You're completely missing my point.
I dont think im missing the point completly. I suppose what your seeing when you look at the site is not the whole picture. I still have things like the photo gallery and location map and a few other things yet to go on.
If you expect people to pay you to get listed and other people to use the service to contact them then you need to offer something that nobody else offers.
I have been trying to think up ideas for this, and I have a few, but nothing that is yet to really stand out with that wow factor. I want to offer as much as possible. But I also have to keep in mind that the site is not based on the directory, its based on the service of getting leads for the tradespeople registered on the site, the directory is secondary to that, which will build up as the lead service builds up.
I don't see anything that your site is currently doing that other sites aren't doing and are probably doing better
It doesn't matter what other people are or aren't doing. The successful sites are already getting traffic and making sales.
You're starting from scratch and you need to attract both punters and tradespeople.
As a punter I can't see anything on the site that would encourage me to visit again
This might come across wrong, and no offence is intended, but when you or any other designer/developer looks at a website, you probably see design, and not much more.. but when a visitor looks at a site, how its made up probably doesnt even cross their minds as long as it has the info or services they need. To give 2 good examples of this... you have tradesmen.ie in one corner... very plane and simple, nothing much to look at on the front end, yet still does very well because of the service it offers and I can say it does offer a great service because I used to use them to get work during the boom. And in the other corner you have onlinetradesmen.ie who seem to have gone heavy on design and have so much info on the site you would need to take a day off to read it all, but they also do extremely well because of the service that's offered behind the website. The website is just a tool. Each of these sites (and others) started small, like any start-up really, but grew and built their reputation, and its the reputation that got them where they are, not just the websites. When I was using tradesmen.ie, i think I was only on their site 2 or 3 times. Everything was done by text message and telephone, even though I had a laptop with me all the time.
As someone who controls a marketing budget I wouldn't pay to get listed on the site, as I can't see how it would bring me any business.
This is what I am explaining above, the site is not soley about the listings in the directory, thats just an extra, a place where people who have used the service can add reviews, see previous work, check qualifications etc. What tradesmen are paying for is a lead service.
To start with the domain name is terrible. It's not memorable at all.
I have another domain 'trade-quote.com', but my payment processor is set to stapolin.ie, and my other payment processor alertpay, who i would have been using but they lost the ability to process credit cards, so I ended up with stapolin.ie, but that could change overnight and I may move to the lot to trade-quote.com, im sure there are still many people out there who use a cheque book to pay for things :sentimental: I know I do.
I can't see how you are going to be able to persuade people to get listed on there unless you're offering them the listing for free.
As above, its not focused on the listings, although I may do a listing only offer, but each tradesman listed would still need to be verified before they get listed.
Other sites already do what you're trying to do and have market share.
Yes, there are a number of sites offering the same service, but very few, if any, will offer as many services ie. Lead services, directory listings, websites, facebook pages, featured advertising, featured tradesperson writeup etc etc... but I dont want to jam it all in at once and end up overwhelmed with work, I want to get the foundations laid, and build on it from there.
If you want to get market share you need to be more interpretive. You need to innovate.
I dont think getting market share will be too hard with the right marketing. It is the type of service more and more people are looking for, and I think, in time, I should have no problem competing with others providing similar services.
I have been planning this for a long time, and its not the firs one of these sites I have done.. I used to own decks.ie and had a similar service, but was just leads service, nothing else, and it went very well for a while, but I forgot to renew the domain name, and it was taken by a competitor, who of course refused point blank to let me have it back.
I understand what your saying blacknight, and believe me, its all being taken on board. I do want this site to develop into something like has never been seen in Ireland for this niche, a service that will be hard to top by anyone. I think I have a good advantage over some of the others whereas I have worked as a tradesman, with other tradesmen & for other tradesmen. I have also had a love of website design for a long time. I think it was 1996 when I put together my first site, and amazon was selling just books! But lately, I have really been getting into php/mysql, and what I have learned has really given me a boost in what I can offer with this service, but like many people, its always good to get the opinions of other to help keep you on the right track.