Hi all,

In my ongoing quest for the "golden nugget" of information that could help my new business explode I come to you for help and guidance! :-)

http://www.wordmouth.com
UK Word Of Mouth Business Recommendation and Review Service. (or to put it another way, my attempt to create a fully interactive, graphical, graded, online business directory... bringing all UK businesses (traders, shops, restaurants, football teams... everything!) into one place, enabling up to the minute graphical advertising for little cost, reducing the risk of hiring a rogue trader, getting a better meal, and allowing your local pub to post details of the Christmas prize draw...). The Yellow Pages is great, but how do you know who is going to provide a good service?

The site isn't perfect... I am no designer.... but it is functional. I aim to improve the design if I can make any money. I am doing all I can to spread the word. Sending press releases, doing radio interviews... you name it... but it is all falling on deaf ears.

I came up with the idea for WordMouth last December. I am a programmer and long-time web user, but not a designer. I approached a friend to help build the site.. but by July he hadn't delivered, so I attempted to do it myself.

Essentially what I am trying to build is an "Amazon/Ciao"... for local businesses and services. I have many ideas for expansion in the future, paid services for all members, competitions, etc etc... but I am having difficulty getting things moving.

I chose phpBB because it is free and easy to install. You will see that I have used a large category hierarchy.. and ratings modifications. I have bolted in a payment system (WorldPay) so that companies can add themselves to the directory. I have tried to strip out a lot of the forum elements that are unnecessary to streamline the display. The whole site only shows what it needs to.. no clutter.

The home page is simple too.. adopting the Google concept of minimalism! I am assuming that less clutter will make it easier to use.

Anyway I am open to any suggestions for marketing, partnerships, funding, design, content and search engine optimisation. I am listed on Google (pagerank 4 already.... not quite sure how!!), and have an Adwords campaign running from many keywords. I have attempted to optimise my homepage for "consumer reviews" with additional "local" and "UK" elements. You will also see that the titles of all my pages are dynamically generated

I think my concept is unique in the UK (certainly on the scale for which i am aiming)... I am worried that Yahoo Local (launched in US) is catching me up rapidly!!.

Also check out the examples (linked from the homepage) for more idea about what I am trying to do. You can see the rating system, customer feedback, images etc etc.

Many thanks for your time,

Alastair Shortland
WordMouth Ltd
Malvern, Worcestershire, UK.
media@wordmouth.com