Feedback for New Idea Please!

Atomico

magic_murph wrote: »

Ok in a last attempt to get to grips with this concept.
Who is a typical provider - how many will you have and what will they contribute to the service. Only have X amount of providers per topic.
Fitness - have 20 experts or unlimited

Users: Guessing this can be anybody.

As a user I may have two different types of questions 'Whats the best....' or 'How did / would you approach this..'
Example:
Travel: Whats the top 10 sites I should see while travelling around europe.
Business: 'When you opened your first restaurant what issues did you come across that you simply didn't expect'

Expalin.

Yes that's it!

If you were thinking of setting up a restaurant, and it was going to be a bit of a gamble and you were going to have to put in tens of thousands of euro, are you telling me that you wouldn't take the opportunity to ask a veteran restaurateur maybe based in NY or London or the south of France (or wherever), at a cost of maybe 20 or 30 euro?

That advice could be priceless and could be the difference between your business failing or taking off and making you quite wealthy!

There is a constant flow of people asking for advice on setting up a business (and on loads of other stuff) on this one tiny forum in this one tiny country - do you not think there is scope for a more structure, monetised environment for this?

I take all the points here but I think people need to be a bit more open-minded perhaps

ironclaw

Atomico wrote: »

JustAnswer, until I said 'why not', and spent a small amount of money getting a great response, and going away happy.

Ok, so continuing on, how is JustAnswer different to your site? Or this one (Similar style of concept): http://www.mhelpdesk.com?

Atomico

ironclaw wrote: »

Ok, so continuing on, how is JustAnswer different to your site? Or this one (Similar style of concept): http://www.mhelpdesk.com?

Yes good question, I thought of that myself earlier.

It is different because of the type of questions that would be asked, and the requirements of the user.

On JustAnswer, it is all about ad-hoc questions.

'My engine won't start and there is a strange noise when I try, what could be happening?'

'I have legal issue X, what should I do'

'My Mac is running slowly, what should I do'.

etc.

So, it is for ad-hoc questions where you get your answer and on you go.

This site would be more about getting a more in-depth, detailed answer, with more of a strategic element. So taking that example that magic_murph mentioned:

'When you opened your first restaurant what issues did you come across that you simply didn't expect'

That is the kind of question that invites a much more detailed answer based on someone's specific industry expertise.

JustAnswer is about fixing a problem that you have right now (in fact, they even have priority levels that you assign to questions, and you pay more for a quicker reply), this site would be more about questions where the response is highly valued, but it's not being asked to fix an immediate problem as such. It could be someone debating starting a new business, or debating a trip to South America for 6 months.

Also, on JustAnswer you can't choose your experts when you post a new question, you are allocated one by the system. This site would be about you choosing 10-15 specialists with specific expertise / experience in your area, paying to make initial contact, and then possibly following up with them offline, once you've made that initial contact.

Think about someone who might want to do more business in another country, or start expanding to other markets, or who might want to take a bit of a risk on something. Wouldn't it be really valuable to be able to fire out your burning question in a matter of minutes, and have half a dozen people who have been down the road you're looking to go down, helping you out and advising you what to do and not to do?

I know that'd be cheaper than getting on a plane, or not spending the 20 or 30 euro and potentially making a big mistake, missing a trick, etc.

magic_murph

Ok but answers tend to lead to more questions.

The only way this could work is a Q&A session - for eg€50 you get access to a business owner / expert for an hour - more than likely in a group session.

You get access to somebody that's been there done that - they get to promote their business.

That is something I would sign up for easily bit range of people that could do this is limited.

Atomico

magic_murph wrote: »

Ok but answers tend to lead to more questions.

The only way this could work is a Q&A session - for eg€50 you get access to a business owner / expert for an hour - more than likely in a group session.

They do, and that's why I was saying that the initial question could lead to a follow on consultation or chat outside of the site. Either way, the site has served its purpose - getting you that initial answer to your burning question, getting you potentially ongoing access to that important person who can help you, and allowing for more business for the business owner / expert.

