Grants for small information driven websites

PeakOutput

ok so i said in another thread i am starting a website with a friend

the website is about half way threw being built and thats fine

this is not just a hobby website its going to be very large and comprehensive and full to the brim of content and obviously we hope to make money out of it

what we are wondering is are there any grants out there for very very small operations like us? basically one works full time already and i am a student but i would like to put 6 months full time into the site from june but would need some sort of income

the enterprise boards look like they might be apossibility but we are not really sure

basically we are investing around 4-5K and this will cover everything for the first year really accept any sort of salary with a salary obviously this inital cost goes way up.

we do not want to get into debt and we do not really want to give away a portion of the business which really leaves grants as the only option.

one thing we are particularly interested in is if, as what our website will be focusing on is controlled in large part by the goverment, would the relevant department ever give out funding to something that would help the people that fall under its remit?

any thoughts are appreciated we can continue on with no other funding no problem but those 3 / 4 months of full time work would make a massive difference

antoinolachtnai

How are you eventually going to make money?

PeakOutput

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

How are you eventually going to make money?

split between adsense and selling products on the site that relate to the information being provided more than likely the product sales will account for most of the revenue but in the very begining it will be adsense

Chet Zar

PeakOutput wrote: »

split between adsense and selling products on the site that relate to the information being provided more than likely the product sales will account for most of the revenue but in the very begining it will be adsense

Are you expecting large visitor numbers in the beginning? You would need a huge number of visitors to make anything substantial from AdSense.

PeakOutput

Chet Zar wrote: »

Are you expecting large visitor numbers in the beginning? You would need a huge number of visitors to make anything substantial from AdSense.

ye we understand what to expect as far as traffic and advertising revenue goes

and we can justify our expectations and the risks but we need to know if there is a body who provide grants for this kind of start up

jhegarty

What expenses are you planning to have in year one ?

PeakOutput

jhegarty wrote: »

What expenses are you planning to have in year one ?

the only expenses in year one that are necessities are the sites design which is as i said almost done and webhosting. the budget right now is 4K and that will be spread over the first year, what we spend our money on entirely depends on the answer to this question,

are there any bodies goverment or otherwise that offer grants to this kind of start up?

Chet Zar

PeakOutput wrote: »

the only expenses in year one that are necessities are the sites design which is as i said almost done and webhosting. the budget right now is 4K and that will be spread over the first year, what we spend our money on entirely depends on the answer to this question,

are there any bodies goverment or otherwise that offer grants to this kind of start up?

Based on my limited knowledge at this time I believe it is tough to get grants at this time for obvious reasons but if you do a search I think this was asked before, have you checked Enterprise Ireland for any info? Maybe do a search on the forum as well.

Far as I know getting a grant depends a lot on what you business you are in...

Andy_Black

Hi,

Seth Godin has a great quote in his book "Meatball Sundae" that I particularly like: Launch and Learn

Do you have to spend so much time and money to get up and running?

Can you get something up quicker and throw traffic at it to see what sticks?

Guaranteed you'll learn something to feed back into your development process, plus you'll have concrete data to take to investors/govt bodies/etc.

Are you using Agile philosophies of short iterations and plenty of (market) feedback to ensure you are producing what the market wants rather than what you hope they want?

If you're pressed for cash then maybe keep the jobs and learn how to build online income streams in the evening?

Go fast, go far, go wide, and start digging when you hit oil and the profits allow you to gradually spend more and more time on it.


Just my two cents! I hope it helps.

Good luck chaps.

Cheers, Andy

antoinolachtnai

As you describe it, it's a hobby, not a business at this stage. You are not going to get any business grants for something that isn't even going to create a sustainable job for yourself. Still, that shouldn't stop you from doing it if it's what you want to do and you feel it has a future.

jhegarty

PeakOutput wrote: »

the only expenses in year one that are necessities are the sites design which is as i said almost done and webhosting. the budget right now is 4K and that will be spread over the first year, what we spend our money on entirely depends on the answer to this question,

are there any bodies goverment or otherwise that offer grants to this kind of start up?

To be honest €4k a year sounds like a hobby site. Nothing wrong with that , but I can't imagine getting any grant for it.

It's takes lots of visitors to make any money from Adsense. Persuming you site is 100% content and you have decent keywords you will have to be getting around 50,000 unique visitors a month to earn back your €4k over the year.

