I'm looking for IDEAS, somwhat in the same manner which is presented
in the answer to "Creative SUGAR!"
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=369874.
Six years ago I started a small-town retail tire business in South
America which is still growing and profitable. Recently I have had
someone build us a web site at www.neumaticocentro.cl.
I'm convinced that using the internet is definitely in our future as a
business but I don't really know where to put our effort and
resources.
As it stands now, I see the web site as a glorious electronic brochure
for our business which is nice but not really necessary. Furthermore,
it's of little value if no one sees it and even if it were to get lots
of traffic what good is a surfer from Madrid, Hong Kong, or Nome,
Alaska going to do for me at this stage?
So where do we go from here?
-Do we focus on using the web site as an advertising medium to
build the local shop's business?
-Do we build a national or internatioal business selling some
related or similar products?
-Do we build a site which uses our expertise in our field and
earns through referals to other on-line vendors (affiliate site)?
-Are there other alternatives?
Hopefully you can show me samples of sites that illustrate the different
alternatives which I might consider and would be delighted if I had
some real case studies showing the steps and results of businesses
similar to mine which took different routes. |
Clarification of Question by
antzsirs-ga
on
13 Jul 2004 17:02 PDT
I have increased the amount I'm prepared to pay, after reading a few
other Q&A's, however, I will be expecting to see at least 2 examples
of businesses which have followed each of the different paths which I
might choose and a discussion of the challenges and obstacles which
each one faced.
Its important to underline the fact that we are starting from an
established, small-town business and moving on from there. The fact
that we are in Chile, may or may not be relevant but I would like to
have this kept in mind and comments made if it is important.
Initially, I anticipate developing the web business in Spanish and may
concentrate on Chilean/spanish speaking markets, but this is open to
change, depending on what is revealed in the answer and the special
challenges or opportunities which this detail might present.
|
Clarification of Question by
antzsirs-ga
on
14 Jul 2004 17:31 PDT
I notice this question was locked for awhile but it has returned to an
unanswered state without any comment or clarification.
Has someone taken a stab at this and found some insurmountable
obstacle or is there another explanation?
If I'm asking for too much, what do you think you might you be able to come up with?
|
Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
14 Jul 2004 18:09 PDT
Hello, antzsirs -
Thank you for your question.
You seem to have two questions happening; one is "what do I do with my web site":
Do we focus on using the web site as an advertising medium to
build the local shop's business?
and one is "what do I do with my business":
Do we build a national or internatioal business selling some
related or similar products?
The former may hinge off the latter, but they are very different
questions, and there are a number of variables to consider for both of
them. For example, if you're contemplating expansion of your business
into a national or international concern, do you have the budget, the
staff, the resources? Are you equipped to ship products either
domestically or internationally, and handle returns? Are you prepared
to handle bi- or multi-lingual customer support? Are you willing to
make the necessary capital outlay and marketing steps to compete as an
e-business with the hundreds or thousands of established tired
companies on the net? As you can see, there are several subquestions
within these parent questions. Essentially, what's your vision and
resource/budget like?
Thank you,
jbf777
|
Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
14 Jul 2004 18:11 PDT
correction: that should be "tire companies" not "tired companies."
|
Clarification of Question by
antzsirs-ga
on
15 Jul 2004 07:42 PDT
Hello jbf777,
Maybe your "tired companies" is closer to the truth than the correction ;-)
Yes, I'm looking for ideas of what to do with a web site (either the
one we have, or others). And yes, I agree, the answer to that will
come from choosing what we are going to do with the business.
Maybe it might be helpful to confess that when this business started I
didn't have the slighest idea of what was involved in the tire
business (tires were black round rubber things I had to buy for my
car), and I also had little interest in running a retail business. I
learned and followed the advice of a lot of people much more
experienced and knowlegeable that I and it would seem we've been
successful. Now I want to see if we can bring the intenet into the
mixture and see where this could take us.
You're absolutely right that going national or international is far
different than staying local but I don't want to reject the
possibility without looking at it from different angles. This is one
of the reasons I have come here to seek ideas. Maybe someone
(yourself, perhaps) might open up a viewpoint which I might have
overlooked.
