"I am creating a website. While I want people to know about it, I don't
want someone stealing my idea before I'm finished. I would like input from likely
users and thought by posting a note on an appropriate news groups I could get
some quality feedback. Would this cause me to lose my niche? Should I be concerned
about this since the site will be going live in the next few months? Or should
I just wait until it's ready to go?" -- Ian Lane
In my experience, good ideas by themselves are "a dime a dozen." What makes
a great site is the combination of (1) a good idea, (2) excellent execution,
and (3) top customer care. The dot-com "rah-rah" days are over. Very few companies
are prepared to invest the time, money, care, and detail into copying your idea
and beating you to the marketplace -- and thrown-together sites are pretty easy
to spot.
Having said that, I wouldn't start advertising the site in a news group yet.
Rather, personally invite a few of the news group posters who seem wise and
responsible to visit and give you feedback. You can place a robot.txt
file in your root directory to keep search engines from indexing your site
until you're ready. http://www.brown.edu/webmaster/search/robotexclusion.html
Of course, once you go live there's nothing to stop someone from taking your
idea and improving upon it, so never be satisfied. Continue to improve your
own site -- even if there are no apparent competitors. The better your site,
the deeper your content, the easier your sales process, and the more caring
your customer service, it'll be that much harder for any competitor to rise
to your level of excellence. I wish you every success with your idea!
