Website Startup.! Advice needed.

[Renn]

I've been toying with the idea of creating a website, which will help people to book a service online and get to them at the specified time. The website tend to be one with no fancy stuffs and much java scripts, for which, my intention is to make it convenient for the user and plan to upgrade it later if I see some decent traffic rolling in.

The service is focused on a particular niche and my sole intention is to connect the user and the service dealer. Earning should be through Google adsense and lead generation, though, at the starting I'll be on a rush to get more traffic. I'll have to do some offline works too, like, walking to the dealerships and asking them if it's ok for them to be listed on my site and other lead related queries (any inputs that you can give into this.?).

One daunting question that I ask myself is "How to get the those people who have got a service through my site come back.?". As once they get familiar with a dealer, they wouldn't care about my website later and they could easily connect to the dealer directly.

Since I'm on a real tight budget, the website will be a simple one. Need to outsource almost every single work.

If you could give some supportive advice into it, it'll be really appreciated. If I progress further along, I'd be adding login areas for dealers/members along with some promotional offers. At least, that should keep them coming back later.

PS - I'm a complete a noob and haven't yet had any prior experience on creating any websites or such. Pardon my English if they look amateur.

 

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[Kingsta]

This is really difficult to answer especially since we have no idea what niche your website is

 

[JordanK]

Your going to need to find yourself a website developer to pursue this plan of action or else you will have to spend your time learning how to code to a reasonable standard. Your also going to have to learn about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to get your website listed at the top when it or something relevant to it is searched on Google. You may also need a more traditional advertising plan as well to alert potential customers to the websites existance and how it will benefit them to use your website to get what they want. You may want to contact some of these "dealerships" to gauge support for your idea while not entirely giving it away. The first few dealerships are key to a website like this as most people want to see if it works first before committing you may find yourself struggling to actually list dealerships on the website. If you want customers to return to your website your going to have to offer supurb customer support and of course offer them something that they can consume/use regularly.

I take it you may have just finished reading the book "The Millionaire Fastlane " because this idea is strikingly similar to what MJ did with his website the Limo company one if this is the case you may want to research more idea's until you find one which suits you better.

 

[Rethagos]

For making a simple website, I would most likely use Wordpress - it is a really nice tool. Both optimized for SEO (Google loves Wordpress), and comes with quite a lot of really nicely looking designs.
And it ain't hard to use it - definitely easier than coding the whole website by yourself. Might save you hours of coding.
Well, do what you think will be the best for you - I'd opt for Wordpress if learning all the HTML, CSS, PHP etc. wasn't my main priority.

 

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[Renn]

This is really difficult to answer especially since we have no idea what niche your website is

I'm not sure whether to disclose my niche here or not. However, it's not something unique.

Your going to need to find yourself a website developer to pursue this plan of action or else you will have to spend your time learning how to code to a reasonable standard. Your also going to have to learn about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to get your website listed at the top when it or something relevant to it is searched on Google. You may also need a more traditional advertising plan as well to alert potential customers to the websites existance and how it will benefit them to use your website to get what they want. You may want to contact some of these "dealerships" to gauge support for your idea while not entirely giving it away. The first few dealerships are key to a website like this as most people want to see if it works first before committing you may find yourself struggling to actually list dealerships on the website. If you want customers to return to your website your going to have to offer supurb customer support and of course offer them something that they can consume/use regularly.

I take it you may have just finished reading the book "The Millionaire Fastlane " because this idea is strikingly similar to what MJ did with his website the Limo company one if this is the case you may want to research more idea's until you find one which suits you better.

I have some experiences with HTML and CSS. In fact, I've completed the book, 'Head First HTML XHTML and CSS' but find it tedious to work out on a webpage. I'll be looking out for someone/wordpress to design me a website (perhaps, one with less than 5 pages or so).

Yes, the idea looks similar to what MJ wrote in his book. It struck me all of a sudden while reading some group posts and people were fed up of the mediocre services provided by some companies.

For making a simple website, I would most likely use Wordpress - it is a really nice tool. Both optimized for SEO (Google loves Wordpress), and comes with quite a lot of really nicely looking designs.
And it ain't hard to use it - definitely easier than coding the whole website by yourself. Might save you hours of coding.
Well, do what you think will be the best for you - I'd opt for Wordpress if learning all the HTML, CSS, PHP etc. wasn't my main priority.

Thank you for your advice. I'll look on to it.

 

[Andy Black]

1) You're not creating a website. That's not your startup.

It sounds like you're selling leads to businesses (dealerships). You may or may not need a website for that. But that's your goal... to sell leads. The website is just a way HOW to do that. I think you're focusing too much on building a website. Focus on finding out if you can generate leads, and finding out if you can get anyone to buy them.

2) Your daunting question of "How to get the those people who have got a service through my site come back?" is too far into the future. If you can't get anyone to use the service in the first place, then this is a moot point.

3) If you have no prior experience building websites (and even if you do), then make sure you keep it as simple as possible. It's good that you've already decided that you will add things later on, rather than get them built in first before launching.


IMO, your first step is to get a paying customer... which sounds like a dealership who wants to buy leads you generate.

You can cold-call to get them to sign up. This will be well worth trying, even if it doesn't work out well. You will learn a lot about who you need to speak to, whether you can get to speak to them, and what it is they need help with.

A strategy I am trying at the moment is to start by generating the leads, and sending them to businesses to get them to open emails from me in the first place. Future dialogue will then be less of a cold-call.


Try rewriting everything you wrote above but without mentioning a website. What pain points have you discovered? Who has these pains? Who will pay to have them removed? What are they doing currently to remove them? ... etc...


Good luck!

 

[Renn]

1) You're not creating a website. That's not your startup.

It sounds like you're selling leads to businesses (dealerships). You may or may not need a website for that. But that's your goal... to sell leads. The website is just a way HOW to do that. I think you're focusing too much on building a website. Focus on finding out if you can generate leads, and finding out if you can get anyone to buy them.

2) Your daunting question of "How to get the those people who have got a service through my site come back?" is too far into the future. If you can't get anyone to use the service in the first place, then this is a moot point.

3) If you have no prior experience building websites (and even if you do), then make sure you keep it as simple as possible. It's good that you've already decided that you will add things later on, rather than get them built in first before launching.


IMO, your first step is to get a paying customer... which sounds like a dealership who wants to buy leads you generate.

You can cold-call to get them to sign up. This will be well worth trying, even if it doesn't work out well. You will learn a lot about who you need to speak to, whether you can get to speak to them, and what it is they need help with.

A strategy I am trying at the moment is to start by generating the leads, and sending them to businesses to get them to open emails from me in the first place. Future dialogue will then be less of a cold-call.


Try rewriting everything you wrote above but without mentioning a website. What pain points have you discovered? Who has these pains? Who will pay to have them removed? What are they doing currently to remove them? ... etc...


Good luck!

Thanks for your reply, Andy. I think it's safe to mention my niche. It has to deal with cars. Not many people would want to go to the Company owned service centers, rather they choose someone else whom they can trust. So, I aim to provide a directory of such Service Dealerships to the people.

 

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[GuestUser113]

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/lead-generating-website/

 

[Avus]

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/lead-generating-website/

reading through this now. Great article.