Love golf, so I built a deal aggregator site

[OdorcicD]

I'm always browsing /r/golf on Reddit and noticed that someone posts a daily thread in there for daily golf deals from a number of sites. I thought it would be beneficial to move that to a website and done programmatically so I took a bit of time to build Flagstick Deals (http://www.flagstickdeals.com)

I have a few ideas related to the golf industry that I'd like to pursue, but I thought this was a good small starting project that I know I'd be able to complete. I think a big issue in general is people not completing a project and then lacking motivation, so finishing this will boost my motivation instead.

 

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[Gale4rc]

Looks good but you need an email capture .. an easy one is at sumome.com but, since you're a programmer I would suggest building your own high quality one.

 

[themaxx]

Nice design - looks much better than the sites you link out to.

 

[OdorcicD]

Nice design - looks much better than the sites you link out to.

Thanks. I tried to keep it clean and make it as easy as possibly for people to process what's available. I wonder if at some point the users could make the purchase on my site instead, which I forward along to the site with the deal. I agree that the majority of these sites having deals are very unfriendly from a user experience point of view.

 

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[OdorcicD]

Looks good but you need an email capture .. an easy one is at sumome.com but, since you're a programmer I would suggest building your own high quality one.

I'll add one. I could send out daily emails with the deals for that day, which could help with bringing people back to the site (as long as it's not too spammy). Or just collect them and send out an email when the deal is VERY good vs sending them all the deals. My biggest issue right now is just driving traffic to the site, I need users before I can start collecting their emails

 

[Harti]

I'd get an affiliate of the sites and get money for getting the people to buy from them.

My biggest issue right now is just driving traffic to the site, I need users before I can start collecting their emails

I'd use Adwords for that when you are collecting the leads. Then do the numbers and you can create a passive income stream with that.

Harti

 

[Gale4rc]

I love that you've actually built something to where we can help you instead of just waste our time like a lot of people...

I'll add one. I could send out daily emails with the deals for that day, which could help with bringing people back to the site (as long as it's not too spammy). Or just collect them and send out an email when the deal is VERY good vs sending them all the deals. My biggest issue right now is just driving traffic to the site, I need users before I can start collecting their emails

Then use Sumome... It literally takes a minute to install and at least it's something... For me i've converted as high as 10% with the popup... Now experimenting with the scroll box popin.

For traffic I would suggest writing a blog post about where to get the best deals and then posting that in relevant communities
e.g. there are G+ communities http://take.ms/jEILA where you can post the article to, including Facebook Groups / LinkedIn Groups and forums.

For each blog post that you distribute correctly, I would guestimate that it would get you around 100-500 hits a day.

For me, I would focus on doing that over and over (writing new content that they love to read) and figure out what type of content they like to share about golf and write mostly on that.

Then after you start making some sales, start testing with some paid ads. If it were me, I would test sponsoring a forum first.

 

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[csalvato]

Have you researched any other sites that do similar daily deals in other niches?

What jumps out at me first is you do a LOT of deals all at once. Looks more like an eCommerce store than flash deals...which, to me, seems like you are missing out on scarcity and other social proof triggers. (Like: "X sold already, only Y amount left!"; "01:50 left on this deal!")

If you want to do a single deal/day, I would suggest you look at the Woot model and design. They have been doing this for over a decade.

If you want to do multiple deals a day, then take a look at Steep and Cheap. These guys coin it in by really playing up on scarcity multiple times a day. They have apps and stuff, too, to track when the deal updates. I used to spend all day waiting for a deal on random things I needed...like Goggles or Sunglasses.

Steap and Cheap is also interesting because they are run by Backcountry.com. Lots of people (self included) will buy on Steep and Cheap, then get other random things that aren't on offer from Backcountry. It adds a lot of great continuity (And thus increases CLV).

Just some suggestions because it looks like you are trying to blaze a trail when other people already have. I could be wrong. Hope I helped.

Re: Driving Traffic
Why aren't you using reddit? That other guy was.

Re: Processing on Your site
How are you making money now?

 

[OdorcicD]

Have you researched any other sites that do similar daily deals in other niches?

What jumps out at me first is you do a LOT of deals all at once. Looks more like an eCommerce store than flash deals...which, to me, seems like you are missing out on scarcity and other social proof triggers. (Like: "X sold already, only Y amount left!"; "01:50 left on this deal!")

Is this bad? There are a number of deals per day, but it depends what you want to get. Some of the stuff might not suit certain people, while others do.

If you want to do a single deal/day, I would suggest you look at the Woot model and design. They have been doing this for over a decade.

If you want to do multiple deals a day, then take a look at Steep and Cheap. These guys coin it in by really playing up on scarcity multiple times a day. They have apps and stuff, too, to track when the deal updates. I used to spend all day waiting for a deal on random things I needed...like Goggles or Sunglasses.

