Just been approached with this offer...

[steviemac]

"How could you forecast %'s of response?"


you cannot forecast any response from advertising or leaflets or whatever. Having worked in advertising for some years, it is madness to try and tell a business they should expect a certain response and conversion rate. I would never tell a business they should expect a certain figure. Its foolhardy

 

[DotNetWebs]

...for the businesses I am saying that even if what you offer is better - the inertia ref. newspapers / brand means that businesses will not always see it as being better....

Me experience with local businesses, and I have dealt with many, is the opposite.

They realise, as do I , that when somebody requires a service they do not go to the local newspaper site to look at [what is essentially] a banner ad.

e.g

You need a solicitor where are you going to look?

You need an accountant where are you going to look?

You need a mortgage where are you going to look?

You want to buy a Ben Sherman shirt in your local town where are you going to look?

See where I am coming from? A bespoke coded site, based on a local data model, is going to easily outrank a 'hacked' template.

That is what I mean by visibility. To give you a rough idea of some of the queries we are capturing have a look here:

http://www.visithorsham.co.uk/Statistics.aspx

And remember these are only the EXTERNAL queries. There are many more internal ones from people that have book marked the site.

Also look at the top business in that list. They are a new restaurant that open here a couple of weeks ago. We were approached directly by the PR company handling the launch. Yes the probably advertise in the main 'local' paper as well but they realise the benefit of what a site like this can offer them.

Regards

Dotty

 

[DotNetWebs]

...I am talking about visibility and functionality for the businesses who [hopefully] will pay to join your site...

My last example was talking about visibility.

Here is an example of functionality:

This business has just created a coupon:

http://www.visithorsham.co.uk/Business/Duo.aspx

The built in code has automatically added it to our bespoke RSS feed that is displayed on the desktops of 100s of employers in the town (the home page of their corporate Intranet)

I have also just posted it on our Facebook page that is approaching 5000 'Fans'.

We have a strict policy of only approving vouchers that we believe have a genuine value for our members. This means they subsequently have a high redemption rate and benefit both the vendor and the end user.

Regards

Dotty

 

[popunder]

Sounds like a social enterprise business to me; if it's being set up by someone within your community they'd be mad to set out to rip off their neighbours. I've seen a couple of other "local directories" set up under this kind of social enterprise banner, not sure how successful they've been.

It does seem to me that many businesses could claim to be social enterprises without any particular regulation, so the business owner could take 90% of income as salary, reinvest just 10% back into the community, and still claim to be a social enterprise.

I think it's a case of - you either trust the guy and believe in his plans, or you don't. He should be prepared to state roughly how much salary he'll take, and how much he'll re-invest, and in what.

As an advertiser on the website I wouldn't expect any return unless (a) the site generates excellent Google results for your business keywords or (b) the owner spends a lot of time and money marketing the site to local people through every feasible channel. People won't use it just because it's there; as Dotty and others hav stated it takes a massive amount of effort to get 'traction' for a local website. Many have tried and failed.

But... having said that maybe the "if we all put our money in" approach may just give it enough momentum to succeed...?!

 

[DotNetWebs]

Absolutely correct! People can't be bothered...

...But if you make more than £100 a month from your local site, you will be the exception, not the rule.

With the greatest respect, having read your posts in the thread below, I can make a pretty good guess why people "can't be bothered" and you are struggling to make money from your site:

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=185194

You are not connecting with your local businesses and people, you are using words / phrases like 'lick up', 'lemmings' and 'pathetic' to describe the very businesses and people you should be engaging with.

The majority of your target businesses and audience are almost certainly using (or will use) Facebook to some degree.

IMO you should learn to embrace the new communication mediums that you currently appear to despise, start to use them to connect with people, and most importantly: use them to integrate with your existing site in an engaging manner.

Your aim should be to get your site to act as a hub between your local businesses and the local population.

The success of a local site doesn't just depend on the technical side (as we have discussed so far).

The 'human' side is just as an important part of the equation.

IMO to succeed in 'local' you need to have both sides covered!

Regards

Dotty

 

[TheBestOfFranchisee]

this sounds like a thebestof type of sales trick, simply by saying your the best business which encourages you to hand over the check...

dont buy it