How do I start a business rating (pics or pans) business online. Targeting local businesses and servces?

Question

I want to have a special section for seniors also.
This service will be like an "over the backyard fence" referral or "panned" comment service. Comments by persons who have experiences from said business and or service.

Answer 1

You would first need to reserve a website ( usually buying a web address) and design or hire a web designer for it. What you're proposing would be highly interactive, yet would need to be quite user-friendly, so I wouldn't at all recommend doing it on your own without experience. A good web designer will lead you through the naming, site design, logos, colors, and listing it in different search engines so it can be easily found by people who don't have the exact address to type in each time. The site would need continuous updating and you would like to track hits (know how many people have visited the pages), so you would likely need to continue to pay the web designer for these services.

I would caution you as to liability for what you intend to do. You may wish to first legally incorporate as a group, rather than undertake this in your name, for liability purposes. If you are the owner of the name and site (by virtue of paying and upkeeping it), it is possible you could be held personally responsible for the comments inserted onto the site pages. It would be very, very difficult to monitor the thruthfulness and impartiality of each entry, if you allow them to be made unabated by visitors, and even if they are true, but are unflattering , the comments could land you in the middle of a lawsuit. For these reasons, and probably even more I'm not noting, you may wish to consult a lawyer before ever undertaking the project. If not, you could be held liable for suits, and your personal assets could be attached as damages.

Your ideas are good, but will require professional assistance to both be done safely and well. The barest simple of start-up costs of the legal and web consultations will likely run over a thousand dollars, so be prepared.

I'm sorry to sound grim, but my own experience in setting up a social service directory (wasn't even interactive, as you are describing) online leads me to caution you.