Pick a City - any City

Operating your own city guide on the Web can be interestingand very profitable. Almost every city already has atleast one city guide. But there is always room for onemore. For example, I live near Phoenix, Arizona. I couldcall my site "The Best Guide to Phoenix", "The OfficialGuide to Phoenix", or "The Complete Guide to Phoenix".How do you generate revenue from a city guide? 1. Youcharge a fee to list restaurants, accommodations, andother businesses that are located in the city. 2. You sellbooks and videos about the city, and city souvenirs andmementos.You should develop your city guide in phases.Phase 1. Create the non-commercial sections of the Website. Some cities, like Chicago and New York, are popularfor their cultural attractions. Some cities, like Phoenix,are popular for nearby natural attractions. Some citiesare popular for their artisans, monuments, or history.Create an attractive front page that displays photographsrelated to the unique attractions of the city. Develop an "Attractions" section of your Web site. Youmight also want to develop a "Maps" section. When you havea reasonable amount of content, begin promoting your cityguide to start generating some traffic.Phase 2. Create the commercial sections of the Web site.You should develop an "Accommodations" section, a"Restaurants" section, and a "Businesses" section. Youmight also want to develop a "Search" section.Contact all the large businesses that you want to list inyour city guide and offer them free listing. Yes - free.In order to get things rolling, you will have to fill upthe commercial sections by offering free listing. Don'ttell them you are going start charging as soon as you getthe sections filled out.This is how you approach the business owners; "I'mdeveloping a new city guide web site and I'm listing everyimportant business in the city for free. Can you provideme with some information about your establishment?" Peoplehave less resistance to free, and this will get you accessto the decision makers of the businesses.Phase 3. You contact every business listed in your cityguide and ask them if they want to renew their listing forone year for $1 (or some incredibly low fee). You canalso approach businesses not yet listed with the offer tolist them for the same incredibly low fee.If you were a restaurant owner or hotel manager looking ata guide that has all your competitors listed, wouldn't yoube willing to pay a small fee to remain in the guide? Thereason that you have such a low fee is because you wantyour customers to take the important leap from a freelisting to a paid listing.Phase 4. After their renewal expires, you present eachbusiness with your listing options for the next year. Youcan offer anything from a small advertisement to amulti-page Web site. You are now an established city guide.Even your minimal listing - an entry in the search sectiononly - costs $50.00 to $500.00 or more per year. The leapfrom paid to a price increase is not as wide as the leapfrom free to paid.The potential earnings from a Web city guide varies withthe size and popularity of the city. Even a small townwith some attraction should provide you with a moderateincome. A large city with many popular attractions couldearn you much more.