Gonna build my website first, and figure out if it works after

[BUFFALOBT]

I know this goes against validating my idea first, but I feel like I need the platform built now- then I can try to figure out how to market it.

There IS a need, but my idea is more of a "blue ocean" one.

The cost to build the site is only $800, so my risk is minimal.

Does anyone have any experience trying out an idea this way? Thanks.

 

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[summit]

I went to school for building websites and such.

If 800$ is nothing to you, and having someone make it for you is stress free and not time consuming, then go for it.

otherwise, I would do a few things first.

check out competitors on the market for your product. how well are they doing? does this seem like a profitable thing to do?

talk to some people in the market you are aiming at.. potential users/customers. let them carve out what they want.

this way, you don't waste time making something people don't want.

rather than building something with lots of bells and whistles, make the MVP first (the most basic functionality) and let your users decide what features to add next via reviews, feedback, and stats.

what's your site?


Disclaimer: everything I say is hypothetical and does not necessarily mean I partake in or perform any actions I claim or mention.

 

[BUFFALOBT]

Nice of you to comment summit, and welcome to the forum.

No one is currently doing it, so I don't have much to go by. I don't have the site yet- if that is what you are asking.

My idea brings two different kinds of businesses together- for mutual benefit.

 

[summit]

how do you aim to go about creating the site? can you do it yourself, or do you know how to hire people?


__________

Disclaimer: everything I say is hypothetical and does not necessarily mean I partake in or perform any actions I claim or mention.

 

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[DennisD]

My headspace around business ventures is changing.
I used to want to work smart.
Now I want to work fast.

Speed is everything.
Whether you validate the need first or build the website first is almost secondary to speed of execution.
Forward momentum is everything.

If building the website is faster than validating the need, I say go for it.
There are a million ways to pivot, reskin the website, and keep moving forward if the one idea in particular doesn't work.

The most important thing is, IF/WHEN the idea doesn't work out, don't give up.
Keep moving forward, keep gaining momentum. Shift focus and kill it in another area.
You only need one big win

 

[Milkanic]

$800 on a site? no.

1.) Throw up a landing page.
http://landerapp.com/
http://www.instapage.com/
http://www.leadpages.net/products/

2.) Collect emails.

3.) Manually do whatever your idea is. Get on the phone with the email contacts in #2.

4.) Validate it and then spend the $800+.

 

[BUFFALOBT]

how do you aim to go about creating the site? can you do it yourself, or do you know how to hire people?


__________

Disclaimer: everything I say is hypothetical and does not necessarily mean I partake in or perform any actions I claim or mention.

I have a programmer doing it for me-

 

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[royalflush]

Are you creating an e-commerce website? $800 is a bit too much. If you're just testing the idea, you could start with an FB page + FB Ad. That's how I helped one of my clients test her ideas on the health supplement industry.

 

[The-J]

What the hell are you spending $800 on? And why aren't you getting a customer first?

It's not a minimal risk, because you're spending TIME not getting a customer.

 

[BUFFALOBT]

Are you creating an e-commerce website? $800 is a bit too much. If you're just testing the idea, you could start with an FB page + FB Ad. That's how I helped one of my clients test her ideas on the health supplement industry.

It's not ecommerce...more of a "matching up" of 2 parties.

I like your idea- would you be willing to set something up similar for me? Please pm me if so to talk details- thanks!

 

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[BUFFALOBT]

What the hell are you spending $800 on? And why aren't you getting a customer first?

It's not a minimal risk, because you're spending TIME not getting a customer.

Thanks for your input I appreciate it.

The $800 is to build the site, but I've slowly been trying to also validate my idea with both parties.

 

[sle3pyguii]

$800 on a site? no.

1.) Throw up a landing page.
http://landerapp.com/
http://www.instapage.com/
http://www.leadpages.net/products/

2.) Collect emails.

3.) Manually do whatever your idea is. Get on the phone with the email contacts in #2.

