The title of the post should really be “Upending the Traditional Website Development Model”. This week, we launched Breaking Shopping News.com and Breaking REO News.com to prove conceptually how Twitter and the new real time micro-blogging and communication tools can be used 1) for local advertising and 2) local reporting of the bank-owned housing markets, respectively.
Simply put, we believe and want to prove that using Twitter to break news through an application like Breaking Shopping News.com, even if it is advertising, is compelling to a local community. And to reinforce our intention, we offer the template and business advice to anybody who can see how to adapt it to their local market. It’s like a free web franchise.
Here’s a table that explains the evolution of how websites have been built. Many developers have already adopted the 2009+ build it quick model as seen by the proliferation of Twitter based apps. How many are giving their ideas and apps away for others to use?
| 1997 (Web 1.0) | 2003 (Web 2.0) | 2009+ (Web 2.1+) | |
| Seed idea | Get idea: “Pets.com” | Get idea: “Zillow.com” | Get idea: “Breaking Shopping News.com” |
| Financing stage | Go to VC for funding | Incubate idea 6-12 months, go to VC | None. Just build it. |
| Development stage | Spend $500,000+ on site development | Spend $100,000’s on site development | Build it as cheaply as possible with available open source tools and apps. (Guy Kawasaki spent $10,000 to launch Alltop) Find like minded collaborators – corporate and individuals. |
| Launch stage | Huge marketing budget, include Superbowl ads | Launch with blogger testimonials | Launch for feedback, any blogger testimonials are cherries on top |
| Ramp stage | Beat up competitors | Co-opetition. Work with competitors to stake out mindshare and business credibility | Fine tune business model. Invite corporate partnerships for financing. Give away the template free or low cost to anybody who wants it (like Ning). Build mindshare if the biz model works. |
| Exit stage | Get rich quick | Build a business, and… get rich as a bonus | Demonstrate that a new business can be built. Parlay credibility and knowledge to build more new businesses. |
And btw, thank you #domus #301… your support and feedback helped to build these business models and we’re excited to work with you to get these new sites up and running in your locales.
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