Chet Zar

Out of interest what kind of content/topics are you talking about? I'm sure you don't want to be specific but it might help get you better advice as well.

PeakOutput

Chet Zar wrote: »

Out of interest what kind of content/topics are you talking about? I'm sure you don't want to be specific but it might help get you better advice as well.

education

alright lads i know im being vague and deliberately so but lets assume for a minute i have a sustainable business plan in an untapped niche that falls under the above category. im not looking for critiques of that business plan(yet anyway) im looking for information on were to start looking for organisations that would provide grants to a website of this kind

edit; also 4K is everything we need for the barebones of the initial stages it would be preferable to and possible to spend alot more not to mention pay ourselves but that figure is if, for example, someone comes back on here and says absolutely no1 would ever consider giving a grant to us

Gambler

To be honest if your main source of revenue for the first year or so is going to be adsense then you are spending too much on the "bare bones" of the site for the first year to my mind..

To just bring in 4K a year (let alone any more money to pay wages) on adsense you are going to need a HUGE amount of traffic with a decent click through rate which also has high paying advertisers so unless a good chunk (i.e. > 75%) of that expenditure is on marketing you are going to end up very disappointed.

Most people who make money on adsense work on a high turn over of small websites focused on various niches. You create 5-10 websites a month with 20 - 50 pages of focused content and a bit of SEO on a subject with a high paying advertiser base, then rinse and repeat. Each website will only bring in a bit each month so it's the quantity that matters. Very few sites manage to make enough money off one site and to do that they need traffic on the sort of scale that major news sites have (think BBC, huffington post, cnn or maybe even boards.ie )

antoinolachtnai

If the website isn't focused directly on your business venture, then why would you get a business grant for it? I cannot see much chance, but anything is possible.

You might convince the Department of Education to pay for the service you are providing but I would be surprised if they would (even if they had any money, which they don't).

PeakOutput

Gambler wrote: »

To be honest if your main source of revenue for the first year or so is going to be adsense

i said initially i didnt say the first year but if i was unclear i apologise

If the website isn't focused directly on your business venture

were did i say that? the website is the business.

lads again im not looking for a critique of the business plan i have plenty of people to do that for me im just looking for info on grants if the answer is no then thats fine or if its i dont know thats fine but i havnt given you enough info on the business to surmise weather or not its sustainable just enough to tell me if there is a specific grant or organisation out there that might be able to help

thanks for the replies so far anyway even if they have nothing to do with my question

antoinolachtnai

I thought you were referring to serving an untapped niche that was a niche of the information of your website.

Why not start with the revenue-earning part, selling whatever products, and build the information part of the website as you go along?

Gambler

To be honest if you want to know if the education department or enterprise boards have grants for this sort of thing why not pick up the phone and ring them? If you already have a business plan and an idea of how to pitch it to them so they would be willing to give you money then the best thing to do would be to ring and ask surely?

I would say that enterprise boards etc. are mostly interested in what employment you may eventually create and if there is some sort of export potential although I think they used to have some sort of a grant for people who were starting a new business that allowed you to claim back some of the tax you paid over the last few years to help fund the startup but I only have a vague memory of that so again would be worth ringing them and asking..

PeakOutput

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

I thought you were referring to serving an untapped niche that was a niche of the information of your website.

Why not start with the revenue-earning part, selling whatever products, and build the information part of the website as you go along?

oh i understand what you mean now we see the information as a way of building trust and a way of driving traffic to the site and we then offer products thats are unique and targetted aswell

If the website isn't focused directly on your business venture

as far as the enterprise boards go we will be in touch with them

as far as the board of education i owuldnt have the faintest idea were to start calling thats all. we tried using that website directory of funding awards and grants but it isnt very clear and seems out of date

nothing seems to have popped into the head of people here that we have missed but thanks for the replies anyway

flash harry

Hey OP

to try answer the question you asked.....the enterprise boards e-marketing grants are a possibility. 2 types one for pure info sites, or another for ecommerce enabled. You can get €1K or €2.5K respectively based on spend.

NB these are based on you spending €2K to get €1K back etc - must be 3rd party provider of services.

Say your a start up, say there is a manufacturing or export element, and if there is possibility of creating jobs in future that will help.

Check your local CEB and see when next round of funding is.

FH