local ads... how to???

[genspur]

yellow... me again...

ok, i hope this is not a completely idiotic Q... but if i am designing an "informative" website, and both my users and advertisers wud be (mostly) local, i'm just wondering how this will work....

(1) my plan is to provide a "basic" listing for every resource/business in my city that wud be of use to my users... just ph# and snail mail addy...

(2) then the first level of adverts that wud be avail wud be a link to the advert's website and/or email addy... any ideas about how much to charge for this basic service??? i'm thinking about $9.99/mo... is this reasonable???

(3) subsequent levels wud be flash/banner ads (i think this is the official term for this kind of thing...) and i guess i wud charge based on size and location of the ad... Is there a way that "clicks" (for lack of a more techinically correct term) on these as well as the basic types of ads mentioned in (2) can be recorded and/or charged for?

i'm trying to figure out a budget for this crazy website of mine and any input wud be greatly appreciated... TIA...

[ian]

(1) Sounds like a good idea if you optimize it well for search engines and can convey these placements to potential customers.
(2) Sounds like a reasonable price, although I think potential advertisers may be more inclined to pay a yearly listing fee, so you may want to add that option as well.
(3) There are many pay per click search engine scripts available, http://www.smarterscripts.com/smartsearch/ is one such one, but I dont think that would integrate with what you have in mind. Sounds like you would need a custom developed solution or need to choose either one rate of payment option.

[zkiller]

Ad Management scripts...

PHP:
http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Script...ent/index.html

ASP:
http://www.hotscripts.com/ASP/Script...ent/index.html

[genspur]

Originally Posted by ian

(1) Sounds like a good idea if you optimize it well for search engines and can convey these placements to potential customers.

thx... i plan to work on meta-tags primarily to start. i hope i'll get the user-traffic first and appeal to local businesses based on this traffic...

Originally Posted by ian

(2) Sounds like a reasonable price, although I think potential advertisers may be more inclined to pay a yearly listing fee, so you may want to add that option as well.

oh yes, forgot to mention that thought... i was thinking of maybe a 6mo option as well, but maybe i shud just stick w/ the 2 options to start and see what happens... i shud also mention that it wud be $9.99 (CDN) which = about $3.99 (US) lol... sorry that i did not have my "global" thinking cap on at the time of that last post...

Originally Posted by ian

(3) There are many pay per click search engine scripts available, http://www.smarterscripts.com/smartsearch/ is one such one, but I dont think that would integrate with what you have in mind. Sounds like you would need a custom developed solution or need to choose either one rate of payment option.

i may have to ponder that idea in the future... right now tho i think it is beyond my capabilities... but thankyou again for all of your great feedback!

[genspur]

Originally Posted by zkiller

Ad Management scripts...

ok... i'll try not to act all "deer caught in the headlights-ish" here, but WOW! i wud never have known that stuff like that existed if u hadn't mentioned it here. i believe that something along the lines of the "Ad Mgr Pro v2.0" wud work well for my purposes... again thx!

i'm hoping that you'll also take pity on me and try to explain (as simply as possible) the diff between PHP and ASP as it wud apply to this kind of ad stuff... TIA.

[ian]

php and asp programming languages. PHP is commonly used on linux based web hosts and asp on windows based hosts. To cut a long story short, PHP is more popular, and you get a much wider range of applications to suit your needs from which to chose from, as well as a wider range of free software options.
What programming language you decide to use is important when assessing what web hosting company/plan you select.

[zkiller]

Originally Posted by ian

php and asp programming languages. PHP is commonly used on linux based web hosts and asp on windows based hosts. To cut a long story short, PHP is more popular, and you get a much wider range of applications to suit your needs from which to chose from, as well as a wider range of free software options.
What programming language you decide to use is important when assessing what web hosting company/plan you select.

that is partially correct. while there is more free applications available in asp, there isn't nessarily more applications available. asp was primarily used by corporations and other large businesses and organizations, while php appealed more to the open source generation.

[genspur]

ok, so let me see if i understand this correctly... asp and php are the programming language choices of the web host... and shud therefore influence which host comp/plan i decide to use... good to know! sounds like the preferred choice wud be php (which is great since that Ad Pro thingy is in the PHP format).

here's where it gets a little "muddy" in my mind: this is not related to the type of language/software that i am using to develop my individual site(s) with, right? i mean, if i'm using a windows-based, WYSIWYG editor, for example, this does not mean that i must use a windows-based webhost, correct?

oy! SIA (Sorry In Advance) for the need to clarify this further... i really am very grateful for everyone's help here (altho i will likely stop short of genuflecting before the new-and-improved WebDesignForum logo...) .

[ian]

if you use a microsoft windows based WYSIWG editor like frontpage, you can use that with windows or linux host and with PHP based software applications.

[zkiller]

Originally Posted by genspur

i mean, if i'm using a windows-based, WYSIWYG editor, for example, this does not mean that i must use a windows-based webhost, correct?

like ian said, what you write code on has no bearing on what operating system your host is using.