Of course, other features like you mention could be introduced to facilitate follow on questions, be it group chats or individual ones for a fee.

magic_murph wrote: »

You get access to somebody that's been there done that - they get to promote their business.

Exactly.

magic_murph wrote: »

That is something I would sign up for easily bit range of people that could do this is limited.

Not that limited at all. You mention you run a few busy bars and nightclubs in town. How many people out there are thinking of setting up a bar, club, restaurant, cafe, etc. Are you saying you wouldn't have tonnes of advice and dos and donts to share with them..? Of course you would!

And you could do it all from the comfort of your armchair. Answer 10 questions, make 400 euro, etc etc. Build your name, brand, promote your venues, make more contacts, help people out.

There are thousands of people out there who have run businesses, who have specialist knowledge (whether you are a web developer or a tennis coach) who have lots of experiences and expertise to share.

magic_murph

Unfortunatley I don't own bars & clubs - I think I said that while providing an example question (Chance would be a fine thing)

Atomico

magic_murph wrote: »

Unfortunatley I don't own bars & clubs - I think I said that while providing an example question (Chance would be a fine thing)

Ah right, I see.

In any case:

-Invite 20-25 verified experts for a beta run. Consider targeting a broad but target niche, e.g. sports and fitness specialists.

-Allow users to post questions / request advice.

-Allow up to 8-10 experts to reply, with a snippet of advice or even a short, free answer (optional).

-Pay per answer, or pay per consultation, or pay a small fee to group-chat with 3 others with an expert.

I think it could work well in a particular (but broad enough) niche. Check out Wello - personal training online. Not everyone would use it, but a lot of people would.

Atomico

Hey again guys!

I have tweaked this idea and am currently looking for 10-15 initial users for the site, I have some businesses signed up so far - every business I have contacted has said they are on board.

If you are a consultant, self-employed person, SME, entrepreneur, a larger business, a writer, coach, accountant, advisor, PR person or just someone who runs their own business, let me know if you'd like to fill one of the first 10 - 15 slots!

In short, it's open to all businesses, brands and communities who want to increase engagement online and expand their online presence.

The idea is that you would be fairly active online already in a business sense. This site would allow you to increase engagement with your fans and followers on social media, helping you attract more leads / inquiries (in the same way that channels such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can (and do).

Anyway, if you are interested, let me know and I can tell you more.

Thanks

RATM

Atomico, so it seems to me that you have settled on a type of variation of JustAnswer which I suggested about a week or more ago. As I mentioned I had your exact idea a couple of years ago, basically taking something like JustAnswer and localising it to the Irish market. In the end I decided not to, not because the idea didn't have merit, but because I am too busy running the business I run and couldn't find the time to do both.

But allow me give you this advice- 2 years ago I researched the question answering market a lot, and I mean A LOT. I was obsessed with it for a couple of months. The main bit of advice I can give you from this research is that the domain that people are most willing and most likely to pay for answers to questions is the legal, tax and accountancy domains. Why is this ? Simply because the answers to the type of questions in these domains are answers that are specific to the person who asks the question. i.e. if I ask a tax consultant 'how much tax do I owe' the answer depends on many variables, such as my tax residency, my domicile, weather I'm married or not, the list goes on. The same goes with a lot of legal questions- rarely are two cases the exact same so there is an element of individualisation to each answer.

I did a lot of research on JustAnswer and similar sites to see which experts got the most business. By and large it was always the lawyers. If you look on there right now there is a Barrister with a handle called Buachaill and he has answered 3,400 questions since October 2010.He is not even the leading expert there- there is a solicitor over in Galway who has answered at least double that if not more.

My own vision of this was to assemble about 30-40 solicitors and have about 5/6 solicitors with expertise in each of the main legal domains- probate, wills & trusts, family/divorce law, litigation, property/construction/planning law, criminal law and so on. Person would ask a question and depending on which domain it was in they would then have a choice of 5/6 solicitors to answer it and they could read feedback on each one before making their choice. Quite simple really.

