New Business Launch www.zumpty.ie

Hi Everyone

As I mentioned a few weeks ago when tenderme came out I was going to launch a new company in partnership with another boards member.

So after many months of preparation www.zumpty.ie is online today, my grand plan for this company is to make it the verb for searching for a service, as Google is for information.
Ireland is the first location for zumpty, and we hope to launch in the UK, US and Australia over the next 24 months.

We are rolling out a massive PR campaign across the country which will start this weekend in the business press.
There was a nice photo shoot with Rosanna Davison this morning which will appear in the regional press, alongside competitions we are going to run across radio nationwide.
Alongside the press and radio theres going to be some big prizes given away through various avenues, and we are going to donate 1 euro to Crumlin childrens hospital each time a consumer posts a job on the site

My partner and I decided to do a bit of a special offer for boards, since the idea was born on the entrepreneur forum sometime around March.
As you'll see there are 3 packages available to signup for as a business or service provider, essentially what we will do for boards members is give a 50% discount on the Gold or Premium packs for the first year.
To qualify for the offer the boards member in question will need to have been either a member for over 2 years, or he/she has 100 posts or more on boards.

We've tested the site rigorously over the last few days but the nature of these things there might be a few bugs in it this week, so if you see any an email to us would be greatly appreciated.

So thats it hope you all like it!!

shoutman

Best of luck with this El Rifle,

It's a smooth looking site.

Tony255

Hi There like the site it looks clean and easy to use just one quick thing as I dont have a lot of time at the moment but when i clicked on Cork it brought me right back to the top of the page, not sure if this is because the cork section is not populated yet but a message for the user might be a better idea. Just my quick 2 cents

Dont forget to add the link in your signature

enviro

Best of luck to you.

Tony255

Tony255 wrote: »

Hi There like the site it looks clean and easy to use just one quick thing as I dont have a lot of time at the moment but when i clicked on Cork it brought me right back to the top of the page, not sure if this is because the cork section is not populated yet but a message for the user might be a better idea. Just my quick 2 cents

Dont forget to add the link in your signature

Thanks Tony will check it out

Pixelcraft

Hi El Rifle, best of luck with it - will there be any way to rate the suppliers, or is this going to be another cheapest of the cheap providers listing?

tricky D

Listing sites like this have been moving towards providing basic listings for free and charging for value-added features. It also helps you reach a critical mass of listings. See this Wired article on Freeconomics.

Instead of 'Who is Zumpty' in the nav, you would be better off changing this to 'What zumpty can do for you'.

Do ordinary users really need to sign-up? Doesn't seem to be a compelling value-propostion to do so and users often bail out here.

Put the location and search box on all pages in the side bar, and the map if you can. Users shouldn't need to go back to a search page.

good luck
hth

conman

best of luck for your business.

niceirishfella

Best of luck El, congrats on your new venture.

Mike...

Nice layout and design, good luck

kazzer

I think the audio introduction is absolutley horrendous. How about something more professional like a recorded powerpoint presentation (that you see with CBT) with an audio track in your normally talking voice.

Nuttzz

Good luck with it, but I think your list of services is far to big, would there be much of a calling for a wet nurse or yodeler these days?

I'm looking to find a supplier of printer cartridges thats not easy to find but perhaps this isnt they type of business you are looking for.

Pixelcraft

Pixelcraft wrote: »

Hi El Rifle, best of luck with it - will there be any way to rate the suppliers, or is this going to be another cheapest of the cheap providers listing?

Hi Pixel

Yes we are going to have a ratings system which will allow previous users to rate the business/service they received by 1-5 stars and also a comment i.e I liked this provider and would recommend him again.
Essentially I want people to be able to decide by a number of factors - Price, timeframe, locality, reliability, record etc.
Businesses get to attach their resume/CV/references to show their completed works

Nuttzz

kazzer wrote: »

I think the audio introduction is absolutley horrendous.

search for mr hanky on youtube...

tricky D

tricky D wrote: »

Listing sites like this have been moving towards providing basic listings for free and charging for value-added features. It also helps you reach a critical mass of listings. See this Wired article on Freeconomics.

Instead of 'Who is Zumpty' in the nav, you would be better off changing this to 'What zumpty can do for you'.

Do ordinary users really need to sign-up? Doesn't seem to be a compelling value-propostion to do so and users often bail out here.

Put the location and search box on all pages in the side bar, and the map if you can. Users shouldn't need to go back to a search page.

good luck
hth

Hi Tricky

Funny you say that Who is zumpty? because that was originally how I had it!

