Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

What`s the industry?

If it`s in a specific industry, you have the benefit of having your customers be your own marketing.  As they use your search engine, you can urge them to mention your search engine to boost both their revenue and your own. 

Partnering with trade magazines if you have the money or just advertising in them if you don`t will also give you some credibility.  Let reporters come to you but a little money in PR never hurts.  That`s to generate the buzz.

For direct sales, I`d suggest hiring a sales staff, getting leads from D&B and SelectoryOnline, and constructing a revenue model that gives good cash flow, sales commissions, and a fair pricing model.  (You can base ad prices on a client`s size as well as the extent of their marketing with you.)  Remember that lower prices will mean you get paid faster.  It`s great getting a $250,000 sale but keep in mind that you may be waiting months for that check.  Netting a smaller $40,000 deal may help you get payment terms and build a relationship for that bigger ad deal.


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"Forget inspirational quotes to keep you going. If by doing what you do, you get an hour every day to relax, be with the ones you love in comfort without doing wrong, then it is all worth it." -Anon.

Thanks for the feedback it is very appreciated! I should have mentioned that my wife has been in sales in the industry for the past 10 years.

The industry is the food industry...

So you`re creating a content portal for cuisine and food enthusiasts?  If so, it may be trickier to enlist restaurants and other businesses unless you and your wife already have connections to exploit.

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"Forget inspirational quotes to keep you going. If by doing what you do, you get an hour every day to relax, be with the ones you love in comfort without doing wrong, then it is all worth it." -Anon.

It is furthur back... The ingredients suppliers to companies that actually make food. R&D people/ Food Scientist

As a startup bakery we`re doing lots of R&D and often find it a challenge to source ingredients in wholesale quantities.

For instance on the typical search engine you have to wade through hundreds of retail sellers of ingredients (selling by the pound) looking for a single wholesaler (selling hundreds or thousands of pounds).

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That is where the idea came from. My wife has been selling ingredients for years and it is a common problem she hears. When you search on the big search engines you get a lot of irrelavent information. So this search engine is going to only search food ingredient suppliers, co-packers and news sites related to the food industry (no retailiers)...

Let me know when you get it running; I`ll be there. 

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That`s cool I wish they had a site like that for earthborn & handmade products, or at least the crafters to contact. I search for different things, but I end up in that problem too. Great Idea!

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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words