Hey I started a ride sharing website I'm looking for some feedback

[thenetduck]

Hey
I created a website www.theridepool.com because I'm a college student and found that I was needed to find ride but didn't have a simple solution. This site will actually text message your phone when someone can find a ride with you.

I was looking for freedback on it? Also, I don't know how to do web marketing or anything like that but it would be nice if more people where using it. Does anyone know a good easy way to do this? I don't have a lot of money to promote it (I give Plasma for food money lol) but I guess I could give more haha..

Anyway if you have any suggestions etc, I'm looking for feedback! thanks ;)

- The Net Duck

[tgalati4]

It's missing something. I'm not sure what it is.

Perhaps break it up, craigslist style. You could use the "tag cloud" feature to create a list of cities for origin and destination.

Also, you need a section for local travel--within a given city, especially when there is a trade show in town.

Marketing happens when the website works and engages the user and then that user shares his/her experience with others.

Craigslist is a good example of simple design that works. I've never seen advertising for it, yet everyone knows what it is and how to use it.

In a way, your website competes with craigslist's bulletin board. So, you have to distinguish your site with additional functionality.

Perhaps you could do a mash-up with google maps and your ride-finding service.

You could follow http://fossevents.org/ and then ask the event sponsors if you could include a link for your site to help coordinate rides for various FOSS events around the country. After a year of doing this, you will get both exposure and usability data.

[user1397]

Hey
I created a website www.theridepool.com (http://www.theridepool.com) because I'm a college student and found that I was needed to find ride but didn't have a simple solution. This site will actually text message your phone when someone can find a ride with you.

I was looking for freedback on it? Also, I don't know how to do web marketing or anything like that but it would be nice if more people where using it. Does anyone know a good easy way to do this? I don't have a lot of money to promote it (I give Plasma for food money lol) but I guess I could give more haha..

Anyway if you have any suggestions etc, I'm looking for feedback! thanks ;)

- The Net Duck
I think it's a great idea! Keep it up!

[user1397]

Your website needs lots of improvement.

First the home page has no description at all of whats the website is all about.

And then theres no procdeure on how to share a ride, what to do if you want a ride and so on.

Also can you do something on the front page design? The front page looks like a forum section right away.

If I'm going to rate yuour website from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, I'll give it a 2.harsh much?

[HappinessNow]

Hey
I created a website www.theridepool.com because I'm a college student and found that I was needed to find ride but didn't have a simple solution. This site will actually text message your phone when someone can find a ride with you.

I was looking for freedback on it? Also, I don't know how to do web marketing or anything like that but it would be nice if more people where using it. Does anyone know a good easy way to do this? I don't have a lot of money to promote it (I give Plasma for food money lol) but I guess I could give more haha..

Anyway if you have any suggestions etc, I'm looking for feedback! thanks ;)

- The Net Duckmost people usually use craigslist or facebook for this, take a look at what they are doing right/wrong and try to improve on that...

craigslist rideshare link (http://www.google.com/search?q=rideshare&btnGNS=Search+craigslist.org&oi=navquery_searchbox&sa=X&as_sitesearch=craigslist.org&hl=en&safe=off)

I always see people post on facebook for this also, it makes more sense to catch a ride from people you might know.

Anyway good luck with your endeavor and have fun.

[thenetduck]

Hey everyone, thanks for the great advice. I've decided to do some cool stuff with Facebook and based on your post about Craigs list i'm going to add some better search functionality. Ill post again once I update the site (i'm a student at USU so it might take a while lol but it will happen eventually haha.)

Once again thanks so much for the help! It's much appreciated! :)

- The Net Duck