HomePros.com is Here

[HomePros]

Hey Folks,

I am Phillip Rather, the CEO of HomePros.com. Here is a thread going on our company. Very happy to be here and feel free to set up a BETA account at HomePros if you like...we are launching a directory in a couple weeks and need all the professionals we can get. Classic chicken and egg :)

remodelcrazy.com/forum/showthread.php?t=388

Thanks!

Phillip

[Eieio]

Welcome to the Site Philip

[Eieio]

Welcome to the Site Philip

What is HomePros?? What is its purpose??

[TulsaRemodeler]

Hey Folks,

I am Phillip Rather, the CEO of HomePros.com. Here is a thread going on our company.
Welcome Phillip,
Heres a question, if its free how are you going to make money? No gimicks I hope. Off of product placement, links, what?

It would be refreshing to hear that someone was going to run a lead gen service that was legit and honest.

Edit: Haha, I guess the above question isnt gonna be answered.

[SLS-Construction]

Welcome to RC Phillip - I got an account on there already

[Msargent]

Hello and welcome

[Mike(VA)]

Already said it once, but hello again.

[HomePros]

What is HomePros?? What is its purpose??
Here is the Remodel Crazy thread on what we do:

remodelcrazy.com/forum/showthread.php?t=388

[HomePros]

Welcome Phillip,
Heres a question, if its free how are you going to make money? No gimicks I hope. Off of product placement, links, what?

It would be refreshing to hear that someone was going to run a lead gen service that was legit and honest.

Edit: Haha, I guess the above question isnt gonna be answered.
I wrote a blog on how the lead gen business model has commoditized the marketing in our industry, removing trust and dissatisfying both consumer and business. So we are definately not a lead gen company:

users.homepros.com/content/blog/13-5

We are also not going with an advertising model in a traditional adsense or display format. The site will have relatively few, but large, exclusive corporate sponsorships.

The primary source of revenue is subscription/SaaS offering various levels and feature sets to users. Very straightforward. Leads are "free", as in a basic directory listing is free and whoever contacts you directly is your business. Whatever business you get from networking through content and discussions is free. We will at some point allow homeowners to submit their project and pass those inquiries onto the best match contractors that are "Certified" (meeting minimum license, insurance and background criteria) which provides them an upgraded profile, project leads that match them, content management system, and preferred directory listing. We will charge a relatively nominal monthly amount for this thats a fraction of what people spend on leads every month. We will add on upgrade modules along the way that provide additional marketing and administrative functionality.

We want to dominate this market. To reach critical mass, I have to provide you with a cost effective and transparent solution that first and foremost earns your trust back. But one that also puts the power of online marketing back into your hands.

[TulsaRemodeler]

I wrote a blog on how the lead gen business model has commoditized the marketing in our industry, removing trust and dissatisfying both consumer and business. So we are definately not a lead gen company:

users.homepros.com/content/blog/13-5

We are also not going with an advertising model in a traditional adsense or display format. The site will have relatively few, but large, exclusive corporate sponsorships.

The primary source of revenue is subscription/SaaS offering various levels and feature sets to users. Very straightforward. Leads are "free", as in a basic directory listing is free and whoever contacts you directly is your business. Whatever business you get from networking through content and discussions is free. We will at some point allow homeowners to submit their project and pass those inquiries onto the best match contractors that are "Certified" (meeting minimum license, insurance and background criteria) which provides them an upgraded profile, project leads that match them, content management system, and preferred directory listing. We will charge a relatively nominal monthly amount for this thats a fraction of what people spend on leads every month. We will add on upgrade modules along the way that provide additional marketing and administrative functionality.

We want to dominate this market. To reach critical mass, I have to provide you with a cost effective and transparent solution that first and foremost earns your trust back. But one that also puts the power of online marketing back into your hands.
Sounds a little gimicky but honest anyway. Thanks! I really didnt think you'd answer.

[Workaholic]

Welcome Phil.

[HomePros]

Sounds a little gimicky but honest anyway. Thanks! I really didnt think you'd answer.
No offense taken, just curious about what you mean by "gimicky"?

[Eieio]

I think further explanation of the tools you plan to add for the contractor would be a start

Also how do you intend to drive homeowners to your site. There are a few out there that are similar to yours.

Other companies have a similar concept as yours right now.

How do you qualify contractors?

How many contractors will you have per state, county etc.

What is going to make you site stand out from the others

Why do we want to sign up for it when I can market my own website?

[HomePros]

Without giving all the details obviously...I believe in transparency but we do have some strategy to keep from the competition.

The tools are very social in nature, trying to bring back some of the referral based/network marketing methods contractors have always used offline. They will make leveraging social media giants like Facebook easier through integration and external applications. The tools also include business process applications, such as CRM, document and project management that are presented during the marketing process. You could use these tools to manage clients/prospects not acquired through HomePros.

Homeowners will be driven from SEO (its a content repository), social media, and PR, as well as built in viral components promoting the referring of HomePros contractors to homeowners not currently on the site, or that use sites like Facebook.

Any contractor/designer/architect can join. We will provide extremely differentiated profiles and directory placement for members we certify as having insurance, license, and clean professional and personal backgrounds. I am open to hear everyones ideas about how far down the path of screening member contractors we should go as this evolves.

I am the biggest proponent of marketing your own site. I think the fact that not enough contractors do it is the reason why lead companies have had the "success" they have had...financially speaking of course.

This is just a different and up the the times avenue. You need links to your site, your content and information syndicated, and exposure to what will ultimately be the biggest differentiator we have which is a sticky homeowner user base. By providing professional members with communication and business process management applications, it has created an opportunity to use the same technology to allow homeowners to have a management dashboard for their home, where they can easily order services, track repairs/maintenance/warranty/ect on their home, and leverage their "friends" to find good providers they have previously worked with. This will leverage mobile and social networking applications so that the site is easily accessible, as well as one that utilizes your real world network of friends/family/acquaintances.

At the end of the day, it comes down to what you got marketing wise for what you paid. If the marketing was effective, and the tools useful, then it should be a win-win. I think we all know that the community will expose ineffective marketing avenues.

[Eieio]

Ok so far I can follow your explanation and believe your plan is sound and well thought ok.

One problem I have is the use of my content will be a double edge sword.

When you publish content on someone else's site it is there for them to use as they feel fit.

So I give of the ownership of what I post on the site. What happens if I don't like the way my content is used by Homepros??

Secondly advertising will be another. Another LGC was notorious for using popular companies that ranked well in the search engines to boost their companies ranking.

That did not sit will well for most of the companies involved.

It felt like they were being used unfairly to help market the other companies agenda

[HomePros]

Content you contribute is totally up to you. If you find some method we use offensive in any way, we will simply remove it. The only thing we do with the content is make sure it is optimized for SE's, give you credit for it, allow you to link from it, and post it to our following on Twitter and Facebook driving traffic to the page. But again, you dont have to post blogs if you dont want to.

RE advertising, our only intent is to have the profiles of member companies easily found on the site, and by search engines, but we shouldnt be showing up ahead of the company itself. If we do, that company should really learn about a simple title tag ;). Not sure I totally now what you mean here but I remember Paul in a conversation on LI talking something about this. We publish real company phone numbers, and links to company websites, as well as a direct messaging platform. By not selling leads, we have no financial incentive to get in between a homeowner and pro, or use someones positive reputation as a source of traffic for our site.