbish.

Grabbing at free straws.

 

[willitbe]

Ling. Sometimes you are so subtle, i struggle to know what you really mean.... :0

 

[thedesigntailor]

Ling the point is - People can go to this directory and know that 10% of what they buy will go to a good cause. Therefore people can feel good about what they spend.

Simple physiology.

 

[LINGsCARS]

Top Referrals

The Top 10 Referrals for One A Year Campaign ordered by Hits.

Yesterdays Top 10 Referrals

1. oneayearcampaign.com 12
2. ukbusinessforums.co.uk 1
3. google.co.uk 1


Alltime Top 10 Referrals Highscore

1. oneayearcampaign.com 29
2. ukbusinessforums.co.uk 10
3. google.co.uk 6
4. whois.domaintools.com 3
5. uk.youtube.com 2
6. whois.sc 1
7. iwebtool.com 1

----
Doing well - expect big bucks from this.

6 hits in total from Google - it is truly difficult to achieve a number so low.

Your confidence is inspiring.

How many click throughs will they get from the list above? - not many

 

[downsouth]

I quite like the idea, will mean lots of PR work to really get it off the ground.

As always theres going to be that 'element' of people/business who wont contribute anything of the profits to charity, but thats life.

Sign me up, PM sent.

 

[scribe]

I'm new to this Forum, so please forgive me, i don't wish to tread on any-ones toes. LingsCars has made /raised a few good points and at the moment the OP
has'nt replied to any Whynot?.

 

[thedesigntailor]

Top Referrals

Doing well - expect big bucks from this.

6 hits in total from Google - it is truly difficult to achieve a number so low.

Your confidence is inspiring.

How many click throughs will they get from the list above? - not many

Come on Ling - You have to start somewhere!

 

[LINGsCARS]

I'm new to this Forum, so please forgive me, i don't wish to tread on any-ones toes. LingsCars has made /raised a few good points and at the moment the OP
has'nt replied to any Whynot?.

Because she is totally inactive. She has made 5 posts I think, all with the same subject just to drum up free publicity.

If this was serious, there would be company details on her website, a VAT registration (after all, she will clear £300k a year in the UK), and total transparency. There would be PR and news stories and TRAFFIC.

I can't see a clear description of where her 10% of charity donations will go.

If it involves a charity aspect shouldn't it be registered with the charity commission?

While I won't say it is a scam, it is a total naive way to attempt to cream £1.2m/year for doing sod all.

All you need are loads of gullible advertisers.

I quite like the idea....

...Sign me up, PM sent.

I quite like fluffy puppies (for lunch, yeah, yeah).

Another dream-artist.

What is wrong with everyone??????

PINCH!

Is it me against the World?

 

[thedesigntailor]

Some good points there. I should have thought the OP would be defending her self.

*looks around*

 

[grangejoinery]

I'm new to this Forum, so please forgive me, i don't wish to tread on any-ones toes. LingsCars has made /raised a few good points and at the moment the OP
has'nt replied to any Whynot?.

You based in Hull Scribe?

 

[downsouth]

You do make some fair points there Ling.

Ones which the OP should address very quickly to be taken seriously

And one other thing directly for you, I do support several charitable ventures and am always keen to assist people with startups. rarely do I shout people down in flames in the manner others do

I do actually like this idea and would hope for the OP to become more transparent with regards to the charitable side of things.

Too many poeple, business tout the charitable idea to get people on side quickly but rarely deliver once the initial quote 'fluffyness' had disappeared. Its hard work when going down the charitable line like I am finding, tons of hoops to jump through etc.

I hope the OP will see this through and become a good embassador for fund raising and put something back into the community or whatever their chosen charity is

 

[LINGsCARS]

Yeeee-ow. The tide is turning

Pixel site with slight vague charity angle. Nothing more.

What makes pixel sites work are millions of visitors. That is their USP. Without millions of curious visitors, you have nothing.

I am afraid, I will bet £1000 with anyone (will happy to lodge this escrow with some UKBF trusted suit like Paula) that in 6-months this site is still as dead as a dodo. Where is the OP's track record? Zilch.

Any takers for a £1000 bet?

Matter of fact, I would give 10% of my winnings to a charity (not the Cat one who had £12m on deposit in Iceland, idiots), muhahahahahaha.

 

[grangejoinery]

Ling raises some good points but if we earn nothing 10% of nothing is nothing, so she will not get anything will she? or am I missing the point here?