Going international (or even national in Chile which is a tiny market
on a global scale) may be an enormous undertaking if I chose to sell
all available tires. But what if I were to discover a niche and
specialize on selling striped yellow tires for 3 wheeled garden
tractors? (A ridiculous exaggeration... just to illustrate the
point).
Bi-lingual (at least spanish/english) doesn't scare me.
My vision is to start from where we are. This is a young, well run,
profitable local retail and service operation. I'm looking toward
the long run and would hope to build slowly using internal resources,
if possible, but not opposed to seeking outside funding and expertise
if we start something that shows good potential but is beyond our
means.
What I think I'd like to see is if there are examples of other
enterprises which have started from where we are and have developed
along different avenues using the internet.
For example,can you show me local service businesses which have
remained essentially that, but which have grown and strengthened their
positions using the intenet as an advertising, promotional, customer
relations tool?
On the other hand, are there examples of local businesses which have
gone on to become national or international concerns? What are these,
and what are some of the specific challenges that they've had to
resolve in the process.
What examples are there of local businesses which have used their
expertise and commercialzed this? The kind of thing which pops into
my mind is selling e-books on How to Make a Great Apple Pie, or
putting up a recipe site and earning commissions through referrals to
on-line spice companies, sellers of pie-plates, etc.
I hesitate in citing my own examples because I hope I might get some
fresh ideas and examples which might never occur to me otherwise.
My budget is essentially limited, but with the right plan considerable
resources might be raised. My preference, however, would be to work
on a shoe string, keep the initial outlay under $10K, and see how far
one can go on that.
I think a significant advantage we have in starting from the existing
retail business and adding to it is that we have a very seasonal
market and have considerable overhead which is idle or greatly
underutilized for 6-8 months a year.
Does this give you more of an idea of where we're starting from?
antzsirs
|
Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
15 Jul 2004 16:19 PDT
antzirs -
Yes, thank you for the clarification. I, or perhaps one of the other
researchers, will see if we can find anything along these lines.
Thanks,
jbf777
|
Clarification of Question by
antzsirs-ga
on
16 Jul 2004 13:37 PDT
Thanks jbf777,
I'll be looking forward to what you can turn up.
By the way, I liked the series of questions you raised in your first
request for clarification. Gives some food for thought.
|
Hello antszirs -
If you require any clarification on this research, please don't hesitate to ask.
Glad you liked the questions I raised. Since you are looking for
ideas, I offer the following as my opinion -- not to be construed as
official advice, nor reflective of Google or Google Answers. These
might be some issues raised by potential investors:
Looking at your situation, it would seem that a website with an
international retail focus might be difficult for the business to
transform into from its current form. The average shopper from the UK
is not going to be interested in having a tire shipped from chile,
unless it was some very specialized product. The shipping costs would
simply be counterproductive. An international business would
necessitate having points of presence in various countries around the
world from which you would ship. From what you describe budget-wise,
this doesn't seem like something doable in the very near future
without major investment. It would be a massive undertaking.
There may be similar issues with even a national focus. Will anyone
other than tire aficianados be interested in having their replacement
tires shipped to them from across the country, if they can get them
locally? What is the advantage to them? Plus, if they get them
across the country, they still might need to have them installed
locally, especially if they can't do it themselves. In addition, it's
not something they're looking to do all the time, since tires don't
need to be changed all that often. What is your clientele? Mostly
your average driver looking to have tires replaced, or more
sophisticated autophile patrons?
I believe the most practical thing for you to do with your online
presence is to attain links to it from other local websites. Place
banner ads on other local sites that offer a link with an incentive to
buy from your website, or to redeem a coupon to come to your store in
person. You can try selling tires through your website as well. This
will certainly give you a taste of online retailing and will allow you
to dip your toe into the water without massive investment.
