Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi everyone, I posted a question on the Marketing Forum, but see that an option exists here for a review of my website www.exinthecity.com.  I started this company about 3 years ago, and so far its been totally self funded. I am about to embark on a revamp of the site since the brand has now started to become established and I think I have a real chance to turn it into a profitable business with the addition of affiliate buttons, advertising, blogs and product associations.  I would value any feedback and suggestions.

Many thanks!

Margaret

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Margaret Manning Editor and Founder Ex In The City Empowering Women to Move from EX to EXtraordinary! www.exinthecity.com info@exinthecity.com

Is your website "only" for women or targeted just to women.  Because I didn`t quite understand the concept or your profit model.  Could you give a little detail information about your company...it would be helpful in making comments about your website.

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Erik
www.usspin.com
www.unitedbusinessalliance.com

Hi - thanks so much for the question and interest. www.exinthecity.com is designed primarily for women. The goal is to provide resources, inspiration and community to women who are dealing with the emotional impact of a divorce or breakup. The site tries to describe the stages of "ex" - exile, express,exorcise, explore and exhale to roughly map to the stages of dying - denial, anger, why me, bargaining and acceptance.  The goal of the site is to provide content that gives a woman some perspective of the journey and encourage her to make the best, the learn the most from each stage.  A lot of the focus over the 3 years I have been running the site has shifted to EXplore and sEXy ex - with the EX Rated City guides in particular really a key offering on the site.  So how do I make money? I don`t.  I have paid for the site development and payment to writers from my own funds.  My hope was always to develop enough readers in this very important and growing demographic and to develop an advertising or affiliate model for making some commissions, or developing a product association site.  I work full time and I just haven`t been able to justify the next step but hope that I can do that very soon.  I do have someone I have hired to do some call downs to potential advertisers/affiliates, and right now one of my personal goals is to increase relevant content, perhaps add some blogs to the site - EXperts in finance, counselling, shoes :-) for women.  I am open to ideas to take the site from EX to EXtraordinary - and give me enough income to make this passion my livelihood.

I think its a great brand and that traffic to the website from a strong community holds the key to success.  Do you agree?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Margaret

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Margaret Manning Editor and Founder Ex In The City Empowering Women to Move from EX to EXtraordinary! www.exinthecity.com info@exinthecity.com

I think the idea is great, as well as being worthy.  And the current design is very attractive.  I definitely think there is an opportunity to grow the site into something special.  Some ideas:

• Adding blogs can boost things - perhaps you can consider sharing ad revenue with bloggers to attract them?
• Another advertising option would be something like Adbrite, which would allow you to set your ad prices and approve what ads appear on your site.
• Perhaps you can become an Expedia affiliate for the city guides
  

As far as product associations, what products do you know of that appeal to the community members?  If it`s items available from Amazon, their new aStore might be a quick and easy way to start, though is currently limited to 9 items (with the option to search via category for everything else they have), but that should be expanding to 54 items next month.


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arp laszlo | www.inkwire.net | web design, development, marketing

Hi there. Thanks so much for your reply and suggestions. I did sign up for AdBrite and also have enquired about some affiliate programs. I understand that actually making money from the affiliate programs is difficult but its worth a try.

Does anyone have any suggestions on affiliate programs that pay for clicks rather than sales?

I also think product placement is a great idea - I didn`t know about the Amazon opportunity. My audience is a great demographic - independent, financially and emotionally - so from an advertising perspective, I believe there is great potential. All great ideas - many thanks!

Best Regards,

Margaret

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Margaret Manning Editor and Founder Ex In The City Empowering Women to Move from EX to EXtraordinary! www.exinthecity.com info@exinthecity.com

www.exinthecity.com info@exinthecity.com

Hi Margaret, I just wrote an article that mentions work I did for you. 

Traveling, alone or not.

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Entrepreneur and writer.