Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Wanted to throw this out and see what the support is out there for this idea. I am currently in the home repair/maintenance field and am constantly researching online for others in similar businesses for my own education as I am new to business ownership.  Between Angie`s List, Craig`s list and Service Magic, there`s an overwhelming number of business advertising and consumer opinions, both positive and negative, about those businesses, it`s hard to narrow it down to the point you actually pick a name and contact them. I want to build a site and feature those related local companies that I`ve worked with and trust, and whom my customers trust, the opportunity to advertise on the site. There will be a maximum of two from each area such as plumbers, electricians, realtors, roofers, etc. I`m looking to provide a service and not make a lot of money. I want to include a Q & A section, allowing site visitors to upload photos of their problem if desired, monthly newsletters or a "tip" section. I want to keep it simple and not clutter it up by being too busy and losing the visitor. I will be building and deploying the site myself. Would appreciate any opinions, suggestions. Thanks

It`s hard enough to elicit opinions from people in general. Getting "feedback" is the main problem, as few people care after they`ve finished a transaction. So the key is going to be getting that feedback. If you can figure it out, you likely could make millions just by passing along that secret.

The main issue specific to your question is the avalanche of information now available. There`s a formula, I can`t remember, about the exponential increase in information. It doubles every X time period, and that period is shrinking rapidly.

So it isn`t that people can`t find information, it`s that people can`t find what they need to know. Especially is they don`t know what they need to know.

One solution is to go back to the old days, and actually have a human being working as the "librarian." Instead of spending countless hours on computer algorithms that result in a machine mind, why not just use human brains with results in human terms?

Here on SuN, you`ll notice that not much is "auto" generated  The big problem is a bad search function makes it very difficult to find answers. Note that human minds create the answers, but a computer determines the search capability. That`s the chasm between useful and useless.

What might make sense for your situation would be a blog. You would focus each article on a particular vendor or contractor, write an editorial review, and invite comments using standard features. If it takes off, people will go to your blog to find reviews of local contractors.

With enough visitors, you then could get some advertising. But as soon as you advertise, people will wonder how reliable and objective are your reviews.

Great feedback Craig, thanks.

I would use a blog such as wordpress. Easy to set up,  categories are built in and so is the commenting system. plus you`ll get a lot of traction from Google. Be sure to use the city and state as a keyword for local keyword marketing purposes. Hope this helps.





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