Feeling disillusioned and down.

[Salima]

Sorry ....it's long one so thanks in advance for all of you who persevere!

Am currently feeling bit down about my business and not sure what to do.

I started an online town and community portal early this year and my biggest worry was being able to get businesses to pay for advertising on my site, however I have not found that to be the case as a lot of businesses like the concept and idea of a one-stop shop to the local area and the advertising they get so are happy to advertise. What I am really struggling with is visitors.

I have tried different things and it's quite depressingly funny because as I've implemented them I've thought:

"OK once I get the banners and posters up around town, the visitors will increase" and then...
"Once the leaflet drop is done which advertises the site and all the benefits on a glossy postcard instructing people to keep it by the pc...then the traffic will increase" and then ...
"now my google rankings are up, I'm bound to get more visitors".

So I have been getting high with anticipation, pinning my hopes on something each time it is implemented and then being disillusioned when nothing seems to be working.

The effect that this has had on me is that I feel I am not "delivering business for my businesses" and this has had the knock on effect of demotivating me completely and I dont feel confident to go out and get more business knowing that due to the lack of visitors I am getting they may not get anything back from me.

I know that some people have given me feedback on the site that it is too busy and there is a lot to it but to be honest...I have had a majority of a lot of excellent feedback as well, not only from customers and viewers but also from local groups and also organisations like the local council, police, university who have all been impressed with it and happy to put links to my site.

I do have a limited budget and dont have money to throw at it in trying different things. So do I cut my losses and accept that this is just not going to work for me?

If anyone has any pearls of wisdom to give me then it would be most appreciated.

 

[RapidBI]

Salima
What you have is great for the people that are interested - advertisers and local groups BUT why would I a resident want to visit the site? Whats in it for me?

The site is VERY busy and difficult to navigate, the focus is on local businesses - I will go you yellow pages for that. The focus needs to be on the visitor - why would I want to come back? Discounts for every 10 visits to the site? subscription to a monthly discount list? unique offers in the local restruants etc.

Unfortunatly there are many of these 'local' sites springing up - great for the advertisers but not (apparently) focused on a need for me.


With the type of advertising you have done to date you need to keeep doing it - we used to run a childrens play centre and one day a visitor said why dont you advertise? I asked where we should advertise - she said the name of a local paper - I pulled that out from under the counter & showed her the 1/4 full colure ad - and the ones in the preceding 12 weeks - she had not seen it!

If you are going to keep going it is going to take a long time.
A bit abrasive I know but...

 

[telemax]

Hi I'm no expert at getting visitors to your site.

However, are the businesses that have paid to advertise on your site willing to stay on there and keep paying. If so then at least you have money coming in.

I just typed Kingston, surrey into google and this site came right at the top

www.kingstononline.co.uk

Have you checked them out, maybe you could get some ideas from them. Ring them up, ask for the MD or owner, ask for their advice. Don't be afraid to do this most people want to help.

I believe there are also Search engine optimisation companies out there who pay according to results. Maybe try looking these up.

Also, I know it's really difficult but you need to try and take emotion out of your business. We all do badly sometimes, that is the time to work harder at marketing.

Best of luck

Jonathan

 

[Cornish Steve]

You need to reach the local community. What about some traditional methods?

- Flyers posted on the message board at every library in the area, local bulletin boards, at local businesses (that you reference at your site), doctor's and dentist's offices, and so on.

- Flyers at appropriate places at town halls and council offices.

- Meeting with some journalists so they'll add a piece in the local rag. (Even after being out of the country for over 20 years, I still manage to get articles into local papers in Cornwall because of a journalist I know - they can be very accommodating.)

- Have a presence at annual fairs, fetes, and other town events.

While your service in regional, the Web is viewed as global. You have to somehow bridge that gap - reaching out to people locally so that they'll view your site as local too.

 

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

Salima

Don't feel down, you have a buiness up and running that works! All you need to do is get more people to visit and there are millions of ways of doing this.

I have actually helpe people who have set up similar sites for local areas, and we printed them flyers. This worked really well as it was target flyers. By this I mean the flyers were put in places where the target customers would go. They put them in hair dressers, shops, pubs and restaturants. It said to be kept up to date will al the goings on in X, log on here etc

Also you should be sending out a weekly news letter with all the events/offers on to people on your mailing list. You should have people sigh up as soon as they look at your page.

Also forums, this then allows people to add content for you! Have local forms for people to chat and network, even for single people too.

Posters are not a good idea because people won't remember the address. Flyers and then smaller the better, will work really well. I can arrange these for you if you are interested. I will help you with the content and my designer will make them look amazing for you. We will chat to you about who you want to target and we will tell you how!

if you want to email or message me, then I am sure we can help you.

