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View Full Version : Do you think this is a good business idea?



s4s
05-05-2010, 10:22 AM
Hi everyone I'm new to the forum.
I just started a company called spin4stuff.com
It allows you to create your own coupons, manage your clients and even have a web presence if you don't have one. you can goto spin4stuff.com and try the demo. Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Frank

vangogh
05-05-2010, 11:31 AM
Actually I don't think you have a good idea and your site strikes me as little more than spam. When I visited your site the first thing that happened was your site resized my browser, which is a definite no no.

A few clicks later and pop unders started opening. Again a no no and another indication of spam.

Pretending for a moment that neither of those things happened I still think you have a rather pointless site. The only thing I'm supposed to do is give you my email address and then you give me some random coupon.

Sorry, but your site looks like nothing more than a way to collect email address, which I have to assume you later send spam to. In fact I'm so convinced that's what the point of the site is that I removed mention of the URL in your post. If I'm mistaken, my apologies, but I saw absolutely no value to your site other than to spam the people who visit it. And if I am wrong you really need to rethink your site, because that's the impression it gives.

Patrysha
05-05-2010, 01:10 PM
I went and checked it and couldn't think of anything nice to say so I just kept my fingers quiet.

I actually think the concept would be really cool on a local business owners site or on Facebook, Spin before you shop :-) but as it was it looked just creepy and I clicked away without putting my email address in. I have a throwaway address, but I didn't even want to give that one!

s4s
05-05-2010, 01:13 PM
Definitely not SPAM. A user enters the email for the purpose of the vendor whose stuff they are spinning for. The vendor can then login to see who spins for their stuff, change their coupons, etc. This is totally free to the vendor and the customer. In the future revenue will be generated by sidebar ads. Again you are mistaken this is not SPAM. Just an idea my son and I had. He actually does all the artwork.

Thanks for the feedback,
Frank

vangogh
05-05-2010, 01:14 PM
Frank, my bad if it's not spam. But I would definitely reconsider how the site is set up, because it really does come across as spam.

A few suggestions:

1. Don't resize the browser window. There's no reason to do that.
2. Get rid of the popunders

Do both of the above and I'd have no problem leaving the URL here.

3. Give people more information about what they might get. As it is you're asking people to give you an email address without really giving them any idea what they'll get back for that email address. Why not list the companies that are currently offering coupons. Is it even necessary to collect an email address?

Basically you have to give more information before asking for something from your customers. As it stands now the site does a couple of things that are associated with spam sites and then asks for an email. You want my email you have to establish some trust. Right now the site doesn't do that.

Again my bad if this isn't spam. I wasn't trying to accuse you of anything. I mostly wanted to prevent people from dealing with the browser resizing and the popunders and the potential misuse of their email address. Patrysha and I were possibly the only 2 people who visited the site and both of us came away with a similar feeling. That should tell you something about how people will perceive the site as is.

s4s
05-05-2010, 01:15 PM
Yeah it definitely needs tweaking.
My son and I are new to this so all the feedback helps.
Creepy?? Ouch!

Thanks for being honest

vangogh
05-05-2010, 01:25 PM
No worries. In fact I had a feeling you weren't a spammer. Otherwise I would have banned your account.

The main suggestion I have is to establish trust with your visitors before asking them for an email. Tells us as much as you can about the coupons, the companies offering the coupons, why we would want the coupons.

Are these coupons for local businesses only? Are they for brick and mortar stores or are they for online companies? What kind of discount can I expect? Do you have testimonials from real people who have saved money using the site?

Things like that. The first thing you have to do is establish trust with your visitor and offer them a reason why these coupons will be valuable to them. Don't assume we know. I get tons of coupons in the mail as it is now. Why would I need more?

Sorry again for mistaking the site for spam and I and everyone else here will be happy to help you improve the site and the business.

By the way I put the URLs back in your first post so others here can take a look and offer some ideas.

s4s
05-05-2010, 01:46 PM
Excellent feedback!
That's why I came to this forum for exactly the types of things you have said.
It's hard getting a concept across without having someone read through pages of info. I'll talk to my son and see how we can make it more informative and friendly.

