Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
My company is meeting (second) with investors today to talk further about building multiple carpooling web sites - is this worth the development and investment. We have the business plan and research has been completed; however I am hesitant because I know very little about carpooling (more about hospitality). I'd like them to invest in another project that I know more about; however convincing them will be difficult.
My one site is successful - especially when the media interviews me. We see a huge influx of new members. But, I'm still not convinced that this (gas crisis) is long term. In addition, how can I get visitors to the site "just" to visit. I don't want a social site - just simple and to the point.
Thanks.
[edited by: digitalghost at 1:35 pm (utc) on July 10, 2008]
However, I was backpacking in Australia for the second half of 2006. Such a site would have had many repeat visitors as hitching a ride with fellow foreigners/travellers is a standard method of travelling. All you would need to do to get such a site to run wild there is get the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) to put a link from their homepage to yours. Most of the people were depending upon paper message boards and standing around in the parking lot. An easy, well organized system would take over in days...no joke.
Back to the U.S., I am not convinced that enough people consider carpooling a viable option even if gas prices stay high. I just don't know if our "individualism" will allow enough people to share...a sorry assessment of our society, but thats how I see it.
Thanks again and I look forward to more of your brilliant ideas.
I know there's a market; however how do I keep them coming back once a carpooler is found?
The same could be said for dating sites, do you need them to be coming back ?
I think its a good idea, lends itself to some web 2.0, but theres a 1 or 2 hurdles and big design decisions that you need to get right for it to work, I would seek a an entrepeneur with deep pockets.
I know there's a market; however how do I keep them coming back once a carpooler is found?
HugeNerd offered an excellent solution and it is true - Americans (including me) are not used to carpooling. My one site is saving some registered users hundreds of $$ and I have the letters to prove it.
Taking HugeNerd advice and I have purchased a ride share domain that is a top level domain and it was available. It's .net and the .com is parker.
My investors have committed to $5,000; however I'll need much more to move forward and I may have found two more with deeper pockets.
I too your advice and I'm setting up an international "post a ride" net site. It will be in 10 different languages and folks will have the opportunity to post the need for a ride (e.g., Melbourne to Sydney, Buffalo to Miami) etc. However, I'll need to find a plugin for Wordpress that will allow people to be notified via cell phone of replies to Postings.
In addition, I have set my member level to Contributor. Everyone can post and edit their Post (s) even after it is approved.
As always - thanks.
I didn't actually mean for you to combine a dating and carpooling site...it was more of wishful thinking on my part!
OBTW, speaking of vast daily volumes of short posts, is this something that CraigsList already offers or could easily add to their offerings?
Many carpooling sites require a lengthly registration process and my sites do not. I could force further information - but there's really no need since we (my sites) are not setting registered users up for rides. All registered users make the initial contact (s) and decisions. We suggest trail periods.
My business adviser (Ph.D Computer Science and Marketing) suggest that this approach (WordPress) is cost effective and secure. In addition, he likes the business model that I put together.
Our plan is simple and straightforward - no nonsense and less complications. The more required information the more complicated and you may have to explain why you need all that information.
Thanks
