Ideas for a City website

I believe this is the right section to start this topic, I'm sorry if this is not.
I am planning to start a city website, providing in depth details about it. The site is aiming at city dwellers. I will be mainly concentrating on shopping and customer needs (not online shopping, but shops, products etc.). I plan to include an entertainment section also. Can someone please provide me some ideas on what all features I can include in the site?
Also please advise me on how to efficiently market the new site. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks

 

You might include a Merchant of The Month, local business people profiles, links to merchants pages, a local shopping/dining directory, classifieds, photo gallery. Of course if it was me, I'd be after monetizing ALL of these. You be surprised on what people will go for for a little exposure, especially if they are new and need it. Good luck with this!

HTH

Keith

 

Thanks a lot Keith, actually I was planning for the profile, classifieds and yellow pages. But 'Merchant of the month' is a new idea. I really liked tat one, thanks again

 

go for a classified site! get some paid options for featured merchants etc, and it will work well!

 

What city are you going after? Is it just one city or are you going to compile data on multiple cities?

 

"Featured Merchant" for monetization purposes. You could charge so they are featured, and maybe even reviewed.

 

Take a look at the many other city sites out there that focus on local cities. See what sections they have to offer. For example, here's one for Philly...http://www.aroundphilly.com/

 

entertainment is a good idea, you can create a calender with the list of events going on that day in the city

 

A Map of the places is a must! (you can just foward to google maps)

 

I think it is a good idea. All information should focus on the city only including people there so it will make all people in the city look like a family.
You can also add news about the city on your site.

 

promote it using craigslist....Just post in your town about the new site, Im sure some people will enjoy it.
Also have a movies page with times and stuff....

 

Thanks a lot for all those great replies and advices

I am aiming at a metropolitan city in India and not on multiple cities. Featured Merchants seems to be a very good idea, thanks. I have already plans for providing an event calendar, but filling up the calendar will be a problem. I'll be adding the city maps too. I've also plans for giving weather on my site, but I would like to have a custom solution like the one in pageflakes.com. Can you please guide me on how to get such a custom solution? Also is there any site where I can get news for putting on my site? Thanks again.