Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi - I started Girlfriendology - an online community for women based on inspiration, appreciation and celebration of female friendship. I do semi-weekly podcasts with inspiring, amazing women (sorry guys!) as well as videos, contests, shopping, reviews and blogs.

I`d love your thoughts/ideas on:

* People don`t usually know they`re in need of an inspiration site. How can I help women find me? (Yes, some guys stop by but usually leave when it`s not a dating site but I`d had some who wanted to understand their partner`s friendships and the importance of that)
* I need inspiring women to interview on the podcast. It takes about 30 minutes and they`ll be featured on my site, newsletter, iTunes, etc. I don`t mind promoting your business - as long as there is a girlfriend angle (which sometimes can just be learning from each other)
* I need new products to review and products to give as prizes.

And, my fellow entrepreneurs, I excitedly welcome your ideas. To make money at this, I have to increase traffic and generate review (ads to come, affiliate programs and looking for corporate sponsor(s)). IDEAS?!

Thanks for your time and consideration. Best of success to you! Debba www.girlfriendology.com

p.s. Current sites are moving to one Wordpress site in July so that will hopefully increase traffic.

Debba,

Hi there, welcome to Startup Nation (SuN) ;-)

I took a look at your site, and my thinking is that you`ve sort of fallen into a trap that I myself hadn`t really understood until joining this community. It`s that you`re focusing almost completely on what you "do" not on what you "offer."

A quick way to figure this out is to ask yourself two questions:

• "To what purpose?" -- I`m reading this site....why? What`s the purpose of this place?
• "This will show me a new way to...." what?
  

At a 4-second glance at your site, the only thing that answers either of the above is that your site is a new way for me to sign up my girlfriend for something. What? I dunno...something. :-) See?

Reading a bit more content, only because this is a site critique, the only information I see on the landing page is that the site is about those women who make life better.

That`s great, but here`s an interesting quote from Ayn Rand: "The word `somehow` always means `someone.`"

When you`re dealing with "someone" else, then they`re out there, doing things, making things happen, being inspirational, and generally running the world. Okay, fine, but how come they`re shouldering the burden of all this? Why aren`t the visitors doing something? What? I dunno.... :-)

If this site is about those "other" women, then it apparently has nothing to do with me...the visitor. That`s not good. You want the content and organization of the site to include two things (also learned here on SuN):

1. The customer journey -- Where does your visitor start, and what`s the path you want them to travel throughout your overall site.
2. The call to action -- As they travel through your site, where are the stopping points where you ask them to "do" something?

Once again, all I see is that I can sign up my girlfriend. Why? I dunno.

All in all, the concept is a good one. The problem is that it isn`t well stated. In other words, you need a strong mission statement, not only for yourself, but to act as a "lightning rod" for your visitors. Remember, you have about 4 seconds to get someone excited about your site, after they`ve clicked your link.

In that 4 seconds, you need to instantly explain why you`re in existence, what you would like from your visitor, and how they should proceed. Make sense? :-)

Joan - I love your site and Recipe Relish. I`d love to feature you on my site as a review and/or give-away - interested?

Great idea and beautiful site. I`d be thrilled to promote you on Girlfriendology! Thanks, Debba

-------------------------

Jackie Handunge.
http://www.bizymoms.com/experts/index.html

Debba, if your looking for women with inspiring stories for your podcasts, you might want to check out HARO (Help a Reporter Out), if you haven`t already. You can post a request for submissions of stories, they currently have over 35,000 member and the service is free.