The other idea I had was that in some cases the initial question could very well lead to that solicitor being engaged (this is obviously geography dependent which is why I went with 5/6 solicitors per legal domain- I would have had them spread out across all counties). If the solicitor was engaged as a result of the initial question then I (as website owner) would be back in for 10-15% affiliate commission on the fee he charges. In fact I reckoned this is where the real money would be made, you could get more money over the commissions you charge the solicitiors for sending business their way than you could off the actual questions being answered. But you would have both so it is all good.

If you think of a someone asking a simple question regarding making a will. Then they engage the solicitor to make their will and it stays in his safe. He charges them €200 and you take 15%. A few years later they die and he executes the estate, charging them €4000 for probate. Now in my mind if I could get 15% of that €4k then I'd be onto something, mainly because everyone needs a will yet lots of people know nothing about them or how to make one. I never got around to drawing up contracts for solicitors but if I had the 15% commission structure would have been a part of it.

Anyway that was the way I would have done it, you will have your own ideas and style of course but my research led me to believe that the above examples could work and work well in an Irish context. Also the fact that the legal section on Just Answer is actually very busy kinda proves my point.

So the point I am trying to get across to you (re:your last post) is that I really really think that you should just begin by concentrating on one niche, like law or similar and then later expand into other domains like fitness, etc once you have proved up the concept for an Irish audience. I really think that if you go in all guns blazing here it will be too much too soon and you'll end up with tiny activity in lots of domains rather than busy activity in one before expansion into others. Your experts will get bored and not login and when users login and see no experts your bounce rates will sky rocket and it'll be a dead duck.

Something like this needs to grow organically, the first 12-18 months will likely be slow but then as people use it, like it and tell their friends, colleagues, family then it will hit a much more rapid phase of growth. If you can get known in Ireland as the one stop shop for expert answers in law or similar then the other domains will follow, accountancy, tax, business, etc. Then when you're more well known and established begin to think of other (more risky) domains such as fitness, dj-ing, etc.

Just my 2 cents:)

Atomico

RATM wrote: »

Atomico, so it seems to me that you have settled on a type of variation of JustAnswer which I suggested about a week or more ago. As I mentioned I had your exact idea a couple of years ago, basically taking something like JustAnswer and localising it to the Irish market. In the end I decided not to, not because the idea didn't have merit, but because I am too busy running the business I run and couldn't find the time to do both.

But allow me give you this advice- 2 years ago I researched the question answering market a lot, and I mean A LOT. I was obsessed with it for a couple of months. The main bit of advice I can give you from this research is that the domain that people are most willing and most likely to pay for answers to questions is the legal, tax and accountancy domains. Why is this ? Simply because the answers to the type of questions in these domains are answers that are specific to the person who asks the question. i.e. if I ask a tax consultant 'how much tax do I owe' the answer depends on many variables, such as my tax residency, my domicile, weather I'm married or not, the list goes on. The same goes with a lot of legal questions- rarely are two cases the exact same so there is an element of individualisation to each answer.

I did a lot of research on JustAnswer and similar sites to see which experts got the most business. By and large it was always the lawyers. If you look on there right now there is a Barrister with a handle called Buachaill and he has answered 3,400 questions since October 2010.He is not even the leading expert there- there is a solicitor over in Galway who has answered at least double that if not more.

My own vision of this was to assemble about 30-40 solicitors and have about 5/6 solicitors with expertise in each of the main legal domains- probate, wills & trusts, family/divorce law, litigation, property/construction/planning law, criminal law and so on. Person would ask a question and depending on which domain it was in they would then have a choice of 5/6 solicitors to answer it and they could read feedback on each one before making their choice. Quite simple really.

The other idea I had was that in some cases the initial question could very well lead to that solicitor being engaged (this is obviously geography dependent which is why I went with 5/6 solicitors per legal domain- I would have had them spread out across all counties). If the solicitor was engaged as a result of the initial question then I (as website owner) would be back in for 10-15% affiliate commission on the fee he charges. In fact I reckoned this is where the real money would be made, you could get more money over the commissions you charge the solicitiors for sending business their way than you could off the actual questions being answered. But you would have both so it is all good.

