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Buy these 9 things

buythese9things.com

12 pointsacoyfellow22 comments

Seems like a more executive-toyish version of Justin Oullette's theshittoget.com

Why would someone go to the site though? (this post notwithstanding)

Wow, i've never seen this website.. If I had, I would have most likely rethought my design, thinking people would consider mine a knock off.. Oh well, mine isn't, and I like it. (Uncanny though)

I was really aiming for an outlet to sell items, that are personally endorsed by me. I understand HN's viewers will most likely not buy my items- I was assuming the more than likely purchaser would be someone who I know directly, or indirectly, already. I have a large number of contacts of people I know personally, one time or another, who I have healthy relationships with. I'd estimate that number to be in the low 1,000 range.

I want to try and make those 1,000 people know that I 1) run this service, 2) love the items, and 3) update it regularly with new items. If i can get a small base of fans who enjoy this idea, then I can push to expand that number of happy people..

I was really coming to HN for advice on how to grow this into a sustainable business idea. I've gotten great advice so far, and it's all welcomed warmly.

The reason I like Justin's site (we don't know each other) is because you can tell it is:

a) personally curated b) not updated too often (i.e. tried and tested products) and c) supposed to be a definitive resource for someone who doesn't want to shop around & trusts his opinion

It might be an idea to avoid the generic or goofy items that make it look like your own personal Pinterest, and instead make it a site where your network of friends genuinely benefit from your personal experience of the items.

Awesome.. Great points to take to heart, since his site and my idea are actually so similar. I'm a little ashamed of myself for not knowing about his site before I started working on 9things.

It's ok though.. He's got a job and a rep. I don't have either, so I've got to make it work for me :)

I like the nice, clean design, and you have cool things listed.

What are your plans for generating traffic? A major challenge will be that Google expects affiliate sites to add value and won't rank "thin" affiliates high in search results. How will Buythese9things.com overcome this obstacle, or will you have other ways to bring in users?

Traffic: I am figuring out which keywords I want to attack- but I play on going on the paid ad's route for traffic. Hopefully I can get a good base of "fans" who check back now and again to see a new set of items. I have future plans to either allow comments, or to basically write some content on each item. Hopefully that will be good enough for google?

This is also one of my main concerns- and I think it could be one of my largest. I also plan on making this a new way for me Personally to sell items- so over time people come to understand that these items are curated by me, and they either come to trust or distrust (and not come back) my taste

I would add a timer. The end of the time, no matter how long it is, it shows the next 9 things and the timer resets.

Wow I enjoy this idea very much.. It will give an instant incentive to want to check back. Thank you very much Macsenour!

You're very welcome. You could also extend this to asking for email adrs to send an alert: "New items are up!".

Any thoughts on hooking it up to amazon wish lists or using some sort of recently visited css hack to "guess" what people have been looking at recently? Or even hooking it up to twitter/facebook to see what products users and friends of users are talking about and rounding it down to 9?

I was hoping to actually hooking up with companies (9 diff ones?) to offer a new weekly exclusive sale

Would love some crit on this as a business idea.. I'm heavily inspired by everything I see and read here on HN. If you have a moment, read the F.A.Q if you have minor questions. If you could leave any comments here, they will be treasured.

I'd appreciate it more than you could know.

So, what's the play here? Do I get to create my own 9 things? (FYI I was hoping I could).

Or give me sliders so I can crank down fashion and crank up geek toys!

I dig this idea very much. Good tip, I appreciate it MidwestMuster! I will consider this or a variation of it for the future. You'll get credit!

That is exactly what I was hoping some people would want to do. I've made a page to catch e-mails of those interested, but I assume you didn't see it? (it's in the footer, basically very hidden)

I'm interested in speaking with you further (briefly!) if you don't mind! @acoyfellow on twitter

Edit: To answer you more directly- the "play" is that you are buying these 9 items, curated and hand picked by Me (click on the Me tab, it's supposed to be personal feeling, not scammy and ad like. I should maybe throw a pic of myself?)

I look at the Girlscouts of America as inspiration.. They aren't selling something they made themselves, they just sell something good. I always buy cookies from the girls who I know- my bosses daughter or a friends niece.. Therefore I was hoping that I can use my existing personal network of people who already know and trust me, to start selling cool shit!

Comments: 1. Fun idea. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you easily made your money back. 2. Easy to navigate. Design is clean, but my desire for symmetry (in this case radial) is rebelling at the poor Lean Startup book all by its lonesome at the bottom of the page. Maybe a 3x3 grid? 3. I like the idea @MidwestMuster had of having sliders to adjust the types of 9 things you see. It allows you to still only show nine things, but have a wider variety of things available (thus increasing the liklihood of getting a sale). Also it increases the interaction, which will increase the engagement, even if it doesn't mess w/ sales.

1) that's my first goal, I'm very glad you think so.-- 2) I hear you, and I agree 100%. You must be on an ipad or a smaller browser window, try resizing it larger- they fall into a 3x3 grid. I want a 3x3 grid system to work, but I decided to have it work like this for the accessibility right now.-- 3) Is a very awesome idea, I enjoy the idea of expanding the 9 item set in this way. Noted and stored, and will be considering something like this (if not exactly) in the future.

Let the user add his/hers emails address to get an update whenever you have new stuff.

smacks head Duh.. Thank you for pointing this out

Cool page. Although I would never put a pixel of mine inside a StarBucks shop.

Hahaha I understand. It was a cop out item I just threw in, figuring it was cheap, everyone drinks coffee, and I needed a different category of item.

Your opinion is appreciated though, thanks for commenting!

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