It hasn't cost us anything to advertise has it so how can we lose money on this scheme?

Personally in the present climate I would give anyone 10% of profit from new work as it's pretty quiet at the moment in the Joinery game!

 

[thedesigntailor]

Ling raises some good points but if we earn nothing 10% of nothing is nothing, so she will not get anything will she? or am I missing the point here?

It hasn't cost us anything to advertise has it so how can we lose money on this scheme?

Personally in the present climate I would give anyone 10% of profit from new work as it's pretty quiet at the moment in the Joinery game!

My thoughts too - We regularly pay 20% for affiliate leads so would be actually cheap for me.

 

[LINGsCARS]

Ling raises some good points but if we earn nothing 10% of nothing is nothing, so she will not get anything will she? or am I missing the point here?

It hasn't cost us anything to advertise has it so how can we lose money on this scheme?

Personally in the present climate I would give anyone 10% of profit from new work as it's pretty quiet at the moment in the Joinery game!

Jeeez,
I will explain.

OP cannot make it work so she desperately gives away for free to get some momentum. But that won't work as she needs PR and there is no angle. No one is interested. It is just some kid with a cool name who has decided to milk the UK, Canada, Australia and USA. Crazy.

Don't take it the wrong way... but one reason that it's quiet in the joinery game is that you are putting some (not much I agree) faith in witchcraft like this.

Better buy a lottery ticket.

Sorry to offend, but this is nonsense, and it's nonsense to be taken in by it.

You said it yourself.

It hasn't cost us anything to advertise has it so how can we lose money on this scheme?

Scheme.

Something for nothing? No, just complete rubbish.

 

[grangejoinery]

No Ling it's quiet in the building game all over this country at present and wether you invest thousands of pounds or hundreds of pounds in advertising it will still be quiet as no-one wants any work doing at present. There is a recession on in this country and until people start to spend again it will continue.

Can't see the damage in giving someone your details to advertise on their website for free?

I must be a stupid joiner!

 

[Biffo]

I agree with Ling here.

Its just a pixel site with a charity angle!

I mean seriously, how many pixel sites are there already? How many are actually selling pixels? I've seen pixel sites having sales, selling them for $0.50 each. An over night success story obviously

You'd all be better following Lings horse racing tips & giving 10% to charity, earnings are tax free too!!

Good Luck all,
Biffo

 

[LINGsCARS]

I agree with Ling here.

Its just a pixel site with a charity angle!

...and NO TRAFFIC!

 

[downsouth]

...and NO TRAFFIC!

Yes but isn't that how ALL websites start, then comes the hard part of getting the traffic via PR etc

Like has been mentioned before, its costs nowt and on the face of it will lead to donations to charity from future adertising revenue

Many sites use 'affiliate type sites' which make no such charitable donations and charge you for the traffic they direct to you, so I would see making a dontation to charity from profits as my charge for the traffic

Afterall I admire the OP's angle on this which may interest others but no all

 

[scribe]

You based in Hull Scribe?

No, Sorry i'm not.

 

[LINGsCARS]

No, Sorry i'm not.

From what I have heard about Hull, you should not be sorry

 

[Siobhan_Jones]

Sorry everyone for not replying sooner, I just posted this message earlier this morning and am amazed and thankful for the number of responses. I'm very grateful for the support you are all showing (with the exception of LINGsCARS).

To clarify, Lingscars didn't read the message properly and doesn't understand the concept; I have not asked anyone for any money. It's FREE to advertisers from the UK Business Forum (up to 30 businesses). All I'm asking is that they give me a testimonial if they gain from advertising.

As I have just started the business off, I need a number of businesses on the site for when the marketing campaign starts so people who see the press releases etc. and visit will have businesses to buy from straight away. It would not make any sense to do the marketing to generate traffic to the website without any businesses for people to buy from.

By advertising you will get the benefit of the traffic the site creates free as you will not pay anything.

My website is a business and I will donate 10% of the profit I make to my 3 favourite charities, and I'm trying to get other businesses to do the same.

The site will attract customers who know and understand the principle; they will be buying from you because you will give a portion of the profit to charity.

If the businesses that advertise don't donate the money to charity they will not be able to advertise the second year. If they gain from advertising it's in their interest to honour their obligation.

Whether businesses advertise the second year will depend on the sales they've made. There will be a cost element involved, which is as low as £30, if you make thousands from it, or even hundreds then it will be worth it.

