Building a coupon site?
- Thread starter WantedInc
- Start date
Excuse the bluntness but get specific with your questions or get out, and show people you've put forth at least a modicum of effort to understand the problem and answer the question for yourself before asking. No free lunches here.
well i just bought a coupon domain and was trying to decide what to do with it.
i have seen something called coupon press which is a wordpress theme and some other coupon programs so i was trying to get feedback on anything coupon related. Assuming that people do use the affiliate programs for couponing. I have no idea about anything coupon related.
other option would be trying to make it a coupon forum. its a pretty good domain and was purchased for a good chunk of $.
so i am just trying to get some ideas or feedback on coupon type sites..
I would love to be more specific but I am a complete newbie regarding couponing
i have seen something called coupon press which is a wordpress theme and some other coupon programs so i was trying to get feedback on anything coupon related. Assuming that people do use the affiliate programs for couponing. I have no idea about anything coupon related.
other option would be trying to make it a coupon forum. its a pretty good domain and was purchased for a good chunk of $.
so i am just trying to get some ideas or feedback on coupon type sites..
I would love to be more specific but I am a complete newbie regarding couponing
^this man speaketh the trutheth.
I'm curious why you bought the domain in the first place if you have no clue what to do with it? I mean I've made some impulse buys on domains that end up sitting around but it sounds like you want to force the issue because you forked up some change for it. If you think you got a good deal on it then try and flip it.
Have a look at formetocoupon.com if you still want to go build it out though. I have not used them but they seem pretty solid.
Btw, the least you can do is make an effort to write properly, this isn't DP.
not sure if i should try groupon type clone? or go with a coupon type site?
the coupon ones dont really seem like much of a moneymaker, the ceiling doesnt seem too high..whereas the groupon style seems to have profitability built in to it. Just would require a lot more hustling to get offers to sell. And then you basically are just a groupon copy and how do you outdo groupon at being groupon. Its like copying facebook, not sure its really doable when you are dealing with something as popular as groupon that everone loves.
anyways i would love to hear anyones ideas that have any experience with either.
the coupon ones dont really seem like much of a moneymaker, the ceiling doesnt seem too high..whereas the groupon style seems to have profitability built in to it. Just would require a lot more hustling to get offers to sell. And then you basically are just a groupon copy and how do you outdo groupon at being groupon. Its like copying facebook, not sure its really doable when you are dealing with something as popular as groupon that everone loves.
anyways i would love to hear anyones ideas that have any experience with either.
Well couponing is so hot right now. the extreme couponing show has a lot of buzz so its currently a pretty good rising trend. Also, I own close to 5000 domains at the moment and have always looked at them as virtual real estate, even this domain, if I screw it up for 6 months, I could always just sell it I guess. I didnt really get a good price on it but I did get a good domain.
Sorry for the poor writing. I guess I am so used to using an iphone I never really worry about proper capitalization.
Anyway, I was just trying to use this as an avenue for ideas and for feedback if anyone had any couponing or grouponing experience...
If you have no idea how to do it, then this niche isn't for you...
Its very very competitive to be honest.
Its very very competitive to be honest.
There is always a way to compete. Classmates.com thought they had it locked up until FaceBook came along. Who ever heard of blendtec until their "Will it blend?" videos. Not to mention what Google did to everyone when they perfected contextual advertisements.
You go hyper-local. You could concentrate on an area with the hottest nightlife or shopping and only focus on those spots. Think of how you could get real-time coupons to people searching in the area. There will be legwork, but that is life.
That is just one idea. Expand it to your area or different vertical.
YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW THE NICHE
Unless your going to write about Actuarial Science or Rocket Science you can pretty much learn as you write. Just do a little research, see what others have written and then give it your voice with some differences.
The trick is learning the business and for that - even Groupon didn't know how it would work until they jumped in.
You go hyper-local. You could concentrate on an area with the hottest nightlife or shopping and only focus on those spots. Think of how you could get real-time coupons to people searching in the area. There will be legwork, but that is life.
