Please Review My Local Specials Startup: DealBk

Sweet. Minimal viable, clear path to revenue, useful, potentially viral, easy for merchants to start using, expandable as a revenue-sharing service that other web sites can embed. Chief assets are (1, the lesser) the web site tech; (2, the greater) the personal relationships with the merchants (3, the future potential) partnerships with other on-line properties. Asset 2, if you can keep up the momentum, makes it hard to replicate and asset 3 seals that deal and can also help with rates of coupon use. It looks promising to me.

The web site design has two jarring aspects that I think you ought to fix:

(a) It is annoying as heck the way when you switch categories (e.g., click on "Food" or "Health") the "Just launched" section disappears and then re-appears in an animated way. It's really annoying - it looks like a bug even though it's probably on purpose.

(b) You've got "Deals" and "Merchants" links. That's crazy talk. Normal people don't say "merchants" - only business people. When I wanted to know "How does one advertise on this site" I saw a "Merchants" link and thought "Aha! That'll say it!" No... that's not it at all. The link I wanted is in fine print ("Merchant Accounts").

The fine print is fine at the top of the page like that, I think. But the big "Merchants" link needs a better name - something more consumer friendly. Maybe "Deals" and "Business Directory" or "Today's Deals" / "Business Directory".

Looks very nice. Seems to solve a problem, a win-win for everyone. But how will you generate renevue?