Before investing thousands of dollars into a significant expansion of
your operations, I would highly advise buying a "world market"
research report that will detail some of the demand for your product
online. There are several available at different price points from
Market Research.com:
http://www.marketresearch.com/search/results.asp?sid=19529559-294916773-280882674&query=tires&cmdgo=+Go+
I would also look at any competition in Chile selling tires online and
see what kind of approach they're using.
The following are articles I have found on the net concerning small
businesses getting online. Please let me know if this is the type of
thing you're looking for...
ARTICLES
???????????????
The last five are from a website called Geo Local, a site dedicated to
the topic of bringing small, local businesses online. A subscription
for $49.95 gives you access to dozens more articles of similar type.
A San Diego Company Uses the Internet to Go Global
http://www.ad-mkt-review.com/public_html/govdocs/wmfs/wmfs0209.html
Love Bites - Business Is a Piece of Cake
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/business/YourBusiness/smallbizbuilder_010214.html
A job-sharing extranet helped turn this small-town business into a national player
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20021201/24880.html
The price is right - How much should you pay to get your business online?
http://www.unlimited.co.nz/unlimited.nsf/0/EFFB402F314D91E3CC256B5E000E3229?OpenDocument
Survey: Small Biz Should Bite the Online Bullet
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/19874.html
Jill Taylor's - Jewellery from the Outback
http://www.bus.qut.edu.au/connections/t/casestud_t.htm#JILL%20TAYLOR'S
Online Marketing Pays Off for Local Dentist
http://www.geolocal.com/public/534.cfm?sd=45
Pedestrian Shops Takes Comfortable Shoes To A New Level
http://www.geolocal.com/public/419.cfm?sd=45
Ocala4sale - Right Place, Right Time
http://www.geolocal.com/public/350.cfm?sd=45
Allgreen Irrigation
http://www.geolocal.com/public/82.cfm?sd=45
California Tortilla Customers Love Taco Talk
http://www.geolocal.com/public/79.cfm?sd=45
Search Strategy:
"small business" "case studies"
"local company" "on the web"
"small-town business" web
local "uses the internet to"
"e-business success stories"
"tire business" "used the internet to"
"local business" "used the internet to"
"small business" "internet success stories" |
Request for Answer Clarification by
antzsirs-ga
on
19 Jul 2004 13:04 PDT
Hello jbf777,
You've come up with some interesting material which will take me some
time to completely review.
I appreciate your opinion and believe you have some valid points.
The articles about small businesses getting online are very
interesting for me. I didn't really hope to find a fill-in-the-blanks
form to take a local tire business to an internet presence. If there
are any more similar stories they would be most welcomed.
I have the impression that two of the original doubts I raised are
still in the air. These are: -Do we build a site which uses our
expertise in our field and earns through referals to other on-line
vendors (affiliate site)?
-Are there other alternatives?
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
antzsirs-ga
on
19 Jul 2004 13:24 PDT
oops ....(I hit "enter" before I finished the prior item).
What I am wondering is if the affiliate model is a viable one (for
me). One gets the impression from varios gurus and online hype that
there's a lot of money to be made but have there been knowlege sites
built on specialized topics which have developed worthwhile incomes
through referrals? If this has actually worked I'd like to see some
examples which are not pitches for the latest e-book on how to make a
million through affiliates (for just $49.95 with a zillon dollars
worth of free bonuses)
The other area of "other alternatives" seems untouched. I had a lot
of hope that something novel might have been turned up and the kind of
perceptive questions you raised kindled my hope even more that you
might be holding a little nugget or two.
|
Clarification of Answer by
jbf777-ga
on
20 Jul 2004 09:07 PDT
Hello antszirs -
Thanks for the follow-up.
>I have the impression that two of the original doubts I raised are
>still in the air. These are: -Do we build a site which uses our
>expertise in our field and earns through referals to other on-line
>vendors (affiliate site)? -Are there other alternatives?
Affiliate sites definitely work. Portals and affiliate programs will
drive almost half of online retail sales by 2005 according to
Forrester. And the question as to whether it will work for you has a
lot to do with your specific implementation and drive to make your
site relevant, visible, and connected.
