Local Coupon Site
Since the late 1800’s coupons have been a great way for retailers to encourage people to make a purchase at their store. Providing incentives makes the consumer feel that they are receiving a deal and retailers benefit from the additional sales.
Small home business owners can take advantage of this marketing trend by creating a local based coupon site. With current economic trends being unstable nearly everywhere in the world, consumers have reduced spending and have increased their use of coupons.
Where To Begin
The first thing that you should do is look at your local competition and see what other types of programs are being offered. Competition does not necessarily mean that you cannot start this type of business, but knowing what they offer will help you create your own niche.
Creating a niche in this field will enable you to not only have better marketing strategies, but it will help you distinguish your potential advertisers. Advertisers are more open to advertise on a niche site or publication than they are in a major coupon directory.
Different markets that you can consider:
- New parents
- Families with small children (activities, clothes, party supplies, travel)
- Baby boomers (retirement, medical, travelling)
- Business to Business
- Specialist/Hobbyist (discounts on supplies)
These are just a few of the markets that you can use for your site. The wonderful thing about creating a site from scratch is that you can make the site very specific for your area.
Once you have established what type of coupons and discounts you wish to offer, you will need to create a name for your business and establish a domain name for your site. Do not forget to select a site name that is catchy and easy to remember. Apply for any and all business licenses that are required in your area.
Website Design And Content
You will need to establish a basic website and design structure before approaching potential advertisers. An advertiser is not going to promote their company with a coupon site that is “sight unseen.” They will need to visualise how their coupon and business will be presented, so that they can feel comfortable with the advertising.
Running The Business
As the owner of the business and webmaster of your site, you will be required to handle many different tasks. Some of these tasks are quite simple, others may be time consuming. You will be responsible for:
- Finding advertisers for your site
- Marketing your site to people in the area and online
- Billing your clients for your services
- Creating effective coupon campaigns through direct contact with your clients
- Managing your website
- Customer service.
Finding advertisers for your site may not be as hard as you think. The economy has placed a lot of strain on retailers, wholesalers and distributors from all industries. Incentives that will bring old and new clients back into their business will be a welcome offer, especially if the price is right.
Marketing will take up most of your time when you own this type of business. You may have some of the best coupon deals in the world, but if no one knows the site exists, it is a wasted effort. You will need to advertise your site on and offline through various methods. It may even be advisable that during the first month or two that your site is in operation that you make a printed version of the book to distribute locally, with the information that it will be web-based coupons at a certain date.
You must make time for billing. All too often small business owners are so busy promoting their business, attracting new clients and handling customer relations that they forget to send out invoices. Make sure you dedicate time each week to do invoicing. A business that is not bringing in any revenue is simply a hobby.
If your advertisers are not seeing a good response from their coupons, you will need to work with them to create a coupon campaign that will create more interest. You do not want to risk a client pulling their advertising because they are not seeing a response. You will need to work directly with your advertisers to create a traffic-generating coupon.
Managing your website and customer relations are perhaps the most important aspects of your business. Customers searching for coupons do not want to visit a site that has expired offers listed on the site. They also want to see these offers change frequently. Consumers will return to a site many times if they believe they will find something new there on each visit.
If you are receiving complaints from your consumers that they are having problems redeeming the coupons they print, confront the advertiser immediately. Find out if there is misleading wording in the advertisement that is causing the problem, or if there is just no interest in accepting the coupons. Advertisers that routinely decline the coupons they publish should be removed from your site. You do not need to hurt your business image.