How to squeeze every $ from my website

GrindTim3

GrindTim3

New member
Oct 16, 2009
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New York
I am the co-owner of the website www.viphappyhour.com and as you can tell it is a website that has to do with nightlife, clubs, bars, restaurants, and various clothing lines we promote. It has a very targeted demographic (18-24), which also happens to be a demo with a very disposable income ;)

So i'm asking for a little bit of feed back from you guys.

1) What do you guys think of the site? (ie: overall look and feel)

2) What do you think the best way to monetize this site is? I was thinking about putting up some ads and linking them with offers such as teeth whitening, ringtones, IQ quizzes, etc. And then just testing and testing these offers til I start raking in $$$$$$. Only problem is, I have no experience with media buying, and i'm not sure how to maximize the efficiency of the adspace.

3) Does this site have potential to make some decent money (a couple hundred of dollars per day)?

Those were the three main questions I had for you all, but feel free to give me some extra feedback. Thanks.
 


First of all, domains matter. To me, VIP and Happy Hour are two different things. One is elite and for a high class group, while happy hour is for all and is fun or kinda cheesy.

You have a confused brand. But, since you don't have much traffic - http://viphappyhour.com/ - Information from Alexa Internet, I wouldn't hesitate to find a new domain.

The site is too busy, lacks actual content and you shouldn't put the weather on your site (it's not going to rain in the club).

You need a blog and twitter for sure. That will give you fresh content and a quick way to reach your users.

I do like that you created a members area, the users will have value over time.

As for monetizing, why are they going to the bars, clubs and restaurants? To meet people! Dating man, dating!

How do you plan to get traffic? What are your top keywords? Who is your competition and why are you better?

That's my feedback, sorry if some of it sounds harsh. Someone's gotta tell you.

BTW - The site loaded kind of slow for me too.
 
qwikmedia said:
First of all, domains matter. To me, VIP and Happy Hour are two different things. One is elite and for a high class group, while happy hour is for all and is fun or kinda cheesy.

You have a confused brand. But, since you don't have much traffic - http://viphappyhour.com/ - Information from Alexa Internet, I wouldn't hesitate to find a new domain.

The site is too busy, lacks actual content and you shouldn't put the weather on your site (it's not going to rain in the club).

You need a blog and twitter for sure. That will give you fresh content and a quick way to reach your users.

I do like that you created a members area, the users will have value over time.

As for monetizing, why are they going to the bars, clubs and restaurants? To meet people! Dating man, dating!

How do you plan to get traffic? What are your top keywords? Who is your competition and why are you better?

That's my feedback, sorry if some of it sounds harsh. Someone's gotta tell you.

BTW - The site loaded kind of slow for me too.
Click to expand...

Not harsh at all man, I need the feedback. I can see what you mean about domain name; the whole ideology about that is people (especially in our demo) want to feel like VIP's when they go out and hit the bars or club, and also want to to have a hell of a good time (happy hour).

Yeah the front page is a bit too busy. Our most high traffic page is the photos page, so that is probably where most of the ads will be.

Haha yes, how could I forget dating, that was in my top 3 niches to introduce to this site.

As for bringing traffic to the site, it will be mainly through main SEO. I'll probably pay someone until I can learn to do it myself. My ideal goal would be to rank for KW's such as Rochester nightclubs, clubs, bars, vip clubs, etc.

As far as competition online, I am not exactly sure because we haven't done much SEO and i'm not exactly sure what we rank for.

When it comes to local competition with throwing parties and club nights, we are @ the top of the food chain and getting ready to expand out into other cities.

(if any networks would like to throw a party, PM me).
 
I just have a suggestion as far as design goes.
I think the graphical design looks nice...but too many
sectioned off link/pic/text areas that make it look cluttered and confusing.
 
Agreed, do you think it would be worth it to get a coder, and have the home page redone. Just to make it look cleaner and more organized.
 
I tried posting earlier, but something happened -- so please forgive any double posts (if it happens)....

Anyway, I agree that the page is quite busy but I don't think you need to get a coder to redo it. I have seen that similar theme used in a much more organized way that comes off not as busy as yours does at this point. Take a look at this site and maybe grab some ideas for the organizational flow; Heart Throb Media
 
I would have to agree...the site loads pretty slow and is kinda confusing. What's it for? Let people know what's going on around town?
 
tiltjunkie said:
I would have to agree...the site loads pretty slow and is kinda confusing. What's it for? Let people know what's going on around town?
Click to expand...

Well what we do is throw club nights, plan parties, and come up with crazy, hot ideas that slam people into clubs. As of right now we pretty much have run over East ave (best spot for nightlife in Rochester ny)

The site keeps people updated on what we are doing, upcoming events, new clothing designers in the local area, etc.

But, we have pretty much hit the "glass ceiling" when it comes to growth in Rochester. So we will hopefully be expanding out into other cities.
 
chippewa in buffalo is pretty close..


lose the calendar, the weather, keep people informed of the dates by mentioning them in posts continually, building intersite links and anchors.

i think it could be a while before you see a couple hundred a day off this unless you start selling ROC area custom discount cards or something.

advertising may dilute your message to the low traffic you're already getting

I'd concentrate on doing in (front of) club sales promotion, like teeth whitening offers etc. I'll bet you could find more sponsors this way.
 
Yeah, Buffalo has some nice clubs.
What i'm getting from you guy's is that a blog is 100% necessary.... That sounds like a great idea.

I never thought of doing front club sales promotion lol. Considering we pack in almost 1k people per night, maybe that would be a great way to make some $.

Any suggestions on how to start driving a decent amount of traffic to this site? I have no SEO experience as of now, maybe I should learn lol.
 
yea you could probably just call gosmile or something and get them to sponsor when you have large events. or like ciroc or soco sponsors pretty heavily here (they send hot chicks too.)

internet only coupons and event signups advertised on the street and in brick and mortar locations will get you some super targeted traffic.

Get some giant banners at kizzinkos to put over the doors, offering a free drink ticket w/ signup or something.

have a contest for a table with a bottle at your next event.

I'm assuming VIPHappyHour is the name of your organization too, if it's not, change the domain and redirect. so your sign is just yourname.com (or with some crap on the end if not avail. like 'yournameevents.com or something.) dumb to have people remember two different names.

Get some hotter broads on the front page. dj hollywood is cool but no tits :(

never understood why dudes flyer with pics of themselves, T&A has a much larger draw.

-ss
 
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