dognovel Chapter 113 Be Careful When Spending Money
Chapter 113 Be Careful When Spending Money
The simple comment left by Mr. Liu, the owner of Shunfa Moving, proves one thing: the website has value.
However, promoting the website has never been smooth sailing; in fact, it has been extremely difficult.
After breaking into the triple digits, the number of unique visitors to the local life website entered a long plateau period, hovering around two hundred per day, many of which were contributed by team members themselves.
On the other hand, information growth has also encountered bottlenecks.
Lin Xiaoqiang's team focuses on individual landlords, and their manpower and business model dictate that their speed cannot be too fast.
Although each piece of information from the merchants that Wei Zejun's team has developed represents a potential source of content, persuading merchants to try, register, and publish their content is a slow and painstaking process.
He, along with Zhang Hai and Chen Xiaotao, practically wore themselves out running around, talked themselves hoarse, and handed out hundreds of business cards, but very few businesses were actually willing to try posting their information.
The biggest obstacle is not that businesses don't need it, but that they "don't know how" and "afraid of trouble".
The owner of "Chengxin Home Appliance Repair" shop in Baishizhou said with a wry smile to Wei Zejun, who came to his door again.
"Manager Wei, it's not that I don't trust you. Your website sounds great. But look at my shop, it's just my wife and me. We're so busy all day, how could we possibly have time for registration and posting information? Even more troublesome is maintaining and updating the information. We really just don't have the time..."
Wei Zejun had heard similar words dozens of times.
Many small shop owners and self-employed individuals are older and less educated, and have a natural fear and distance from computers and the internet.
They think things online are troublesome and unreliable. They are also stopped by the "operation" barrier.
After yet another setback, Wei Zejun squatted on the curb outside the shop, smoking with a furrowed brow.
Zhang Hai and Chen Xiaotao also sat dejectedly to the side.
"Brother Jun, this can't go on. We've talked until our lips are dry, and then they just shut us down with a 'I don't know how to do it'," Zhang Hai complained.
Wei Zejun remained silent, staring at the bustling crowd on the street. He noticed a fruit vendor by the roadside, awkwardly typing on an old Nokia phone, seemingly sending a text message. A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
"What if... we don't have to teach them how to use the internet?" Wei Zejun stubbed out his cigarette.
He then rushed back to the company and discussed the matter with Lin Feng and Zhou Bin.
"President Lin, President Zhou, I have an idea." Wei Zejun spoke quickly, "Many small business owners don't not want to use computers, but they are afraid of the trouble and don't know how to operate them."
Could we offer a "message posting service"? They don't need internet access; they can just send us a text message with the content they want to post, and we'll enter and post it for them in the backend.
Zhou Bin adjusted his glasses: "Technically feasible. We can apply for a dedicated mobile number to receive text messages. I'll write a simple backend program to parse the text message content and automatically or semi-automatically fill in the corresponding information fields. Then, it can be published after a manual review."
The key question is, how do we let them know about this number? How do we confirm after sending a text message?
"Print it on business cards and flyers!" Wei Zejun had an idea. "Just write, 'Don't know how to use the internet? Send a text message to 13xxxxxxxxx and we'll post your information for free!'"
After they send it to us and we enter it, we can send them a confirmation message, such as "Your posting of xx information has been successfully published. For details, please log in to the local life website or call 13xxxx."
We can even regularly send them text messages showing the number of inquiries they receive through the website!
Lin Feng pondered for a moment. Beike.com in later generations had also operated in this way. This would undoubtedly increase operating costs, but it could very well greatly lower the barrier to entry for merchants.
"Give it a try! Mr. Zhou, get the backend for receiving and parsing SMS messages working as soon as possible. It just needs to be simple and practical. Wei Zejun, redesign the promotional materials to highlight this 'SMS sending' function. Start by promoting it to the merchants we've already contacted who are interested but have encountered operational difficulties!"
The new strategy had an immediate effect.
Wei Zejun visited the "Honest Home Appliance Repair" shop again and handed over a new business card with the eye-catching words "Send a text message, go online".
The shop owner was skeptical: "Really, just sending a text message? And it's free?"
"It's really free! Just send us what you need repaired, your address, and your phone number, and we'll get you internet access. If someone sees it, they'll call you," Wei Zejun said, patting his chest.
The shop owner hesitated for a moment, then took out his phone and typed out a message following the format on the business card: "Repairing TVs, refrigerators, and air conditioners. Address: No. xx, xx Road, Baishizhou. Phone: 13xxxxxxxx".
Then, following Wei Zejun's instructions, I sent the website's backend number.
Ten minutes later, Zhou Bin approved the application in the backend.
A few minutes later, the shop owner's phone beeped with a text message: "Your appliance repair information has been posted on the local life website. One person has viewed it today. For details, please check online or call customer service."
The boss looked at the text message and grinned: "Hey, this really saves me trouble."
A week later, Wei Zejun returned the visit.
