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Pick a City - any City
By Stephen Bucaro
Operating your own city guide on the Web can be interesting and very profitable.
Almost every city already has at least one city guide. But there is always room for
one more. For example, I live near Phoenix, Arizona. I could call my site "The Best
Guide to Phoenix", "The Official Guide to Phoenix", or "The Complete Guide to Phoenix".
How do you generate revenue from a city guide? 1. You charge a fee to list
restaurants, accommodations, and other businesses that are located in the city.
2. You sell books and videos about the city, and city souvenirs and mementos.
You should develop your city guide in phases.
Phase 1. Create the non-commercial sections of the Web site. Some cities, like
Chicago and New York, are popular for their cultural attractions. Some cities, like
Phoenix, are popular for nearby natural attractions. Some cities are popular for
their artisans, monuments, or history. Create an attractive front page that displays
photographs related to the unique attractions of the city.
Develop an "Attractions" section of your Web site. You might also want to develop a
"Maps" section. When you have a reasonable amount of content, begin promoting your
city guide to start generating some traffic.
Phase 2. Create the commercial sections of the Web site. You should develop an
"Accommodations" section, a "Restaurants" section, and a "Businesses" section. You
might also want to develop a "Search" section.
Contact all the large businesses that you want to list in your city guide and offer
them free listing. Yes - free. In order to get things rolling, you will have to fill
up the commercial sections by offering free listing. Don’t tell them you are going
start charging as soon as you get the sections filled out.
This is how you approach the business owners; "I’m developing a new city guide web
site and I’m listing every important business in the city for free. Can you provide
me with some information about your establishment?" People have less resistance to
free, and this will get you access to the decision makers of the businesses.
Phase 3. You contact every business listed in your city guide and ask them if they
want to renew their listing for one year for $1 (or some incredibly low fee). You
can also approach businesses not yet listed with the offer to list them for the same
incredibly low fee.
If you were a restaurant owner or hotel manager looking at a guide that has all your
competitors listed, wouldn’t you be willing to pay a small fee to remain in the
guide? The reason that you have such a low fee is because you want your customers to
take the important leap from a free listing to a paid listing.
Phase 4. After their renewal expires, you present each business with your listing
options for the next year. You can offer anything from a small advertisement to a
multi-page Web site. You are now an established city guide. Even your minimal listing
- an entry in the search section only - costs $50.00 to $500.00 or more per year.
The leap from paid to a price increase is not as wide as the leap from free to paid.
The potential earnings from a Web city guide varies with the size and popularity of
the city. Even a small town with some attraction should provide you with a moderate
income. A large city with many popular attractions could earn you much more.
For good examples of city guide web sites visit:
Explore Dickenson North Dakota
Glenwood Guide
Santa Fe Always Online
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