Hi fellow DP members, We are in the process of putting together a local directory/portal site for our town. Basically the site is a directory and review site for local places like dinning, night life, shopping, local events, real estate, business, art, etc. The is going to include relevant content, reviews, events, etc. I would love your thoughts on the best way to go about marketing the site. I look forward to your thoughts. Thanks, Kim
one of the best way to advertise this kind of site is to do offline marketing like 1.- Offline Classified Newspaper Ads: Placing classified ads in local newspapers can boost your sales or website traffic and give you a sence of trust. Take advantage of local newspapers great advertising rates that can help you promote your business with minimum investment. 2.- Offline Flyers: With the rigth sales copy you can make flyers work for you. You can place them in computer stores, libraries, restaurants, car windshields, apartment buildings, or anywhere that allows flyers and have a good amount of traffic. 3.- Offline Direct Mail: A good copyrighted direct mail piece when done consistently over a period of time can help your business brand awerness and even result in instant sales. One of the top benefit of direct mail is it allows you to reach thousands of well targeted people (consumers or businesses) at good rate. 4.- Offline TV Informatials: Purchase informatial times on local cable T.V. Now is very affordable and if you commit to a block of advertising you can develop Brand Awareness. . 5.- Offline Viral Advertising CD-ROM Business Cards: Pass out your CD-ROM or diskette business cards at special events. It could be at trade shows, seminars, fairs, etc. 6.- Business Cards: Give your business cards to everyone you know and leave them everywhere you go. 7.- Become A Free Learning Resource: Hold a free offline class how to use a computer or the Internet. You could display your website have your web site on display as an example. 8.- Offline Giveaways: Give away promotional items such as free USB Drives (new), free mouse pads. And just put your advertising on them and give them away at computer or internet events or at places where people can use computers like: Internet Cafes, Libraries, etc... 9.- Card Decks Advertising: The card deck you advertise in should be targeted toward internet users if you looking to use offline advertising to promote a website. But, also you can use coupons decks that can generate a ton of traffic full of hot propects and buyers. 10.- Chamber Of Commerce or Other Business Associations: Use the power of networking with other local business owners to boost your referrals by word-of-mouth. Plus, you can have the Chamber of Comerce help you host a free seminar for their members, where you will talk how your product or service can solve an specific problem. by the way i'm planning to start a similar site like this .. i'm lookin' for a script that is out of the box .. can you please suggest ? thx ..
Wow, thank you. I figured offline advertising was probably the way to go but I am not used to the whole offline advertising thing. I am not sure what you mean by you are looking for a script, what excatly are you looking for the script to do? Thanks, Kim
The website is actually built on WordPress with some customization, I am not sure of the scripts involved as I did build the site myself.
I think point 10 of n3o's list is where I would want to get to but you might need to grow the site to a certain traffic level first. My idea would be to have places like restaurants, shops, hotels etc to namedrop your site and encourage people to review their business as this not only gets them some free advertising but it also gives them a sort of anonymous feedback system where people can leave comments/reviews and then you can let the official business owner reply to criticisms etc. Imagine something like "Enjoyed your meal? Let others know with www.yoursitename.com" on a restaurant bill or shop receipt. But, to get local businesses interested you need to be able to approach them and say "we get xx,xxx unique visitors a month" otherwise it isn't worth their time and effort. So build the site through the other 9 methods mentioned and then go for number 10.
Offline marketing is the way to go. I have a similar site for the small town I live in and even though it bounces around on the front page of Google, most people do not do an internet search for their own town. The only real traffic I get from search engines are from people getting ready to visit here. Most traffic comes from word of mouth, local advertising and radio. I certainly agree with the Chamber of Commerce and also ask to speak to your local Lions Club, Kiwanis Club and Rotary Club. Each of those organizations are always looking for speakers for their weekly meetings. Try a little barter also. Possibly do some web work for a high profile business or person in your community in return for their endorsement or sponsorship. You might consider starting a forum ( I would highly recommend close monitoring of it - dont want it to become a place of negativity). Good luck and keep us up to date with your project.