Here's a link to a guy who got inspired by comments on a discussion board.
http://www.jerseybizguide.com/monmouth/info.shtml

He set up his own "community" site.

Here's another... http://www.marshalltoday.com/

here's a GOOD one... http://www.roch.com/sites/

and...one of my favorites. This guy's been ONLINE for 4 or 5 yrs now and still going... http://www.louisvillebizguide.com

None of them are charging enough to make it worth MY while.

I did start a "community mall" in my town a few yrs ago. Got 87 biznesses to pop $800 to $1200 for a 1 yr listing.

Sales HAD to be made IN PERSON...to explain it properly. Most people don't want to make "in-person" sales calls to prospects so this program should be open in almost every town.

Those who have NOT made personal calls and relied on "remote" marketing....either didn't get many accounts or grew agonizingly SLOOOW!

If you're going to do this...CHARGE ENOUGH to make it worth your TIME!
Then....advertise the heck out of it.
Each account "should" be paying at least $150/mo payable quarterly in advance.

To get started...put in a few FREEBIES so that it "appears" that other biznesses have ALREADY joined.

I learned long ago in projects like this that...
"No One Wants To Be First!"

So...allay their fears by putting in some freebies. YOU own the biz so YOU can let people in for free if YOU want. You would only have to let them in for the first 90 days though. Get them to pay after 90 days. In the meantime you've been able to nail down some "payers".

Send out NewsReleases to every media contact you can think of. Runs small displays in the shoppers and regular newspapers.
Run some radio stuff on talk shows.

Hook up with the local Chamber.

ANd...have your local TV station make up a 30 sec spot and run a few of them on the 6 & 10 news. ONLY run ads on the news! Anywhere else is a waste for "local" exposure.

One thing I found that works is;
Have each participating business have a Door or Window Sign with the URL on it. Put a sign on the back of each of their cash registers.

Have each biz put the URL in ALL of THEIR ads.

Keep researching and chasing down others doing the same thing.

Best of Success......Don Alm

> Hi Don,

> Thanks for your reply. The coupon4Fremont
> website is my new website and has be up for
> about a week. Most people I have talked to
> say people don't go online to look for
> coupons. The idea of the website is to have
> local businesses advertise their business
> for a monthly fee.

> The question is...what is the best way to
> get local businesses to sign up and how do
> we get traffic to the website?

> John


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