Coupon sites how to run and mantain them a few helpfull tips.

[Kevin]

Running a coupon site now is very hard this is due to a few factors. There are thousands of coupon sites around now so getting known is going to need good marketing. Updating the site is a very hard job as if you are going to add them manually then it is a daily job that can take an hour or so.

Here are some things that will help people interested in running a coupon site.

So firstly we need to choose what we are going to run our site on. There are many CMS's out there at the moment so making sure you get one that fits your needs and is SEO friendly is important. I use wordpress but only because that is my preffered platform.

Some CMS's.
WordPress › Blog Tool and Publishing Platform
drupal.org | Community plumbing
Joomla!
uknews.php
http://www.xoops.org
orgnews.php

You can get demos and other CMS reviews here PHP CMS Demos - opensourceCMS

Getting the coupons.
All networks have some sort of database or email you the coupons when they are available. Also contact the merchants themselves to see if you can get any exclusive coupons for your site.

Sites that will help you run your site and keep all coupons up to date.
For Me To Coupon - Automated Coupon Affiliate Feed
GoldenCAN, Affiliate Data Feed, Coupon & Search Integration Solution
Fourth World - Web Publishing Software and Custom Software Development
OWS Software
Bounce.cc - Monetize Blogs, Forums, Web Sites via User Generated Content

Ensure you know what you are getting into if for talking sake you are going to run a coupon site that also allows users to post coupons make sure these are not coupons that are exclusive to other sites this can get you banned from the merchant.

And once again be prepard to work hard, but the benefits if you hit it right are excellent.

[Coderea]

Any good example coupon sites owned by individuals that might help others??

[Kevin]

Yea of course.

This one Coupons, Coupon Codes, Online Coupons, Discount Shopping, Coupon Discounts, and Discount Coupons. they input all coupons manually.
Latest Discount Vouchers: UK Discount Codes, Promotion Codes as far as i am aware they also manually input them.

Dell Coupons, Free Online Coupon Codes, Dell Computer Deals & More Discounts at CouponMountain.com this one is custom.

Voucher Codes | Promotional Codes | Promotional Vouchers | Promotional Coupons | Discount Codes | Discount Vouchers also custom but think they do manual input as well as feeds.

Coupon codes and discounts for 20,000 online stores! RetailMeNot.com unsure about this one but he gets bad press from other affiliates for allowing the use of other exclusive coupons on his site.

Hot Deals, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Overstock Coupon Codes and More! i love this one it uses the CMS pligg.

Here is a site to help run a site it will allow you to build a coupon site and they maintain updating the coupons iCodes - Voucher Code and Offers Database accessed via webservices or hostted ready made websites. Demo: Discount Codes, Voucher Codes i owned this site a while back.

AffiliateFuture blog - updates and comments from the leading UK Affiliate Network AF Voucher Framework another peice of software to help on building a coupon site.

[Coderea]

That's a nice list..will check them out..

[Ryder]

is it better off to have a coupon site that focuses on coupons for one specific niche, such as computers and parts? Or is it better to have a coupon site that is opened to touch on various verticals?

[Kevin]

Having one that is to a specific niche is better then you can run it better imho.

[Ryder]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Having one that is to a specific niche is better then you can run it better imho.

Care to explain? Sites like fatwallet.com seem to be doing pretty darn well!

[Kevin]

Yea reason being they were there at the start and are a trusted site.

It is like amazon they came online at the right time, do you tink they would be as succesfull if they started now.

I have done coupon sites with all types of coupons for all markets that have done well but you need get the name out there and if you have the money employ a PR agency as myvouchercodes do and they do an excellent job.

It all depends on your budget and time.

If you have the budget to get the name out and time to consistenly update the site then yes you will do well but if you don't concentrate on something that interests you.

Lets say you are an avid shopper of fashion items then build a site around it offerring coupons and money off deals. Same goes for computers etc.

I know of one that converts very well jenson bikes the bikes are expensive so people are always looking for that little bit of say it be free shipping or just 10% of.