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Webwork
Posts: 89
From: New Jersey USA
Status: offline
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If you were nuts enough to try this..... - 6/27/2003 19:32:56
what would you do to increase your chance of success?
http://www.DirectoryCompany.com
Would you:
1) Give up all hope and develop a drinking habit to ease the pain of all the money and time I' ve invested foolishly?
2) Put energy, money and time into building a referral/affiliate network of webmasters, ISPs, SEO/SEM specialists, etc.
3) Give up all hope and chant " All is Google" until the pain goes away?
4) Promote the darned thing.....in what manner? (I' m darned near broke from years of fiddling, learning, acquiring, etc.)
5) Open a nearby window and begin shouting " I' m mad as hell at myself for doing this and I' m not going to take it any more" and invite others to do the same?
6) Use what forms of guerilla marketing to " get the word out" once the launch starts?
7) Forget all of the above and join a monastery (that also accepts wives and teenaged children?)
I' ve go the website design down pretty well. Simple. Clean. Each focused on a particular niche with certain sites being a bit more inclusive (BusinessDirectory.com, IndustryDirectory.com, etc.)
I will be starting with borrowed goods (DMOZ) but what true entrepreneur starts out otherwise?
I am the perennial optimist or delusional. I' m just a little guy in a little town with a ridiculous idea.
You can tell I' m from humble roots since I hang out and post in Outfront AND if this ever works big time I' ll like still hang out here.
Sooooo.....extend your imagination, speak your mind, lash out at me for my stupidity or audacity BUT DON' T A ONE OF YOU read this without leaving some form of commentary in your wake...preferably thoughtful and positive and imaginative and creative and nice. HOWEVER, you may also go straight to the coup de grace if that suits you.
P.S. Anything you post here of value will definitely be stolen ....I mean considered thoughtfully by me so if you have any thoughts that your thoughts and ideas are proprietary do NOT leave them behind. However, again, if this Albatross ever flies I just might buy you lunch in...Paris?....if your idea plays into getting this horse to run.
Amen, thank-you all and good evening. G' nite John boy.
_____________________________
www.DirectoryCompany.com
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Webwork
Posts: 89
From: New Jersey USA
Status: offline
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RE: If you were nuts enough to try this..... - 6/27/2003 19:35:33
OBTW - that big " company" in directory company?
C' est moi!
Okay, with a little help from the kids and my chocolate lab Daisey who can be quite comforting in my moments of doubt.
_____________________________
www.DirectoryCompany.com
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Thomas Brunt
Posts: 6109
Joined: 6/6/1998
From: St. Matthews SC USA
Status: offline
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RE: If you were nuts enough to try this..... - 7/1/2003 9:49:19
I started OutFront out of complete desperation. I was not ever going to be promoted at the web firm I was with, and I thought that maybe I could get something going on the side that would get me out of that damn dehumanizing cubicle.
I' ve been doing OutFront for nearly 6 years now, and I don' t know if a month has gone by where I didn' t have the kind of feelings you' re expressing here.
Business did grow enough to get me out of the cubicle and support my family better than before, but that took 3 years. During that period there were so many times when I looked at the trends and saw a down slope that I really can' t understand how I ever got out. Since then there have been so many times when I' ve looked at the trends and saw a down slope that I can' t understand how I' m still here.
That down slope is so frightening and frustrating. I' m in one now. So are a lot of business owners I know. I haven' t heard anybody brag about business in a while. Do not let a bad economy trick you into thinking there' s something wrong with you. There' s something wrong with the economy right now.
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caywind
Posts: 1479
From: USA
Status: offline
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RE: If you were nuts enough to try this..... - 7/11/2003 1:52:33
quote:
6) Use what forms of guerilla marketing to " get the word out" once the launch starts? if you are serious about taking a run for it you will need to do anything and everything to make it work. The name of the game here is just that the name! Get it on every piece of free print, radio, speaking method you can and be patient. It may take a while. It looks good and should work.
_____________________________
Fight the Internet attack, www.awebmasters.net
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PBailey
Posts: 907
From: San Antonio, Texas USA
Status: offline
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RE: If you were nuts enough to try this..... - 7/11/2003 13:10:55
I think thew web site is great but.....the following is from my marketing background which has nothing to do with web site design.
I believe you need to market outside of the site. @29.00 is a great price but as a marketing director how do I know what I am really going to get. So far there are no directories published. How do I know that you really plan on doing so. You state that the ads will be " good" (I didn' t go back and look up the actual wording, sorry) but there are no example ads. Actually, as a marketing director, how do I find your site?
I think this is a great and workable idea but I believe that until it gets going really well you need to resort to good old pre-web listing marketing. You could start with companies in your area. You could contact web designers in your area who do commercial sites. You might want to concentrate on small local business to get started. Mailings, phone contacts flyers, advertisements (non-web). Get the word out. You should get some takers at the low introductory price and then you have something to show.
_____________________________
Paula
Thought for the day: Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.
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rumblepup
Posts: 116
Joined: 1/29/2003
Status: offline
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RE: If you were nuts enough to try this..... - 7/11/2003 16:27:49
Ok, I' ve got a few ideas and comments.
Be carefull with them though, my staff often remarks on how tiresome it gets stopping me from hitting my head with my shoe. They seem to think I' m somewhat unstabble.
Poor things, they forget that I' m BAMF #1, big cahuna, nobody s---s bigger than bossman, mighty joe young, king of the hill man, with delusions of grandeur.
But never unstable.
Ok.
I can see you' ve invested time and money into your venture. Right now, money is the problem, so you' ve got to do your best with time.
Start locally. Your service will work great with your local newspapers website, or a local news service. Anything having to do with your Local area SCENE will help. Contact everyone from your local news services. Press releases help tremendously. Start writing one every week on a different aspect of your services. Make your statements absolutely true, but grandeouse. If and when they pick up your releases for reprint, then your copy goes in, somewhate edited, but still....
Stay local. Start your service with your local business. You gotta give it away for a little while. There is no business that I know of that doesn' t enjoy free advertising. (Except of course in Osama' s Friendly Face Newsletter, but then again..)
Door by door knocking time. Start a CK program (College Kid) based on commission. You don' t pay unless they play. Pick your representatives carefully though. Everyone likes to be approached by a sharp dressed, young man or woman, and will take what they say seriously, if presented seriously.
Okay, sorry to do the Papa Bush thing here, but go back and spend some money on print literature. Full color " business card" flyers, business card size promotional flyers that can easily be passed on, or left by the hundreds at shops, restaurants, clubs, thrown from the top of high buildings, ect.
Search on, sorry bro, Google, for " Guerilla Marketing" and " Street Marketing." You' ll get some good ideas there. Oh yeah! Search " Viral Marketing"
Start small. Service a small select group of individuals in your town, then state, then region. Good service and ROI always promotes your service better than advertising. Target specific groups first. It seems your going after an automated process, but you' ve got to dig in and do it by hand first.
It' s not going to happen overnight.
It' s not going to happen in a few days or months either.
You won' t know when it will happen.
But if you work hard and smart, it will happen.
Just be ready when it does.
_____________________________
Outdoor Furniture Cushions
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Printable Version 
That would take care of 1 and 2. But 3, 4 and 5 won' t count since we' re not there. 6, hmmmmn well there are a lot of Gorilla' s here
. 7, geez we ain' t going there either.
I have been feeling a bit strange lately.
