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MallorcaResiden
31-10-2011, 08:06
I just wanted to say Hi to everyone here.

We currently live in Mallorca and have done so for about 8 years. Now it's time to see what else is out there.

Although we will be searching through this forum for ideas, any pointers in the right direction are welcome.

Thanks

Peter

CIM
31-10-2011, 09:57
All of the Canary Islands have their advantages.
Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuertaventura are the busiest in that order. The other three are very quiet with little or no tourism (which some prefer.)
Weather is the biggest advantage of living here as it is pleasant all year round. As such the busiest time is from around now until Easter and Tenerife pretty much fills up with "swallows" escaping the harsh winters of Northern Europe.
If you come over here it is easy enough to take a flight or a ferry to the other islands so perhaps a good idea to try that and see which one takes your fancy.

MallorcaResiden
31-10-2011, 10:36
Thanks for the reply CIM. We are thinking of a visit, as soon as there is some spare time. I think that the winters would be better than here and that's a good start. Here in Mallorca we have a very high monthly payment for self employed health contributions, do the Canaries?

We have just completed one of 5 new websites and would be looking for good ADSL connections. Are there any problems that you know of in Tenerife?

Thanks for all and any information.

Peter

CIM
31-10-2011, 10:40
Its the same here so far as social. Mines around 250€ to 270€ a month plus gestor fees of 90€ per month plus a tax retention on everything else! Not cheap...
Winters are definitely an improvement over anywhere in Spain. I speak with my colleagues in Malaga everyday and here how miserable it can get over there during Winter. I always make sure to tell them how sunny it is where I am :)
ADSL is fine here. I have no problems at all and run a lot of websites myself. 10mb is the standard connection from which I get around 8.5mb speed.

MallorcaResiden
31-10-2011, 10:54
Thanks SIM,

That's similar to the prices here. All sounds good about ADSL, what sort of sites do you run? I think we have it slightly better than the southern most parts of Spain but being an island we suffer from very high humidity, what's it like there? Tell me, I see the two links that you have at the bottom of your post, is it ok to put something at the bottom of mine, a simple phrase and link. If yes, how?

Sorry for all the questions.

Peter

Stoney
31-10-2011, 11:04
getting 10 meg on your ADSL is not a standard in Tenerife it all depends how far you are away from the exchanges. We checked out our latest rental and Telfonica said we would get 3 meg, but have never got better then 1 so be careful.

CIM
31-10-2011, 11:13
Thanks SIM,

That's similar to the prices here. All sounds good about ADSL, what sort of sites do you run? I think we have it slightly better than the southern most parts of Spain but being an island we suffer from very high humidity, what's it like there? Tell me, I see the two links that you have at the bottom of your post, is it ok to put something at the bottom of mine, a simple phrase and link. If yes, how?

Sorry for all the questions.

Peter

It can be very humid here in the summer.
You can add links to your signature by clicking on settings in the top right hand corner of the screen and then on Edit signature. You should come to this screen:
http://www.tenerifeforum.org/tenerife-forum/profile.php?do=editsignature

I have property, mortgage, insurance, news and car rental websites in Spain. And a couple of other random ones elsewhere. Building more property websites now though for Tenerife.

What industry are you targeting?

Saltnpepper
31-10-2011, 11:50
getting 10 meg on your ADSL is not a standard in Tenerife it all depends how far you are away from the exchanges. We checked out our latest rental and Telfonica said we would get 3 meg, but have never got better then 1 so be careful. We're in San Miguel (about 600m above sea level) in the south of Tenerife & we currently get 6MB ADSL via Direct Telecom

MallorcaResiden
31-10-2011, 12:41
Thanks stoney, Sim, Saltnpepper,

I guess the ADSL depends where you are, as always. I was just wondering about the general service offered and that sounds ok.

Sim, We get almost 100% humidity a lot of the time. On some mornings the roads look like it's been raining. Hope it's not that bad there. The winter is like a ghost town although we do live away from the big cities. It’s often the case that during the summer, you wish there were fewer tourists and during the winter, you wish they were here. Too much closes at the end of the tourist season, where we are but I guess that’s the price we pay for being out of the city.

It sounds like you keep yourself busy then. Do you code yourself?