If the site generates no sales as Lingscar seems to think, then you would have lost nothing as the cost to you is ZERO. But I am confident businesses will gain from advertising as it fills a big niche in the market.

To monitor the sales you could use cookies i.e. link your advert to a page that uses cookies to track the sales.

It's also possible to estimate the sales for those who don't know how to implement such a system. Find out your current website traffic and your sales. Monitor the traffic my website sends to you and the difference in sales made.

From that you can work out roughly how much you need to donate to charity. It doesn't have to be exact.

Any extra money charities get is a bonus, and if it doesn't the customer anything extra then there's no reason they shouldn't buy from you.

As for this site being a rip off of the MDHP, the only thing that's the same is the pixel system I've used. I could easily have used a business directory.

The BIG difference with my site is that there's a reason for people to buy from the businesses that advertise, as they would be helping give more money to charities.

With the MDHP, it was just a gimmick, a way for the creator to make some money without giving any benefit to the buyer or society.

The traffic on the MDHP as expected has been falling since the height of the publicity campaign. There is no motivation for the creator to keep marketing the site as he has achieved his aim to make a million.

My website will draw a great deal of traffic because it benefits charities; which is needed in the current economic climate. It gives the buyers a reason to buy from the businesses on my site as they will be donating to charity. There is no reason for people to buy from MDHP.

The traffic will increase year on year on my site as there will be new services provided to keep people going to the website on a regular basis.

The One A Year Campaign name should give people an idea of it's intentions i.e. to get everyone to buy at least one item, from one of the businesses, once a year. This could be buying a gift for a friend on their birthday or at Christmas.

It's not a big ask, and it would make a huge difference to charities if millions of people could be persuaded to do that. It won't cost them anything so it's simply a case of choosing the businesses on my site rather than any others.

So to clarify again, It won't cost you anything to advertise on my website. The people who would pay to run the service will be the businesses who see our press releases, hear radio interviews and decide to advertise on the basis of the traffic the website has attracted.

Thank You all again for your support


Siobhan

 

[Tej]

As this is a new business.. and you are going to donate 10% of your profit to 3 chosen charities!.. where does your profit come from?
Seems too much "FREE" stuff being bandied around.

Naiive post perhaps!

 

[LINGsCARS]

Sibohan,

Nope, you keep going on about money to charities. Wrong, this is about money for YOU. You are only giving 10% (of nothing so far) to charity.

Frankly there is no incentive for customers to approach advertisers via your site. It's a nonsense that people will chose that route to approach businesses... unless...

...you get massive traffic. Which is what MDHP did.

When you say "With the MDHP, it was just a gimmick, a way for the creator to make some money without giving any benefit to the buyer or society.", that is clearly wrong. He gave massive benefits to buyers with the amount of traffic. He was in every newspaper on every TV around the world. He was lead story on the BBC for weeks, on and off. Businesses were outbidding each other for pixels, in the end, the benefits were so great. The adverts stay up there for "ever", you will wipe yours after 1 year and begin re-charging AGAIN. Ho ho ho, good system.

Alex Tew clearly brought massive traffic for his advertisers. And massive PR. That site was MASSIVE. Yours is not.

Despite your expert views, I still get good traffic from MDHP.

Alex Tew did it to fund his Uni education and aimed for $1m. You are aiming for twice that, $2m for your own gain EVERY YEAR! (graciously giving 10% to charity - sooooo generous). What will YOU do with the £1m you aim to pocket? My God, and you say the reason people will be advertising/buying is to HELP CHARITIES... when you get 800% more than the charities? What a load of front you have! They will be helping YOU with 800% more money than charities will get.

Why are you not VAT registered? Because you don't seriously plan to achieve your objective.

Why don't you disclose full company info on your website as required by UK law? Because ... who knows?

Why don't you disclose the charities you will give to? Have they agreed to allow you to do this? You should ask them for permission.

Why don't you charge for the first 30 adverts? Because they are worthless. If this was a good idea, business would PAY you. From the first one. Alex Tew did not have to give any pixels away!

Sorry, but you think you are gonna sit back and watch the adverts fill up. Well, with your current visits, I don't think so.

Sorry to be so realistic.

 

[LINGsCARS]

I still want to know from all the sweeties who posted great praise and think this is a wonderful idea...
... who has got their hands in their pockets and PAID for an advert???

Or is everybody just freeloading on the train to nowhere with your fingers crossed?

Let's have a laugh!

 

[Tej]

I have never placed an advert.. free or otherwise!