Steap and Cheap is also interesting because they are run by Backcountry.com. Lots of people (self included) will buy on Steep and Cheap, then get other random things that aren't on offer from Backcountry. It adds a lot of great continuity (And thus increases CLV).

Woot and Steap and Cheap would have the inventory themselves though, or setup something with a manufacturer and put that on sale? I'm not sure I'd want to get into inventory or setting up the deals myself. More below.

Just some suggestions because it looks like you are trying to blaze a trail when other people already have. I could be wrong. Hope I helped.

Re: Driving Traffic
Why aren't you using reddit? That other guy was.

Re: Processing on Your site
How are you making money now?

I should probably start using Reddit, perhaps making my own daily deal post. The only thing I'm afraid of is that the other golfers in that subreddit would see that I'm basically doing the same post as him, and not sure they'd appreciate it since he's been doing it for so long?

I don't make any money right now, the site has only been up a couple days. A few ideas on how to monetize it:
- Affiliate commission on the deals being displayed each day
- Sell "stickied" deals that stay at the top for a day to advertise

I appreciate the post and love getting different opinions and ideas for how to make things better, thanks!

 

[csalvato]

Is this bad? There are a number of deals per day, but it depends what you want to get. Some of the stuff might not suit certain people, while others do.

The reason why daily deals do so well is (1) scarcity and (2) social proof. Your website doesn't accentuate any of these things. Compare your site to Steep and Cheap who has multiple daily deals.

Steap and Cheap has a different deal that pops up, with mobile & desktop notifications multiple times throughout the day.

One way you can mimic this is by cycling out the same deals multiple times per day, but making them only last 5 minutes at a time. That way, whenever someone goes to your site, they only see a deal for 5 minutes so they better act now or lose it. Then the deal pops up later in the day. Steep and Cheap also does this.

Woot does a single deal, one day only. The deal never pops up again. Both models are obviously working. Maybe multiple deals work too; but people generally hate choice on sites like these.

Woot and Steap and Cheap would have the inventory themselves though, or setup something with a manufacturer and put that on sale? I'm not sure I'd want to get into inventory or setting up the deals myself. More below.

I dunno their model. Worth some investigation/phone calls though.

One thing you could do is run the deals on your website and process the transaction with a slight markup...say 10%. Then, before the day's deal is done on the other website, you purchase enough stock to fulfill the orders you received and have the other guys just drop ship. Yes it would be time and labor intensive to start, as you would need to process several transactions for other people...but it would validate your system then you can work on increasing margins by finding a different way to do it.

I should probably start using Reddit, perhaps making my own daily deal post. The only thing I'm afraid of is that the other golfers in that subreddit would see that I'm basically doing the same post as him, and not sure they'd appreciate it since he's been doing it for so long?

Message him and show him what you've done. Maybe he will like it and help, and start working with you (not as a partner, but as a guy who just really likes what you're doing). Then he would be happy to post yours instead of the other sites. Get him on your side.

 

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[ilrein]

Nice job! How are you getting the data for these deals? Are you copying them from other sites by hand?

 

[OdorcicD]

@csalvato I've added countdown timers to deals where that information is available, but yea the scarcity is not along the lines of these other daily deal sites.
I think my biggest conflict here is that I don't want to run a daily deal site, but rather a daily deal aggregator site. All these other sites that I pull from are the ones doing the deals, I just want to expose them in a single place that's more user-friendly for people, as opposed to them having to browse through a list of sites that they themselves have to find.

 

[OdorcicD]

Nice job! How are you getting the data for these deals? Are you copying them from other sites by hand?

I've built scrapers that pull the information from the different sites and populate the data I need. I'd hate myself if I entered these in manually
I've added the ability for users to submit their own deals as well, and I'm notified as soon as they submit so it can be approved. It's also a way for me to add them manually when there are really good one-offs that I find somewhere else, that might not necessarily need a scraper.

 

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[csalvato]

think my biggest conflict here is that I don't want to run a daily deal site, but rather a daily deal aggregator site.

That's an important distinction I think I was missing.

Sounds like your biggest hurdle, then, would be setting up strategic partnerships/affiliations. I imagine most of these stores don't have mature affiliate systems built into their back end...but a lot of that stuff can be tackled as JV kinda thing.

 

[drilonnn]

Seems like you haven't done any SEO.. You have only 1 backlink and i cant seem to find your domain on google with the keyword flagstick. I suggest you do some SEO or if you don't know then you can buy a SEO package on seoclerks, then your site will rank and you will receive lots of traffic and to monetize that traffic i suggest you use Google Adsense or Amazon Affiliates.

 

[Andy Black]

Add items for sale that are not daily deals too.
Then you've got a great resource for people looking to buy golfing merchandise.

Send paid search traffic directly to a page selling what they are looking for.
e.g. searched for "golf umbrellas", get sent to "golf umbrellas" comparison page (check out datafeedr etc).
Have the daily deals show up on a column on the right, along with a "Subscribe for daily Golf deals" button.