Matt

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I've felt exactly the same for the last 5 years. I've tried about 100 different concepts and ideas in different business ideas and hardly any have worked. However because of this I've now learnt what works, what doesn't work, where it works and how.

What I've learnt to do now is when you get an idea before you get blinded by self confidence (which you always do) just sit there for a second and fully work out how it will work and how effective it will be.

The Banners and posters for example. Think where did you put them, whos going to see them, how many would look at it then go home and visit the website. Just visualise yourself in the public's shoes, what would you do?

If an idea for advertising doesn't work out, it might be one of the most difficult things to do but just drop it and move on. There's no point in continuing if you know deep down it isn't going to make a difference or be very effective.

I've been having the same problems recently with my idea. Being the age I am etc I'm getting no support from friends or family. I have my uncle who is the closest to being business minded telling me it wont work (however he can't give me an answer why other then 'it just wont sell', so I am ignoring him). I know however, that it will sell, so I'm pressing ahead despite all the let down's and lack of support, it's my judgement against theirs.

So good luck with everything, marketing is a tough nut to crack but it pays off in the end, slowly and steadily.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I've just been looking at the Edinburgh equivalent and I can't think why I'd use it.

(btw, I realise that your site is better than the Edinburgh one, I'm using my local site as an example as I understand how it fits in with other local sources of information)

I looked for Indian restaurants and had to click down 5 levels to get to the right page. And all I got for my effort was a list of 3 restaurants.

(and I had to click yet again to get the phone numbers)

As someone who's looking for a service, this just can't compare to the Yellow Pages.

I thought that there might be the side benefit for advertisers that the business listings could come up on p1 or p2 of the search engines (so people would find the pages directly).

However, for the Edinburgh site at least, this isn't the case. A few searches on fairly specialised categories found a whole load of other directories instead.

So, as a business directory, it's not a crowd puller.

As a source of local or community information and listings, there's nothing on the Edinburgh site that I can't get either:

(1) from a more specialist site
(2) from the local newspaper's site
(3) from the free weekly local paper

And this is the key - and this is where I'm going to differ from the advice some of the others have given.

If you want to have serious traffic, you need 2 things: you need repeat visitors and you need the visitors to tell others how useful your site is.

After all, if you want 100,000 site visits, it's a lot easier (and cheaper) to get
10,000 people coming an average of 10 times than to get 100,000 people to visit just once.

So my advice would be, before you step up your marketing, work on the site so you're giving people something they'll come back for again and again.

And that means unique, regularly updated content.

Marketing isn't going to do that for you. As American marketer Gary Bencivenga said recently:

"Remember that most businesses make real money only on repeat sales. While a good copywriter can make a prospect hopeful enough to try a product, he or she can't make that customer delighted enough to buy it again. Only you and your product can do that."

So, success is only going to come after you have a site that people are going to keep coming back to.

Until then most of the time, money and effort you invest in promoting the site will be wasted attracting people who will probably never come back.

Hope this helps.

Steve

 

[nk400]

Hi Salima,

Unfortunately I think you should call it a day.

Leaflet / poster advertising has never been proven to achieve a good ROI for online businesses (people simply don't take enough notice).

I think there probably are lots of alternatives out there, coupled with a lack of strong consumer demand for such a local portal. Whilst it may be a useful site, to one or two people, I doubt there is a really strong call (ie thousands of visits per day) for any highly local portals, which is what you would need to make some money.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.

 

Hi,
To me this kind of site is not really geared up for local people. As people have said , why would i bother looking on the net for my local area when i have free papers etc.
Personally i would gear my advertising towards tourist information centres etc in other towns to promote the site for people who may visit the area.

 

[PeteA]

My own opinions for what they are worth are people outside the local area would be interested in visiting the site if it listed

Properties for Let
Properties for sale
b&b's
People requiring workers
The best pubs to drink in
The best nightclubs to chase women in
Local golf courses and offers
Landmarks
Museums
Places of interest

These kind of thinks could generate interest from people living outside Kingston.

 

[Mike by the Sea]

Hi Salima

I think we have been round this bouy before in terms of "why should I use this site". It might be that you leave as is and, hopefully, you can retain some income from the advertisers. This would give you time to focus on other things. The risk is that you throw good money into something that the public aren't really interested in. You have been successful to date in getting businesses to advertise, so don't forget to give yourself a big pat on the back for that.

If you are determined to make it work, which I think you are, do your advertisers put a link on their sites for you? Also, if you have some good looking flyers, can they have some at their location for people to pick up. Also, would they be prepared to give a discount if your site is mentioned? I think you have to find a USP that will get people coming back - a bargain is always a good start. Then maybe a discount card for people that register?

