My Egg Noodles

I’m not sure about others that work online, but I seem to have built the knack of wondering if everything I see, do or hear could be turned into a web site. Even when I hear a funny quote, I’ll make a mental note and check to see if the .com is available.

So far my list stands at around 100 ideas, however today I’m going to share one of the best ideas I’ve had in a while. It’s low cost to set up, fun, and will give you an opportunity to network with a lot of people. It won’t make you a millionaire, but it does have the scope to make you a reasonable living.

Where the idea come from

Today we have had fine weather in Bangkok after a week or two of chills, so while I was out and about this morning I got the urge to buy a nice ice cold Frappachino (basically a coffee milk shake). I walked past one Starbucks and there were around 15 people in line, next Starbucks had 20 or so, as I returned to the other Starbucks a couple of hours later but there were still 10+ people placing their orders.

I couldn’t work out why there were, unusually, so many customers… until I returned in the afternoon(determination had set in by then) and asked a member of staff. Starbucks here in Bangkok have a promotion going on; if you buy a coffee in the morning and keep your receipt, you can get another coffee in the afternoon for half price. Props to Starbucks.

I then started to wonder how many other restaurants, clubs, bars etc. have promotion going on that I don’t know about… a fair few I reckon.

The BIG idea

Create a web site profiling promotions and discounts restaurants, bars, clubs etc have going on for your town or city.

Why I think this project has potential

In every business you have the consumer and the provider… Due to the credit crunch, people are now spending less, and in turn establishments are seeing a drop in covers. A simple solution to fix both ends of the spectrum is for establishments to offer discounts and create promotions. The only problem is, most haven’t got a clue about how to get their promotion in front of their target market.

That’s where a site dedicated to publishing promotions and discounts in your city comes in.

What needs to be done

I haven’t gave a lot of thought to the below, but from the top of my head this is what I’d do:

1. Domain Name

Buy an easy to spell/remember domain name with the name of the city in it. An example for Bangkok: bangkokdiscounts.com or bangkokpromotions.com – You get the idea.

2. Use Wordpress

Find a nice free to use, 3 column Wordpress theme so you can have the site navigation on one side and banners on the other (personally I’m not keen on Magazine style themes as there not so easy to navigate)

3. Create a custom header/logo

If you haven’t got a scooby doo in how to knock up a quick header or logo, hold a contest on DP Forums and pay the best designer $10 for the logo/header.

4. Creating Ads

Create 9 banners for your favorite restaurants/bars and add them to one side bar. Call the establishment direct and ask if you can use an image or two from their web site. They shouldn’t mind. Alternatively, check to see if there are any on Flickr which you can use under a CC license.

Add an additional banner at the top that says “Advertise here” and link that to a contact form. By having 9 ads already displayed on the site, it makes it look like people are already paying you for ads which will give other establishments confidence.

5. Create a “Submit Promotions”page

Install a good contact form plugin like cFormsII and set up a page so that establishments can notify you when they have a new promotion. Don’t ask for to much info as this may put managers off from informing you… just request the bare essentials.

6. Add a Disclaimer page

Add a disclaimer page. We all fuck up from time to time, so it’s worth covering your arse in case you ever publish details incorrectly.

7. Build a list of establishments in your city

Get working on a list of establishments in your city… this will take a while but it’s vital you get this right. Search online, check local and national newspapers, drive around all the shopping malls in your city with a pen and pad…. The bigger your list, the more chance you have of publishing every promotion/discount in your city!

8. Initial contact with the establishments

Once you have a list of clubs, bars, restaurants etc. call each one and ask to speak to the PR Manager. Explain to them what you are doing and whether they mind you giving them a courtesy call on a monthly basis to see if they have any new promotions going on. Get their email address while you’re at it and inform them that you will email them a link to a page on your site whereby they can inform you of new promotions. Also, don’t forget to mention that you offer direct ad space which will give them additional exposure. Be polite, remember their name and smile when you talk (This is known to make your voice more “friendly”).

9. Keep in contact

Ideally you want to contact them twice a month, once by email (so they don’t need to respond if there’s nothing new) and once by phone so you can build a relationship with them.

Every 2 weeks send your list an email featuring your site stats, new features, a link to the advertising page and a link to the page where they can add promotions. 2 weeks after you have sent them an email, call them direct. This will give you a great opportunity to get to know the PR manager on a personal level which in turn will give you a higher chance of scoring an ad deal down the road.

On average, you need to get your brand into someone’s head 7 times before they automatically remember who you are… so don’t worry about contacting them every 2 weeks!

10. Go and meet them!

Once you have spoken to the PR manager 3 to 4 times, organize a meeting. Find out how you can help their business… maybe you could set up competitions, discuss ad deals… You never know, they may even give you some freebies! And plus, if you are meeting in their establishment, you’ll never have to pay for the drinks/food bill

11. Promote like crazy!

The steps above take you through how I would set the site up and handle the content, however all this is useless if you don’t work your arse off getting your name out there. So when new promotions coming into the site are light, spend as much time as possible leaving comments on blogs and forums that cover your city. Ask for reviews. Contact local newspapers to see if they will interview/feature you. Search for Twitter users in your city and add them. Use Blog directories. For more info on how to promote your blog, check out ProBlogger.

12. Share your experiences

If you have the time and are fully committed to this project, start a personal blog and discuss the ups and downs of your new project… people love to read about new companies starting from scratch on the cheap and you never know, if that blogs becomes a successes you’ll have 2 blogs bringing in revenue streams

If anyone decides to set a site up around this idea, please do let me know as I’d love to see this idea in action. I personally would subscribe to a site like this and I would even have set this up myself if I wasn’t busy with other projects. Anyway, good luck if you decide to give it a shot!

Now tell me, is this one of my better ideas or what!