I am very happy (and relieved) to announce that the Burbank, California city guide has been re-launched. As I mentioned before, I wasn’t happy with the previous site, which was built to meet some time constraints. The information was good, but I didn’t think the site looked great or was as useful as it could be. Needless to say, based on what I have learned over the past few months (and what my developer/designer learned), a new site was created, and I would like to walk you through it.
The look and feel of the homepage was completely revamped. Instead of a welcome page with general information about Burbank, I wrote clips from various sections of the site and added them to the home page to aid navigation. Β I listed the most popular categories, added small pictures, and wrote a couple of sentences for each category, allowing people to click through to their desired page.
I added a functional calendar to the site. I want to give visitors a reason to return – other than when they need a phone number, and a calendar gives added value. Visitors and local businesses can submit events, and I will also add events – both for the public and private sectors. I hope this will be useful to people who live in Burbank or are visiting.
I added a news section to almost every informational page, and the most recent news stories are on the home page. This is to keep the website updated frequently and fresh with news. It will also be a good resource for people looking for information and should drive traffic to the site.
I added links to the best hotel deals in Burbank that might strike the interest of visitors. With the hotel affiliate I am using, they guarantee the lowest online rates, so I am taking advantage of this positioning. It already seems to be working as I closed a hotel reservation last night at Hotel Amarano – the luxury hotel in Burbank. Hopefully I will continue to generate hotel reservations.
A Yellow Pages business directory section was added. This is essentially the meat of the website and where I believe I will generate the most revenue. Β I hand “coded” each of the directory pages, and the hope is that advertisers will want to upgrade their listings for a premium. If a visitor is looking for a lawyer in Burbank, I think it would behoove a law firm to upgrade and be seen first. I will also allow companies to retain their position in the directory but add a link to their website at a lower rate.
All Adsense links have been completely removed from the site. With a fully-developed website, there is no reason to have visitors click on the links to be taken elsewhere. Visitors are valuable, and I don’t want to lose visitors to make a few cents. I would rather them patronize advertisers who work directly with me rather than getting paid to send them somewhere else.
I added a number of informational pages about various activities, parks and theatres in the area that weren’t included in the first site. I want Burbank.com to be the most comprehensive website in Burbank, and I need to add as much important information as possible. As mentioned before, each of these pages has a news heading at the bottom, allowing me to add new information. I better update my Google Alerts account – and sign up for various email newsletters.
An activities widget was added to the Burbank activities and studio tour pages. Because of date issues, I couldn’t connect individual activities to activity pages like I could with the hotels. In light of this, I added a helpful widget. This will allow people to choose other activities in the surrounding area. I can test conversions over time, and if it appears that traffic is great but conversions are low, I can consider going directly to the advertisers and sell tickets or sell advertising space.
Nearly every page has a picture. Ironically, the person who helped write many of the articles and pages actually lives in Burbank. She was happily willing to go out and take pictures for the site. I think they make the site look great and really add to it. I also added captions to each photo for search engine purposes. Where pictures weren’t available or weren’t possible, I used stock photos.
I really think the site turned out well, and my developer/designer did an amazing job. At the moment, there are many minor things that need to be fixed. I am facing some calendar issues, the captchas aren’t showing up, missing a few pages, and a few other technical problems. If you notice any issues or have any comments, please let me know. I am in Florida right now but am on something like a working vacation. Next up is Lowell.com!
Great work Elliot.
It’s great to see that you incorporated the news, events, directory features. It really adds value to the site!
– Richard
Hi Elliot,
The new Burbank Site looks Good – I would say this is a major improvement on the last site!
It’s a little slow on the load up but the main thing is the site up and running and makeing you revenue.
Who built the site for you?
Also I have launched a new Reg Fee Avail Domains list that some people might be interested in including yourself on it today is domains related to flights – You can pick up BurbankFlights.net & .org + LowellFlights.net & .org for REG FEE!
Keep up the excellent posts cant wait to see how Lowell.com turns out.
Regards,
Robbie
http://robbieferguson.co.uk
Is that a Revolution theme? I like it.
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
No – it’s not WordPress and was designed by my developer.
Elliot
the new Burbank.com looks Fantastic!
Congratulations.
removing the Adsense links has been a smart decision,
it definitely gives a more professional look to your site.
The yellow pages section is a killer. I cant see these businesses not upgrading their listings if they mean business!
this will be a big success.
my best,
Fantastic re-launch Elliot; kudos to you and your team. Having a writer who lives there and is able to provide photos is a nice bonus.
Very nice Elliot. Really like what you’ve done on this site with your new changes! This looks great! Congrats.
Good work, Elliot. Very impressed you did this yourself.
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
My developer really deserves the credit. Most of the stuff I did were cut/paste from things he created. I asked him for certain features and he was able to add them.
That is a very nice site, several months ago I registered AaronsburgPa.com and I am thinking on selling it, but if the domain does not sell I might do something similar.
Elliot,
Looks great… If what Troy was asking regarding the Revolution theme of WP and it was a custom from-scratch job, then won’t the back-end management be a nightmare?