As soon as the shop owner saw him, he enthusiastically pulled him into the store: "Little Wei, your website is really amazing! I've received seven or eight calls in the past few days, all from young people who said they saw my number online. Two orders have been placed! That's great, that's great! I'll post a few more ads, and add my washing machine and computer repair services too!"
The simple method of "text message delivery" has acted like a key, unlocking the tightly closed doors of countless small and micro businesses in Shenzhen.
With the information dissemination threshold lowered to the minimum, Wei Zejun's team's expansion speed has significantly accelerated.
The number of merchant information in the backend began to grow rapidly. Although much of the information was poorly formatted, the authenticity of the content was the most important thing.
Li Ying also faced numerous difficulties in promoting her website online.
Simply "transferring information" and "helpfully replying" can only bring limited and highly unstable traffic growth.
The forum moderators began to notice this "helpful netizen" who frequently appeared and always recommended "local life website," greatly increasing the risk of deleting posts and banning the user.
Li Ying did not fight head-on. She adjusted her strategy, shifting from "guerrilla warfare" to "positional warfare".
No longer satisfied with sporadic replies, she began to try writing some high-quality "strategy posts" or "summary posts".
For example, she spent a week organizing and classifying all the information about "renting around the Science Park" on the website, and combined it with her own understanding to write a long post titled "Essential for Shenzhen Drifters: On-site Report on Renting Around the Science Park", which she posted on the rental section of "Under the Eaves of Shenzhen".
The post is detailed and specific, and also includes a simple regional map and an analysis of its advantages and disadvantages.
She also mentioned at the end of the article, "The above information is compiled from Tongcheng Life Network. You can check it out for more real-time listings."
Because of its practicality, this post was quickly featured by the moderator and sparked a lot of discussion and comments, bringing a small surge in website traffic for several days.
In addition, Li Ying began to try to communicate privately with some forum moderators.
She chose some local forums with moderate popularity but relatively relaxed management, and contacted the moderator of the rental section through the forum's internal messaging system. As a website editor, she offered to regularly provide the section with some verified and compiled rental information.
Li Ying helped the moderator enrich the content of the forum on the condition that the information in the summary could be attributed to the Shenzhen channel of "Tongcheng Life Network" and a soft GG (Golden Goose) could be added.
After reviewing the website's content, the moderator found the information to be quite substantial and agreed to the collaboration.
Although this collaboration is rudimentary and limited in scope, it signifies that online promotion is moving from simply "piggybacking" on traffic to a deeper level of "content collaboration."
The efforts made both online and offline are like two streams, slowly converging into the website. But to achieve a qualitative leap in traffic, it is essential to seize the largest entry point on the internet in this era—the Baidu search engine.
Zhou Bin submitted a preliminary research report on Baidu promotion.
The report details the account opening fee (1500 yuan), cost per click (starting from 0.3 yuan), and some success stories for "pay-per-click advertising".
"Mr. Lin, Baidu is now the leading search engine in China, with almost half the market share. If we buy keywords like 'Shenzhen rentals' and 'Shenzhen job postings,' our website link will likely appear at the top of the search results as long as someone searches for them. This is the most direct and precise source of traffic," Zhou Bin said earnestly.
"This path burns through money very quickly!" Lin Feng frowned slightly as he looked at the report. Keyword selection, bidding strategy, and landing page design all directly affect results and costs.
Pay-per-click means that every penny must be spent wisely. For websites that are currently burning through cash and generating zero revenue, this is an investment that requires extremely careful consideration.
Lin Feng did not rush to make a decision.
Building an internet platform requires burning money, that's the norm in the industry, but for Lin Feng, who has been in business for less than a year, he absolutely cannot burn money blindly.
He needs to take stock of his assets and make a cash flow plan.
The bottlenecks in promotion and the anxiety of burning money are like two invisible ropes, slowly tightening together.
Although Wei Zejun's "text message forwarding" and Li Ying's "content collaboration" have shown initial success, the resulting increase in traffic is still a drop in the bucket for websites eager to make a breakthrough.
Zhou Bin's Baidu bidding report was a double-edged sword in front of Lin Feng. The effects might be immediate, but the money could also flow away like water.
Lin Feng did not make a decision immediately.
After Zhou Bin left, he called Zhao Ling, the finance manager at the headquarters in Chengdu.
"Hello, Zhao Ling, this is Lin Feng."
"Boss, what's up?" Zhao Ling's capable voice came from the other end of the phone.
"You and Liu Qian, hurry up and take stock of the company's accounts. I need to know two things: First, how much cash we have available in the account as of yesterday;"
Second, based on the current business situation, make a cash flow forecast for the next three months, focusing on the approximate net cash outflow for each month. This is very important; after you've done this, call him.
"Understood, boss. I'll work with Liu Qian to organize the data right away and report to you tomorrow," Zhao Ling replied.
After hanging up the phone, Lin Feng leaned back in his chair.
The bottlenecks in promotion and the desire for growth are intertwined in my heart, but it is precisely at times like these that I need to remain calm and make decisions based on data.