Ordinary users have to sign up because otherwise a few functions wouldnt work, eg. I want people to login and close the bidding when they have decided on a supplier; also want them to rate the supplier once the job has been finished to help future users
I know people don't like to signup for stuff in general if they can avoid it, but we don't give out contact details to the suppliers unless the USER ticks a box allowing it. This avoids the spam etc

kazzer

kazzer wrote: »

I think the audio introduction is absolutley horrendous. How about something more professional like a recorded powerpoint presentation (that you see with CBT) with an audio track in your normally talking voice.

Well I did a good bit of research ie. played it for about 30 people. 3 people had the same view as yourself so I expected some negative response to it. Essentially we are trying to have a more quirky approach and style to the site, and not so serious. Obviously its not going to please everyone but maybe it will grow on you

Nuttzz

Nuttzz wrote: »

Good luck with it, but I think your list of services is far to big, would there be much of a calling for a wet nurse or yodeler these days?

I'm looking to find a supplier of printer cartridges thats not easy to find but perhaps this isnt they type of business you are looking for.

Yeah we are going to refine it, we are getting lots of requests already for things we have missed Quantity Surveyor etc.

If you post your job up there, ie. need print cartridges and give the details and what you are willing to pay, we will get a business on there in the next couple of days to get you a quote

Culchie

Good Luck El Rifle ...whats the difference between Zumpty and Pluspoint?

DubTony

Best of luck with this El Rifle, hope it's a raging success. I love the idea.
I'd like to offer a suggestion or 2.

The drop down list seems to be huge. But there's no search option. The first thing I looked for was the SEARCH box. I really think you need one. Google has become the norm for searching for anything and typing into a search box is standard. I feel that the drop down list is seen by many to be a nuisance. Don't Google offer some sort of site search capability without scouring the net?

I saw the LOG-IN link at the top of the page. I hate these things. I don't want to log in to do anything. I don't even know if I have to log in on your site, but I'm one guy amongst millions who doesn't like it. Why? Because I've enough feckin' passwords to be remembering without another one I won't use every day.

Those are just two things I spotted in a few seconds. Love the name, love the concept. I'm not even sure you need the character. Just push the name. Again, hope it goes great.

btw, if I'm ever looking for a soldier I know exactly where to search first.

Just noticed, the drop down menu doesn't work properly on Firefox for Mac OSX. It doesn't scroll down as you would expect. Don't know if this is a Firefox bug or not as I just started using it.

EKRIUQ

Its gone offline now

niceirishfella

Re; the name, where did it come from?

stepbar

Answer me this, tell me what is the difference between what you offer and the golden pages?

Euro_Kraut

Good Luck with this El Rifle.

My only concern is that it takes too many clicks to get the information. The great thing about google is that if gives you info with just one click. The online community have a notoriously short attention span.

betonit

Euro_Kraut wrote: »

Good Luck with this El Rifle.

My only concern is that it takes too many clicks to get the information. The great thing about google is that if gives you info with just one click. The online community have a notoriously short attention span.

+1

Good idea and best of luck with it but I don't see how it's too different to using the Golden Pages either. I also dislike the colour scheme (it actually makes me want to wear shades as it's so bright but then again my laptop is 18" and shows colours maybe a bit too well) and the audio introduction but the most important part is the service.

PS: Should have used someone else instead of Rosanna too, so bored of her!

Best of luck with it though.

aidan.connolly

Good luck with your new venture

Aidan

DubTony

DubTony wrote: »

Best of luck with this El Rifle, hope it's a raging success. I love the idea.
I'd like to offer a suggestion or 2.

The drop down list seems to be huge. But there's no search option. The first thing I looked for was the SEARCH box. I really think you need one. Google has become the norm for searching for anything and typing into a search box is standard. I feel that the drop down list is seen by many to be a nuisance. Don't Google offer some sort of site search capability without scouring the net?

I saw the LOG-IN link at the top of the page. I hate these things. I don't want to log in to do anything. I don't even know if I have to log in on your site, but I'm one guy amongst millions who doesn't like it. Why? Because I've enough feckin' passwords to be remembering without another one I won't use every day.

Those are just two things I spotted in a few seconds. Love the name, love the concept. I'm not even sure you need the character. Just push the name. Again, hope it goes great.

btw, if I'm ever looking for a soldier I know exactly where to search first.

Just noticed, the drop down menu doesn't work properly on Firefox for Mac OSX. It doesn't scroll down as you would expect. Don't know if this is a Firefox bug or not as I just started using it.

Thanks for the feedback Tony, we are on the list it will be sorted today. Good idea about the search box as well we will get that in in the next few days

stepbar

stepbar wrote: »

Answer me this, tell me what is the difference between what you offer and the golden pages?