By generating referrals to other sites, your site has to first be
visible itself. This would involve paying/soliciting for advertising
and reciprocal links so that people frequent your site. To bring
people to, and keep people at your site, you would have to turn it
into something other than a brochure-type format. People would
firstly need an active reason to visit your site, and so it would
typically need something like dynamic editorial content or static
reference content. Ideas include:
- A "tire news" site -- information on latest trends in the industry; requires
editorial experience/upkeep/investment.
- An "all about tires" site -- how they're made, their history, how to install
them, how to choose them, etc. It could also include a tire search engine.
This is more static than the previous, but would still require upfront
editorial time/money investment.
- Creating an online "tire magazine"; another major editorial undertaking.
- Forming a Chile-based "tire association"; provide support to the industry.
- Create a "tire aficianado" site; a place for people to congregate and discuss
tires.
- Develop a "tire experts" site where people can get live or semi-live
consultations on tire topics
You could possibly expand your site into auto-related parts above and
beyond tires.
With any implementation, in order to generate referrals, your site has
to first have traffic. And for it to first have traffic, it needs to
be a very "visitable" site. This takes a lot of time, energy, and
money, and I don't know how much can be done with the topic of tires
alone. You might need to expand it into other areas of automotive
topics.
If you had an informative site, you could offer advertising spots as
well, which could also be a viable source of income.
Here's a good article on the topic of affiliate programs:
http://pandecta.com/affiliate-programs.html
You could hire an affiliate consultancy, such as partnercentric for
consulting on how best to implement it:
http://www.partnercentric.com/about.shtml
Jupiter Media, an analyst firm, ranks the top affiliate programs by
click-throughs via its Refer-it site. Here are examples of the top
affiliate programs on the web:
ClubMom
http://www.affiliatetip.com/clubmom/
AD Kessler
http://www.adkessler.net/new_comps/top_banner1/nt_bodpag1_index.php
Juniper Bank
http://www.juniper.com
E-commerce Exchange
http://www.ecenow.com/
Dark Blue
http://www.darkblue.com/
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com
For your application, instead of being on the "affiliate side" of
someone else's affiliate program, you might consider actually starting
an affiliate program. Solely opening a site for the purpose of
generating referrals "to elsewhere"
is another step removed from harnessing the potential of the user to
actual patronize your site directly.
In a word: I wouldn't look to create a website in order to generate
referrals to somewhere else. This type of thing would be a satellite
offering on an existing site whose focus is already established. Your
best bet is to create a very usable, informative website, at which
people can purchase products and/or information, then set up an
affiliate program, the purpose of which is for others to generate
leads to *your* site. However you choose to do it, you would have to:
A) create a site with sufficiently attractive content
B) market that website to generate the traffic,
C) in the case of being an affiliate, you'd have to find legitimate
automotive-based affiliate programs to link to (some potential
examples: http://www.affiliatefirst.com/txt/Automotive/index.shtml)
Let me know if I can fill in any more information...
Thanks,
jbf777
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
antzsirs-ga
on
20 Jul 2004 16:56 PDT
jbf777,
You asked for this :-)
>> Let me know if I can fill in any more information...
You've opened up the Seller's side of affiliate marketing, but what
about the commission earner's side? Where can I see some of these
top earners' sites so that I have an idea of what I have to produce in
order to get into the money making leagues? (sample sites was part of
my original request and reinforced in the first clarification)
Thanks,
antzsirs
|
Clarification of Answer by
jbf777-ga
on
21 Jul 2004 09:46 PDT
jbf777,
>>You asked for this :-)
No problem at all. :)
>You've opened up the Seller's side of affiliate marketing, but what
>about the commission earner's side? Where can I see some of these
>top earners' sites so that I have an idea of what I have to produce in
>order to get into the money making leagues? (sample sites was part of
>my original request and reinforced in the first clarification)
I spoke to a couple different affiliate management/consulting
companies in addition to further web searching on this.
