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Also looking for website feedback--The Platinum Business Network
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p.s. In addition to brash and brazen language in your press releases, I recommend a brash and brazen approach to the copywriting on your site.
I concur with
CookieMonster, in the front page being geared toward users---the
customers. Advertising, word of mouth, and How to Register can all go
into the benefits and prices for businesses. But the landing page is
going to be for the people using this, and that`s people like me and
you and them, and so forth.
What caught my eye is the idea of uploading collaterals, particularly print (visual) things like brochures. Time and again I use the Google local or search or whatever directory to get a phone number or location. Increasingly, those listing include an option to click for a Web site. However, I don`t really want the whole Web site. I`d just like to know more about the inventory, or a simple blurb about the company.
I`ll suggest you keep your client businesses from creating an entire Web site on your directory, but focus on Advertising materials. In the article about deductive/inductive writing, the whole point of the ad is to get a phone call from the customer. So too, what your clients upload to your site should be geared to getting a phone call or email. (You will have an "email us" link, right?) :-D
The home page should have the map, but at the top should be that really well-written 200 words that fully explains not only that it`s a directory, but WHY it`s a directory, and that customers will find more information than in a typical online directory. Focus on that, then do a screen shot (small size, say...200px by 200px) showing the *standard* layout for your listings.
I think that`ll be critical to keep the site clean, easy to use, and not cumbersome. I`d suggest your build a layout template for your clients, similar to how eBay, blog sites, "Register.com," Yahoo!, or Squidoo constrain the layouts.
This would place areas for content, and for pictures, and whatever few things businesses should have on a full- or half-page yellow pages ad. Make it easy to set up the layout, and leave it to the businesses to write their content. Charge a price if they want YOU to write their content for them...as a secondary product line for yourself (hire a copy writer).
The site then will look and feel the same, regardless of what listing the customer (me) pulls up. I want to know to look here for this, there for that, and down there for the last thing. It can link each listing to Mapquest or whatever for directions. Just think of that half-page Yellow Pages ad with the graphics and basic ad copy. Constrain your clients to that format. It`ll probably easier to develop a price structure too.
What`s nice about the Internet is the idea of scrolling, and the concept of hyperlinking. It`s not a paper Yellow Pages ad, but a small graphical area with content "like" a YP ad, excepting that it can have links to the business site if they want. For example:
Say I look up a used car dealer. I can get their basic stuff from Switchboard.com, find them through Mapquest.com, and maybe click a Web site. But what I`d like would be the "in between." I`d like a small, half-screen visual that tells me the kinds of cars, their general price range, if they have mechanics, if the cars are "certified," and the other basic things that won`t fit into a Switchboard listing. But I don`t want to waste my time perusing an entire Web site. I`m just looking for used car dealers near me!
Why was it only in this thread that we found out how the site is different? I`d leave off the discussion of "networking." Nobody knows what it means, except Network Administrators in IT. From a business perspective, if you want to talk about it with clients, fine. But for regular people it means almost nothing anymore. Instead, focus on that bit about uploading graphic advertising.
What caught my eye is the idea of uploading collaterals, particularly print (visual) things like brochures. Time and again I use the Google local or search or whatever directory to get a phone number or location. Increasingly, those listing include an option to click for a Web site. However, I don`t really want the whole Web site. I`d just like to know more about the inventory, or a simple blurb about the company.
I`ll suggest you keep your client businesses from creating an entire Web site on your directory, but focus on Advertising materials. In the article about deductive/inductive writing, the whole point of the ad is to get a phone call from the customer. So too, what your clients upload to your site should be geared to getting a phone call or email. (You will have an "email us" link, right?) :-D
The home page should have the map, but at the top should be that really well-written 200 words that fully explains not only that it`s a directory, but WHY it`s a directory, and that customers will find more information than in a typical online directory. Focus on that, then do a screen shot (small size, say...200px by 200px) showing the *standard* layout for your listings.
I think that`ll be critical to keep the site clean, easy to use, and not cumbersome. I`d suggest your build a layout template for your clients, similar to how eBay, blog sites, "Register.com," Yahoo!, or Squidoo constrain the layouts.
This would place areas for content, and for pictures, and whatever few things businesses should have on a full- or half-page yellow pages ad. Make it easy to set up the layout, and leave it to the businesses to write their content. Charge a price if they want YOU to write their content for them...as a secondary product line for yourself (hire a copy writer).
The site then will look and feel the same, regardless of what listing the customer (me) pulls up. I want to know to look here for this, there for that, and down there for the last thing. It can link each listing to Mapquest or whatever for directions. Just think of that half-page Yellow Pages ad with the graphics and basic ad copy. Constrain your clients to that format. It`ll probably easier to develop a price structure too.
What`s nice about the Internet is the idea of scrolling, and the concept of hyperlinking. It`s not a paper Yellow Pages ad, but a small graphical area with content "like" a YP ad, excepting that it can have links to the business site if they want. For example:
Say I look up a used car dealer. I can get their basic stuff from Switchboard.com, find them through Mapquest.com, and maybe click a Web site. But what I`d like would be the "in between." I`d like a small, half-screen visual that tells me the kinds of cars, their general price range, if they have mechanics, if the cars are "certified," and the other basic things that won`t fit into a Switchboard listing. But I don`t want to waste my time perusing an entire Web site. I`m just looking for used car dealers near me!
Why was it only in this thread that we found out how the site is different? I`d leave off the discussion of "networking." Nobody knows what it means, except Network Administrators in IT. From a business perspective, if you want to talk about it with clients, fine. But for regular people it means almost nothing anymore. Instead, focus on that bit about uploading graphic advertising.
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