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Niche Portals
Posted 29th September 2008 at 04:55 AM by Keith Boisvert
This is more of a follow up on the Auto Classified post I made.
As small business owners ourselves, we need to think in terms of value and money. We all want to make money, but at the same time we have to feel good about adding value to our customers.
Now we all know the benefits of running a directory/portal. However, depending on you, you may want to consider NOT thinking on such a large scale, and build a niche portal.
The auto classified site is a perfect example of picking one niche and hitting it hard. There is nothing wrong with specializing, as it will help you learn much quicker the ins and outs of that particular niche...which will help you as you talk to more and more owners.
Another example would be restaurants. If your community is like most, you probably have more eateries that you can shake a stick at. With a little effort, I am positive you can find enough to advertise with you, and you can make a decent bit of residual monthly income from that one site.
The great part here is that all of your effort will go into this site, and you can cater the site to that one niche. Restaurants for example want to have online menus, internet reservations, online ordering, SMS messaging for daily specials, and so on. By dealing with this group of owners exclusively for this site, you will learn to ask what they want, and have the ability to apply that want to your site.
By laser focusing in on a niche, you will learn to really understand that market, and be proactive in ensuring that YOUR clients get the most for their money.
AND, what's stopping you from then expanding your one site into many sites? Let's say you get your restaurant site running, you have 15-20 clients, they are all happy, you are making monthly income...now what? How about taking your site and duplicating the efforts and start one in another city? Yeah, you may have to drive to another town and talk to owners, but so what? You already have a site that PROVIDES RESULTS, so it will pretty much be selling itself. You just need to spread it out! Imagine having a site that generates $2k a month like clockwork and duplicating it once, twice, 5 times....sounds pretty good eh?
I know, you have to compete with the likes of the big directory sites. So f'n what? Spend some time on those sites and look at what they do. Not much. By you being local and having the ability to give exceptional service to the owners, adjust your site to THEIR needs, and trust me...there are tons of things the big sites can't offer a small business. Customer service is HUGE when it comes to small biz owners!!
Again, this is just a random thought process. But something like this will allow you to focus in on one niche and dominate it by understanding it completely, and in turn owners will reward you by trusting you with their business.
Keith
PS: This post was made on the new www.LocalBizBuilders.com Social Site available to Special Forces Premium members
As small business owners ourselves, we need to think in terms of value and money. We all want to make money, but at the same time we have to feel good about adding value to our customers.
Now we all know the benefits of running a directory/portal. However, depending on you, you may want to consider NOT thinking on such a large scale, and build a niche portal.
The auto classified site is a perfect example of picking one niche and hitting it hard. There is nothing wrong with specializing, as it will help you learn much quicker the ins and outs of that particular niche...which will help you as you talk to more and more owners.
Another example would be restaurants. If your community is like most, you probably have more eateries that you can shake a stick at. With a little effort, I am positive you can find enough to advertise with you, and you can make a decent bit of residual monthly income from that one site.
The great part here is that all of your effort will go into this site, and you can cater the site to that one niche. Restaurants for example want to have online menus, internet reservations, online ordering, SMS messaging for daily specials, and so on. By dealing with this group of owners exclusively for this site, you will learn to ask what they want, and have the ability to apply that want to your site.
By laser focusing in on a niche, you will learn to really understand that market, and be proactive in ensuring that YOUR clients get the most for their money.
AND, what's stopping you from then expanding your one site into many sites? Let's say you get your restaurant site running, you have 15-20 clients, they are all happy, you are making monthly income...now what? How about taking your site and duplicating the efforts and start one in another city? Yeah, you may have to drive to another town and talk to owners, but so what? You already have a site that PROVIDES RESULTS, so it will pretty much be selling itself. You just need to spread it out! Imagine having a site that generates $2k a month like clockwork and duplicating it once, twice, 5 times....sounds pretty good eh?
I know, you have to compete with the likes of the big directory sites. So f'n what? Spend some time on those sites and look at what they do. Not much. By you being local and having the ability to give exceptional service to the owners, adjust your site to THEIR needs, and trust me...there are tons of things the big sites can't offer a small business. Customer service is HUGE when it comes to small biz owners!!
Again, this is just a random thought process. But something like this will allow you to focus in on one niche and dominate it by understanding it completely, and in turn owners will reward you by trusting you with their business.
Keith
PS: This post was made on the new www.LocalBizBuilders.com Social Site available to Special Forces Premium members
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