There are a few high-profile sites that have the highest earnings, and
they all share a pattern. They're all "mall-oriented" sites that
offer a variety of opportunities in one place and typify the "big
leagues" of affiliate earning potential:
FatWallet
http://www.fatwallet.com
Flamingo World
http://www.flamingoworld.com
eBates
http://www.ebates.com
iGive
http://www.igive.com
Clubmom
http://www.clubmom.com
In general, looking at popular sites is a good way to determine the
web site quality level and search engine placement you need to
generate traffic, which is the foundation of a successful affiliate.
If you've got the traffic, you've got the referral potential. Alexa
is a site that attempts to estimate traffic to websites.
Here is a listing of tire-oriented sites, sorted by popularity, according to Alexa:
http://www.alexa.com/browse/general?mode=general&catid=252225
A listing of of automotive-oriented sites, again sorted by popularity:
http://www.alexa.com/browse/search?mode=search&catid=1
By looking at the construction of popular sites, you can get an idea
of what kind of quality level you'd have to be at to make the most
money.
As a side note, I found this discussion interesting and relevant:
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum20/1680.htm
Again, let me know if I can fill in any more information. :)
jbf777
|
Clarification of Answer by
jbf777-ga
on
21 Jul 2004 10:07 PDT
I will add to that last portion about "quality you would have to be
at" -- not just quality, but "visibility level." A site may not even
have the greatest aesthetics, but if it's visible, available, and
usable, it can avail much in the way of traffic. This would all be a
part of a successful marketing campaign.
Certain affiliates are not even concentrating on the affiliate website
-- they do it more with targeted email and search engine ads. For
instance, an affiliate could place an Ad Words ad on Google and drive
traffic to the parent site directly. In this way, they're acting more
like commissioned advertising associates.
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
antzsirs-ga
on
22 Jul 2004 08:21 PDT
jbf777,
Please note that I've only skimmed over all the abundant and
interesting material you've provided, my impression is based on your
comments about the material you've given.
I was about to close this question off and assign a rating to the
answer when I read the first line of the instructions which state that
I should request clarification if I consider the answer "incomplete."
So, I canceled the rating and am back here again.
Unless they're hidden in the other material, I still have the
impression that there hasn't been any suggestions, examples or ideas
concerning "Are there any other alternatives?"
What do you say?
|
Clarification of Answer by
jbf777-ga
on
22 Jul 2004 13:01 PDT
Hey antszirs -
In terms of alternatives/ideas, I thought these would cover that:
- A "tire news" site -- information on latest trends in the industry; requires
editorial experience/upkeep/investment.
- An "all about tires" site -- how they're made, their history, how to install
them, how to choose them, etc. It could also include a tire search engine.
This is more static than the previous, but would still require upfront
editorial time/money investment.
- Creating an online "tire magazine"; another major editorial undertaking.
- Forming a Chile-based "tire association"; provide support to the industry.
- Create a "tire aficianado" site; a place for people to congregate and discuss
tires.
- Develop a "tire experts" site where people can get live or semi-live
consultations on tire topics
These are all ideas/alternatives which fall within the purview of a
tire sales/information-oriented business. I don't believe there are
really any other significant possibilities in terms of building a
website for your business that's within the scope of your stated
business endeavors. It comes down to: A) harnessing your traffic to
make direct sales of either products or information on your website,
B) offering advertising on your site, and/or C) harnessing your
traffic to make sales for someone else (and draw commission). You're
not limited to one particular thing, but these are the three
categorically major opportunities to make money with a site, which is
presumably your ultimate goal.
Traffic is the name of the game, and taking the necessary steps
investment-wise to get that traffic is paramount. This can include
targeted, opt-in bulk-email, banner ads, link swapping, online
coupons, etc.
I'd be glad to think more on this if there's a completely different
direction you want to take topically. I'm not really finding any
specific "examples" of retail tire businesses that went online to do
something other than continuing the function of their existing
operation in the online world. I think most retail companies, when
they go online, are either A) putting an online brochure up (a
glorified yellow pages ad), or B) taking the store online for
web-based purchases. This is what the web medium is most conducive to
for a retail concern.
jbf777
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
antzsirs-ga
on
22 Jul 2004 14:08 PDT
jbf777,
Your second link to alexa doesn't work for me. Is it correct and complete?
antzsirs
|
Clarification of Answer by
jbf777-ga
on
22 Jul 2004 15:11 PDT
Hello antszirs -
Thank you for your kind words, rating and generosity. I very much appreciate it.