4.) Validate it and then spend the $800+.

Do this. It can save you $800. If you do validate it, that extra money you save could go into paid marketing or a better website.

Also, don't ask your friends or family for validation of this product. If they know you had anything to do with the project, they'll be a bit nicer and may give you a fake 'yes' answer because of it.

 

[Andy Black]

If you want to validate if there are people searching, then throw up a simple landing page, bid low on AdWords/Bing, and count impressions.
Heck, you don't even need to create a landing page. Send the traffic to ask.com or the yellow pages.

 

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[BUFFALOBT]

$800 on a site? no.

1.) Throw up a landing page.
http://landerapp.com/
http://www.instapage.com/
http://www.leadpages.net/products/

2.) Collect emails.

3.) Manually do whatever your idea is. Get on the phone with the email contacts in #2.

4.) Validate it and then spend the $800+.

Thanks Milkanic much appreciated.

I'm going to look into this for sure.

I have also been reaching out to my target audience, and have already had some positive feedback. I'm going to continue to reach out, and tweak my model based on that feedback.

 

[BUFFALOBT]

Do this. It can save you $800. If you do validate it, that extra money you save could go into paid marketing or a better website.

Also, don't ask your friends or family for validation of this product. If they know you had anything to do with the project, they'll be a bit nicer and may give you a fake 'yes' answer because of it.

Good points thanks-

 

[BUFFALOBT]

If you want to validate if there are people searching, then throw up a simple landing page, bid low on AdWords/Bing, and count impressions.
Heck, you don't even need to create a landing page. Send the traffic to ask.com or the yellow pages.

Thanks Andy!

 

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[BUFFALOBT]

$800 on a site? no.

1.) Throw up a landing page.
http://landerapp.com/
http://www.instapage.com/
http://www.leadpages.net/products/

2.) Collect emails.

3.) Manually do whatever your idea is. Get on the phone with the email contacts in #2.

4.) Validate it and then spend the $800+.

So if my idea is a unique way for realtors/mortgage brokers/financial advisors to market their business, how would I go about setting up my landing page?

Apologies for my ignorance...I've got lots of ideas, but no practical experience- thanks again.

 

[D11FYY]

Set up a basic page informing the basic essentials of your business and what you can do for them.
Get them to add their details and match one with the other.
Dont go spending crazy prices until you have made your first 2 or 3 sales.
Make sure the business/idea works first. That $800 will still look better in your bank if it doesn't succeed rather than have some web designer spend it for you.

 

[BUFFALOBT]

Set up a basic page informing the basic essentials of your business and what you can do for them.
Get them to add their details and match one with the other.
Dont go spending crazy prices until you have made your first 2 or 3 sales.
Make sure the business/idea works first. That $800 will still look better in your bank if it doesn't succeed rather than have some web designer spend it for you.

Thanks D!

 

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[D11FYY]

Thanks D!

Also dont be scared of picking up the phone and calling all local realtors/mortgage brokers/financial advisors to let them know what you can do for them. Even your first couple dont over charge them as these will iron out the fundamentals of your business plus they could possibly give you a glowing reference or pass the word on among associate's.
Best of luck

 

[BUFFALOBT]

Also dont be scared of picking up the phone and calling all local realtors/mortgage brokers/financial advisors to let them know what you can do for them. Even your first couple dont over charge them as these will iron out the fundamentals of your business plus they could possibly give you a glowing reference or pass the word on among associate's.
Best of luck

I've already engaged a couple of realtors on a forum and email...getting some good feedback. My goal is to determine at what price they would be willing to try my service...go from there to offer it for that amount if doable.

And this is just one part of my model. I will also need to line up the venues, although the realtors and advisors are the ones who will pay for the service.

 

[BUFFALOBT]

Hey guys- I need some more advice from you on this.

To expand further on my idea, ANY business that is looking for a unique way to market themselves to their local community is a potential user for my service.

