I have started the exotics-auto.com a couple of month ago and I am getting about 400-500 visitors/day but not that many list their cars. It is a free classified, so the price is not an issue. Any idea what is wrong?
First thing I'd like to say is that I'm not any sort of expert on cars or anything like that. With that said, please allow me to offer what I think would really help your site sing: 1) I see that you're catering to "exotic" car fans/owners/collectors. It seems to me that maybe it'd be okay to go ahead and charge for the services you're offering. I'm assuming that exotic cars are more costly and so the folks buying or selling them would have access to cash or atleast credit. They may be suspicious of something free and perhaps security conscious, so being verified could help you there. 2) If I were to run this or a similar sight, one of the first things I would do is go out of my way to make it eye-candy oriented. An attractive, unique place to sell attractive, unique cars. See what I mean? Splurging on really excellent design could be worth it because chances are your customers have broadband and a better than average computer, already. 3) Consider maybe advertising where those who want exotic cars or have them to sell already go. If you are aggressive about it, you could probably pull in alot of traffic. In order to get folks advertising their cars on YOUR site instead of your competitors, I'd consider approaching people with cars for sale and offering them a special deal through your site to advertise their vehicles. Maybe even dealerships would want to work with you? Just some thoughts but I hope they're helpful! Make sure to let us know how things progress!
Thanks for answer. I am curious to know why do you think that charging for the listings instead of free will increase the number of people who list their cars, can you please explain?
Sure, gladly I'm basing my theory off the premise that value is something that's determined by the individual rather than something static. To me, a FREE place to list my car for sale would be excellent, provided it had some heavy traffic. However, I don't have a high income, nor do I own an expensive vehicle. For me, free would be a benefit and I doubt I'd pay to put my car online when I could simply put a little sign in the window or post it on a bulletin board in town, etc. However, what you're dealing with is a luxury item, a status symbol. From what I've observed, people who buy high-end or exotic cars seem to enjoy the status that the cars bring. Like belonging to an exclusive club, you see? Sure there are mechanical/technological/even economical advantages and all that, but in the end they chose an exotic car because they believe it will grant them something that a typical or non-exotic car won't. They paid for their exclusivity and they most likely would appreciate that being recognized. They probably want to sell their vehicle to someone with a similar mindset instead of just toss it out there and see how it does. They probably want to talk exotic cars with others who are passionate about them, as well. If you go through the work to put together the best community and platform for listing your exotic cars to an audience that is looking for..... exotic cars... then you deserve to paid for your time, expenses and effort. Convincing someone who's working fast food and trying to manage the payments on a used Honda Civic that they need to pay to list their car to a national/global audience isn't likely but exotics are entirely different. By charging, you're insisting that your service is worth paying for and you can back that up with a guaranteed refund if they're not satisfied. Quality is what they're looking for. If you cater to their needs and interests there's no reason they shouldn't pay you. If I have mixed breed puppies with no shots, my best bet is the local classifieds (which are free). If I have champion bloodline purebred exotic breed puppies who's ancestry had to be imported then the classifieds might not do it and I'd have a hard search to find a suitable buyer unless I already have connections, right? So I'd choose to pay for the publication or service that could match what I have to sell with people who have the means and desire to purchase it. Does that help make some sense of it?