how to populate a new classified website?

Gonzales

So I got some advice here over the last few days on classified website software-thanks all, my next question is about populating the site with seller ads.

My intention is to charge / advertisement- obviously, but I need to populate the site with advertisements from sellers before I embark on marketing the site to the consumers.

My first thought is to offer the advertisements free for the first 100 to sign up-fair enough but I'm really struggling with how I will reach out to these first 100.
As before I'd value input from you all in this forum who may have more experience of this, I'll admit I'm a little green but not totally.

conolan

100 will not be enough. You need thousands in order to generate an audience. Most things for sale are on buy&sell, donedeal, cbg, gumtree, adverts.ie etc.
Interesting to note that Adverts.ie, despite being associated with this very successful site have failed to get much traction. It takes years.

Gonzales

Thanks Conolan,
I hear ya but it really doesn't address the question. How does a fledgling classified site build up its ad base, they have to start somewhere, right?

Maybe a print ad in the relevant section offering free ads for the month of June?

TheWaterboy

You cant expect it to be a success over night - It will take a few years. The least you can do is offer free ads for six months.

You are getting involved in a very crowed market at present so in order to survive you had better be a niche market or be doing something that makes you better than the competition.

Donedeal are head and shoulders above the rest. Even Ben Dunne has concluded that his classified ads venture is a failure.

Gonzales

there is currently no one operating in my proposed niche as far as I can see.

6 months thats a helluva a long time, I'd be concerned that to change from a free to a paying model after 6 months would prove difficult for the market to stomach. thanks for the input Waterboy.

wobblyknees

TheWaterboy wrote: »

You cant expect it to be a success over night - It will take a few years. The least you can do is offer free ads for six months.

You are getting involved in a very crowed market at present so in order to survive you had better be a niche market or be doing something that makes you better than the competition.

Donedeal are head and shoulders above the rest. Even Ben Dunne has concluded that his classified ads venture is a failure.

I don't know if anyone agrees with me but all I could think of at the time was that 'his' website would fail.

Cianos

No matter what way you do it you're going to have to offer the first adverisements for free. Nobody is going to pay to advertise on an empty directory. You could offer basic ads for free, and people can pay for extras such as more photos, a higher placing on the page etc.

Maybe there's some way of sharing ads with an already existing directory? You may have to pay them but it could be worth it.

wobblyknees

Or maybe you could offer ALL ads for free, with only renewals or bumps, as they might be called, being charged for.

di11on

How about contacting people with ads in your niche on other sites like those mentioned above, and offer them a free ad on your site? You could offer to take an email address, enter the ad yourself and send the seller on his login details.

Gonzales

Cianos I reckon I'll defo need to offer it free at first to populate it but I will find it difficult to get a list of advertisers from other sites as no other sites currently exist that offer what I'm offering. I would be willing to pay but the other directories are not operating in my niche exactly.

Wobblyknees , that's a novel idea, I'll explore that.

Dillon thanks but there is no one site that is really offering what I've got. I reckon I'll end up offering free ads a t first & doing cold calls to get advertisers to sign up.

thanks all for your thoughts.:)

wobblyknees

Gonzales wrote: »

Cianos I reckon I'll defo need to offer it free at first to populate it but I will find it difficult to get a list of advertisers from other sites as no other sites currently exist that offer what I'm offering. I would be willing to pay but the other directories are not operating in my niche exactly.

Wobblyknees , that's a novel idea, I'll explore that.

Dillon thanks but there is no one site that is really offering what I've got. I reckon I'll end up offering free ads a t first & doing cold calls to get advertisers to sign up.

thanks all for your thoughts.:)

I think in this climate, you have hit the nail on the head in that you have to sell, sell and sell again. Choose different target markets, if that's appropriate, and go for a chunk of small, medium or large companies in that sector with your special offer. For the most important companies, those with a brand/name, you might want to give them the best deal. Say a full 6 months free and then another 6 months at 25% and so on, to really rope them in. Don't be afraid to copy or mimic how other successful sites are doing things. It's how a lot of successful businesses make it. Keep it simple though. In my opinion, DAFT is probably an excellent model, they kept it really simple in the beginning, with very transparent charges and an easy to use interface for everyone. That has to be the aim.

petergfiffin

If you're going to offer all ads for free then expect to get a lot of joke ads and general rubbish (even paid sites have this problem) so you might have to plan on spending a lot of time approving ads.