Don't know what happened to that link. Try this one:
http://www.alexa.com/browse/general?catid=42670&mode=general&order=traffic&page=4
(starting on page 4 because the first 3 pages are P
To address your concern regarding information being supplied through
clarifications vs. all in the original answer: I took the way you
originally phrased your question to be of "either-or" format: i.e.,
"should we do this, or this, or this..." -- "what is the best route to
take?" After we got into the clarifications, it appeared you were
looking more for harder answers to all of the questions. This is of
course no problem, and I would have answered it either way; but to
avoid the clarification trail in the future, what you can do is
prepend the subquestions with "These are my exact questions I'd like
an answer to...". This way a researcher knows exactly how you're
looking for your question to be answered.
Thanks for your question, and please stop by again!
jbf777
|
Clarification of Answer by
jbf777-ga
on
22 Jul 2004 15:12 PDT
correction: (because the first 3 pages are corporate automobile companies)
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
antzsirs-ga
on
23 Jul 2004 07:45 PDT
jbf777,
I wanted to you to know that on second though I agree with you
regarding the extra ideas you repeated. At first I thought of them as
simply variation on building an affiliate earning site. I'd only
skimmed your answers and was placing more attention on the links
rather than your comments.
It's going to take me a good while to completely digest all you've
provided. (Your webmasterworld link alone may prove to be worth the
entire price I paid)
Please don't get the idea that I'm going to be hounding you forever
about this, but I'm wondering if there is any time limit on
clarifications ... either officially (Google's) or your own (how long
do you keep and eye on completed questions.
If I wanted, specifically you, to tackle another question, how would I reach you?
Another thing I've wondered is if you visited the site we built for
the tire business. I'd be surprised if you were able to make any
relevant comments on it because it's in spanish, but I wonder if you
might tell me where I might begin a search to find people who would be
qualified to provide a critique of the site. What search terms would
you use?
|
Clarification of Answer by
jbf777-ga
on
23 Jul 2004 13:07 PDT
antszirs -
>I wanted to you to know that on second though I agree with you
>regarding the extra ideas you repeated. At first I thought of them as
>simply variation on building an affiliate earning site. I'd only
>skimmed your answers and was placing more attention on the links
>rather than your comments.
That's no problem... I hope all this information is very useful to you.
>Please don't get the idea that I'm going to be hounding you forever
>about this, but I'm wondering if there is any time limit on
clarifications ... >either officially (Google's) or your own (how long
do you keep and eye on >completed questions.
In general, once the question has been answered to the satisfaction of
the user, and a rating has been posted, the question is generally
considered closed. If a clarification request is posted after a
rating is given, and it's legitimately something the researcher didn't
address completely, then s/he will attempt to rectify it.
>If I wanted, specifically you, to tackle another question, how would I reach >you?
Simply add "For jbf777" in the subject line of the question, and it
will be reserved for me.
>Another thing I've wondered is if you visited the site we built for
>the tire business. I'd be surprised if you were able to make any
>relevant comments on it because it's in spanish, but I wonder if you
>might tell me where I might begin a search to find people who would be
>qualified to provide a critique of the site. What search terms would
>you use?
I did visit the site and yes, unfortunately, the Spanish would
prohibit me from making any relevant comments on it. I actually have
provided website evaluation and critiquing services through Google
Answers in the past, in addition to having worked for an Internet
company in a similar capacity. I would be glad to do it if you had an
English site. To locate a Spanish service, I might try search strings
such as:
usability OR evaluation OR critique web OR website "in Spanish"
usability OR evaluation OR critique web OR website "spanish services"
usability OR evaluation OR critique web OR website "en espanol"
I'd try various combinations without the "OR" as well. If you don't
find any, you might try posting a question to see if a researcher
could assist.
jbf777
|
,
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