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tylerwl

9 karma · joined January 28, 2012

My Twitter handle is @WordLemur
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tylerwl··on Ask HN: Zero-cost startups for ordinary Americans?
Do you have a ballpark figure of how much money she'd like to make each month?
tylerwl··on Show HN: Personalized content & behavioral targeting boost sales/conversions
This looks like it could be quite useful. I do think the site would benefit from the addition of case studies. If you don't want to publicly share any on a blog, you could set up an email opt-in to receive them.
tylerwl··on Show HN: Real Time Traffic Grassroots Project (RFC)
You're welcome. Have you tried seeing if any of the editors of your target publications are active on Twitter or Facebook? Both can be a good starting point for building relationships.
tylerwl··on Ask HN: Launched. #1 app in my category. Now what?
What's your app?
tylerwl··on Ask HN: Would you review my startup idea?
While there are quite a few companies in the textbook rental and marketplace space, this seems to be the only one doing flat-fee swaps: http://edubookswap.com/
tylerwl··on Ask HN: Is this a good format for minimum viable products?
"I'll think I'll have to run some A/B tests to see what effect the little guy and his different expressions have on visitors."

Excellent idea. And that's exactly the type of activity that would make for a great blog post!

tylerwl··on Ask HN: Is this a good format for minimum viable products?
Nice work! I'm generally pretty immune to copy, but that would definitely get my attention.

Also, good job eliminating the extra page in between clicking the button and the contact page.

The only thing I'm not 100% sure about is the character on the contact page. It's a high quality illustration, but his expression might cause an upset/worried feeling when someone hits that page. Now that your copy is so good, I would consider removing him and just centering the copy & contact form.

Any plans to start a blog about your tests and subsequent product development? I know I'd be very interested in reading it, and I think a lot of other people here would as well.

tylerwl··on Please review our startup - the easiest way to manage rental listings
This looks like a great start. The first suggestion I would make is listing the features down the page instead of across. I think that will make it significantly easier for visitors to see what your platform has to offer.

Also, I would expand some of the sections. For example, under Listings Distribution Network -

Landlords and Managers: List your properties for free

Agents and Brokers: Save time by quickly searching for quality properties that match your desired criteria

tylerwl··on Ask HN: Is this a good format for minimum viable products?
Although it's a cheesy title, check out the "Letters That Produced Miraculous Results" chapter in Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People". It will give you some great ideas about how to get a response from the initial email you send.
tylerwl··on Ask HN: Is this a good format for minimum viable products?
I think the real value of this type of testing would come from actually talking to people who are interested in your product.

With that goal in mind, I would change the "I'm Interested" button to a single email submission field with a call to action like "Get Started".

Once somebody submits the field, give them a confirmation message to check their inbox. Then in that email, explain that the product is under development and their feedback would be valuable.

Do you have some specific questions in mind that you want these leads to answer for you?

tylerwl··on Ask HN: could you rate my first landing page?
Congrats on diving in and creating something!

I would remove the Learn More button. You've got useful information on that page, so just take it and put it directly below your signup box.

Also, I'm guessing English isn't your first language based on some minor issues like:

Or invite new potential suppliers to see what is their best price -> Or invite potential suppliers to submit their best price

Make Savings -> Save Time and Money

tylerwl··on Show HN: My Weekend Project - UptimeFu
You did a great job of making it dead simple to sign up for something really useful!

After simply entering my domain name & email, I received a confirmation that my site was up, followed by a 2nd email with my account details.

tylerwl··on Show HN: WPBuild -- Custom WordPress theme builder
This seems like a cool concept. I think it would be useful to add some theme screenshots to the homepage. From what's currently there, I couldn't tell what kind of theme I would end up with.
tylerwl··on Show HN: Flexbug is a hands-free, voice-controlled workout logger for iOS
Your landing page images look great. However, instead of the slider, I think a static version with all of them on the page would be provide a better user experience.
tylerwl··on Show HN: WeddingDeck, Online Whitelabel Wedding Planner
Nicely done Cedric, this is a great start.

