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| Aug 26, 2007 4:54 pm |
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re: re: I need your honest opinion please |
Reg Charie
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Stephen,
You come to the group unheralded asking for honest opinions, then when you don't like the answers you try to argue your points.
You replied to my post in PM then you bring the same reply public.
Just to keep the record straight and open, here is what I replied.
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Stephen, you asked for an honest opinion, and I gave you that.
You are right, I missed the forums link. Too many choices.
I tried several links and got a mandatory sign up form.
IMO this is way to early in the process. You have to sell the product before asking for signups.
Do you want to know what I think would make it warmer?
Colors for one. Blue and gray are for staid businesses, not something that portrays to be exciting and vibrant.
In a networking site I do not expect to see group forums. What I would want to see is what we have on Ryze. Networks on different topics run by members, not the "house".
I can understand beta, I have participated in many.
What you have is an alpha.
Not having at least a couple of generic memberships set up for us to see cut back on the effect and interest they might have generated.
After all, wouldn't that be the primary reason we were going there? To see what is in your system for us? The member page would be primary.
Yes I could see the forums on Ryze before signing up.
Well at least the ones that did not require membership to view.
After smoozing through the various networks I had enough information to decide to join as a fee member.
2 weeks later I signed up as a paid member.
I have joined a number of different SNS systems over the years and have not found one that suited my needs better.
Social Networking is one of building relationships, not selling. My response would have been different had you a photo and more details.
What part of Toronto? I lived there for years.
As for my photo, I did not choose to use it until I established myself here in Ryze. You might be surprised how much business it has brought in.
You were asking people to join up, and in effect, leave Ryze. Just showing the site conveys that.
While I applaud your efforts, I think you need to be better prepared before venturing out into the marketing world.
First impressions, (like not having a picture and error messages on the site), really count.
Social networking, for those of us that sit behind impersonal computer screens, is one of making connections.
I enabled my instant messenger info for you on my Ryze homepage, should you wish to chat.
Are you building this on a windows server?
Reg
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You say that your idea is "not quite polished yet" but it seems that the buffing it is getting is rubbing you the wrong way.
There are contradictions in your presentation and replies.
True, your site is free, at the moment, but it does not look like it will always be so.
Frankly I would not expect it to be free, as you have to monetize the system somehow and popular sites require investment in server architecture.
And Kurt is spot on when he says "Marketing and advertising (SELLING) is going to take most of your time and money."
As you are in the planning stages it would serve you well to take a closer look at SEO for the site.
You have already made one big mistake.
You linked an unfinished site in a spidered forum. This will count against you in your SERPs.
The fact that your intent to create an "entrepreneur's ebay" did not come across in your presentation should be sending you back to the drawing board.
>>I was looking for vision of what it could be to help each person, I got mostly negative undertone and misinterpretation.
Don't blame us youngster, you need to refine your concept. Perhaps partnering with some of the experienced "old folks" would temper your enthusiasm with experience?
>>To ASSUME that an age range, stated in a request for an opinion on how I could make this site better, is to avoid "us old folks" from telling me "Tried that, didn't work so well," does not demonstrate that expected wisdom.
The way you present it determines WHAT we assume.
Look at your market.
I would suspect that in your target age group the majority are NOT entrepreneurs but wage slaves, and while some of them would be looking for self employment, the system, (debts, family, homes, etc), keeps them from progressing.
OTOH, the "graying" market, or old folks, have the experience , the startup funds, and the need to develop alternate sources of income.
Reg
http://DotCom-Productions.com Private Reply to Reg Charie (new win) |
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