Well Step, the Golden pages is a directory. What we are doing is quite different.
With a directory you need to do all the legwork yourself, call up the suppliers/businesses and get individual prices etc

The zumpty 1-2-3 process allows you to make a more informed decision in a much quicker time. The site does all the work for you by contacting all the providers of the service you requested. It then sends their quotes direct to your email

The aim of the game is that you can go to your inbox and go through 10-15 quotes for what you require and select the one that suits you best based on your own criteria.
With the references/feedback/ratings system we want to take out any potential fears or worries when selecting someone to do the job because you can see their track record.

We are also giving the directory part of the site for free, but its just an added feature to the the core function above

Culchie

Culchie wrote: »

Good Luck El Rifle ...whats the difference between Zumpty and Pluspoint?

Havent seen that one before Culchie will take a look. Ive seen a few sites that have similar angles, what we are attempting to do is have zumpty as the one stop shop for everything when it comes to sourcing a service, and brand it and position the company in such a way that we establish ourselves and become the market leader in this area. Golden Pages is the brand in the Directorys market/industry but I dont feel anyone has stepped up to the plate as market leader in this new industry as the focal point for getting any type of service....

Sposs

Best of Luck with the Site , my only complaint is the amount of yellow which is very hard on the eyes , maybe bringing it down a couple of shades will help and make the navigation across the top cleaner looking.

Axwell

I like the idea but hate the character and voiceover, think its awful in fact. The site itself looks wise is ok but it wouldnt blow me away but I think thats due to the character marching back and forth along the top and the click here for audio bit. They take away from the page if anything and the character looks poor imo.

Was going to check the site again for more points but it seems to be down. Dont like the colours used for the tabs along the top, hard to see the writing against the grainy effect on he tabs, also not mad about the font used in the top right for signup etc,just doesnt look right.

Good idea thought and handy that all the quotes etc get emailed to the person. With regards the ratings system though whats in place to stop it being abused as most services sites with a ratings system get abused by people just going in saying ya Tom is great 5 stars..even though its Tom himself and his family giving the ratings. Also legally how are you affected if I go on and say Tom is rubbish dont hire him!

Best of luck with it though.

Axwell

Axwell wrote: »

I like the idea but hate the character and voiceover, think its awful in fact. The site itself looks wise is ok but it wouldnt blow me away but I think thats due to the character marching back and forth along the top and the click here for audio bit. They take away from the page if anything and the character looks poor imo.

Was going to check the site again for more points but it seems to be down. Dont like the colours used for the tabs along the top, hard to see the writing against the grainy effect on he tabs, also not mad about the font used in the top right for signup etc,just doesnt look right.

Good idea thought and handy that all the quotes etc get emailed to the person. With regards the ratings system though whats in place to stop it being abused as most services sites with a ratings system get abused by people just going in saying ya Tom is great 5 stars..even though its Tom himself and his family giving the ratings. Also legally how are you affected if I go on and say Tom is rubbish dont hire him!

Best of luck with it though.

Thanks for the feeback axewell. Ive been checking the site across all the different browsers, seems to be working fine, not sure why it went down for you.

On the feedback system, obviously keeping the integrity of it is vital, so we have a team to monitor it and follow up anything that might look planted etc.

On the ratings, there is the star system, regarding actually written feedback they can only select from different options on what they say about the business, to avoid bad language etc.
We can also review any contested bad feedback against the business. Legally zumpty only makes the link between consumer and supplier after that whatever happens is between them. We will of course though help to mediate any issues.

Overall on the character, colours, site layout etc, theres always going to be those who like one style and those who like another. We've gone with what we think will be most successful and appeal to the masses, but most importantly something that we can roll out overseas that is easily recognizable, familiar and durable. Personally Im very happy with the design etc and am confident it will work; at the same time all feedback is taken on board appreciatively and considered seriously

Axwell

Thanks for the response, its back up now so had another quick look. My only other thing to point out is your images are pixelated and of a low resolution so they appear grainy, for example "Irelands top rated" in the top right, and the yellow circle, whereas the one lower down in pink is a higher res and appears clearer. Same goes for the tabs across the top, grainy looking and makes it hard to read the writing but when you highlight them its white on grey and much easier to see.

Axwell

Axwell wrote: »

Thanks for the response, its back up now so had another quick look. My only other thing to point out is your images are pixelated and of a low resolution so they appear grainy, for example "Irelands top rated" in the top right, and the yellow circle, whereas the one lower down in pink is a higher res and appears clearer. Same goes for the tabs across the top, grainy looking and makes it hard to read the writing but when you highlight them its white on grey and much easier to see.

