|
|  |
|
|
|
| |
| Nov 05, 2007 5:44 am |
|
re: Dating/Social networking website |
Ghazali Ridzwan
| |
Hi Ankur,
First of all, I think starting a social/dating/networking website is great. With todays trend towards a more social web, it'll even become better. Here's some simple advise on starting a dating/networking website that you may find useful.
1. Determine the primary focus/goal of your site
As in creation of any website, I always advise my clients to list their primary focus/goal of their website.
Once you have an focus of the site, it'll be much easier to create the strategy of the site.
For instance, it might be that you want to create a social website for certain professionals, or a dating site for people in a certain locality.
2. Determine/plan site features/strategy
Once you've crystallized your goal, you can now plan the site's main features that may help you realize your goals.
Here is the time to do some marketing research by reviewing/ visiting other social networking websites, such as myspace, linkedin, facebook, match and more, and list down what you like about these sites. This can become useful in determining the features of your site.
You'll also want to have all the common features of a dating/social networking site by following industry wide best practices of social networking sites.
3. Find the best solution/software or hire someone to program/design/develop the site for you.
Once you have all the site's features and strategy, you can find a software/script (either commercial or open source) that best fits your need. If you're not comfortable with programming, or you just don't have time for it, you may want to hire a programmer/web developer/consultant to create the website for you.
4. Marketing the Site
Once your site is done, you'll have to devise a strategy to market your site. I believe marketing is a crucial component in making your site profitable, while increasing it's members base. There are many ways for marketing, online or offline. I believe that inherently, having a social site is also good for viral marketing purposes. Because as the site continuous to grow, so will your site grow bigger (through viral means).
5. Monetize your site
There are many ways you can monetize your site. Some common ways are by selling ad space, selling products, or subscriptions. Choose any models which best suits you and your needs. You should be able to monetize your site once you have a large enough members base.
6. Maintenance & Growth
In order for any site to succeed, I believe in maintaining the momentum of the site by adding new features/growth plans once in a while in future, while a site should also be maintained to scale well.
Hope this information helps you or anyone looking to build a social site. If you need any more help or information feel free to contact me.
G Ridzwan ( or WebguyLive), Senior Web Consultant
ANTARAMEDIA | www.antaramedia.com
Private Reply to Ghazali Ridzwan (new win) |
|
| |
|
