Vikinghustler

Any thoughts on if this is a good idea or a bad idea?

So, trying to keep it really short here..

I wanna make a subscription page where people who offers health services (like massage or healing or whatever) can list themselves and easier be found in searches. Often they dont have webpages, and if they do they suck.

Now..My inital idea was to make the page and then market it and try to get people to join it - in THAT order. Maybe have a 6 months or 1 year free trial.

But then it struck me..why dont I just add everyone, or as many as I can to the page. Just list them all on my page. So now everyone is allready on my page. That would make it easier to get them engaged in my facebookpage and should better SEO on the page faster.

And after 6 months or a year they could pay if they wanna continue to be listed on the site.

The only issue I can see on that is - they never asked to be on the site. So of course I cant charge them anything,unless they want to be charged? Is this even legal? Could I send out a bill after 6 months to encourage them to pay, and if they don't, their profile is deleted?

I mean..I get those bills from non profit organizations sometimes..just write down the amount of which I wanna pay and then pay..or just throw it away (like I do). And thats legal assumably..

Any thoughts? Thanks!

rusilja

Sounds like a good idea.
But if you try to add "everyone", then you website/listing program becomes a spam-list of just external links. And it's just a terrible version of Google Places/Maps for local businesses.

You should rethink your strategy a little bit; and maybe make a VIP/Exclusive website where you list only quality places in various niches (be very specific). And then you can target visitors who are living above mediocre -- this will allow you to charge those businesses a lot more money with almost no effort or downside.

Hope this helps

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Hearn

Your main problem is: why would anyone want to be listed on your website? Does it have traffic and rankings? It hard to already have good traffic because you lack content and until you have some listings you offer no real value to visitors.

But if so, than you have a bargaining chip.

You could add the companies before them paying. You create an awesome page for each one, with description, images, directions, details etc but with no direct link. You put a link on each page something like "Claim this listing" and after they pay they will be able to edit the page, tweak images, description, add a link to their website and so on. You can also import reviews from Google or Facebook.

Vikinghustler

That´s a very good idea. Thank you so much.

So I create lets say 500 listings (everyone would be like 5000, but i can do the rest as the page starts to breathe into life) and then contact people and write them something like; "hey, ive created this and that great page, even your own personal profile. You can claim it for free now bla bla bla, 6 months free etc..then very cheap etc"

simultaniously advertising/marketing it on facebook, twitter, instagram etc.

There is only one page like this in my country, and it is horrendously bad. Must been made in 1997 or something. And he actually has over 400 subscribers paying 200$ a year. He needs some competition I figured!

dburk

Hi Vikinghustler,

It's not a bad idea, in fact it's not a new idea. It's commonly called a business directory or website directory. It is one of the oldest ideas on the World Wide Web. That is how a little company called Yahoo got started.

Yahoo was originally named "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web" until April 1994 when they shortened it to Yahoo!

There are many successful examples of business directories on the web today: Yelp, Hotfrog, MerchantCircle, and Google My Business, just to name a few.

The most successful business model for this niche is to offer free listings, and make money by charging for premium listings, or advertising.

Specializing in an industry niche is an excellent way to differentiate your directory service from the giants in the industry.

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Hearn

Before contacting businesses your website has to be very professional and maybe even featured in some local newspapers or other mainstream places. So associate your website with well known information sources, I think this will definitely boost sales.

If they got 400 subscribes with a shitty website they most likely had an awesome sales person or the Internet was new and they wanted a piece of it. But if this was years ago and they still renew the annual contract it means they probably see a benefit in being listed there.

Vikinghustler

Thanks for the history lesson, and yes, you are absolutely right! Of course.. it IS a great idea, and of course..its been done for ages and still. lol..sometimes people (and myself) just dont realize obvious things

And thanks for the positivity..I think its a good idea too. Problem is I struggle to find someone who can make that site for a good price..