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Developed site, but what now?

locksmack

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Hey Guys,

I am a big fan of the fastlane book, I've read it twice and connect with it much more than any other wealth building book.

I've attempted to take MJs advice around building a system to add value to other peoples lives. I spent more than 6 months creating a website for people to find fishing spots and review them/log what they catch. Think of it as an IMDB or urbanspoon for fishing:

http://greathooks.com

I launched it back in May 2013 but since then things have kind of grinded to a halt. I am very proud of the website, but I don't know what to do next. I think my biggest issue is content, which will lead to traffic, but I don't know how to do this. Apart from some data that I scrapped from elsewhere and submissions from friends and family, I've only had a single 'random' actually add any content to the site.

I am focussing (but not limiting) on my local market for now - Australia. The site has received ~500 uniques last month all organically. I have run google Adwords campaigns last year which definitely generate good traffic, but the content just isn't being added.

Is my idea flawed? Am I missing something? Any advice would be great. Thanks!
 
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harerace

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Stop ad sense. Ad sense is geared towards eCommerce and pay to play type sites. Not content generated sites. You might be getting positive reinforcement from it but you want to stay clear away from it.

Find where the fishers hang. Maybe a form and promote the site there? Go out and hand out flyers to other fishermen. Do things that don't scale at first.

Now you have to ask your self if fishermen are willing to go online to post about their experience and read about others. I know its a big market on 'how to fish' but this idea has yet to be proven. Goodluck.
 

healthstatus

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People don't give out their fishing spots.

this times 10

You might see if you can find any tech savvy fishing guides that would be willing to be interviewed and either skype an interview or have them write an article in exchange for their contact info in the article.
 
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Gale4rc

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you have to develop a good single-player mode before people will share. I would try to make something that you can give of value to the user ontop of what you already offer.
 

HenkHolland

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Locksmack, good thing that you took action and developed a website.

Unfortunately, you made the same mistake that most of us made in starting their first venture. Apparently, you did not scrutinize the concept and think it through before investing your time (and money) in developing the website.
I don't know anything about fishing, but I do no that people who like fishing want to keep their spots to themselves as Vigilante pointed out correctly.

So, you need to figure out a different approach to get your website traffic rolling.
Don't rely on individuals to fill your database.
 
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SeanKelly

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LibertyForMe

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MOST people don't give out their fishing spots, there will be a few that do. Think about the characteristics of the people who would give out their spots. Who are they, what kind of spots will they likely be, what species? For example, in the US, 99% of trout fishermen will hide their spots, their secret streams. You might get a couple general access points, but nothing in depth.

I think you really need to get more data in there before people will use it. Kind of like when MJ manually populated his limo directory from the yellow pages.

I played around, and I thought it was irritating that I couldn't look at a map of the whole world and see all the 'pins'. I would also like to see a way to tag a spot, so the pin on the map comes up a certain color. Blue for catfish, green for beginner spots, red for bass, etc.

How are you planning on monetizing it?

Also, who is your target market?
 

MJ DeMarco

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Is my idea flawed? Am I missing something?

I don't fish. My first thought on your idea was "Wow! What an awesome idea!!!" Even the website looks good too. It's gonna be a blockbuster.

People don't give out their fishing spots.

Then I read this.

This is a perfect example of how some ideas just seem awesome from an outside-looking-in perspective -- but for someone who lives and dies in an industry (or activity) not so much. Curious, has your web data shown to reflect this? That fisherman don't want to disclose their most prized locations?
 
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murk01

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great looking site. i fished a few times and agree ppl don’t like to share fishing spots. but keep it up figure out another angle, keep the site rolling. i was about to build a niche site a while back about "fish finders" good niche with expensive products. don’t remember the stats exactly. but i think it was a good one.
I bet with a developed site like yours you can sell the sh!t out of fish finders and other products. Maybe start your own line.
 

Lathan

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Mj took the words right out of my mouth. I had the same reaction. I loved the concept, how the site looked etc. And then I read Vigilante's post and I was like.. "....oh yea."

BUT, I still think you should pursue this idea! I do think there is quite a bit of truth to what Vigilante said about fisherman not giving away their spots, I think it is still worth exploring a little further to see how much a market is out there for this. Good luck!
 

LibertyForMe

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H. Palmer

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Hey Guys,

I am a big fan of the fastlane book, I've read it twice and connect with it much more than any other wealth building book.

I've attempted to take MJs advice around building a system to add value to other peoples lives. I spent more than 6 months creating a website for people to find fishing spots and review them/log what they catch. Think of it as an IMDB or urbanspoon for fishing:

I am very proud of the website, but I don't know what to do next. I think my biggest issue is content, which will lead to traffic, but I don't know how to do this. Apart from some data that I scrapped from elsewhere and submissions from friends and family, I've only had a single 'random' actually add any content to the site.

Is my idea flawed? Am I missing something? Any advice would be great. Thanks!


Since you seem to be starting out as an entrepreneur, why not take it one step at a time.

So now you have a cool website, but not enough traffic yet.

So next step, start creating content yourself. Create 10 pages with stuff about how to fish and where.

Then watch the results and decide on your next step.
 
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Gale4rc

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If people don't want to give out their fishing spot (obviously not true for every fisher), then make them want to give out their fishing spot by offering some type of reward or something they can show off because they found/have the best fishing spot.

Don't give up on this idea because of what that one guy said, it's a good idea and can work.
 

1step

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Vacationers give away information on what they caught in certain fishing locations because they wont be back for a long time. IMO this is your market.

When I went on vacation this summer I searched for fishing info and found a few message boards where people were discussing where they had good success and what baits to use. Sure, like others have said soem fisherman wont give away their spots but there is a crowd that will.
 
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bernieshawn

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What about this (crazy idea)...

People don't want to give out their fishing spots. Let's work with that.

People post that they have have a great spot, but they DON'T say where it is. They post hints about where to get there, but no specific location. Make it a game, like geocaching.

Make it a rule that no one can post the location. People can comment and say "I found this spot last weekend, it was awesome!", but they no one can disclose the location.

People could go all "old western" and give out directions like "from lake bigtoe, follow the call of the giant eagle 60 minutes by foot to the east. when you see a big red tree, follow the pine trees north until you hit a beautiful spring" (or something like that, totally making this up)
 

aardvarky

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I think my biggest issue is content, which will lead to traffic, but I don't know how to do this. Apart from some data that I scrapped from elsewhere and submissions from friends and family, I've only had a single 'random' actually add any content to the site.

First of all - great site :)

But I think you're right about the content - it'll really help you get traffic. I think good content is the easiest, cheapest way to generate traffic and get the ball rolling.

I'd suggest expanding your site - instead of focusing on fishing spots, brainstorm and come up with a list of topics that people who are looking for good fishing spots would be interested in. Browse around related sites and magazines for content ideas and come up with lists, how-tos, and other helpful and relevant topics. Make a list of all the article ideas you have.

Next, it'd be helpful to think about how you could monetize your content (to get some income rolling in, at least enough to pay for your content). Are there affiliate offers you can link out to? Amazon products? ebooks? Add the affiliate links into your content wherever it's relevant.

Finally, spend some time finding writers on oDesk or eLance who're familiar/interested in your niche and start ordering content.

Once you've populated your site with great articles, you'll rank better in the search engines and be able to get a better idea of what your audience is searching for (Hittail is awesome for this, but just Analytics will do fine). And once you have decent traffic, you could relay that into a forum of sorts - a tight-knit community of people who might be willing to share their fishing spots with each other after all :)

I hope some of that helped and good luck! It's a great site :)
 

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