If you think of a someone asking a simple question regarding making a will. Then they engage the solicitor to make their will and it stays in his safe. He charges them €200 and you take 15%. A few years later they die and he executes the estate, charging them €4000 for probate. Now in my mind if I could get 15% of that €4k then I'd be onto something, mainly because everyone needs a will yet lots of people know nothing about them or how to make one. I never got around to drawing up contracts for solicitors but if I had the 15% commission structure would have been a part of it.

Anyway that was the way I would have done it, you will have your own ideas and style of course but my research led me to believe that the above examples could work and work well in an Irish context. Also the fact that the legal section on Just Answer is actually very busy kinda proves my point.

So the point I am trying to get across to you (re:your last post) is that I really really think that you should just begin by concentrating on one niche, like law or similar and then later expand into other domains like fitness, etc once you have proved up the concept for an Irish audience. I really think that if you go in all guns blazing here it will be too much too soon and you'll end up with tiny activity in lots of domains rather than busy activity in one before expansion into others. Your experts will get bored and not login and when users login and see no experts your bounce rates will sky rocket and it'll be a dead duck.

Something like this needs to grow organically, the first 12-18 months will likely be slow but then as people use it, like it and tell their friends, colleagues, family then it will hit a much more rapid phase of growth. If you can get known in Ireland as the one stop shop for expert answers in law or similar then the other domains will follow, accountancy, tax, business, etc. Then when you're more well known and established begin to think of other (more risky) domains such as fitness, dj-ing, etc.

Just my 2 cents:)

Hey RATM,

That's not what I'm looking at at all I think that the JustAnswer ship has sailed really, they are already here in Ireland with Irish solicitors, etc, so I don't know if you'd be able to (or want to) compete with their millions of dollars in advertising resources, etc.

My idea is pretty simple at this stage - it consists of a profile page where bloggers and those with a social media presence can field questions, post questions for feedback / comment, and generally interact with their followers, readers and fans to stimulate more buzz around their content - and attract more leads and inquiries as a result.

It will allow for a much deeper / longer engagement than a couple of random tweets between a business / bloggers and a prospective new customer could ever provide.

Let's say you write a blog post or give some free advice on Boards - you could have a link at the foot of your blog or in your Boards signature, linking out to your profile page and inviting people to ask you a question or continue the discussion there.

That means the focus is all on you. It would also be great for SEO, if you are someone who contributes a lot to the discussion / in terms of giving replies on your page.

ironclaw

Atomico wrote: »

Hey RATM,

That's not what I'm looking at at all I think that the JustAnswer ship has sailed really, they are already here in Ireland with Irish solicitors, etc, so I don't know if you'd be able to (or want to) compete with their millions of dollars in advertising resources, etc.

My idea is pretty simple at this stage - it consists of a profile page where bloggers and those with a social media presence can field questions, post questions for feedback / comment, and generally interact with their followers, readers and fans to stimulate more buzz around their content - and attract more leads and inquiries as a result.

It will allow for a much deeper / longer engagement than a couple of random tweets between a business / bloggers and a prospective new customer could ever provide.

Let's say you write a blog post or give some free advice on Boards - you could have a link at the foot of your blog or in your Boards signature, linking out to your profile page and inviting people to ask you a question or continue the discussion there.

That means the focus is all on you. It would also be great for SEO, if you are someone who contributes a lot to the discussion / in terms of giving replies on your page.

Ok, so in a nutshell its like a facebook-esque profile for a blogger? With the ability to ask them questions? You can field questions and numerous bloggers can field a response for a fee?

Atomico

ironclaw wrote: »

Ok, so in a nutshell its like a facebook-esque profile for a blogger? With the ability to ask them questions? You can field questions and numerous bloggers can field a response for a fee?

The first part is pretty much it - so at the bottom of your blog post, next to your share icons, etc, you might see something like this:

'Ask Ironclaw a question on this topic!'

or

'Got a question for Ironclaw? Ask him at {URL}'

it's not for a fee though, as that model would likely not work, unless you were a very prominent blogger. It's a place to field questions / host discussions to increase your potential / make more room for you to attract leads and inquiries.

