First off, let me just say that much of the time was actually just spent learning web development. (Go, Vue, Tailwind). I was a complete beginner one year ago.
That also why I don’t regret having built the site: I learned a ton and I’ll be able to build my next project 10x faster.
That said, here’s what you can learn from my mistakes:
- Don’t be afraid of competition.
Going after markets with low competition isn’t a bad idea. You can be a big fish in a small pond. But it gets problematic when the market is so niche that noone actually needs what you are making. With my next product, I’ll go after a proven market. Sure there’ll be competition, but at least people will be interested in what I have to offer.
- Design is less important than you think.
I made 3 different landing pages for my product, thaught there was something wrong with it every time and made a new one from scratch. Complete waste of time. Pretty design doesn’t change your value proposition and is never going to be a reason someone buys. Sure, good design can improve conversion rates, but if there is no instrinsic demand for what you offer then design won’t help. 0•x = 0
- Know your customers
One of my main challenges when building my product (keepyourstory.com) was that I was never really sure who it was for. I just built something I found cool and hoped people would appreciate it. Next time I’ll start with a niche, find a problem people are experiencingbin that niche and market it precisely to them.
Hey Blue, I just tried your product to make a book but I couldn’t figure it out. how do I just reply to the third bot it says 100% and I don’t know where to proceed now.
Think like a user. once u start thinking you aren’t leveraging it and doing any Marketing. understand your user and market based on your user. understand what makes a user want to use this. i have seen u have used paid marketing. when running an ad, understand what makes users what to do this. is the idea interesting or people want to read others’ stories. make a vision in their mind. first u need to catch their attention using your add. second make sure they understand what the product ( this can be done either in the add or after they reach the website (if you do this make sure the Ad message isn’t vague) ). third make the process very simple. you are eventually making people sign up first ( nothing wrong with it ) people are too lazy to do it. so keep the signup process after they are done with the book. now they did too much work now they can’t throw teir work in the dustbin. they have to sign up.
I never actually like paid marketing. I will tell you how to leverage user-based marketing ( sugar personalized products ( PM and UX terminology) ).( works for products like this )understand user and user behaviors how what does a person wants to do with a product keep with themselves share it with friends and family. leverage this make the UX process of easier and push them to share. 1. u can integrate a print on demand API. second make a share feature that automatically create a post, with if ur target audience is old Adults make Facebook share integration. if your adience is gamers leverage discord and others.
i have a lot to say but i am busy ith my final presentation i can share later with you if you want u can DM. and sorry for my English.
Hello Kassandra, I really appreciate the extensive feedback. There are quite a few things you said that I will try to implement. Thank you for trying out the product as well. Regarding your blockage: when you reach 100%, you can click on the button that says 100% ( it will light up blue). I will try to make this step more intuitive. And I really like your idea with social sharing. Going to implement that today.