Do you think this is a good business idea?

[s4s]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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!