The idea is that users would see the value in a paid subscription if it was more than covering the new business they were generating via their page.

ironclaw

Atomico wrote: »

The first part is pretty much it - so at the bottom of your blog post, next to your share icons, etc, you might see something like this:

'Ask Ironclaw a question on this topic!'

or

'Got a question for Ironclaw? Ask him at {URL}'

it's not for a fee though, as that model would likely not work, unless you were a very prominent blogger. It's a place to field questions / host discussions to increase your potential / make more room for you to attract leads and inquiries.

The idea is that users would see the value in a paid subscription if it was more than covering the new business they were generating via their page.

Ok, so besides asking a question, what differentiates this from Google, the Yellow Pages or Facebook? A question can easily be asked once I found them with either of the 3.

The reason I ask is, take a solicitors office. There probably going to have a website and Yellow Pages entry. Very easily Googled with 'Solicitor in Dublin'

Take a SMB or a sole trader (i.e. A fitness coach) probably going to have a website and a facebook page.

Both those examples are for local activities i.e. I'm not going to engage a lawyer in Trim if I live in Waterford nor am I going to ask for fitness advice from a coach in Donegal if I'm from Dublin.

Granted its a whole different scene if its 'global' advice but Ireland is too small for that. If I had your idea and RATM's in front of me, I'd back RATM.

Atomico

ironclaw wrote: »

Ok, so besides asking a question, what differentiates this from Google, the Yellow Pages or Facebook? A question can easily be asked once I found them with either of the 3.

I think you're looking at it out of context. Why would someone go searching on Google or Facebook to ask a question of the person, when all they have to do to do that very thing is click a link directly from the person's blog post (or wherever it may appear)?

They have an open invitation to follow up with the person, quiz them, inquire with them or discuss the topic further, using one simple link. The person can track everything there and use it as a structured, quantifiable place for this type of activity.

There is also the SEO benefit. If someone is searching for 'tax advice', etc, and there is a bunch of content on Jim Smith Tax Advisor's page, isn't that great for Jim Smith and his ability to pop up for a search on that term?

ironclaw wrote: »

The reason I ask is, take a solicitors office. There probably going to have a website and Yellow Pages entry. Very easily Googled with 'Solicitor in Dublin'

Again, that's not looking at the idea in context. It's not about googling for businesses or for someone who can answer your question. It's about linking in with the person's online presence via blogs and social media.

You don't need to go looking for them, you've already found them. And you already know a bit about them, since you are engaging with them via their social media presence, or a blog post.

ironclaw wrote: »

Take a SMB or a sole trader (i.e. A fitness coach) probably going to have a website and a facebook page.

Both those examples are for local activities i.e. I'm not going to engage a lawyer in Trim if I live in Waterford nor am I going to ask for fitness advice from a coach in Donegal if I'm from Dublin.

You wouldn't ask a top Donegal-based trainer for fitness advice because he's based in another county? It's not location dependent, and very few instances will be so. Also don't forget that it's not about the user physically meeting with the person, it's about the user getting advice, tips, insights - and it's also about the person demonstrating their expertise to others who may be watching / browsing their page (many of whom will be local to them, if it matters).

ironclaw wrote: »

Granted its a whole different scene if its 'global' advice but Ireland is too small for that. If I had your idea and RATM's in front of me, I'd back RATM.

The intention is global, it's about blogs, social media and your online presence - which is all global. It applies to everyone who runs a business and wants to both do more business online, and grow / enhance their presence online.

Think of it as a simple tool or platform for anyone to generate more interest and exposure online. That invariably leads to more business, and if you can do that for people, then it is a business.

was.deevey

Everything has become so bloody difficult these days :P

I used to use a service to get me help on tap, any day, any hour, in realtime with web developers from round the world when I started off tinkering with sites. Silly stuff like how to set up the nameservers etc

Even managed to get a few jobs out of it then as well once I was a bit better.

The Platform: Yahoo Web design Chatroom 3 ! (they were always arseholes in Webdesign 1 and 2)

oh and that was 1998 :P