There are several wordpress plugins that add CRUD functionality to WP. I would do that.
87 karma · joined June 1, 2017
I have 1600 sign-ups, 500 active users, and 22 paying customers. The post-beta conversion to paying account rate is 1.7%. The site has only been marketed on the Chrome Webstore where it has a 5 star rating and 40 real reviews. It gets 3-5 new sign-ups per day.
It is built on google app engine. Python, Django, and Google NDB datastore.
Link to chrome webstore page: (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/do-not-disturb-for...)
I will say, adios.ai has really nailed the marketing message. The website does a great job explaining a modestly complex idea. I have struggled with the message and marketing. Mostly, my users are people who knew they wanted this solution and went looking for me. I think adios.ai will do a better job of convincing people who didn't realize this is what they wanted.
Kudos!
One place you could grow your app: I know that people who sell products on amazon are always looking for popular items that they can improve. Items on Amazon with large numbers of reviews and large sales volume, but where the reviews reveal a flaw in the product are hard to find.
Those are products where people can make a new version that fixes the flaw of the popular product.
If you could re-purpose your product to discover those products, I know amazon sellers would pay for that info.
What about just proving the market exists? Can you get surveys, interviews, testimonials from buyers in the industry that they need this product and would by $X for it? That would go a long way to convincing someone to get you funding to demo.
Can you MVP a simpler version? Something that only costs $50k instead of $150k but proves out 80% of the functionality?
As a founder, you will face this type of problem constantly. You will always be short of time, money or talent (or some combination of all 3) while trying to make your goals. When someone invests in your idea, they are as much investing in you and your ability to navigate these challenges.
Bringing a real MVP to market and making those first few sales is a huge proof of concept for YOU as a Founder. Investors need to see that.
There are many stripe templates on github that help you get started in almost any framework/language.
If you build your webhook correctly, you don't have to build any backend payment management, you can manage directly in the stripe dashboard and it will update your customer records directly through the webhook.
DNDEmail keeps my inbox empty -- my new messages are only delivered on the 2x day schedule. It helps me stay focused even when I have to go into my email.
On the weekends, I keep my email off entirely.
It is also in the chrome webstore: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/do-not-disturb-for...
The USPS even has a form you can file to automatically redirect any regular mail sent to your address to your PO box.
One of the original such services, Earth Class Mail, even had a documentary TV show made about it -- with a focus on the startup world.
I use Mailchimp for my project https://dndemail.com. It has been a great way to launch my solo project. MC has been great primarily because it is:
1. Flexible 2. cheap 3. easy to implement API
I use the api to push the email address of new sign-ups into Mailchimp.
In Mailchimp I have an automated DRIP campaigns that start emailing the users with regular emails about how to use my app and take advantage of all the features.
I can update the user's marketing channel in Mailchimp depending on their actions in my app. For example, if someone cancels their subscription, I trigger a Mailchimp email asking for feedback.
I actually handle payments via xoom.com -- it is now owned by paypal. It takes a little work to setup a new payee, but once you have paid a person once, you can pay them again very easily.
(But, I built it).
I launched in 2016 and have solid growth. It is the 3rd web business I have launched. My first was in 1998.
1. Set up EVENTS to track your conversions directly in GA. Be sure to include any type of funnel action as an event to track.
2. use EVENTS to track ANYTHING of significance that happens in your app. For example, everytime a user users a particular feature, trigger an event.
3. Consider enabling USERID tracking directly in GA (so you can track individual customer behavior through GA).
4. Setup the GOALS (for example, a conversion to a paying customer) using the EVENTS you setup before. once that is done, you can get all types of data on which sessions led to conversions, including based on source/referrer.
If you are using Oauth (like facebook login or Google accounts), be sure to setup your referral domain exclusions properly. And be sure to add your own domain to the referral exclusion list. THis is usually the source of so many "direct" type referrals.
We use Python on Google App Engine. Google's NDB datasource.
The Chrome Extension is written in JavaScript.
Wordpress on wpengine.com for the front-end brochure website.
I've written about how to simplify your MVP stack[https://dndemail.com/2018/01/30/how-to-simplify-your-app-pla...] to speed up launching.
As developers, if we can learn how to market our software, we can unleash our internal value. Instead of creating value for others, we can build equity for ourselves.
Do you really think learning to market is going to be as hard as learning to code well?
What if it takes you 5 years to become a master marketer? But you are learning to market while growing your own business -- was the time well spent if your business is grossing $1M and netting $300k a year at the end of that 5 years.
1. Commit to spending at least 50% of your time on marketing. For every hour of coding, do an hour of marketing.
2. I used the book Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth to build a marketing plan.
3. The first exercise of the book was to focus on the outcome you want (for example, I want 1000 paid subscribers by end of 2018) and then figure out how big of a funnel you need to build. That helps you be realistic about what types of marketing to do.
4. I took a Udemy class on digital marketing -- It was about 20 hours of material that was on sale for $12. I found about 1/3 of it useful.
5. I am focused on marketing ideas that are repeatable and scalable. I do a lot of work up front to setup a marketing idea, but then I can keep it going with minimal new work. For example, to do blogger outreach, I first built and tested a drip campaign in Mailchimp. Then I harvested the first 50 blogger emails myself and determined my campaign would work. After that, I outsourced the blogger email collection. Now, the free lancer collects the contact info and loads it into my drip campaign.
Pre-Launch of MVP: spend 90% coding, 10% some preliminary marketing.
After-Launch: Spend 90% of time marketing, 10% bug fixing.
In the Marketing phase, it is a mistake to keep adding features hoping those features will attract new customers. Your goal is to attract customers based on your existing feature set. You will either have customer demand or not. If you don't have demand, stop marketing and pivot.
If you do have demand, use marketing feedback to improve your product incrementally. Don't add new features. Instead, improve your conversion, test your UI, etc.
If you have to add features to get users, you are not ready to market.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtxCXg-UvSnTKPOzLH4wJaQ
Also, Siraj: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWN3xxRkmTPmbKwht9FuE5A
Siraj gives you the quick and dirty on how complex problems are solved with code. Not really tutorials, but more of a "how to" you can use to start your research.
It was easy to setup the Chrome side, but re-installing and then reconfiguring Ubuntu for web dev was a big hassle.
How did you get past that problem?