Well spotted mate Ill get the graphics people on it

podgeen

is the site down at the moment? I can't access it..

podgeen

podgeen wrote: »

is the site down at the moment? I can't access it..

I was onto my hosting there, the site was on a shared server which apparently was causing some access problems. We are moving it over to a private server tonight which should sort it all out.

skelliser

Suggestion: ya need a favicon

Culchie

Deleted User wrote: »

Havent seen that one before Culchie will take a look. Ive seen a few sites that have similar angles, what we are attempting to do is have zumpty as the one stop shop for everything when it comes to sourcing a service, and brand it and position the company in such a way that we establish ourselves and become the market leader in this area. Golden Pages is the brand in the Directorys market/industry but I dont feel anyone has stepped up to the plate as market leader in this new industry as the focal point for getting any type of service....

I've been looking at this a little today El Rifle ... pluspoint.ie is a similar business model (from what I can see) ... I'm a supplier on pluspoint, and when a business wants signage quotes from us, then we receive emails (as I'm sure the other signage companies do).
We then choose to 'accept' or 'decline'. If we accept we quote and submit, and the customer receives our quote.
So, I don't think you're necessarily first to market with this... but on the positive side pluspoint is poorly marketed/branded and not very well known (we're on it 2 years) and www.zumpty.ie has a certain 'va va voom' aspect to it ... but is probably going to cost you alot of marketing dollars to get visible.

boomshackala

I thihnk the site has good odds of success. Yellow is not a favourite of mine or many people I guess and thats why there are not that many sites of that colour. The upside is your site should be more memorable.

Presumably you need to get a good bit of content (suppliers) up there, before having soemthing marketable (the consumer will have to find something they can instantly lose, or they will have a negative initial perception. Presume theres best practice on doing this type of thing and you're well onto it.

I would have thought specializing first in one niche would have allowed quicker penetration. How do you plan to get a critical mass supplier listing from a low cost base? I was always interested in how you would go about doing something like this

boomshackala

boomshackala wrote: »

I thihnk the site has good odds of success. Yellow is not a favourite of mine or many people I guess and thats why there are not that many sites of that colour. The upside is your site should be more memorable.

Presumably you need to get a good bit of content (suppliers) up there, before having soemthing marketable (the consumer will have to find something they can instantly lose, or they will have a negative initial perception. Presume theres best practice on doing this type of thing and you're well onto it.

I would have thought specializing first in one niche would have allowed quicker penetration. How do you plan to get a critical mass supplier listing from a low cost base? I was always interested in how you would go about doing something like this

I have a large sales force which have just started this week, they are going to be working nationwide on the back of the PR campaign. After our initial stint of 3-4 months, the plan is to open up an office in each province with the aim of having a tangible presence in the country, where we meet our clients face to face and try and build a strong relationship that will last...

Over the next couple of months we are going to introduce some niches inside the zumpty site, for example a wedding planner service using the zumpty system. Ie. client states what kind of wedding they want, number of people etc, and all the various suppliers - flowers, limo, honeymoon get to provide a quote making it vastly easier to plan your wedding. Thats one of a few things going in there.

Culchie youve pretty much hit the nail on the head. I am spending heavily on the marketing particularly in July and August, there is a plan for each of the 26 counties. I think it was niceirishfella who said a month or so ago that there was a serious opportunity in this area with better design and marketing, these were my thoughts exactly when this got started. The va-va-voom is the key!

TheWaterboy

Most items have been discussed so I wont go back over it. In general the site looks pretty well. However..

The site is a disaster from an SEO point of view. Normally directory sites like these rank highly in Google for different SEO keywords. As far as I can see the GoogleBot wont even get past your first page as all of the important menus are images. The map is an image and also your main menu. Check out whatswhat.ie to see the difference - it is very SEO friendly.

Also you have no keywords or site description on the site and all the page titles are simply zumpty. Again a disaster from SEO

The Zumpty logo should be clickable and bring you back to the homepage.

Why does the default index.php page redirect to main.php?

Also I would be very dubious about sending you credit card details when there is no company details. Yes there is an address and phone number but thats it. There should be a decent About Us section and a company registration number. I would put in a Paypal logo or something on the footer to show people that all credit card transactions are handled by Paypal.

I know you have a big marketing plan ahead, but personally I think it is pointless spending big money on marketing if your website isnt 100%. I think you are trying to compete in a tough market but I wish you the best of luck with the business

Sposs

TheWaterboy wrote: »

Also I would be very dubious about sending you credit card details when there is no company details. Yes there is an address and phone number but thats it. There should be a decent About Us section and a company registration number. I would put in a Paypal logo or something on the footer to show people that all credit card transactions are handled by Paypal.