Run the whole thing so that your PPC spend is offset by the front-end revenue.
Get new subscribers for free.
Send daily emails to subscribers.


Further reading/viewing?
www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/online-direct-response-metrics.52781
www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/your-goal-is-to-increase-cpcs.52525
www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/launch-learn.52526
www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/are-you-only-buying-traffic.52527

 

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[csalvato]

Seems like you haven't done any SEO.. You have only 1 backlink and i cant seem to find your domain on google with the keyword flagstick. I suggest you do some SEO or if you don't know then you can buy a SEO package on seoclerks, then your site will rank and you will receive lots of traffic and to monetize that traffic i suggest you use Google Adsense or Amazon Affiliates.

Spam?

I would definitely not recommend SEO for this project. At least not yet.

 

[Brentnal]

Great idea man, you never know how it can turn out, keep on grinding you will get there.
Good luck!

 

[drilonnn]

Spam?

I would definitely not recommend SEO for this project. At least not yet.

Who said anything about spamming? SEO doesn't mean spam, If you do it correctly then you'll rank..

 

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[csalvato]

Who said anything about spamming? SEO doesn't mean spam, If you do it correctly then you'll rank..

I meant that the reply you posted sounded like spam.

Seems like you haven't done any SEO.. You have only 1 backlink and i cant seem to find your domain on google with the keyword flagstick. I suggest you do some SEO or if you don't know then you can buy a SEO package on seoclerks, then your site will rank and you will receive lots of traffic and to monetize that traffic i suggest you use Google Adsense or Amazon Affiliates.

Someone with very few posts coming on and suggesting an SEO service to buy as one of their first posts seemed overtly promotional. I don't know anything about the service, but I wasn't sure that was valid feedback given your posting history. I'm sorry if I was wrong.

Good SEO takes time and is a long term endeavor if for no other reason that it's difficult to track, indexing can take time and its hard to control (unless you go the private blog network route, which is black hat and still takes more time than paid ads).

For someone just getting started in this niche, SEO seems like a longer-game play than is worthwhile right now...especially if the goal is to fail fast.

Just my 2¢.

 

[Gale4rc]

DO NOT buy SEO - This guy is BS

You need a marketing campaign and to build a subscribers list. If this was my site I would personally require email for entry like the top shopping sites do. Then I would start small by handing out flyers at local golf spots.

After I got around 1k subscribers I would start a giveaway using gleam.io

then after i'm in the money I would experiment with paid channels until I found something that works.

There is no secret sauce, you're going to have to grind out your initial batch of users from either content marketing or getting a huge blogger to cover your site or flyers. Either way i'd still use an email popup to view deals.

 

[csalvato]

Either way i'd still use an email popup to view deals.

If you are using wordpress, the SumoMe app (free) is great for things like this.

If you hand coded, check out some gems that do this (ruby) or some other stuff on github. This stuff has been done thousands of times before, so no need to reinvent the wheel.

(I use SumoMe for a lot of this and I love it).

 

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[Catalyst]

This.

I'd get an affiliate of the sites and get money for getting the people to buy from them.

I'll pay for each buying customer

 

[redsfaithful]

Perhaps make a post on Reddit /golf saying "Hey I built this for you" basically outlining what you outlined here - that you thought a central place for the deals seemed like a good idea, and that your goal is to be comprehensive. I'd have an email capture set up before you do this though, just in case it does well.

 

[Gale4rc]

These types of businesses are BUILT from email subscriptions.

Make sure your mindset is "I'm in the business of building my user base of golf enthusiast"

 

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[OdorcicD]

Great tips everyone! Appreciate all the help and I'll definitely be trying to incorporate some of the ideas. Definitely a learning process, it's all new to me.

 

[drilonnn]

I meant that the reply you posted sounded like spam.



Someone with very few posts coming on and suggesting an SEO service to buy as one of their first posts seemed overtly promotional. I don't know anything about the service, but I wasn't sure that was valid feedback given your posting history. I'm sorry if I was wrong.

Good SEO takes time and is a long term endeavor if for no other reason that it's difficult to track, indexing can take time and its hard to control (unless you go the private blog network route, which is black hat and still takes more time than paid ads).

For someone just getting started in this niche, SEO seems like a longer-game play than is worthwhile right now...especially if the goal is to fail fast.

Just my 2¢.

Very few posts because i don't stay all day on this forum and post on every thread like you and some others that have opposed my advice here, instead i work on my projects that make me a bank! I only come here when i lay on my bed and surf the forum via Tapatalk, and i don't reply on every thread that i read. So i don't even have the time arguing with people like you who instead of giving advice to the OP, they oppose other member's opinions and advices.

And FYI, SEO is the main part of opening an online business, it holds like 60% of the importance.

Hasta la vista, DUDE!