Also, where do you get your initial Yellowpage content and how do you keep it up todate?
Is every update request (advertisers, calendar, etc.) sent to you via email to manage?
Shane
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
It was created from scratch using data from iBegin.com (Ahmed helped me out by getting me the data I needed in the format that was helpful). All updates will be sent to me to manage. If it becomes too much, I will probably have to hire someone – but if that happens, I am sure the revenue will justify it.
PS: In this you need to promote your Burbank.com special rates:
“Get the best online rates for Burbank, California hotels. Whether your are visiting for business or vacation, you can find discount luxury and economy hotel rooms in Burbank, CA.”
Love it. Much better. Not having the Adsense really makes a difference.
One thing I would add is some kind of title above the calendar that indicates it is an event calendar. Some folks might just think you are telling them the day of the month.
Great job….. I think this may really take off.
Excellent redesign! I found myself browsing the site a lot longer than with the old design.
Great job on the work and planning of the business model. We domainers work to reduce our dependance on Google & Yahoo for parking and also have to work to do the same for Adsense and YPN.
Have you sent a press release or special interest story to any of the local media or planned to run ads in the local papers? You may see if your Burbank photographer would help out part time as the “local face” of the site. I think the more you can make the site feel local to the community, the more successful it will become.
Congrats
Hey Elliot:
Nice job!
I am sure this will pay out for you.
Thanks for the very informative post.
Could you give us a little info on finding a writer to work with.
How do you source getting a writer? Do you pay them by the page, word, job?
Thanks,
Mark
Hey Elliot,
Typo under ‘real estate’ section: ‘budgget’.
This site looks great. I wholeheartedly agree with removing the Adsense ads…why lose the customers?
I think the ‘hand-written’ logo doesn’t really match the modern feel of your new website, however. But that is my 2 cents, and feel free to disregard it!!! π
Overall, love it. Esp the calendar addition, very nice.
Thanks for the detailed explanation of the process behind site development. I will be interested to monitor the success of YellowPages – will you use an outsourced call center to accelerate take up? I would love to know the budget! I am about to drop $2,000 on a custom blog, but am currently benchmarking pricing.
Elliot —
Great job on your Burbank site. Congratulations! I really am impressed with the site and actually somewhat surprised how much better it looks without the Adsense ads.
I’ll be interested to see how your Yellow Pages feature works. Did you check out any of the existing directory platforms (eDirectory.com and Recall Media Group’s Niche Directory Platform)?
Best wishes,
Lou
Well done mate, this is a top notch domain and website.
Look forward to talking about it with you soon over a beer or two π
Ed
Congrats on Burbank.com and Thank You for a great lunch meeting today!
Kevin
BigTicketDomains.com
It does look more professional now. More official too. Well done!
I like the look of the new site a lot more. I’d be interested to see what your payback period is looking like relative to development costs. Don’t need actual numbers, but maybe if you discussed how many months you think it will take before you break even.
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
Thank you. I will try and provide some updates. I did receive a hotel reservation and 2 job listings already. The real pay back will come when I start soliciting ad sales and Yellow Pages upgrades.
Great site. Isn’t this a bit much though?
Notwithstanding the preceding paragraphs, you may be granted a limited, nonexclusive right to create a hyperlink to the Burbank.com Network provided (i) you give Burbank.com notice of such link by writing to elliot@Burbank.com, (ii) Burbank.com confirms in writing that you may establish the link, (iii) you do not remove or obscure the copyright notice or other notices on the Burbank.com Network, (iv) such link does not portray Burbank.com Network or any of its products and services in a false, misleading, derogatory or otherwise defamatory manner, and (v) you immediately discontinue providing a link to the Burbank.com Network if so requested by Burbank.com. You may not use a Burbank.com logo or other proprietary graphic or trademark of Burbank.com to link to the Burbank.com Network without the express written permission of Burbank.com. Burbank.com reserves the right to revoke this license generally, or your right to use specific links, at any time. Under no circumstances may you βframeβ Burbank.com Network or any of its content or copy portions of the Burbank.com Network to a server. Except as otherwise consented to in writing by Burbank.com, each page within the Burbank.com Network must be displayed in full (including all trademarks, branding, advertising and promotional materials), without any accompanying frame, border, margin, design, branding, trademark, advertising or promotional materials not originally displayed on the page within the Burbank.com Network.
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
I am not an attorney, but I had one create this. Perhaps it is a bit much and out of my control, but I wanted a disclaimer that was all encompassing.
Great job and nice work, my friend…looks like the Official Burbank Website to me! π
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
Thanks… far from the official site though π
Impressive site.
Trivial question. You’ve chosen to use the spelling ‘theatre’ rather than ‘theater’. Any discussion before the choice ?
Whilst ‘theatre’ is standard where I live, I had the opinion that ‘theater’ was the standard spelling in the U.S. these days ? Am I mistaken ?
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
That’s how all of the live theatres are known in Burbank.
Great looking site! We’re developing our site from scratch as well and it’s a lot of work. Working with a good developer is key, as is showned in Burbank.com. Again, congrats on the new site!
Cheers.