Thanks again,
Frank

vangogh
05-05-2010, 01:58 PM
See if you can boil down the concept into one or two sentences and place that right on the front page. You don't need the demo right on the front page, though you should have a nice big button or link to the demo.

You could even put the demo and email form on one side as long as there's some explanatory text on the other. Remember that before I'm giving you my email address you have to give me a reason why I should give you my email address and you have to give me a reason to trust that you'll treat my email with respect.

Offer a link to a privacy policy or some other page with information about what exactly you do with my email and place that link right where the form is to collect the email. Even just a small line that says something like "We hate spam and promise never to sell your email address" right there.

s4s
05-05-2010, 02:10 PM
I was hoping I could get some of the small business owners to register and try it out from a vendor perspective. It would be great to get that feedback as well.

Thanks everyone!

s4s
05-10-2010, 10:48 AM
Ok got rid of the most annoying part which was the resize. "About"
tells people what we do.

Will try to incorporate some of your other suggestions as well.

Thanks again

vangogh
05-10-2010, 11:27 AM
Definitely better. A few more thoughts.

Get rid of the splash page. Those intro pages are pointless. All they do is prevent people from reaching your real content Why make people wait to get to your content? Every second you make them wait means more people are leaving. Just take people directly to your home page and do away with the intro.

Much of your content is an image. Take your about page for example. That stuff in the middle in the gray box is an image. Search engines still have issues reading that text so know that the pages won't do particularly well in search engines.

I still think the overall concept behind the site needs to be explained better. Someone who first lands on your site is going to have a lot of questions, which don't seem to be answered well. Your domain name is spin4stuff. My first question would be what stuff? What exactly am I spinning for? It's clear to you because you know the business and built the site. It's not going to be clear to the average person who finds your site. You need to make it very clear what the site is about and why someone should use it.

If a person can't understand the main idea behind your site in a few seconds they'll leave and won't be back.

KristineS
05-10-2010, 03:57 PM
I have to agree with Vangogh that there needs to be a better explanation. I hadn't visited the site before and the first thing I thought when I did visit was first, local coupons from my locality didn't seem likely, as I live in a smaller town, the second thing I thought is that I wasn't too hip on getting a random coupon for something I might not use or want, and the third thing I thought was, given the first two things, why would I bother?

So, tell me why would I bother? What's in it for me?

s4s
05-10-2010, 04:40 PM
I now see why there is confusion around the purpose and usefulness of the site.
You are all looking at the site from a user perspective and not a vendor perspective. At this point a user would not just randomly goto the site without being given a reason why. The process as I imagined is as follows and maybe there are flaws in it:
1. Vendor registers on site and creates 3 coupons customers can spin4 then activates his account.
2. Vendor gives site URL and vendor spincode to customers via their website, business cards, flyers, ads, etc.
3. Customer goes to spin4stuff, enters their email address then vendor spincode and spins4stuff from the vendor.
4. Customer prints coupon and brings to vendor for redemption.
5. Vendor can login to their account and:
- see who spun 4 their stuff
- change their coupons/prizes
- validate a coupon was not copied
- temporarily deactivate their account if they don't have any coupons/prizes offered at that time

Why would a vendor do this? Because it's free, they can actually manage their advertising campaign on the fly, they can track their users, they offer something different and fun other vendors do not, they can use it as a web presence if they don't have one.

Imagine going out to dinner and when it comes to dessert the waiter brings over a netbook and asks if you would like to spin4dessert (free coffee, dessert, 50% off, whatever). If you were already going to buy dessert then good for you cause now you will get a discount and good for the vendor because he now did something fun and different that you will talk about with your friends and he has your email so can send you info on specials, etc. Same applies to beauty salon and other small businesses that you would frequent occasionally. Vendor can also give you a flyer or business card so you have the spincode with you and can spin4stuff prior to your next visit.