Have you had a chance to show it to any wedding organizers yet?

tylerwl··on Show HN: Doing a Startup is hard, here is Our Story
Congrats on everything you've accomplished over the last two years. I'd love to read a blog post (or more) dedicated to this topic:

"Through our members' generous feedback and often tyrannical suggestions for improvements they gave us the ability to see the software we embarked on through their critical eyes. Boy, they kept pushing the boundaries by redefining our quest for simplicity and user empowerment but it’s a relationship that continues to work and we value it immensely."

tylerwl··on Show HN: Real Time Traffic Grassroots Project (RFC)
Given the usefulness of this project, it seems like you could get a lot of local press coverage. Have you tried reaching out to anyone yet?
tylerwl··on Ask HN: How do you pick your domain name?
Can you share a little more information about your project? It seems there are plenty of HNers who would like to brainstorm with you.
tylerwl··on Ask HN: Review my site - Infogr.am - easy infographic tool
Thanks for elaborating, that makes sense. Since I noticed in another one of your other comments that you're planning on a freemium model, I think Option A is a good enough starting point. Once you get the ball rolling, it would be interesting to test both options to see which actually converts better.

I may be the only person with this question, but if I use Twitter to sign up, will it have any impact on my timeline (like an automatic "I just signed up for Infogr.am" tweet)?

tylerwl··on Ask HN: Review my site - Infogr.am - easy infographic tool
The site looks great. However, I agree with apsurd. If you first let users play around, it shouldn't take long until they're hooked and much more eager to sign up.
tylerwl··on Show HN: Parenting needs some sanity, so we quit our jobs and built WeSprout
Good to hear. The TC coverage is a great way to kick things off, but in the long-run, I think investing time in developing a presence in that community is what can really bring you a significant number of signups.
tylerwl··on Show HN: Parenting needs some sanity, so we quit our jobs and built WeSprout
I'm not a parent, but the site looks great and I can definitely see the appeal of this kind of community/service.

Has the WeSprout team spent much time reaching out to parenting bloggers?

tylerwl··on Ask HN: Review my site - Ollawalla
Along with the two options that pop up when "Choose your nearest city" is clicked, how about a third like:

Don't see a city close to you?

This option could then take the user to a page where they can submit their city & email. I think this would help you make the most of your traffic and also provide some guidance when you're trying to decide where to expand to next.

tylerwl··on Ask HN: Has a startup ever tried renting out women's shoes?
RentMeAHandbag.com seems to be the only site that offer women's shoe rentals. However, instead of a queue system, they offer weekly or monthly rentals. From the page I checked out, they're quite pricey ($279/week or $558/month for Manolo Blahnik pumps).

ShoeDazzle.com ($60M in funding) offers more of the type of service you described. However, instead of rentals, members pay $40 a month to receive a new pair of shoes selected by a Hollywood stylist.

It's also worth noting that in a 2011 interview, RentTheRunway.com ($30M in funding) said their future plans may include "product lines like shoes" - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870337340457614...

tylerwl··on Show HN: Pre-branded domains with logo for startups
In addition to the design work, I think there's value in being able to quickly browse through names that you know are definitely available and have transparent pricing.

I went to ConsultingHut.com and saw that it was still the default GoDaddy parking page. I would suggest adding your logos to each site, as well as a short note along the lines of:

Buy this logo and domain from Namella for just $199

Can you share some of your thoughts about how you plan to market the site?

tylerwl··on Show HN: My task & time management app
Alex, the site and app look great. Since your Twitter stream indicates that the site has been up for 6+ months, I'm curious if you can share any information about your personal vs. business signups?

I may be completely off-base, but after seeing all of the features you have to offer, my intial thought was you'd be better off positioning the app for professional teams instead of individuals.

tylerwl··on Show HN: Roveb, a simple mobile loyalty program for businesses
I checked out the Curry Ferry demo site on my iPhone. It looked nice and was easy to browse.

In addition to the "Menu > 20% off for group guests" link at the top of the homepage, I would add it to the bottom as well. That will allow visitors who read through the restaurant's description to easily check out the menu without scrolling back up.

tylerwl··on Show HN: My startup Curvio - IMDB for Clothes and Accessories on TV
Very cool idea. My one suggestion would be to add an email signup to your homepage. Something along the lines of:

Be the first to know when new shows are added!

You could also add a form to the individual show pages by simply replacing "shows" with "episodes".

tylerwl··on Show HN: Best times & channels to follow up
Ben, this sounds very useful. Do you have any screenshots of it in action?
tylerwl··on Show HN: what do you think of our coming soon splash page?
I agree. playhard, your logo and color scheme look good. But keep in mind that if someone opens your link in a background tab and then looks at it a few minutes later, all they're going to see is:

Coming soon...

Are you ready to Luttie?

Since that person is going to have no idea what they stand to gain from choosing to Luttie, they're probably going to leave instead of submitting their email.

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