Deal sites are e-commerce stores that sell you products at a discounted price for a certain period of time, usually 24- 48 hours. With tons of people constantly on the lookout for a good deal, sites like these are a great business for you to venture into. If you have hesitations about investing in a deal site, let me give you one word: Groupon.
Big name, right? How would you feel knowing that there are open source platforms that will help you create a site with ease and one that offers plugins and themes designed to build deal sites?
What You Need
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WordPress – Get it at https://wordpress.org.
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WPGroupbuy Theme – Purchase it at http://wpgroupbuy.com.
– $79
Setup Steps
Set up WPGroupBuy
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Purchase a WPGroupbuy license at http://wpgroupbuy.com.
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At your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance > Themes.
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Click Add New and Upload Theme > Choose the WPGroupbuy .zip file. Click Activate once it’s been installed.
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Set placeholders by going to Tools > Import > WordPress and uploading the XML demo content file you were given. You’ll find it in the content directory.
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Click Upload file and import after choosing the XML file.
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Make sure your homepage displays correctly by going to WPGroupbuy > Settings.
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Scroll down to Featured Deals Category and select Featured from the drop down.
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Make sure to click the Save button once you’re done.
Create deals.
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Go to Deals > Add Deal.
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Type in your deal name and add details in the provided text boxes.
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Set an expiration date on the right and choose deal expiration and voucher options. Click Publish when you’re done.
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Come up with a catchy domain that will tell consumers what your site is about.
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Narrow it down and find merchants.
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Write down your niche ideas. Set yourself apart from popular deal sites like Groupon.
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Choose a hosting provider that will register your domain as well as offer WordPress.
Marketing Setup
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Create an account for your site on several social media sites.
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Find your target audience and engage them through your social media pages.
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Offer an incentive for them to sing up to your newsletter.
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Build your email list.
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Invest in paid advertising such as Pay Per Click (PPC) ads.
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Start a blog.
Timeframe
Time to do: 5 days
Time to see results: 3 months
Additional Tips
Utilize the image slideshow feature on WPGroupbuy to present your deals better.
Identify blogs and social influencers that would be interested in a deals website and offer them discounts or freebies in exchange for a review.
Contact authority blogs and create a deal that would allow you to do a guest blog post on their site.
Join shopping forums and actively comment and engage other members then talk about your site.
Create regular newsletters and updates to send to your list.
Potential Results
It’s important for you to be able to generate some buzz even before launching your site. If you get a good amount of people talking about your site, you can earn up to $1,000 in the first month. In the months to come, you can earn up to $5,000 a month in passive income.
