Three days ago, @Andy Black and I chatted it up for a bit. I told him something we hear in TFLF all the time: "I'm working on building [insert latest idea]" - in my case, a website.
In true Andy fashion, he brought me back to why we are all here in the first place: to add value. You can't add value without getting in front of people. He suggested I post something on FB and start engaging the market. I immediately felt afraid of posting the wrong thing or something less than perfect. Andy helped me realize that if I'm helping people, what is there to be afraid of?
Before I spoke to Andy, I spent about a week researching, planning and sketching a website without really engaging the market.
That night, I posted something of a rant (related to the pain point I think my website can solve), and then disabled all my FB notifications. In the last 3 days, I've got about 60 comments and 10+ PMs. 95% of the responses were from people who felt the same way and thanked me for saying something. A few tried to offer a solution (not as good as my website idea).
After responding to them, the questions came: why aren't more people sharing their experiences? Why isn't this post being shared to more people?
I've asked people offline to comment and share and they said: a) "I don't want my boss knowing I'm in this conversation" and b) "I don't want the constant notifications from FB."
This information further validates my website because it solves both a) and b). I also asked people if they thought an anonymous review site would be helpful and I got nothing but positive answers.
Andy suggested I just make a list and put it on a landing page to get something started - and that's what I decided to do.
So my list is coming together. Google Forms integrated with Google Sheets on a simple Wordpress site should be good enough to start.
My post on Facebook got a way better response than I thought it would. Turns out a lot of people feel the same way I do - so far. It will be easier to get more people involved since a website link is a lot easier to share than a facebook post. And an anonymous review is a lot easier than a facebook comment.
I'm gonna make it to where only past and current residents can leave a review. Anybody can add a business to the list, all they need is the name of the business and the location. And since people will be adding businesses and reviewing them, the businesses will be incentivized to add more information (amenities, room availability, respond to reviews, etc.). This they can do by claiming the business (like Yelp). I'm gonna figure out a way to verify everybody and ensure content guidelines to avoid any fakery.
My question is: should I charge them to claim the business in the beginning? Or should I wait until the site has more popularity?
I was gonna let them claim for free in the beginning, but after reading Be Open To Receive I'm thinking about charging them like $50 to claim their business. Part of me feels like $50 is too much for the beginning since its a brand new site, but another part of me feels like that's totally fair. In the end of the day, they can choose NOT to claim their business - and people will still be reviewing them. It'll just be a little bit harder for people to contact the business because the only info they'll have is a name, location, and reviews.
On the other hand, if I start charging them in the beginning, I won't have to take any business info down if people decide not to claim their business. Come to think of it, this will probably happen regardless if I raise the prices as the popularity of the site increases.
After journalizing all this, I guess I should charge from the beginning.
My value skew for the businesses is: represent your business on the "go-to" platform for your target audience.
To my understanding, it's damn near impossible to calculate an average customer lifetime value for this niche because the churn rate is outrageous. For that reason, any PPC is just not feasible right now. A flat monthly rate makes the most sense to me.
I know this niche charges anywhere between $600 - $10,000 a month, but I think the average is $1,400. I read that in an article somewhere. However, I don't want to hurt the lesser-expensive businesses by charging too much. Besides, the expensive ones are usually the most unscrupulous.
I feel like $50 is too cheap and $300 is to expensive. But again, the more popular the site gets, the more valuable it will be to the individual businesses.
Either way, I'm probably going to have to raise the price down the road. I think I'll start with $50 a month.
Or should I allow the businesses to claim for free?
The more I think about, I think no on the free because of the idea of money being a confirmation of value.
What do you guys think?
In true Andy fashion, he brought me back to why we are all here in the first place: to add value. You can't add value without getting in front of people. He suggested I post something on FB and start engaging the market. I immediately felt afraid of posting the wrong thing or something less than perfect. Andy helped me realize that if I'm helping people, what is there to be afraid of?
Before I spoke to Andy, I spent about a week researching, planning and sketching a website without really engaging the market.
That night, I posted something of a rant (related to the pain point I think my website can solve), and then disabled all my FB notifications. In the last 3 days, I've got about 60 comments and 10+ PMs. 95% of the responses were from people who felt the same way and thanked me for saying something. A few tried to offer a solution (not as good as my website idea).
After responding to them, the questions came: why aren't more people sharing their experiences? Why isn't this post being shared to more people?
I've asked people offline to comment and share and they said: a) "I don't want my boss knowing I'm in this conversation" and b) "I don't want the constant notifications from FB."
This information further validates my website because it solves both a) and b). I also asked people if they thought an anonymous review site would be helpful and I got nothing but positive answers.
Andy suggested I just make a list and put it on a landing page to get something started - and that's what I decided to do.
So my list is coming together. Google Forms integrated with Google Sheets on a simple Wordpress site should be good enough to start.
My post on Facebook got a way better response than I thought it would. Turns out a lot of people feel the same way I do - so far. It will be easier to get more people involved since a website link is a lot easier to share than a facebook post. And an anonymous review is a lot easier than a facebook comment.
I'm gonna make it to where only past and current residents can leave a review. Anybody can add a business to the list, all they need is the name of the business and the location. And since people will be adding businesses and reviewing them, the businesses will be incentivized to add more information (amenities, room availability, respond to reviews, etc.). This they can do by claiming the business (like Yelp). I'm gonna figure out a way to verify everybody and ensure content guidelines to avoid any fakery.
My question is: should I charge them to claim the business in the beginning? Or should I wait until the site has more popularity?
I was gonna let them claim for free in the beginning, but after reading Be Open To Receive I'm thinking about charging them like $50 to claim their business. Part of me feels like $50 is too much for the beginning since its a brand new site, but another part of me feels like that's totally fair. In the end of the day, they can choose NOT to claim their business - and people will still be reviewing them. It'll just be a little bit harder for people to contact the business because the only info they'll have is a name, location, and reviews.
On the other hand, if I start charging them in the beginning, I won't have to take any business info down if people decide not to claim their business. Come to think of it, this will probably happen regardless if I raise the prices as the popularity of the site increases.
After journalizing all this, I guess I should charge from the beginning.
My value skew for the businesses is: represent your business on the "go-to" platform for your target audience.
To my understanding, it's damn near impossible to calculate an average customer lifetime value for this niche because the churn rate is outrageous. For that reason, any PPC is just not feasible right now. A flat monthly rate makes the most sense to me.
I know this niche charges anywhere between $600 - $10,000 a month, but I think the average is $1,400. I read that in an article somewhere. However, I don't want to hurt the lesser-expensive businesses by charging too much. Besides, the expensive ones are usually the most unscrupulous.
I feel like $50 is too cheap and $300 is to expensive. But again, the more popular the site gets, the more valuable it will be to the individual businesses.
Either way, I'm probably going to have to raise the price down the road. I think I'll start with $50 a month.
Or should I allow the businesses to claim for free?
The more I think about, I think no on the free because of the idea of money being a confirmation of value.
What do you guys think?
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