BOTW Local Goes Beta
June 18th, 2008
Written By: Adam Sussman
I’m thrilled to officially announce the beta release of a project that has more or less consumed all of my energy this past year and a half, BOTW Local.
Now weighing in at 16.5 million pages, this site has been by far the most intricate and most complicated project I have ever worked on. Our team is continuously finding areas on the site we want to improve, and by all appearances, this project will continue to evolve. Although we’ve only just launched Beta, we have our eyes set on developing many-many more cool features.
Launching such a large site is no small feat. Because there are thousands of working parts, we’ve been careful with its release. Over the past few weeks we have slowly opened up a handful of major markets Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Chicago and Austin. We’ve been monitoring user experience, bot crawling and indexing in efforts to allow us to debug unexpected errors and seamlessly complete our coverage of the entire United States.
If you’re a business owner then we invite you to claim your business for Free with JumpStart. And if you’re responsible for managing the marketing for a business that has multiple locations, feel free to contact us directly so we can help get you setup!
Of course all feedback is welcomed!
June 20th, 2008 16:52
I think the idea behind BOTW local is “think global act local”. And with the new mobile hype a great local directory could be worth a lot - but not now. Perhaps somewhere in future..
June 24th, 2008 08:15
16.5 million pages of junk. I hope none of it gets indexed.
June 24th, 2008 09:00
Hey Adam,
I checkout of some of the features of the site. It looks pretty awesome. I don’t know if I could spend a year and a half working on this thing without any return. You have more patience than I do. I hope Ellis’ comment about it being the wrong time for a local directly like yours isn’t accurate but I can see the point.
You can make up for the with good marketing!
The design is very cleanse I like it a lot.
June 24th, 2008 10:16
Andy, thank you for that comment.
June 27th, 2008 14:12
If only BOTW didn’t cost so much to become a member! Great functionality though, very clean looking.
June 29th, 2008 18:40
Nice looking site and looks like a great idea. I don’t think I could work on a site for over a year before I got it to market.
July 2nd, 2008 02:34
i love the design .. it’s very simple and clean.
July 11th, 2008 15:50
If only BOTW didn’t cost so much to become a member! Great functionality though, very clean looking.
July 16th, 2008 22:50
Looks like google maps on steroids. However I didnt see anything that I cant do on google. Am I missing something.
Thanks in advance!
July 18th, 2008 07:22
16.5 million pages!!! :0
I really hope none of it gets indexed. What ammount it is!
July 20th, 2008 16:18
ooooh 16.5 million
i love the design .. it’s very simple and clean.
thanks …
July 25th, 2008 03:13
Nice information and great posts..
Keep up the good work guys.. Cheers!!!
August 1st, 2008 05:10
if in malaysia they can cover all the places, then this site will be cool but this is restricted to the usa location only rite?
btw, this is my first time in here. i would love to bookmark this site..look nice !! keep it up !!
xBrain
August 1st, 2008 08:31
I wish someone would undertake a similar project here in India but it is just not the same here. People still do not feel confortable buying things online. So with e-commerce at the low something so wonderful as the concept you have will not be appreciated at all.
August 3rd, 2008 12:22
I have always been interested in this site BOTW didnt know how big this site was Wow
August 4th, 2008 08:04
nice info .. thx .. and the design is really good as all said .. simple sites are liked by people and search engines for sure ..
August 5th, 2008 07:49
And what’s the aim of that project? Are you going to substitute Yellow pages or anything else? I don’t understand the business ogic of that idea…
August 6th, 2008 02:26
Whoa, I just have to tip my hat to you. I have worked on some start-up projects in the past and I really do know how much work it actually is …
I wish you all the best with the project! Maybe by now you’re already sipping martini by the sea (that’s the dream of us all, isn’t it?), but from my experience I’ve learned that once you release your project, you’re not even half-way through all the work …
So, keep up the good work, I really like what you’re doing! And … to your success!
August 8th, 2008 05:07
Do you plan extend service to World Wide? May be special mobile version?