Is there a local or trade magazine you could link in with whereby for 6 months you will allow them post ads online for free?

Gonzales wrote: »

... no other sites currently exist that offer what I'm offering. I would be willing to pay but the other directories are not operating in my niche exactly.

I think it's very important to research why they don't. It could well be that you have hit on something truly unique and fresh but equally there may be a very good reason why they don't, maybe they tried and realised it was too expensive or the uptake wasn't great, it's always important to understand the difference (I realise I might be telling you something you already know )

Gonzales

petergfiffin wrote: »

I think it's very important to research why they don't. It could well be that you have hit on something truly unique and fresh but equally there may be a very good reason why they don't, maybe they tried and realised it was too expensive or the uptake wasn't great, it's always important to understand the difference (I realise I might be telling you something you already know )

Thanks for the advice Peter, I'll look into it, there may be some hurdle as to why no one else is doing it or someone may have tried & failed already - I'll have a sconce around but you know sometimes when searching you end up finding the info you want to hear, if you know what I mean. I might get a friend to search for me. Thanks again.

Southsider1

TheWaterboy wrote: »

You cant expect it to be a success over night - It will take a few years. The least you can do is offer free ads for six months.

You are getting involved in a very crowed market at present so in order to survive you had better be a niche market or be doing something that makes you better than the competition.

Donedeal are head and shoulders above the rest. Even Ben Dunne has concluded that his classified ads venture is a failure.

To be fair Ben Dunne's site was doing ok, actually quite well for a new site in such a busy market place but was just not going fast enough for him. I read an article recently about Done Deal and how it took nearly two years to get moving properly. I reckon it's a slow markey and the only way I can think of is to get stuck into all your competitors sites and e mail every advertiser offering them a free slot on yours. Time consuming I know but..... Unless there's some software out there to do it for you?

fergalfrog

Southsider1 wrote: »

.....to get stuck into all your competitors sites and e mail every advertiser offering them a free slot on yours. Time consuming I know but..... Unless there's some software out there to do it for you?

Just a reminder that what you are describing there is spam so you may need to consider this before you go sending out thousands of mails.

chillywilly

fergalfrog wrote: »

Just a reminder that what you are describing there is spam so you may need to consider this before you go sending out thousands of mails.

ye thats right. In my opinion, picking up the phone and ringing around would be a lot more affective than thousands of emails. It a lot more professional and shows your enthusiasm.

-Chris-

If you're going to charge for an ad, you'd better be able to deliver a very targeted audience - are you that niche that you can promise that?

Also, if you're charging, are you sure someone else won't buy a domain and some classified ads software and start the same service in your niche with free ads in the hope that they'll make their money from advertising?

Asking for money for an online classified ad is a big ask nowadays imho. I know I wouldn't pay for one (unless I had something very specialised to sell, and the classifieds company were the only game in town).

Gonzales

-Chris- wrote: »

If you're going to charge for an ad, you'd better be able to deliver a very targeted audience - are you that niche that you can promise that?

Also, if you're charging, are you sure someone else won't buy a domain and some classified ads software and start the same service in your niche with free ads in the hope that they'll make their money from advertising?

Asking for money for an online classified ad is a big ask nowadays imho. I know I wouldn't pay for one (unless I had something very specialised to sell, and the classifieds company were the only game in town).

private seller & sellityourself seem to be doing quite well or am I wrong? They charge around E200 for a classified ad. I think they're doing ok.

-Chris-

I wouldn't know, I've never heard of either of them.

Maybe I'm not their target market though?