What do you think is the best way to reach out to businesses of all types? I have had some feedback from realtors, and now I am reaching out to mortgage brokers and pool cleaning companies.

Thanks again for any input, and by the way- I'm looking for a partner...please pm me if interested in learning more!

 

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[royalflush]

Hey guys- I need some more advice from you on this.

To expand further on my idea, ANY business that is looking for a unique way to market themselves to their local community is a potential user for my service.

What do you think is the best way to reach out to businesses of all types? I have had some feedback from realtors, and now I am reaching out to mortgage brokers and pool cleaning companies.

Thanks again for any input, and by the way- I'm looking for a partner...please pm me if interested in learning more!

Do you know how to make a squeeze page or how to use an autoresponder? That seems to be the answer.

You have to collect their emails, and then give them a white paper or a video pitch.

Then, you have to followup until they buy.

If they don't buy after 7 follow up emails, you either ask them why they didn't buy by calling them (to get feedback) OR you sell them something else.

You don't need a partner, you can do this by yourself.

 

[BUFFALOBT]

Do you know how to make a squeeze page or how to use an autoresponder? That seems to be the answer.

You have to collect their emails, and then give them a white paper or a video pitch.

Then, you have to followup until they buy.

If they don't buy after 7 follow up emails, you either ask them why they didn't buy by calling them (to get feedback) OR you sell them something else.

You don't need a partner, you can do this by yourself.

Thanks again royal.

I need/want a partner who doesn't have the current slowlane restriction that I have- meaning that I need someone who can be the "front person" for the business and all of our marketing efforts.

 

[royalflush]

Thanks again royal.

I need/want a partner who doesn't have the current slowlane restriction that I have- meaning that I need someone who can be the "front person" for the business and all of our marketing efforts.

Hire someone to cold call. You can pay them $10 an hour.

I'll PM you my super SECRET resource.

 

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[tekcraze]

I would recommend staying very niched down to one target customer first and get that going before expanding into other markets.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[BUFFALOBT]

I would recommend staying very niched down to one target customer first and get that going before expanding into other markets.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

Makes sense tek...thanks for your input.

I need to determine which business category niche is a good fit for this service. I don't want to focus on realtors, only to find out that they aren't a good fit. But I guess I need to go thru the validation process in several niches, to "stumble" on one that seems the most promising.

 

[Ryllban]

I was the same a few months ago. Instead of actually putting myself on the line and validate first, I took the "secure" way and hire programmer to do the job and eventually I just lost money in the end.

You should check out appsumo. They have several videos and also a course about this.
The basic idea is that you should validate and get 1-3 paying customers before you spend alot of money on the product.

I know it can be hard with some websites or apps. You say 800 isnt much for you, but that money could instead be spending on marketing and get customers first.

Simply ask both parties what your idea is: I will set you up with x, and it only cost xdollar. Interested?
Do it manually first and then when you see that people buy your service or that you can't handle the demand anymore, you make a website.

Edit: Im actually doing the validation before buying myself. I have hired a guy to do a simple 3d work on my prototype for 5 dollar. Then I will use that picture to presell my product and when I get buying customers, order it. Win!

 

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[BUFFALOBT]

I was the same a few months ago. Instead of actually putting myself on the line and validate first, I took the "secure" way and hire programmer to do the job and eventually I just lost money in the end.

You should check out appsumo. They have several videos and also a course about this.
The basic idea is that you should validate and get 1-3 paying customers before you spend alot of money on the product.

I know it can be hard with some websites or apps. You say 800 isnt much for you, but that money could instead be spending on marketing and get customers first.

Simply ask both parties what your idea is: I will set you up with x, and it only cost xdollar. Interested?
Do it manually first and then when you see that people buy your service or that you can't handle the demand anymore, you make a website.

Edit: Im actually doing the validation before buying myself. I have hired a guy to do a simple 3d work on my prototype for 5 dollar. Then I will use that picture to presell my product and when I get buying customers, order it. Win!

Makes sense thanks.