August 9th, 2008 11:48
wow,…great job for you
August 10th, 2008 07:35
Wow…. thats great u r working on such a project, i have also wished to do something like that.
Great drea keep it up.
Thanx
August 10th, 2008 20:24
Well, if possible, we can have the asia region in the botw. Btw, mostly in asia region, most of the sites are blogs instead of business sites.
August 11th, 2008 12:21
Wow that seems like a huge job, bet you have a great team behind you!
August 11th, 2008 18:13
A good concept with excellent execution. I especially like the way you’ve integrated the thumbs up / thumbs down rating. I also like the built-in weather forecasts - that’s a nice touch. Have you thought about adding more features that are customized for the type of listing? For example, a way to view menus of restaurants or a way to buy movie tickets at theaters? I think this would be an excellent addition and would open up more revenue channels.
August 12th, 2008 13:38
Very ambitious project… looks great so far… good luck with this!
August 12th, 2008 20:40
Looks nice, I have tried it works great.
August 13th, 2008 05:29
16.5 million pages..Hmm..
Thanks.. Great job.
August 13th, 2008 07:11
looks great I wish you luck!
August 13th, 2008 10:18
It’s great to see BOTW going local. They got a lot of other local search sites out there but I’m pretty sure BOTW we’ll be one of the best in the upcoming years.
August 13th, 2008 23:01
this is a great news
but 16.5 million pages woot
August 14th, 2008 06:41
Looks like good project.. Good luck them
August 14th, 2008 11:27
i really like the design , looking like nice service.
August 14th, 2008 13:56
Wow, very impressive. Wish you all the best with your website!
August 15th, 2008 03:03
Very nice design. Hope you do well with your site.
August 15th, 2008 05:42
i love this service, it’s shout for all, google, Weather, new movies.
thanx you!
August 15th, 2008 11:08
Allright, so they got an API key from google and loaded their google maps into the site and now they call it BOTW local.. whats the point of pulling data from google?
August 15th, 2008 11:39
I assure you its slightly a bit more complicated then pulling a feed from Google. Granted we are using the Google Maps API for our maps.
A bit of credit, please! You make it seem we spent two years messing around with a Google out of box solution. Only if this was that simple.
August 15th, 2008 12:31
Great tip, I just added my wife’s pet sitting business there. If it bring her one new client it would be worth it.
August 17th, 2008 02:28
good luck to you..
i’ll pray for your success
August 17th, 2008 02:55
nice project. but 16.5 pages wowtw!! and also i want to say that web design is perfect
August 17th, 2008 10:48
is this a software or a website????
August 17th, 2008 15:00
been hearing about this for awhile can’t wait to see it completly in action now.
August 17th, 2008 16:01
I have a location that I would like to add to your site. I will upload it immediately. Who do you contact for multiple listings?
August 18th, 2008 12:06
Congratulations on your launch, the website looks good. Do you have any plans on expanding to Canada?
August 19th, 2008 04:51
without any doubt local b2b search is the future
August 19th, 2008 10:39
Nice project. Keep us informed!
August 19th, 2008 10:51
16.5 pages wow! monster! )
August 19th, 2008 14:13
Awesome idea. Goodluck with the launch
August 20th, 2008 05:41
I’ve bookmarked your site and sent the link to a friend who works for Realtors Association. I think they might be interested a lot!
August 20th, 2008 12:02
Very nice project and simple. wow. good work.
August 20th, 2008 12:10
Very nice project.
August 21st, 2008 16:34
Can’t wait for the first non-beta release. the design is great. Did not test the features, so i cannot comment on that.
Keep us informed.
August 22nd, 2008 00:37
look great! ..
good project..
and nice post..
August 22nd, 2008 05:40
i love the design, it’s very clean, great!
August 22nd, 2008 15:49
Congratulations on your launch. I am very interested in developing a very large website that focuses on real estate, offering many unique features that hopefully will provide value to anyone buying or selling their home or condo. It is a daunting project and will take us at least a year or more, as well. Our main focus will be to provide value for users that will translate ultimately into increased business. Good luck with your excellent project.
