What's the best way to promote a local site ?

[lcschung]

Hi everyone,


I have recently launched a site http://iHateBadService.ca, it is a local community that allow "unsatisfied consumers" to anonymously share their stories due to bad services in general. My plan is to market it in Toronto as a first stop, then expand to other cities and provinces.

Can anyone share their experience in promoting your site locally ? From what I observe, facebook, local forum and distributing flyers locally may give a better result in using Google Adwords.

Is there any other channels you can suggest ?

Any help will be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Harry

http://bp2.blogger.com/_BMdLlRdKwu8/Rr83XoYDfrI/AAAAAAAAABM/0jsU4eyFFSU/s1600/banner.jpg

[cdnNick]

Flyers all over the area, but you mentioned that. Also carry business cards with you and if you see someone that looks pissed off in a store, hand them a card.

You can also target adwords to specific regions.

[Mr Sparkle]

Have you consulted a lawyer about your idea?

[Insane_Pikachu]

umm..thanks for the idea...=]. If you see anyone make millions of dollars from the idea you have, expect it to be me :) so go talk to your lawyer.

[Whiplash7828]

umm..thanks for the idea...=]. If you see anyone make millions of dollars from the idea you have, expect it to be me :) so go talk to your lawyer.

and a lawyer will do what??? You can't get a patent for this...and it can't be copyright protected....

If someone wanted to build a similar site and go head to head there would be nothing stopping him....

[Mr Sparkle]

and a lawyer will do what???

Review libel and defamation.

[van]

There are several simular rant blog sites out there. FutureshopSucks.com (http://www.futureshopsucks.com) has been around for many years, and I believe they had been sued by FS at one point.

So yes, it would be advisable to consult a lawyer, especially if your site becomes popular.

[Whiplash7828]

Review libel and defamation.

oh...in that sense...yes :o ;)

[cdnNick]

FutureshopSucks.com them being sued makes sense since they have the stores name in the domain name. There are reviews of stores and services all over the web, I'm not saying you won't have an lawsuits because of this.

[Rehan]

Review libel and defamation. Yeah, you definitely need to look into those issues. I know of at least one company that is pretty trigger happy with cease & desist letters...

[lcschung]

Thanks for all the advices ... I will definitely look into that ...

Looking it from another angle, it would be a good sign if the site catches big corp's attention and care to send out the letters ...

Would sites like Trumours.com and Craigslist face similar issues as they allow users to post whatever they want ?

[sjweyman]

That site is very simple but eye catching. Nice work. I have no comment on the legal issues that could be involved.

[van]

Would sites like Trumours.com and Craigslist face similar issues as they allow users to post whatever they want ?

Actually, craigslist was sued back in November...

"The Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is suing craigslist for 100 allegedly discriminatory ads posted by our Chicago users in a 6 month period, out of 200,000 housing ads submitted to chicago.craigslist.org in that timeframe."

See here (http://www.craigslist.org/about/fair.housing.html) for more info.

[Frankie3s]

Maybe if he puts up some sort of disclaimer like they do before the info commercials come on (tv and radio) that would help to deflect some of these concerns?

[Rehan]

Maybe if he puts up some sort of disclaimer like they do before the info commercials come on (tv and radio) that would help to deflect some of these concerns? When the postings are moderated in a significant way (as is often the case), a disclaimer doesn't effect liability very much.

Some related info:
http://www.cyberlibel.com/liabilit.html
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/story.html?id=44633f5a-6d26-422c-be8b-53a785a6d6dd&k=37041
http://www.libelandprivacy.com/cyberlibel_home.html

[lcschung]

Wow time flies, it has been 4 months since I launched iHateBadService.ca (http://iHateBadService.ca).

Just want to share some of my experience and interesting highlights:

1) So far we got 80 bad service stories, a little bit less than my expected "one story a day" target, but I can see that happening soon

2) Facebook marketing (flyer/group) worked very well for me, the iHateBadService Group has 272 members now and it is still growing. Word of mouth is extremely important, and it is easier to start that from your friends. Facebook provided the connections and platform to make that happen

3) Given the nature of my site, I haven't tried Google AdWords yet, however people are surprised that many of the stories in our site did get indexed quickly by Google and show up on first / second page of Google when searching for particular companies name or services. Not sure if it's because the blog is hosted by Google Blogger

4) Even though the site itself is kind of self-maintained, however it did take lots of effort in promoting and marketing it. As long as we keep the effort, traffics keep coming, but when we slow down, traffics slow down too

5) The top 2 industry is Telecom and Retail

We are approaching our 100th bad service story and we would like to reach this goal by end of 2007.

So if you have time, feel free to check out our site to find out (http://ihatebadservice.blogspot.com/2007/12/approaching-our-100th-bad-service-story.html) how you can support us.

Thanks !

Andy

iHateBadService.ca (http://iHateBadService.ca)

[DJXP]

I have a nice one thats been going on for a few months with subway , even sent a BBB complaint and nothing. Ive spent hundreds at that subway as well, since the complaint though ive spent my money at mr sub, and im really glad i found that place the workers at my location know how to treat customers and actually give you a receipt.

Facebook is a very popular way to advertise though, Ive found it effective myself just messaging friends and their friends etc etc.

[Just Confused]

This was just discussed last week: http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=519473

[Insane_Pikachu]

create a contest. :)