guys i just installed a database enabled backend on http://plumberfinder.co.uk now how do i get plumbers to come and register over there? any ideas? any placles where i can post or invite? mass emailing? what do i do? also, what do you think of the website UI, design, look etc?
The overall design is great for a directory. Very nice and sleek, but a little bright and sunny. My cold heart prefers blues and greens, but that's just me. Since it is a UK site, you might want to do cold calls or mass mailing. You should also see if the plumbers have a website with their email address listed. Invites might get better returns. Just be sure to explain the benefits of the submission. I'm not sure if there are any magazines or journals for plumbers, but you should check into it. I'm sorry that I can't be any more specific.
I'd advertise in the plumbing trade magazines. There should be plenty there. Or give free advertising to a major chain in return for them promoting your directory.
Im not sure where in manchester your from, in stockport theres a place called travis perkins which i know plumbers go to, have you thought about putting an ad in their window or giving tp some business cards/flyers, to put on their counter, advertise the fact that it will benefit them if they sign up and giv them another outlet for potential customers to find work. Im sure there are other large plumbing places in manchester and the surroundig areas you can get to easily enough.
No offense but if you dont know how to contact your market or have way of populating your directory why start a niche plumbers directory in the first place? Anyway.. Design - is broken in IE7, the header doesn't align properly so that is something to work on. Adsense: I'd take that off personally, Adsense is good for monetising your site after it gets traffic not before, in the short term it lowers the appeal of your site and makes it look like another MFA. Geography: Your break down of areas does not go far enough, a plumber in Wales or Scotland won't travel 200 miles to a job so you can really break that down by region to make it more specific. Populating the database: You can buy lists which is perhaps the route you should go down, you can then fill your database a fair bit, build up the traffic and then approach all your listings to offer an upgrade to include their website/email/map in their own listing for a yearly fee.
Check out www.ukbusinessowners.co.uk they are plumbers on there. Alternatively www.ecademy.com Do a search on yell.com or yellow pages and contact plumbers. Plumbers are hard to come by - there's a shortage in the UK, so your spot on with doing a directory like this, if you can get it out there ranking in the search engines.
You should definately go through the phone book. Sounds like you';ll have to do most of the data entry for this at the start, not the plumbers. And also get your site visitors to inform the plumbers that they found them on your website. Then they will take notice. Good luck.
free papers Put box "attention plumbers register free on internet site" etc Yellow pages tons in there if you can handle the phone bills to them
I would say look them up at yell.com if your in the uk and then just give as many as you can a call about it
those are some great tips guys. sji2761: i started this project purely because of the domain name i owned, plus the fact that plumbers are in high demand with low supply in the UK. the domain is realistically probably worth about 10,000 GBP IMO. ill take adsense off until i build up traffic. scott: i'm still populating the database so of course i'll be adding cities to the UK regions. will look into getting a better design too.
You can manually populate it or buy a database from companies that supply such data for you for a price. I would say the domain may be worth around low-mid £xxx, however developed well it can write its own cheque as regards worth, good luck!
I would go for a relatively small mail campaign. A good sales letter, explaining the benefits of having their plumbing business on your site and the pricing / special offers. Most importantly, give them the sign up process in steps, i.e 1) Go to www. 2) click here.... 3) Pay me (no offense to any plumbers out there, but I would imagine they are not all too internet savvy) . Do keyword research, find out how many people are searching for plumber related terms and use this in your sales letter. Start with say 500 letters at second class postage rates, 23p = 115 GBP. See what response you get! PM me if you want some advice. George
i tried to do this once....i emailed the service provider but non signed up and i got a nasty email back saying SPAM was illegal and theyd report me if i contacted them again.....even though all emails were sent individually, not on a mass merge thing. george75's idea isnt bad, though maybe costly. try finding about a plubmer magazine to advertise in, or the national plumber association (if there is one???) magazine.