August 23rd, 2008 01:55
Oh! 16.5 million pages,
Google index only 675,000 pages
August 23rd, 2008 06:21
Move over Google earth. Well not just yet but definetly a good start. Very nicely done.
August 23rd, 2008 07:51
Congratulations!!!This is a great work. But the text on the right block of the Jumpstart page is too small. Can you enlarge it a little bit?
August 26th, 2008 01:24
like as google earth
August 26th, 2008 08:45
Great site and a fantastic service. Testing a site of this magnitude presents some significant challenges. I’d love to hear more about how you carried out the work. Good job.
August 26th, 2008 14:35
at 16.5 million pages you are going to need some MAJOR inbound linkbuilding to get this one to float out of the supplementals and very high in the charts I fear.
great achievement though, good luck with it.
August 27th, 2008 19:22
Congrats for your success, well I was just wondering if the bandwidth of your server will be able to handle the initial release of your project?
August 28th, 2008 02:59
Great and it looks so cooool, and the cost is ^^^?
August 29th, 2008 03:13
I like the design, very clean and the service looks good.
August 29th, 2008 03:30
First of all congratulations, this is very great idea. I like the design. Although Colors are fine and not too much sharp. But I think more pastel colors would have done greater. It might be hard for a user to remain on site for longer time.
Search is not so much powered yet. I think it could be improved by code optimization.
Overall this site with this great idea is very fine and functional.
Thanks,
Babur Schah
August 29th, 2008 21:04
botw internet oldest directory but too late too local ,
August 30th, 2008 09:14
I agree with you all. Clean design will be more interesting to enjoy it, keep working.
August 31st, 2008 07:04
I can imagine - my website only has a hundred or so pages and I struggle with that at time! Congratulations though hope the project goes well!
August 31st, 2008 10:12
Is the boy with your shoulder in the page your son or what. The page you create gives a very pleasant look and it looks natural. I think this is the key to your success. Do you agree with me?
September 1st, 2008 01:55
Well done! 16.5 million pages is one heck of an achievement. All the best with it.
Regards
September 1st, 2008 03:52
Holy cow!
16.5 million pages? What a fantastic feat! I love the look - very clean, looks easy to use. I wish you all the best of success. Keep up the great work.
September 1st, 2008 06:53
It looks great!
September 1st, 2008 07:33
Hey Adam, I like the site and topics you discuss here. Can’t help but to surround myself with budding entrepreneurs.
September 1st, 2008 18:21
That is one cool interface. I am not in any of the covered areas at the moment, but it is a very well designed UI. Great work
September 1st, 2008 21:30
Wow, looks very good. Thank you for the site and good luck with it!
September 2nd, 2008 04:49
Real nice site. Simple and clean, keep up the great work mate.
————-
Gambling Anon- http://gamblinganon.blogspot.com
September 2nd, 2008 07:00
BOTW seems to be having a healthy good traffic rank. How’s it picking and what’s your business model in terms of monetization?
PS: Btw have you completely stopped posting here?
Cheers,
Ajith
September 2nd, 2008 13:10
Thanks for the link to the free posting through jump start.Very easy to apply.
September 2nd, 2008 13:59
16.5 million pages, I hope mine is one of them!
September 3rd, 2008 19:53
The design is very nice.. I love it..
September 3rd, 2008 22:50
I always liked botw, waiting for the day google dumps dmoz and picks up botw instead.
September 4th, 2008 01:50
Great job! Working on a project for so long must be really gratifying
September 4th, 2008 06:59
The site design and layout is pretty simple and neat, I will give a 9/10 for it!
September 4th, 2008 12:24
Wow!! that’s a lot of information, a lot of work done. Hope the best in your proyect!
September 5th, 2008 03:06
I just visit your BotW site, Thats very great idea you got there to come out with this kind of website.
I would say for sure it will become big one day. good luck mate!