Just on this point , it was actually brought in , i think last year , that you must display your company reg number and VAT number on your website and on all email correspondence.

Also check out www.realex.ie for credit card/lasercard transactions , alot of people don't like using paypal , and it provides an additional choice to pay which is never a bad thing.

TheWaterboy

TheWaterboy wrote: »

Most items have been discussed so I wont go back over it. In general the site looks pretty well. However..

The site is a disaster from an SEO point of view. Normally directory sites like these rank highly in Google for different SEO keywords. As far as I can see the GoogleBot wont even get past your first page as all of the important menus are images. The map is an image and also your main menu. Check out whatswhat.ie to see the difference - it is very SEO friendly.

Also you have no keywords or site description on the site and all the page titles are simply zumpty. Again a disaster from SEO

The Zumpty logo should be clickable and bring you back to the homepage.

Why does the default index.php page redirect to main.php?

Also I would be very dubious about sending you credit card details when there is no company details. Yes there is an address and phone number but thats it. There should be a decent About Us section and a company registration number. I would put in a Paypal logo or something on the footer to show people that all credit card transactions are handled by Paypal.

I know you have a big marketing plan ahead, but personally I think it is pointless spending big money on marketing if your website isnt 100%. I think you are trying to compete in a tough market but I wish you the best of luck with the business

I have a team of guys doing the SEO, but as you know it takes a couple of months to establish it, but believe me when it kicks in it will be an exceptional SEO. I have some of the top programmers in Asia doing it for me. Once it is established zumpty will have a big profile on google throughout all the occupations and services provided on the site

Good idea on the About Us Ill organise it. The plan was to setup with Realex however there is a long Due diligence period before they can allow you to process payments, so we went with Paypal to start with and we will introduce a merchant asap over the next couple of weeks

TheWaterboy

Deleted User wrote: »

I have a team of guys doing the SEO, but as you know it takes a couple of months to establish it, but believe me when it kicks in it will be an exceptional SEO. I have some of the top programmers in Asia doing it for me. Once it is established zumpty will have a big profile on google throughout all the occupations and services provided on the site

Personally I wouldnt consider them "top programmers" if they developed this site without taking SEO into account. The SEO should be implemented during site design and not when the site is finished. Its like building a house and forgetting to put in the front door!!

Just one quick question - Why is the site done in regions and not counties? Surely if Im looking for an Accountant and Im from Louth, I dont want accountants from Wexford bidding on my work

[QUOTE=TheWaterboy;60858463

Just one quick question - Why is the site done in regions and not counties? Surely if Im looking for an Accountant and Im from Louth, I dont want accountants from Wexford bidding on my work[/QUOTE]

Well I considered this but for example why shouldnt a guy in Wicklow or Kildare be able to quote on a job in Dublin if its only a half hour drive?

From your perspective with an accountant, its something you can do a lot of through email aside from physical receipts, so if a firm in Wexford quoted you half the price then one in Louth, Im sure you would consider using them

madmik

your mascot looks like a guy that used to be on crisp packets years ago

cant remeber his name though ,possiby english company ?

Just added our press release to the site:

http://www.zumpty.ie/zumpty_media.php

Pixelcraft

just as a thought are you offering any free membership to suppliers for a limited period? how will the site get users with so few suppliers?

Pixelcraft

Pixelcraft wrote: »

just as a thought are you offering any free membership to suppliers for a limited period? how will the site get users with so few suppliers?

We are doing a lot of discounts here and there, like the boards one.

But essentially what we will do is monitor the job postings. If someone requests a service and we dont have a provider on the site just yet, our team will contact 3 or 4 suppliers in the relevant industry and invite them to quote on the job. So the businesses will get a good idea of how the site works, get some work from it and Im sure will be happy to sign up with us then. 3-4 quotes should hopefully satisfy the consumer in the early weeks of the site.

niceirishfella

Good on ya Gavin!
Continued energy to you!!

Sonnenblumen

Deleted User wrote: »

We are doing a lot of discounts here and there, like the boards one.

But essentially what we will do is monitor the job postings. If someone requests a service and we dont have a provider on the site just yet, our team will contact 3 or 4 suppliers in the relevant industry and invite them to quote on the job. So the businesses will get a good idea of how the site works, get some work from it and Im sure will be happy to sign up with us then. 3-4 quotes should hopefully satisfy the consumer in the early weeks of the site.

Any chance you can ease back/preferrably stop sending spamming emails offering conflicting discounts eg 3 months, 6 months, now getting letter offers and cold tel calls.

A lot of wasted resources for little offering?