After 3 years of trials and errors I finally have
what I think will work really well world wide.
Here is a brief
history of this site and where we are going:
Summer of 2000: I
approached a pawn shop and offered them to set up a computer and database
to make customers aware of what is available to buy or sell locally. The
cost was $2.00 per query or per post. It did not work out because we could not
agree on the store commission percentage.
Spring 2001: I used the
original idea but was doing it from home. People would phone me to query
or post ads. I would enter all info in a database but it did not work well
because not many people knew about it and it was near impossible to
collect $$.
September 2002: I knew that the idea was good, so I searched,
looked, compared everywhere and everything available out there from
in the newspaper to the web.
Here's my personal opinion on what I found out:
Newspaper ads are expensive, but they do work since 50 % of the population does not have a computer and everyone reads a paper.
Bulletin boards at the local market or Laundromat seems to get very little exposure to potential buyers.
Buy & Sell
created by a local web site only gets traffic from word of mouth by
customers that have used the web site in the past.
Good web sites like E-Bay, Auto trader and many others have lost any personal touch
of the buyer/seller relationship, they have too many pop-up ads, they are aimed at high
speed only populations by having to many graphics and it is hard to talk to a
real person when needing assistance. |
Our
vision at for-sale-locally is to have multiple for-sale-locally web sites managed by local people providing a community coverage that is networked into neighbouring communities. Each local web site would be separately hosted with individual web space storage for a small fee of about $150 per year versus
having one huge corporate web site and all the cost involved. We can have
multiple for-sale-locally web sites, each one managed locally by one individual which when networked allows us room
for millions of ads. A network of independent locations linked through for-sale-locally.com can provide common services using a common business plan with revenue sharing between sites.
For-sale-locally.com would act as the entrance point and gateway into each local or global location.
If we use EXACTLY
the same web pages, format and name we will eventually be known world
wide. To accomplish this task, all traffic will come to the index page
(generating high traffic), then into a for-sale-locally city location that is managed by a single
person who looks after that area. A common entry point, marketing and branding philosophy will give for-sale-locally a greater
world exposure while serving individually the local community.
Our intention is to work SMART, Simple-Marketable-Attainable-Reliable and Trackable.
To
accomplish this,
First, we need thousands of AD on this main
for-sale-locally web site.
Easily done thru little advertising and and each web site with
an area of about 50,000+ customers.
Second, when each site reaches about 1,000 hits per day local business will know
about us and want to pay the small $50 per year fee for advertising thru
our site. This should be easily done within 90 days thru advertising and having an area
of 50,000+ customers. There should be about 200 business's in that area that can use
advertising on our site to boost their business. Patience and attendance gives us a good potential of 10K+ per year for
only 1-2 hr per day work.
Third, as the site grows ( having 5,000+ hits per day on the main for-sale-locally page ) and other locations are joining us, main sponsors will be willing to pay $500 per year or more to have their banners on our site or advertise on our site. As a network of city sites develops in number our reach and scope expands as does our potential for shared revenue.
Money paid by these main sponsors
will be shared with all for-sale-locally sub web sites members as long as
not in breach of contract. Revenue sharing with all for-sale-locally members allows an additional source of income for all and is part of the original sign on contract.
Fourth, we do not believe in pop-ups, gadgets, affiliated sponsor, email list, etc., so we will have each site linked back to the main for-sale-locally web page where it will be called " visit our sponsors". Also we will insert each main sponsor's banner every five or sixth ad in the category they have chosen. All the for-sale-locally
web sites will display the main sponsors to increase their coverage and spreading of their business. It is up to customers to visit these sponsors. We know that customers will visit the sponsors as they are curious to see who is paying to sponsor this for-sale-locally web site.
It is as a result of these sponsors that the ads are free to post.
Fifth, as customers send us Ads to be posted, we will forward them to other
for-sale-locally web sites to allow the customer's ad a greater exposure. We
do not intend to increase any pricing ever! What attracts customers is the
fact that they are able to place one free AD. What attract sponsors is the
small fees to advertise with us. So if it works, don't change it. If it's
not broken, don't fix it.
Sixth, when we have multiple for-sale-locally web sites we will have a monthly
paper.
All our sponsors will have their banner in it. All the ads within a
200 kilometres or so radius from all the for-sale-locally within that
radius will be in that paper. Of course the paper will also be
free!
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