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Just went live - Need Ideas!

eGlobalDepoteGlobalDepot subscriber Posts: 4
edited May 2008 in Marketing
My website www.eGlobalDepot.com just went live yesterday. It is a website for classified ads for many different categories (cars, boats, homes, apartments/condos, commercial real estate, motorcycles, planes, and helicopters).
 
There is a complication to it being successful. It requires customers to post ads and users to look at the ads. In the beginning, it is hard to get people to place ads since there are very few people looking at the site. People do not want to waste their time placing an ad if barely anyone looking at them. And, people do not want to view the site if there are no ads out there.
 
So now I am sure you can see how this is pretty difficult. I need to get ads in the database. I have a couple of ideas but I think I need better ones. I have no problem giving the ads away for free because I just want to fill up the database.
 
Any suggestions?
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    eGlobalDepoteGlobalDepot subscriber Posts: 4
    Well ofcourse, you learn a lot through the whole process of starting up a business. The first ideas that I had in the beginning I now know were not good. The advertisements would have been lost along with the other thousands of ads out there and it would not have attracted attention.
     
    The budget is small for marketing so my current ideas are PR, email marketing, and contacting dealers that I have bought things from in the past who said that they would put ads out there. I was going to try and contact big auto groups and offer incentives because one successful phone call could mean 500 ads in different states.
     
    The only thing at risk for the dealers (boat and car dealers) is their time. (I am focusing on car and boat dealers along with real estate agencies because I feel that is where most of the business will come from). I am willing to post the ads for them at no charge and all they have to do is send me the info and the different boats and cars they would like to place ads for. This way, they have less time at risk.
     
    The PR is still in negotiations and I am not sure when that will start because I feel that an article in the press will bring mainly users, not customers to the site. And when they see that there is no ads in the area (i.e. a BMW in Los Angeles, California), they will not have a good experience and most likely will not return.
     
    I picked up a couple of magazines where dealers and real estate agencies advertise heavily and I took those address and made them into an email distribution list. I will give them the same incentives as above. Realisticly, I do not see a very high percentage of ads coming out of this campaign.
     
    So that is what I have so far. Those ideas are more advanced and strategic than the ideas I had last year when the project was just starting out.


    RJ Ertlmaier
    www.eGlobalDepot.com
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    eGlobalDepoteGlobalDepot subscriber Posts: 4
    That sounds like a great idea. Do you think there are any laws against that, taking other info from people and putting it on your site, even though it is their contact info and everything? I guess I can send them an email also asking for their permission. If they deny it, I can always take it down.
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    eGlobalDepoteGlobalDepot subscriber Posts: 4
    Do you think also that if I have a couple of dealers out there, then it will be easier for the rest to follow?
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    SandyPISandyPI subscriber Posts: 8
    I joined your site..very impressive.  May I suggest that you offer professional services and maybe collectibles (china, antiques, etc.)  I would advertise my companies Gold Shield Legal Investigations, Inc. and Confadate if the choice were available.
    Best of luck,
    Sandy
     
     
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    eGlobalDepoteGlobalDepot subscriber Posts: 4
    I don`t see why there`d be legal issues. If they have it out online, with contact info, then as long as you`re putting the same ad for *them* up for free...why would they care?
    On the dealers, I don`t know. All you can do is try, I suppose.

     
    I started contacting dealers. Very few gave me permission. Som had the concern that they had to put their own ads out there but I don`t think they wanted to take the time. I think out of the 200 I sent out, I have 2 permissions and 6 pending. But that was only for two automotive manufacturers. I still have plenty left.
     
    Thanks,
    RJ
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    eGlobalDepoteGlobalDepot subscriber Posts: 4

    I joined your site..very impressive.  May I suggest that you offer professional services and maybe collectibles (china, antiques, etc.)  I would advertise my companies Gold Shield Legal Investigations, Inc. and Confadate if the choice were available.Best of luck,Sandy  
     Thanks for joining. I am glad you like the site. Thank you for the suggestion but we do not have the finances to expand the site at this time. Also, that would be going into eBay territory and we are remaining the the business of vehicles and real estate.
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