thinking about starting my own freebie site.

[sc06tty]

Ok im thinking about creating a freebie site of my own but not to sure where to start or what to do lol do you think it would be a good idea or should i just scrap the idea totally?

[az87aris]

This is asked weekly on exceem and the most common answer is just to forget the idea! Read around similar threads and you'll know what you want to do, most probably you'll scrap the though (which i would actually advise you do lol)

[Axe08]

lets put it this way, it would be a good idea if it was easy and you made a lot of money from it, and it works, but it would be a bad idea if it didnt work. wish you luck if you try to do this.

[nickjett]

Originally Posted by Axe08

lets put it this way, it would be a good idea if it was easy and you made a lot of money from it, and it works, but it would be a bad idea if it didnt work. wish you luck if you try to do this.

Umm isnt that the case for anything!? Good if it works, bad if it dont!

[mdnl]

Go for it buddy, it's your time and your money, if you want to, don't let sensible people on here talk you of it

[Harvez]

its not bad that people are wanting to start there own freebie sites, it just to me anyway does not come across well when they ask on here instead of doing the research then coming on here saying, well ive found out blar blar blar and need ££££ to get started and a coder blar blar what do you guys think?

if people never wanted to start these sites we would not have all the freebie food which we so gorge on lol.

[rhysjones_1]

I know a guy in the process,, i think it wouldn't be hard if you knew the PHP and whatever else you'd need for the site.
think about it, how many freebie sites have failed?

[the_icks]

plenty, an a lot of them were very successful before hand, I can think of half a dozen in the last 18 months, includig Exceem supported ones!!

[Harvez]

ive looked into it before just out of curiosity and there is a hell of alot u have to do.
alot more behind the scenes stuff u wouldnt believe, if you reallly knew all that goes on you would praise them alot more trust me espesh the ones who deliver rapid support and delivery times etc.

[rhysjones_1]

Originally Posted by harvez

ive looked into it before just out of curiosity and there is a hell of alot u have to do.
alot more behind the scenes stuff u wouldnt believe, if you reallly knew all that goes on you would praise them alot more trust me espesh the ones who deliver rapid support and delivery times etc.

I'm not sayin it's easy, I'm just saying i know someone making one, and he says it's quite easy

[the_saint]

Originally Posted by rhysjones_1

i know someone making one, and he says it's quite easy

Making one probably is quite easy, but it does not stop at the making of the website, that is just the beginning! You have the day to day running of the business and the associated issues of starting any new business and these are not easy at all!

Even if you have a clear idea as to what you are doing and a solid business plan it is still tough to do and like any new business now really isn't the ideal time to start up.

As he is still just in the process of making the website I don't think he is any position to say whether a freebie website is easy.

[shbrooks]

Just out of curiosity, how do they freebie sites work with regards to the relationship between the freebie site and the company offers?

[the_saint]

Originally Posted by shbrooks

Just out of curiosity, how do they freebie sites work with regards to the relationship between the freebie site and the company offers?

There's no direct relationship as such, it is all done through a company called Tradedoubler.

[1halfsingh]

The guy I lived with last year decided he wanted to start one and he ended up spending three days solid writing the php from scratch. Then he applied to a load of merchants on Tradedoubler and then waited for them to get either accepted or declined. He then added the ones which had been accepted to his site but the problem was that he refused to spend any money/time on promotion and so it never really kicked off. Also he did tell me that it was quite difficult to set up an autocreditor which processed the reports from Tradedoubler, and I don't think he ever got round to it because hardly any offers got completed, and so he didn't see how the reports 'behaved'.

The problem was that because of the amount of money that he stood to receive from certain offers, it meant that he had to take a very cautious approach. Basically he didn't factor in those offers which would be done by people who did not manage to complete the site and get a gift. Essentially he left the good offers out, like LoveFilm, and placed IMO far too much emphasis on King Jackpot which he got £30 per sale. The site itself worked perfectly, but being a coder he placed too much importance on making the site 'light' and it ended up looking pretty bland compared to every other freebie site.

That said I would never discourage anyone from trying it out. I'm told you can just but the script if you're not a coder. It can be a great opportunity and was something that I considered but i've never had the time to dedicate to such a big project. But do bear in mind that it isn't just a case of making the site. You will need to have appropriate T&Cs laid out and will also need to register under the Data Protection Act. I think there are also certain things you need to do on top of this if you want to be under the exceem umbrella. But i'm sure Jon will outline these for you personally if you were to have a viable site set up. Although I bet he is inundated with applications from sites all the time.

Phew that was a long post lol

Hope this was at all helpful.

[the_icks]

I am just waiting now for the saint to reply with an equally large post!!

[1halfsingh]

lol i've only recently started to post regularly on exceem. Have a habit of writing in a long-winded way. Loving the banter on here though.

[claire80]

anyone can set one up but as the_saint said its the running of it thats the key .

also do you have the capital to pay for all the gifts that people qualify for ? you will not get paid by advertisers for at least 2 months - longer in some cases depending who the affiliate company is , in that 2 months say you have 20 people qualifying for a ps3 thats 6 grand you would need to spend before you even received a penny - can you afford this ?

[sc06tty]

thanks for all your replys, i think i should do a bit more homework before i jump in at the deep end.

[the_saint]

Originally Posted by the_icks

I am just waiting now for the saint to reply with an equally large post!!

Nah, I agree with the point he is making which is what I said before that whilst the making of the site might be easy (I don't know much about coding so I'll assume that from what people say the construction is easy), there is a business behind all that and that is where the difficulties start.

[Schism]

I think the main thing about setting it up, is having patience, time and a lot of money to start up, and a good knowledge of the legal system It may be worth getting a partner to help you do it.