Attracting people to a new business website

1. 61

   Paul Raisbeckposted 12 years ago

   Attracting people to a new business website
   
   I have a website idea that helps people looking for products or services and also helps businesses who are looking to provide those businesses/services. The idea isn't unique but I think it has some mileage in it.  The problem I have is that to be successful the site needs to attract both searchers and providers - in equally large numbers - from the start.  Any ideas how best to go about this?

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2. 95

   PaulGoodman67posted 12 years ago

   How do you propose to make money from the business?  Taking a cut from the deals made?
   
   Clearly you need the providers first, don't you?  If so, maybe you should think about a deal that would attract them?  Maybe you should make it free for providers, certainly at first, so that they have nothing to lose by joining?  Later, if the business gets going you could gradually start charging providers?
   
   The searchers will come from a good product coupled with good SEO and marketing.

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3. 42

   Jennie Demarioposted 12 years ago

   This is difficult.. I would imagine in order to attract the customers ( the people looking for products or services) you would need to have quality content (the product or service providers) and vice versa... How do you attract one without the other?  Perhaps offer some pre-launch incentive to the service providers to entice them to list their services on your site before the traffic starts flowing in...I'm interested...Let me know what you figure out

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4. 64

   hotwebideasposted 12 years ago

   Yes, I have 3 websites that are all doing well and here are some of my ideas (I also write hubs on these topics so I look for your comments on those as well).
   
   1. Have a free period to join the website. The free period expires, but it gives people a full experience to see how great your website can be if they paid to belong.
   
   2. Make sure every product and service has its own web page. This will get you better search engine rankings.
   
   3. Comment on blogs that serve the same market as your new website. This will make a connection and create link popularity which Google will use to push your website up in the search engine rankings.
   
   I hope this helps. My hubs offer more information on these.

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