Overview of Business Model

Through providing sound advice to visitors wondering how to solve a problem with their current automobile or whether or not to purchase a certain year or make of automobile, you have the opportunity to develop a nice little business.

If you offer your visitors quality auto advice, they will return to your site again and again to see how your advice can help them to maintain a better, longer-lasting automobile.

Advice Web sites allow you to “data-mine” in targeted markets. Consider your users as your source of income. The more visitors you have and the more information you gather from the people you counsel, the better. There are a lot of permission marketing opportunities available with this type of business. You can ask your visitors for permission to send them specific types of information and then you can charge a sponsorship or advertising fee to those suppliers who have information they want distributed to these opt-in lists.

Your main source of income will be from selling banner advertising on your site to businesses that share the same target market—automobile retailers, used car dealers, after-sale product suppliers, and auto parts suppliers. Since this type of business targets individuals interested in automobiles, you are providing an optimal banner advertising opportunity for all businesses in the auto industry.

Skills Needed

This form of business requires that you have expert knowledge in the area of automobiles. If you don’t offer quality advice, your visitors will notice and will not return to your site. This could seriously hinder the profitability of your business.

Cost to Start This Business

The cost to start this type of business ranges from approximately $1,000 to $5,000. Initially you will have to pay for the design, development, and hosting of your Web site. Additional costs associated with starting this type of business include online and offline advertising costs.

Number of Employees Needed to Start

Typically, one part-time person is needed to run this type of business, depending on the volume of requests received from visitors.

International Potential

This business has high international potential.

E-Business Model/Payment Processing Method

E-business level 1 is most appropriate for this type of business. For more information, see Part 1.

Important Business Issues to Be Addressed

It is important that you offer sound advice on your site. If you offer advice that is incorrect or inappropriate, it could seriously hinder your business potential. You should place a disclaimer on your site in case this problem arises. This will exclude you from any legal action that may result from accidents or damages resulting from your automotive advice.

Online Marketing Techniques

• Viral marketing with a catchy “Tell a Friend” element would be appropriate for this type of site.

• Make sure there are plenty of areas on your Web site that encourage users to provide their e-mail address—for example, “Click here if you would like to be notified when we update our advice column.” You could also have product-specific mail lists to which visitors could opt in. Having an RSS feed to let subscribers know when you add new content is another neat feature to generate targeted traffic.

• Participate in newsgroups, mailing lists, and discussion forums related to automobiles with a cleverly designed signature file.

• Have your Web site listed and linked from as many auto-related directories, meta-indexes, and Web sites as possible.

• Develop a sponsored listings campaign to bid on appropriate keyword phrases with the popular search engines.

• Develop online press releases and have them distributed to as many automotive-related publications and e-zines as possible.

• Web ring participation can have a significant impact on traffic, as there are many auto-related Web rings accessible from Webring. org and Looplink. com.

For a more detailed description of these techniques, along with many other effective online marketing methods, I recommend the companion book 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site. You can also find tons of free resources at Http:// www. susansweeney. com/resources. html.

Additional Income

There are plenty of avenues to create additional income in the advice Web site business. You can set up mailing lists targeted toward specific car owners and sell or provide sponsorship opportunities to industry partners that want to reach that target market. For example, you could have a Volkswagen mailing list, or for an even more targeted approach you could have a Volkswagen Beetle mailing list. The possibilities are endless. You can ask people if they would like to receive different auto maintenance advice via e-mail daily. This form of permission marketing enables you to send them an e-mail at their request. Proper use of these targeted lists could result in a tremendous money-making opportunity for your business due to the nature of readership.

Online Examples

AutoAdvice. com

Http:// www. autoadvice. com

An in-depth site offering auto advice and tips on how to buy a new car.

FreeAutoAdvice. com

Http://freeautoadvice. com

This site is operated by a collection of mechanics and technicians who repair

Cars.