'Wisconsin Used Cars Interview'

Wisconsin Used Cars Interview

By Interviewer at 07/29/07 16:15

Name of your website?

Wisconsin Used Cars

Your name?

Dan Ruscoe

Your Location (city, etc)

Green Bay

What inspired you to launch your own website?

The need to find a decent used car coupled with the lack of good, reliable used car resources for Wisconsin.

When did you launch your first website, and what was it?

Summer, 2002. It was a directory of camping sites.

How did you decide on a name for your website?

The name describes what the website specializes in.

Please give us a short summary of your website?

My website collects used car listings from dealers all over Wisconsin and groups them into one big, searchable database.

What makes it different from other, similar offerings?

When researching used car dealers, I found most online resources were either out of date or just plain wrong. Many also just listed dealer names, not the cars they offered. I personally check the details of dealers and cars entered into the database for accuracy to make my website the most reliable for local used car listings.

What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)

If I can't eventually offload it, I'll keep it for the income.

How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?

I think I've achieved a lot in the month the site has been online. I'm happy with it.

If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?

I would hire data inputters and purchase TV commercial time.

If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?

If I hired data inputters.

What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?

Lack of consistency between used car dealers. Some dealers just don't provide vital bits of information on their cars that others do, resulting in gaps in the database.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Retrieving usable information from some car dealers.

What method has been most successful for promoting your website?

Word of mouth, definitely.

How has running your website differed from your expectations?

It turned out better than I originally expected. I think many people will find it a useful resource.

How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?

A month so far. I will personally keep it running until I sell it.

What is your background in this industry?

I've no background in used cars, but I've been in web development professionally for three or four years. Originally from the UK, I worked as a web developer for several companies who sold products to the UK market via their websites. I now intend to continue my career here in Wisconsin.

What is your website address?

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