Does this make sense? Good/bad business ideas? Flaws?
Thanks again for all the feedback!

vangogh
05-10-2010, 05:01 PM
Frank, that's a much better explanation of the purpose of the site. Now I understand what you're trying to do and I can see where it could be useful to both businesses and their customers.

My first thought is why isn't that kind of explanation on the site? Vendors are going to need to know why they should join and even customers are going to want to understand how the site works.

What I see now is when someone lands on the home page there are 3 main possibilities for what they want to do.

1. spin for a coupon
2. information for vendors
3. information for customers

That's how the home page should be set up. Create 3 different sections for each of the possibilities above. And then naturally build each of those 3 sections.

With the business you naturally need to sign up vendors, especially as you're counting on them for promotion. Make it very clear to vendors why this will be a good thing for their business. Emphasize that since it's free there's no risk for them. Also teach them how they can promote this to their customers.

I don't think you want to limit the information to vendors though. You could provide information to customers about which vendors are currently signed up and offer customers reasons why they should spin. Let them know these offers can't be found elsewhere. Let customers know how to approach vendors not listed to encourage those vendors to sign up.


You are all looking at the site from a user perspective and not a vendor perspective.

It's never the fault of someone visiting the site. It's always your fault for not explaining things clearly. That's not meant as a dig at you personally. It's a general thing. Remember that anyone might visit the site. That person may be a vendor or may be a customer. More likely that person is both. It's up to you to make clear the purpose of the site for everyone who might be likely to use it regardless of who that person is.

Get those explanations on the site. Someone visiting the site as a customer could easily own a business and want to sign up as a vendor.

Patrysha
05-10-2010, 05:03 PM
If it's free for the vendors and free for the customers then where does monetization of it come in?

s4s
05-10-2010, 05:20 PM
Ok makes sense.
I'll have to think about what those changes will look like and what to say.
Thanks

s4s
05-10-2010, 05:22 PM
The little ads on the sides. I can break them down by country, province/state/county. So I can literally get several hundred thousand ads in US alone.

KristineS
05-10-2010, 05:28 PM
O.k., that's a much better explanation, and I do see more of a reason why someone would want to use the site. That definitely needs to go on the site.

s4s
05-11-2010, 09:46 AM
I started this as a way to keep my son busy and out of trouble but as we built the site and developed the concept we really think it could be a viable business and give him a career for the future. He is 17 and cant even find a part time job at a gas station, super market or even fast food joint. All jobs are taken and many by senior citizens who are struggling as well.
This could not only be a foundation for my son and possible career but we really do believe it will help customers save some money and vendors as well. And again it's FREE to both.
So now that you know what the site is about and offers to customers and vendors what is the best/quickest way to inform vendors that this FREE service exists and start using it NOW!

Thanks again for all the great feedback,
Frank

s4s
05-11-2010, 10:39 AM
Do you know of other forums/sites where I can "get the word out" so vendors can start benefiting from spin4stuff? I've been to other sites that state no "advertising/soliciting". But I don't feel I'm selling but more helping small business. Hopefully someday we can gain financially but for now the experience alone is great! The service itself will always be FREE!

vangogh
05-11-2010, 11:29 AM
You can do a search for small business forum or forums and find plenty, however I wouldn't join just to tell people about your site. To you it seems like you're trying to help people, but the truth is posting just to tell people about your site is not about them. It's about you. It's going to be considered spam in most places, including here. At best most people will simply ignore you.

What you would be better doing is joining a forum to answer questions and become part of the community. Add a forum signature with a link back to your site. If you genuinely participate in a forum community people will click your signature link and visit your site.

s4s
05-11-2010, 11:43 AM
Ok makes sense

Thank you!

s4s
05-14-2010, 09:29 AM
Ok made some more changes based on your suggestions.
Let me know if this gets the point across.
Thanks again.
BTW left the intro...I like it and my son thinks its cool :)

vangogh
05-14-2010, 11:00 PM
The home is definitely better now that the explanation is there. I think it could be better still. Instead of explaining everything right there why not give a short sentence for customers and another short sentences for vendors with links to more detailed pages. That gives you the opportunity to give a lot more details and people can more easily find the specific information they want.