That is just one idea. Expand it to your area or different vertical.
YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW THE NICHE
Unless your going to write about Actuarial Science or Rocket Science you can pretty much learn as you write. Just do a little research, see what others have written and then give it your voice with some differences.
The trick is learning the business and for that - even Groupon didn't know how it would work until they jumped in.
That right there is where you should stop yourself from hitting the "buy" button. If you can't think of AT LEAST 3 ways to monetize a domain when you get an idea, don't buy it.
Simply saying you'll flip it for x amount doesn't cut it unless it's a great domain name.
- People don't buy domain names unless they're catchy or need it for their business
- People don't buy websites unless there is serious earning potential
The fact that you don't know what to do for the site and the fact that you probably bought a generic domain name rules out flipping for any decent amount.
What reason do people have for coming to a coupon blog or forum? Half-assing it with no business direction is not going to fly in tough/competitive niches.
The moms coming to the site aren't going to care how much your domain cost if there is no reason to come, because they'll never see it in the sea of 100's of better designed coupon sites.
It's not that you're a "complete newbie regarding couponing", it's that you bought something to jump in on a niche without even a single unique idea regarding monetization and differentiation.
- You don't know your demographic
- You haven't researched competition
- You haven't laid out a list of mentization plans
- You don't have an exit strategy
- You don't have a clue for site features
That's 5 strikes on the "Does Rex Buy a Domain to Enter a Niche" check list, two more than needed to just say no.
Yeah, if you have a solid marketing strategy, have researched your demographic, and have a quality product you can succeed. The OP has none of that.
Again, the OP has indicated they have no interest in setting up anything more than a WP blog. Clearly a custom-designed site meeting all the necessary needs for aesthetic and ease-of-use is out of the question.
Mate, that bit is almost -Rep worthy if your above points weren't semi-helpful.
This isn't long-tail, exact-match domain traffic for filling your daily pennies with Adsense ads. You have to know the demographic and niche in order to be successful with any moderately competitive website and design the site around their needs to make sure they stay on the site and come back.
It's not: go buy 100 500-word articles from Ambadelegabah, toss on a site, and watch the monies come in. You have to actually have people convinced your site is worth visiting with a niche like this.
With a coupon site you can arbitrage traffic, if you want to build a groupon clone you're going to have to worry about payment processing, a CMS for offer entry and display (a wordpress entry won't cut it) and a sales force for getting local merchants to use the system and then revenue reconciliation with the merchants you sold deals for. Both sites maybe based around saving money but the differences in requirements to run both are like night and day.
True, but it's not that difficult to gather enough information to launch a site and then build upon it as you go. I didn't see where the OP was not interested in taking the time to build something of value.
Well i have some infrastructure in place with my current projects. I was looking at software from agriya for a groupon clone, hire a couple sales people off craigslist, and using a paypal or google checkout merchant system. Invest into the project and reevaluate in 90 days.
I already have an office with some space available, and a bookkeeper so there is existing structure.
The buying or not buying of the domain is a moot point and always has been. The point of my thread isnt about should i have bought the domain its only about what to do with it.
After looking at things, i think a groupon clone is probably my best bet.
Couponing looks much more difficult at this time and too broad of a field to try and even enter.. but im still in the developmental stage so by next week I may go another direction.
Thanks for the help so far. I am all ears if anyone has any knowledge. Also, I appreciate the pm's and ideas and offers for help. I am definately not against hiring someone to manage the idea.
Ironic but this blog post was published today (don't shit yourself when you see Groupon's customer acquisition cost
)“Anyone can start a Groupon!” and other startup myths | Andrew Chen (@andrewchen)
I'd say the smart bet would be to go the coupon route with a high differentiation factor but that would mean more competition for me, so I'm all in favor of you pursuing the groupon clone or a wordpress site with a coupon plugin like everybody else.
