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How a micro startup can get traffic? Any ideas welcome
Hello everybody. Here`s my problem. I would appreciate all the feedback
you may give us.
We are a small internet startup. No seed capital nor much experience
(how new that sounds?).
We launched a website two and a half weeks ago and have started some
guerilla tactics to bring traffic, used free Press Releases services and
started a really small emailing campaign focus solely in targeted
companies, but so far traffic haven`t be what we expected (we were totally
conscious that not counting with big money we hadn`t any right to expect
much).
Our problem is that, as a matter of fact, we can`t invest no money at all
and have to rely only in zero dollar` strategies or tactics. We believe our
business idea is solid and, in time, our site will be well known, but it`s the
initial process that we can`t control, or, to be more precise, invest what`s
supposed to be necessary.
We are doing all we can, but really need more ideas.
We`ll appreciate all your insight in here. And as a "thank you note" we`ll be
more than happy to post your company banner in our page to the first ten
ideas at no cost. Any additional info you may need to have a better
picture and make a more precise suggestion, please visit my profile.
Thank you all!
you may give us.
We are a small internet startup. No seed capital nor much experience
(how new that sounds?).
We launched a website two and a half weeks ago and have started some
guerilla tactics to bring traffic, used free Press Releases services and
started a really small emailing campaign focus solely in targeted
companies, but so far traffic haven`t be what we expected (we were totally
conscious that not counting with big money we hadn`t any right to expect
much).
Our problem is that, as a matter of fact, we can`t invest no money at all
and have to rely only in zero dollar` strategies or tactics. We believe our
business idea is solid and, in time, our site will be well known, but it`s the
initial process that we can`t control, or, to be more precise, invest what`s
supposed to be necessary.
We are doing all we can, but really need more ideas.
We`ll appreciate all your insight in here. And as a "thank you note" we`ll be
more than happy to post your company banner in our page to the first ten
ideas at no cost. Any additional info you may need to have a better
picture and make a more precise suggestion, please visit my profile.
Thank you all!
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Comments
well, think of Google but with images instead of boring (and always the
same) text results. So our core business is focused in getting advertisers
to post their banners (B2B) but at the same time we need a
communication channel with users, so they could know about us. Hum,
being more concrete, our business sells space to other business, but at
the end of the day we need regular guys using our site to find whatever
weird stuff they may be looking for.
Another hint. We are located in a very remote region and small
community, so all the options a regular internet startup may have in the
big city is no applicable here.
1. there aren`t any keywords on your site, so unless I am
directly going there, I probably won`t find you. However, you do
have a good ranking in alexa.com I`m sure you have thought
through SEO, but I`m not sure how to find you...or what words I would
use to find you or other businesses. Are these banners that go on
other people`s webpages?
2. If you are advertising to businesses, you may need to follow
up with the business owner. As a startup business owner, I have a
TON on my plate. A business owner may be interested in your services,
but completely forget to call you. So that leaves the ball in
your court, call them! ) On that note, here`s another thought;
in a high tech world, it`s nice to have some low tech personal
touches. For example, can you write a hard letter rather than an
email? I love getting real mail (even if it`s a business letter
with a hand written note. I am more likely to respond to these
than an email. The reason is that I have a hard time
distinguishing what is spam and what isn`t. So If I get an email
from someone I don`t know...click....in the junk mail).
3. I did some brief searching on your site, but couldn`t figure
out why I should advertise on your site as opposed to buying something
like google ads. Perhaps I didn`t look hard enough, if I didn`t
please let me know where I can find this info. )
I hope this helps and is along the lines of what you are thinking of.
PS--Have you thought of giving something away to (a) build traffic and
(b) encourage people to sign up (ie- free month with the purchase of a
year, free upgrade banner size with the purchase of two years,
whatever). Just a thought. PPS--Check out the book
Guerrilla Marketing for Free by Jay Levinson. I found it VERY
helpful for my business!
First, our comments to IdeasandInnovations` questions.
There`s in nothing we can do to make dial up users see our site faster.
There are 20 banners per page, 15K each, so it`s more than obvious that
Google or other "text only" search engine will beat us in speed. But we
have a different approach, and probably people with slow internet
connection will appreciate that (hope so). To high speed users, well, we
haven`t find any significant downloading speed issue.
We have considered our cost compared to any search engine that merely
displays text: it is manageable so far in our projections. Obviously is
gonna be more dollars than regular search engines have to pay, but we
think showing images (banners) instead of text is what give us that
necessary competitive advantage over other directories/search e. It`s a
cost we must take the risk to assume until the business start to show any
profit.
We are not linking to an external site to get the banners. All of them are
shown from our own server. Call it naivety, but we are currently more
focused in making this work and helping people thru affordable
advertising than to think only in making money.
For the initial stages we are covered up to 1.5 TB. If things start to get
really hot, well, we`ll have to upgrade to our 2nd stage plan.
As I told you before, we are young, experienced in global internet
enterprises only to a medium level but enthusiasts entrepreneurs, so any
comment on this technical issues and core business model are always
welcome.
Thanks Ideas and innovations. We appreciate your honesty and curiosity...
just stay out of trouble
I`ll send you a personal message with the info for your free banner.
The banners you saw are displayed only in our site, not other`s.
We are currently working in make something of a SEO strategy.
We have been so busy fixing some bugs and contacting possible clients
that we left that important aspect of our business too long unattended.
Thanks for mentioned it.
About following up with owners, hum, I can`t be sure that people who
received our initial email is interested in contact us until they write back.
Otherwise I`m afraid it will be seen as spam. So if I do some following I
may be ending pushing too far. I feel I have no many options here...
Great idea, that lowtech personal touch. But it`s not applicable due to our
location (and possible cost for regular mailing).
About number 3. Maybe we thought the concept was obvious enough to
everybody else as it was to us. We must reconsider that.
Getting good traffic will help a lot to make this concept fully
understandable:
if you pay 100 dollars for a month as top "Sponsored Results" with a
merely text ad, just imagine how much clearer your message or company
image will be if you could show a banner instead.
And for a full year for just 200 dollars!
And with the possibility to change your banner
design at will, as many times as you want!
No click thru rates!
And working as a search engine!
All of this using a strange and new site,
so visual that people will love (or hate) to use,
even just to play for a while.
What we are doing right now is trying to expand our "social network".
We believe word of mouth is a powerful organic tool. That`s just how we
have organized our little strategy here, but we are starting to feel it may
be to slow to build momentum. So that`s why I started this posting series.
Thanks a lot Loving. I`ll send your banner specs in a minute.
Keep all your ideas and comments coming. We really appreciate your time
in helping us.
I`m sorry I have no other way to thank you all than with my banners.
Letutor, great insight and approach. You have pointed a basic first step to
almost every startup. Be confident we`ll try to implement as much of your
tips as possible. I enjoyed all your message because it has so much sense
and its doable without spending big money. Great!
I do really, really appreciate what you and all the other kind people in
here do with rockies like us.
I`ll be in touch for your banners specs.
Thanks again!