As far as the intro you really need to drop it. The only thing it's going to do is keep people from ever visiting the home page. If you want to keep it then come up with one valid reason. Offer one thing it does to help your business. Looking cool is not a valid reason.

s4s
05-15-2010, 10:08 AM
Ok we dropped the intro :(
The intro is now replaced with who we are, what we do, and why use us.
Then if you click on the vendor link and it gives the vendor more info as well.
What do you think?

This has been a great experience!

Thanks again,
Frank

vangogh
05-15-2010, 11:56 AM
It's better, but it could still use improvement. First make that spinner more obvious that you're supposed to click it. I don't think people will automatically know to click it and it's the only clickable thing on the page. It's still a splash page too. Why not just have that information be on the home page? When I type spin4stuff.com take me right to your home page.

For comparision take a look at New Orleans Coupons (http://www.neworleanscoupons.com/). It's just a random coupon site I found. I realize it's different from your business, but take a look at the design. You land on the site and it's very clear right away what the site is about and what you can do.

It's a nice clean design that inspires confidence in the site. I couldn't say the same about your site. Pretend for a moment that your site and this site were both offering the same things. Ignore the differences in business models for a moment. If a person was presented both sites and told to pick one to explore further, which one do you think they'd choose and why?

s4s
05-18-2010, 12:52 PM
Thanks for all your help. Your suggestions have obviously worked since I've had several signups over the weekend and another this morning. I was thinking to get more small business owners interested I would test sending an email about the company out and possibly putting this somewhere on the site. What do you think?

spin4stuff.com was created to solve a problem all business owners have; Attracting and keeping customers. Our first step in solving the problem was finding a way to get customers interested. One way to do that is with savings or discounts. Everyone loves a good deal. But most companies use coupons for savings or discounts therefore we needed another hook to attract customers. Which is why we created the spinning wheel which let's customers SPIN to WIN a variety of prizes or coupons. Everyone including adults love to win stuff! So we have a fun way to attract people but how do we keep them coming back? All of the prizes automatically expire after 7 days of winning which means the customer has to use it or lose it. If it expires they have to come back and spin again. Isn't this great, no more lingering coupons! We've also made it very easy for small business owners to create their own coupons as often as they like which means customers will come back to see what's new.

The result is a fun way to get the attention of new and existing customers and keep them coming back for more!

That may sound like a great way to solve a common problem but it's not the end of the story. You see we believe that customer contact is just as important as the sale since it could lead to many more sales. That's why we help you track your customers. Every time a customer spins for your stuff they have to enter their email address. The small business owner can then see who spun for their stuff, send them informational, promotional and thank you emails and emails to just say hello. After all small business is part of the community and we help you stay connected. Not only do we show you who spun for your coupons we also prevent fraud. Every coupon or prize has a unique code attached to it. Small business owners can see who won a prize, what prize they won and the date they won it.

So why use spin4stuff.com?

* To attract new customers and keep existing.
* To manage your own coupon and advertising campaigns.
* To stay in touch with your customers.
* Oh and best of all it's FREE to use for both customers and small
business owners!


What are you waiting for?
Register now at spin4stuff (http://www.spin4stuff.com)

Oh and one more thing. We did not build spin4stuff.com to be a fancy site but a site providing a needed service to communities world wide. Think of us as craigslist for small business owners with a twist!

s4s
06-01-2010, 11:00 AM
This site has been extremely helpful in assisting with our business concept.
I appreciate the honesty although rough to take at times I'd rather that than fluff. Thank you to all who have helped. We continue to tweak our site every day based on continuous feedback. We believe we are on track to getting the right message across and to helping as many small business owners possible.

Thanks for all your help and support!

Frank

vangogh
06-01-2010, 04:50 PM
Just letting you know none of the links at the bottom of the page are working in Safari or Firefox or Chrome.