My target is all industry and all people. Although the idea for the first site was born from the frustration of trying to find suppliers and services, without mastering Spanish first. The idea was to give expats an easy way to find these things and an easy way for businesses to be found. From there, I found that even the local people didn't know where the nearest suppliers were. Most tended to go to places they had been told about, hence the expansion to aim the site at all nationalities, local or expat.

Although we expect it to take some time before we have enough to offer the public, it all depends on how much the businesses want to be found.

Have a look, see what you think (all derogative comments via PM please) :lol:

CIM
31-10-2011, 13:01
Not that humid here - NO!!! IŽd be gone if it was!
I do a lot of coding myself when I need to customise the websites but often need help with PHP as I have never actually learned it, just picked up bits and pieces as I have gone along. SEO is my strength and where the money is. If you can get your head around keyword research and then rank for the best/most profitable phrases, earnings are virtually unlimited.

I have gotten to the point where I need to start outsourcing a lot of work though. Business is really busy and I find I simply canŽt do everything myself anymore so its worth paying someone else to free up some of my time. I get around 30 mortgage enquiries a week - impossible to keep up with! Property enquiries are also very high, add to that property take ons, viewings, sales, website design, new websites (I have an interesting little side project going with some niche websites at the moment), listing property, SEO work etc - not enough hours in the day anymore. Its a nice problem to have though :)

I use Wordpress for all of my sites. It is fantastic, very flexible and very powerful. I highly recommend it as there are now some amazingly good custom themes that with a bit of modification and a few custom plug ins can allow you to do almost anything with a website.
Yours is a BIG project! That will keep you busy for a while :)

I would look along the lines of Trip Advisor for ideas on how to structure your site. And have user feedback as one of the core features. They have been there, done it and conquered the market, so their formula works. Thats pretty much where IŽd start for a directory type site of local business people. Each one business can have their own post, each industry is set up as a category on the site. Set them up for free and then sell edit access to the owner so they can log in, add photos, price lists, more info, promotions etc. They pay on a monthly basis or for the whole year at a 25% discount. Something like that. As even great websites that are very helpful can be difficult to monetise effectively so thats something youŽll need to look at.

MallorcaResiden
31-10-2011, 13:27
Hi CIM

Not that humid here - NO!!! IŽd be gone if it was! Perfect
SEO is my strength and where the money is. Although the site will not be SEO dependant, it will help for individual advertisers.
Its a nice problem to have though :) Agreed
I use Wordpress for all of my sites. I jumped in at the deep end, learning bits of everything and then working out how to put them all together.
Yours is a BIG project! That will keep you busy for a while :) You're not wrong. It's been on the go now for about 18 months. Opened the launch pages last week.
And have user feedback as one of the core features. Built in already :)
Set them up for free and then sell edit access to the owner so they can log in, add photos, price lists, more info, promotions etc. Now come on! You know that there is nothing for free in this lifetime :). This is why I have started by being straight, from the start. No hidden costs or anything like that. No pay per click, no third party advertising, just direct advertising. Saying that, €1 shouldn't break the bank of any business, more so it will help people who want to start out, with little capital.

Anyway, good luck with your sites and thanks for the pointers, there's never too much information.

Peter

sunspot
31-10-2011, 23:45
Hi Peter,welcome to the forum

MallorcaResiden
01-11-2011, 08:42
Hi sunspot, Thanks for the welcome.

Tell me something, do they have the same problem in Tenerife, as we have here in Mallorca, where it's not legal to rent apartments etc as holiday lets, without a licence?

Thanks

Peter

CIM
01-11-2011, 12:05
Theres a small thread here where it is mentioned in passing...
http://www.tenerifeforum.org/tenerife-forum/showthread.php?23-The-Tenerife-illegal-lettings-thread

MallorcaResiden
01-11-2011, 13:54
Oh yes. Very short. Looks like the same situation as here. Protect the hotels and the Spanish owners but they forget about all the supermarkets, car hire, restaurants, bars and other tourist businesses, which are making a good profit from the people renting these apartments.

Makes more sense to me, to make it all legal and have a decent income tax on the proceeds. Then everyone who is fair should be happy.

CIM
01-11-2011, 13:58
I agree, regulate and legalise. But the way they are going about it is ridiculous, confusing and the whole thing is a total mess.

MallorcaResiden
01-11-2011, 14:08
Looks like the Mallorca mafia have another chapter over there. Maybe when they whittle down through the corrupt officials this will all change and the whole of Spain can start to receive what it's due, not just a minority of Spanish mafia and officials.