@paulcabrera A year later I was genuinely happy to see the site is still up and running! Very often on older posts the websites don't exist anymore, which is not a good sign.
@treythan123
Could you say that in a different way? Not sure I’m following. You’d post a job opening, or you’d post an offered service?
Could you say that in a different way? Not sure I’m following. You’d post a job opening, or you’d post an offered service?
yourneighbor
New member
manonjourney
New member
@treythan123 how'd you control their account management? Also how did it help you understand what people needed?
treythan123
New member
@manonjourney Initially any updates to their public facing profile was updated manually by me.
It helped me understand what people needed because it forced conversation with the initial members, who would say things like “it would be good if we could do this, or see this”.
One thing I’ve found really helps is be responsive to your community - especially in the early days - as they’re much more likely to recommend you
It helped me understand what people needed because it forced conversation with the initial members, who would say things like “it would be good if we could do this, or see this”.
One thing I’ve found really helps is be responsive to your community - especially in the early days - as they’re much more likely to recommend you
@kenhui Listen to the podcast with the bumble creator. It seems like building these large platforms is starting small. FB, bumble, and others have done it that way. You build a small core audience and then expand, after you have small successes you open it up. Also uber did a genius thing at first and was giving rides away for free. People were abusing the hell out of it and riding everywhere for free, but it worked. The trick is, you have to add extras for both ends. Not just for the seller or the buyer but they both need to be enticed to use your website.
hospitaller96
New member
@hospitaller96 Haha yes exactly what I was just thinking 
brandi3167
New member
@kenhui I built a marketplace style site for vacation home swaps (https://peoplelikeus.world). I added 10 “example” listings at first as a blank site wouldn’t attract anyone. It took a month to get my first real member and, yes, she sent me a note to say that all the others looked like stock photos. Embarrassing, but what else do you do? I started retiring one fake for each two new ones from 10 members so by the time I got to about 40 they were all real.
It’s still hard though. I’m 6 months on and got ~150 listings and have to fight for each one. I talk to my members a LOT and I ask them to be positive advocates for the site. Some do and that helps a lot.
It’s still hard though. I’m 6 months on and got ~150 listings and have to fight for each one. I talk to my members a LOT and I ask them to be positive advocates for the site. Some do and that helps a lot.
@brandi3167 It's very hard to understand what it is you do exactly -- the page pretty much only says "home swap" .. what is that? How does it work?
brandi3167
New member
@brandi3167 My parents used to do this when I was growing up. It was fantastic! We lived in Munich, Germany and we would exchange our house with people in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels etc. and from what I remember it was a free exchange. There were just some rules of etiquette people followed, and it seemed to work really well! Created some great childhood memories.
I love the idea, as someone who is familiar with this sort of thing. I don't think your website explains the process well enough. At first I thought it was an AirBnb type website.
You should definitely work on your landing page. Instead of a search bar, maybe list a few of your top destinations. I typed in a location but as you only have 150 listings, nothing showed up. Maybe check out https://nomadlist.com/ for inspiration.
Do people go to the website with a location in mind? Or do they go to the website with exchanging their house to a cool city/town in mind?
You've got something cool in your hands, you just need to refine and work on your message.
I love the idea, as someone who is familiar with this sort of thing. I don't think your website explains the process well enough. At first I thought it was an AirBnb type website.
You should definitely work on your landing page. Instead of a search bar, maybe list a few of your top destinations. I typed in a location but as you only have 150 listings, nothing showed up. Maybe check out https://nomadlist.com/ for inspiration.
Do people go to the website with a location in mind? Or do they go to the website with exchanging their house to a cool city/town in mind?
You've got something cool in your hands, you just need to refine and work on your message.
brandi3167
New member
@ferfi Thanks for taking a lot. I read this message before I got up this morning and it's one of those lightbulb moments, also one of those moments where I feel like I've been a bit stupid about something that might be obvious to others. I'll get rid of the search bar on the landing page for now and replace with buttons for locations which I have. I record everything so I know that heaps of people land, search for "kinshasa" or some place I don't have and then go away again.
I'm working on a replacement about/how to page at the moment. I'll get that done today or tomorrow too.
Seriously, thanks for taking a look.
I'm working on a replacement about/how to page at the moment. I'll get that done today or tomorrow too.
Seriously, thanks for taking a look.
@brandi3167 Hey, I really like peoplelikeus! And I understood the concept immediately, however I did visit the website after I read your entire comment.
Do you have a business plan/ do you plan on monetizing in the future?
Do you have a business plan/ do you plan on monetizing in the future?
brandi3167
New member
@kenhui Hey, thanks for looking. I like it too. Honestly, I wrote it for me and then kept the user model generic so I could offer it to other people.
I'm putting a subscription model in place as we speak for membership with one listing. It won't make much money for now but I feel there's a strong element of getting what you pay for right now. I've got a LOT of members who have signed up but not listed.
I'm putting a subscription model in place as we speak for membership with one listing. It won't make much money for now but I feel there's a strong element of getting what you pay for right now. I've got a LOT of members who have signed up but not listed.
@brandi3167 Very interesting. What is the ratio of those who signed up but didn't create listing to those who did? And do you know why this happens? Did you contact them and ask? Or you just assume they were interested but don't have the time/energy/motivation to continue?