I'm sure you will get more suggestions.

Good luck and keep your chin up.

 

[Salima]

Thank you all so much for making the effort to give me your insight and advice.

I have read all the posts several times and will continue to read them again till all points raised have registered properly and been given due consideration.

Will keep you updated!

 

[cjd]

As you say, you've asked the question before and I don't think much has changed. I'm not at all surprised that your number of visitors is relatively small - what you are doing is difficult and will take a long time to get right.

http://ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=20390

It's all about content and your site hasn't really got it yet - just another listings site. Lots of people have pointed out that there are many sources of information available - Yell, yellow pages, local papers, etc etc. To succeed you need to be able to offer everything they do and then add value on top. It's a huge undertaking.

People used to talk about Portal sites before the internet bubble burst and largely it was a load of rubbish but in the information area it tends to be true. In order for you to get enough visitors to your site you have to make it THE place people must go to get information so it must contain everything about Kingston, be easy to navigate and on top of that it must add value over all other forms already out there.

That's a very big task because not only does it involve compiling and maintaining a huge database of information it also means you need to add consumer feedback too, like restraunt reviews, film guides, local blogs etc etc.

Do you know any site that pulls this off? Have you any role models?

 

[Cornish Steve]

I've been thinking about this thread. Clearly, you've put your heart and soul into this venture, yet we're poking holes in your site and your model. I hope you don't feel disheartened. Try to take these points and shift your direction to address them without losing site of your mission.

I don't know if this is practical, but why not put the onus of content onto local attractions and organisers? It must be huge task for you to come up with sufficient content and to constantly update the site. Can you create a structure and a set of procedures that would allow locals themselves to do all the ground work for you?

Ultimately, what is your mission statement? For example, is it to "cultivate an improved sense of belonging and awareness within the local community"? If so, you can change your current approach yet still achieve your mission. The most important thing is to stick to your underlying mission; everything else should be negotiable.

Anyway, I just wanted to give a word of encouragement. Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.

 

[Salima]

I've been thinking about this thread. Clearly, you've put your heart and soul into this venture, yet we're poking holes in your site and your model. I hope you don't feel disheartened. Try to take these points and shift your direction to address them without losing site of your mission.

I don't know if this is practical, but why not put the onus of content onto local attractions and organisers? It must be huge task for you to come up with sufficient content and to constantly update the site. Can you create a structure and a set of procedures that would allow locals themselves to do all the ground work for you?

Thank you Steve for the encouragement.

The structure for locals to do the work for me, is indeed in place! I have a whole section dedicated to Kingston Community where locals can self-edit this section by adding new, events, local clubs e.t.c to the front page. Although here are at least four ways to access this section from the main page it appears from what you are saying that this feature is still not highlighted enough and is probably something I need to look into.

 

[billhilton]

Cheer up

As has been said, this was the kind of site that everyone thought was going to do well before the bubble burst.

Doesn't mean it's doomed, however. You have worked hard and it looks like a useful resource. Remember, though, that what the mighty Google loves most of all is content. You do have some good articles on there, but I'd be inclined to push them nearer to the front of the site.

That said, it sounds like you're running out of energy and motivation. I think the people who do really well out of online business are the ones who diversify - spread their activities across a number of different projects. The ones that work they carry on with, the ones that don't work they abandon. I think that's a more realistic approach than starting one site, working you bum off and pinning all your hopes on it. Isn't hindsight great?

So, don't get disillusioned: this venture might have gone a bit wrong, but you've demonstrated enormous commitment. Put the same energy into - ooh, let's think - blogging, adsense, affiliate marketing or anything similar and you might be more successful. Remember: spread your talents, test and experiment. Ditch the stuff that doesn't work, develop the stuff that does.

Good luck!

 

[Salima]

Do you know any site that pulls this off? Have you any role models?

Hi cjd

I have had to concentrate a lot on the listings I know but that is because I have to generate some income from it. I do make sure that I add as many local events as possible to keep the community section up to date and have contacted a lot of charities and local clubs/groups/institutions to make sure they have a presence on there for people to access information about them. But you are right. Ideally I would want people coming to the site and adding their own events rather than me having to do it but due to lack of visitors this is not the case.

Leicester on the Web is I guess a "role model" it is very successful and pulls in a lot of money, however it is owned by a big company who have got the money to throw behind it. They have no focus on the community side and I noticed they have no mention of their community section and have even removed their right hand side links to it from the homepage! From my discussions with them, it seems they concentrate on selling listings to businesses on the strength of their extremely well search-engine optimised site. Go figure.