As someone who is getting more and more into the marketing mix, I am seeing better and better Web 2.0 applications-and where they might fit in,marketing wise….. 
Here is one that smart international franchise companies may want to take a peek at…
Blogzoner is a new site started by 3 guys in Romania.
So many ideas come to mind, after I learned about the business model they are implementing.
Instead of sharing them right away, I invite you to read Mihai’s story:
Sometime last summer, a marketer, a designer and a businessman who sold his technology to Microsoft three years ago joined forces to create some cool things for the web2.0 hype. It all started when one of them tried to find blogs in his neighborhood and couldn’t find any tool to help him do this. Then the designer wanted to find all design-related blogs in his country but couldn’t for the same reason, and the businessman wanted to see what blogs discuss online payments in Hungary, but… that’s the idea.
So programming for Blogzoner started three months ago, and beta testing just begun in October. Since then, more than 100 bloggers joined this online portal that lets bloggers put their blogs on the (Google) map, receive traffic from other bloggers, see who’s blogging in their neighborhood and search for other bloggers writing on similar subjects.
Beta testing will end towards the final days of this year, so from January bloggers will have the full functionalities of the site, especially the advanced searching function. But as the work progressed the question of social networking for bloggers arose. So besides the expanded searching abilities, new features are being added that will let bloggers interact easier. And eventually an advertising module will be added as well…
For example, bloggers will be able to start one-click social campaigns with their Blogzoner friends, or invite the neighborhood for a beer, pitch for advertisers’ reviews and more. Sky is the limit, as Blogzoner is designed to be an application developed through interaction with its users.
Now, we’re just in the days of tons of fun and lots of work. We’ll launch this baby full-scale somewhere in December, and then we’ll see its true potential.
Thanx and best of luck, guys!
There is something about the colors and the design that is so different from anything I have seen.
Home run? Look again!
