New business - Your opinion please

[orthodoc]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum and currently in the process of developing my website, Insightful - a student led organisation which aims to provide students with one day insights into organisations. I believe there is significant potential for a vast amount of firms to be using insight days as part of their recruitment strategy which is where I believe I can play a role.

I have concentrated my efforts in developing the website and I will be purchasing the domain name this week. Please take a look through the link below:

http://insightful.webnode.com/

Once the website is complete, I plan to execute the marketing strategy.

I am seeking your opinions in regards to the website and the idea it’s self. All opinions would be appreciated and i look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

Chris

[dan_plan]

Hi Chris.

First of all, welcome to our forum.

So you are planning to charge companies to be included, right?

[orthodoc]

Hi dan,

in the long term the aim is to charge companies.

Chris

[meisage]

Hi Chris,welcome to the forum! Well, your site looks a little bit 'dry' you can definitely add some colors or image to it. Try to maintain the simplicity. Your insight is a nice idea in general! Good Luck on this venture!!

[orthodoc]

Originally Posted by meisage

Hi Chris,welcome to the forum! Well, your site looks a little bit 'dry' you can definitely add some colors or image to it. Try to maintain the simplicity. Your insight is a nice idea in general! Good Luck on this venture!!

thank you for the feedback and i do agree to be honest, looking to add to some testimonials and videos to make the sight look a little more real if that makes sense

[amac]

If you need help with buying the domain name please ask. Assuming you can write code, this is probably your biggest hurdle. Also, I like the idea that you're planning to charge for use of your service. One of the myth's many believe is that everything on the Internet should be free, Hollywood for example is only just realising this. Off course the music industry were too late.

[MontiC]

If you are experienced in web designing and development then it's ok to develop your site yourself else I recommend you to hire some web designer profession for your business.

For marketing must need SEO services if you have competent staff do it in-house or hire the expert so you can survive on internet for long time.

[andrewpallett]

Hi Chris,

Welcome to the forums!

I agree with what others have said, namely that the website will be extremely important in the early days. I would focus on the flow and ease of use over adding a lot of features and additional content.

Would you be able to elaborate a bit more on your business model? Am I correct in assuming that you will act as an intermediary to provide one-day work experience placements for students?

Best,

Andrew

[orthodoc]

Originally Posted by andrewpallett

Hi Chris,

Welcome to the forums!

I agree with what others have said, namely that the website will be extremely important in the early days. I would focus on the flow and ease of use over adding a lot of features and additional content.

Would you be able to elaborate a bit more on your business model? Am I correct in assuming that you will act as an intermediary to provide one-day work experience placements for students?

Best,

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

That is correct though the work experience/insight programmes can last up to a week.

Regards

Chris

[florenceij]

I like the idea. If you are able to establish relationships with NHS trusts especially for medical students will also be a good market to target. I am not sure about the trusts willingness to pay but demand is high. I can see this work with other sectors.

Try and work on the design and presentation of current website. For domain name purchase, I recommend 123 reg.

[orthodoc]

thank you for all the advice, i am currently working on the design of the site and improving my promotion plan to students which is looking quite strong and unique at the moment.

[TitanWebsites]

Hi,

I assume all the weird power by stuff will be disappearing? They not very professional to have on a site. If you are going to sell your service, you need to be as professional looking as possible, with no ads etc in this case.

You may want to consider a cost effective web designer, and will probably need professional SEO help.

BUT most of all I think you need a few companies on board in the beginning to start driving demand.

I suspect that if the market is partially student, social networking will be crucial.

Can you provide us with more details on your skill set, we are guessing a little here.

I am also guessing that you are just developing on webnode, you don't plan to stay there??

You may want to take a look at our free advice article on "Small Business Start-up Website Guidelines – The Right Site for Me."

We strongly advise against free website hosting solutions for businesses.

I hope this is of some help.

[Combute]

Hi orthodoc,

Great idea and good work on getting the site to where it is now. Unfortunately I do have to agree that the site will benefit from a re-design to give it that extra spark. My advice is to head over to Get British Businesses Online (www.gbbo.co.uk) - Its a Google backed scheme that basically provides businesses with free websites - very easy to create and you can actually create some very eye catching designs. The other option is to go straight to Google Sites and create one their.

In regards to removing the "Power By" as others have mentioned - DON'T - You will find in the usage terms and conditions or at least in the opensource agreement it will state that you will violate their copyright laws by doing so and you _could_ find yourself in a whole heap of financial mess.

[TitanWebsites]

Originally Posted by Combute

In regards to removing the "Power By" as others have mentioned - DON'T - You will find in the usage terms and conditions or at least in the opensource agreement it will state that you will violate their copyright laws by doing so and you _could_ find yourself in a whole heap of financial mess.

Sorry, I wan't clear enough.

Don't use that stuff. I don't mean remove credits etc, I mean remove the widgits etc.

Get yourself on something that doesn't require all the ads and powered by links so prominent etc.

IMO, for the market place you will be in you need a professional looking website, or people are less like to invest/take you seriously.

Good luck anyway, as others have said, the idea looks good.