Should We Require Registration?

Nathan

I thought about doing a free email account because its good for marketing but there are too many issues with SPAM.

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Nathan

I'm working on a directory site right now. :Thumbs:

It will be called www.contractorhunt.com
Contractors can list there business for free or pay for a premium listing (have to make money somehow right?)
Anyways, it should launch in April.

I guess its not really a benefit for registering but its coming soon.

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Grumpy

Hmmm if you go to www.contractors.com they have 3 levels of registration. basic silver and gold. Basic is free, silver is premium and goes above all the basic, gold is more expensive and goes at the top of the list... Here's an idea:

Free membership for anyone. Silver membership for registered users of this board and gold is pay available to anyone.

Teetorbilt

Grumpy, what do we get for pay?
I'm not sure that I want to afford much more. I am seriously looking at what my 'computer expenses' are and it's not a rosey picture. Had to buy a new workstation this year, $4,500.00. Upgrades, $500.00. New programs, $1500.00. Access (cable) $500.00. Support@35.00 per episode $350.00. Websites $1000.00 and I know that I am leaving out more.
I want my old Tandy 1000 and dial-up. Just kidding! Remember Basic and AppleSpeak? Damn, I'm old! I digress.
Personally, I see this as an additional source of advice plus I enjoy sharing lessons learned so that others might not enjoy some of my failures, some rather expensive (I think of it as CE classes).
Jus' thinkin'

Nathan

Just a quick reminder... this board is and always will be a free board. Registration is FREE! :Thumbs:

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Nathan

Hmmm, thats kinda depressing... I thought contractor.com was a lead service like service magic, I didn't realize that they had a directory too.

Their directory is exactly like what I'm looking to do. Only my premium listings were going A LOT cheaper (as in divide by 10).
Oh well, theres always room for one more person in the mix right?

I figured I could drive traffic to the sites through diychatroom.com.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this idea?

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Grumpy

Contractor.com's back end lead service is www.respond.com They use the lead service and have a directory. Anyone can co-brand with respond.com, even you.

HCI

This might sound dumb but why would I want to regester my bussiness in an online directory? What benifits will it have? All of my work comes from word of mouth.

Grumpy

Heh. Forgive me for laughing but as you can not understand why someone would list themselves I can not understand why a business man wouldn't want more business no matter where it comes from.

Much of our work is word of mouth but I never rely on any one form of advertising. That's like putting all your eggs in one basket then hoping you don't drop the basket.

Nathan

It's a valid question.

Maybe I'm a dreamer but the Web Boom is not over... its just getting started!

Younger generations (Under 30) look to the web for all their information. They don't look at the yellowpages, they look it up online. These directory sites are the new yellowpages and I'm just trying to get in early with www.contractorhunt.com .
Younger generations also want information and these sites allow contractors to give customers more information about themselves as well as giving customers the ability to rate contractors.

Also, most of the listings will be free so why not?

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Grumpy

I think the boom is over but the web is still definetly growing at a steady and healthy pace.

If you allow rating at contractorhunt.com allow contractors to respond to those ratings like ebay has.

HCI

Grumpy,
Hope you enjoyed the laugh...Its been 30 plus years and i haven't dropped a single egg yet.
Nathan, Thanks for the answer. How large or small of an area would potental clinets be contacting a contractor from? We only travel a 10 mile radus and at times we have jobs 5 months out.

Nathan

Do you mean would the site be zip code based? That type of thing?

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

HCI

If the site were zip code based, then I would consider registering. the last thing I want to do is drive 30 miles just to give a second estimate. Let me know when your site is up. Thanks

Grumpy

HCI, I'd be very interested in discussing your method of advertising (or non advertising) in another topic. Feel free to start one in the marketing forum. I have some thoughts and questions on the subject.

Nathan, yeah I would say trade based sub-divided by zip code. Or visa versa, same thing really.