Price Comparison Website

[EllaAccountant]

Hi Everyone
Was wondering if you could help me out.

Me and a friend were thinking of creating a Price (+review) Comparison Website based on certain services.
Is anyone here able to build one
Is there a software i need to buy?
Any idea what the costs could be for such a project?

Thank you

 

[zigojacko]

Not enough detail to accurately quote on a project such as this. Could be anywhere between £5k and £25k. Could be built bespoke, could be built on an existing open source platform. I'm sure there are some open source scripts or libraries that could be utilised for a project such as this. You could even use Wordpress and extend a reviews plugin. Loads of options.

You'd be better off including a detailed spec of your requirements and posting this in the tenders forum.

 

[That Guy]

Wordpress is probably your best bet for this if you are one a budget:

http://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/8-wordpress-themes-and-plugins-for-creating-a-review-site/

Good Luck

 

[InternetMarketingPlatinum]

How long is a piece of string? What is your competition? At the moment your idea seems very vague.

 

[EllaAccountant]

£25k wow! That means i could never do it!

 

[EllaAccountant]

As for competition not much out there....

 

[EllaAccountant]

@internetmarketing....i know exactly what I want my website to do, i am just not very IT Tech so not sure how it works behind the scenes if you know what i mean.

 

[Stephen Ward]

What sort of website you want to make. What things you are going to deal with. Will you take payments online? There are soo many things you have to work on. for ex if you want broadband comparision you need to check other websites and have to deal with affiliate links to earn money.

 

[Paul Norman]

Not enough detail to accurately quote on a project such as this. Could be anywhere between £5k and £25k. Could be built bespoke, could be built on an existing open source platform. I'm sure there are some open source scripts or libraries that could be utilised for a project such as this. You could even use Wordpress and extend a reviews plugin. Loads of options.

You'd be better off including a detailed spec of your requirements and posting this in the tenders forum.

This is the correct advice. Most of the rest is rather amusing in its lack of knowledge.

If you want your side to be credible - ie get used, and gain some revenue for yourself, you should certainly budget nearer the top end of the range mentioned above.

If you are looking for a service you give out as free, my advice would be don't. It would be a great deal of work and hassle!

 

[SwiftiPadHire]

You could try speaking with a web developer, discuss your idea and see what price they can quote you. There's always websites like oDesk for out sourcing but be wary if you use them.
Your biggest issue will be in promoting your website. You'll need a large amount of business signed up to you for users to then 'compare'. I would guess that £25k would not scratch the surface of a marketing budget for that.

 

[jamesosix]

As for competition not much out there....

This is a joke right?

You would be competing with some of the bigger boys such as GoCompare UCompare Money Supermarket, not to mention a whole host of other Price Comparison sites.

Doing a search in Google returns 263,000,000 results for "Price comparison".

Imo its an over saturated market and unless you have a USP or something different to give users its a tough market with lots of competition.

Good luck

 

[Paul Norman]

I think there is a pleasantly romantic view of online. The big successes have invested rather more in their sites and their marketing than the kind of numbers mentioned here. As an experienced ecommerce operator, with Soleheaven.com, which is now an established brand with very large traffic volumes, and others, I have a sight of the actual spend on development.

Of course, you can set out tentatively. Of course you have to start somewhere. But understand the scale of budget your rivals have.

 

[Paul Norman]

And there is an example. In fairness, the poster is trying to sell, openly, blatantly. I am ok with that. But nothing in the post should be regarded as advice.

 

[Mad Frog]

Must admit we come across a lot of business proposals consisting of :

1) Build a website
2) Rank in Google
3) Make lots of money

If only it was that simple...

 

[The Byre]

1) Build a website
2) Rank in Google
3) Make lots of money.

OK, I've got to step two. In fact, getting to step two was really easy! I just did step one and step two came all by itself.

Now what?

(If I get another proposal from someone, with the opening words "I've got this really great idea for a website . . . " I swear I might poke someone in the eye!)

 

[japancool]

I've got this really great idea for a website.

What do I do next?

 

[The Byre]

What do I do next?

Go to the local golf course where all the businessmen with loads of money and time to spare hang out, pull your pants down and say "How's that for a hole-in-one!"

That always gets investors reaching for their cheque books!

 

[EllaAccountant]

Hi, It will be based on property services....which is not really what go compare and moneysupermarket offers

 

[IanG]

If you think you actually have something to compare - strikes me there that you'd need fairly fixed prices if you were going to list solicitors and see how they each compare for conveyancing, money transfer etc.

I think one problem you might have is that they won't give you accurate prices.

Could possibly do it with historical data, but that doesn't indicate a future price.

You also need to work out how to monetise it. You'd need companies willing to pass on some commission, and you'd also need to make sure you can track it properly.

Trades and building work is fairly well covered. Not sure buying and selling is, not familiar with that market, but there may be a reason why its difficult to get established.

Also re £25k - that only sounds a lot if you're not planning to earn it. If you can monetise early and phase in the work, you might find you can cover without too much hassle that if your plan is sound. That's only 250 referrals at £100 a pop or 500 if you're taking £50. Which on a legal bill of a grand or so isn't unreasonable.

Just need the solicitors to agree that you deserve some of it.

 

[EllaAccountant]

If you think you actually have something to compare - strikes me there that you'd need fairly fixed prices if you were going to list solicitors and see how they each compare for conveyancing, money transfer etc.

I think one problem you might have is that they won't give you accurate prices.

Could possibly do it with historical data, but that doesn't indicate a future price.

You also need to work out how to monetise it. You'd need companies willing to pass on some commission, and you'd also need to make sure you can track it properly.

Trades and building work is fairly well covered. Not sure buying and selling is, not familiar with that market, but there may be a reason why its difficult to get established.

Also re £25k - that only sounds a lot if you're not planning to earn it. If you can monetise early and phase in the work, you might find you can cover without too much hassle that if your plan is sound. That's only 250 referrals at £100 a pop or 500 if you're taking £50. Which on a legal bill of a grand or so isn't unreasonable.

Just need the solicitors to agree that you deserve some of it.

In the long run of course £25k is within decent marketing range, however cost wise that would be impossible for me right now.
There is one website like that which does something very similiar to what i would like to achieve. Its local surveryors direct....

 

[IanG]

If its a good idea, it should be very easy indeed to find the £25k....

How similar is your idea to that one which is established? And what can you do that they aren't?

Is that the actual name of it? I'll have a look if so.

 

[EllaAccountant]

That is the actual name, if you Google it then it will come up.

I will have a slightly better format and have a few more services added to that, overall same principal though. I didnt know this site existed until i started researching.

I believe it could work..........let me know your thoughts

Thanks

 

[EllaAccountant]

http://www.localsurveyorsdirect.co.uk/ here it is

 

[jplevene]

You are asking how long is a piece of string.

Even if you spend £5k to £30k developing it, you must then spend even more promoting it with an SEO.

 

[tijan]

You dont have to start with big budget if you dont have it. You could outsource the development. Some good developers are available in India, only takes time and bit of digging to root them out. You could be talking of budget between $2500 and $5000 to start with. If your business is picking adequate traction then you can invest further to take it to the level you want.

You dont need to go all out £25k.

 

[Ste Hughes]

When you say £25k is too much how much did you think the project would cost you?