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Ask HN: Time to pull the plug?

16 points by ztay ↗ HN
I launched Govit.com in 2008. It's an eGov site. You vote on Legislation, and votes are sent to government representatives.

It got press, but no real traction (3k-15k visits/mo).

Is there any opportunity here? Any ideas to keep out of deadpool? Or is it time to man-up and pull the plug?

17 comments

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noodle
why do you want to deadpool it?
ztay
Main reason is the money. I'm not a programmer, so fixing bugs, update scrappers, server, etc. cost money.
akkartik
I decide whether to continue on a project based on opportunity cost. Do I have ideas to try out? Do I feel optimistic they'll teach me something? Do I think the project has a chance of eventual success? When I run out of ideas I stop working on a project. Usually I'm working on something else by then.
noodle
is it making any money at all?
imechura
You have not really given much information about what steps you have attempted to gain traction. From the outside looking in I would try to polarize the audience around hot topics like gun control and abortion.
ztay
Polarizing would be a good tactic. Not sure I want to go there though. I've still got some idealism ;)

Steps to gain traction were focused on making the product viral (send to friends, embed vote on site/facebook, etc).

Also partnerships with other organizations, for example, democracyinaction.org had an email your reps widget (powered by govit).

phlux
Can you expound on the tech. Here is an idea:

what if you can turn it into a tool for government elected officials to engage with their constituencies - make it a tool that senators/their aides/whomever can ask questions of their supporters and collect feedback. You make it effectively a 'facebook for government' engagement?

ztay
I like the idea, but think I'd need more users before I could attract the attention of senators/aides/other.

Congress members have their websites, email list of their supporters, would need to offer something they didn't have.

AmberShah
Just an idea, but you could whitebox the software and sell it to congresspeople to use on their websites. You are right that without the traction they may not want to affiliate themselves with you, but they still want the functionality. Technically other voting software may fulfill requirements but people always like specialized and you are already in this space and would be considered an "authority".
phlux
Agreed, thats what i was thinking as well.
acrum
You're getting 3k-15k visits/month currently? I would encourage you not to kill it off. The design could use some revision, but if you have the users, keep them. Any idea how many of your users come back on a regular basis (weekly/monthly)? You have a good opportunity here.

Let people sign in with Twitter as well as Facebook (which you have already). Encourage users to share the votes on FB, Twitter, etc (and make it easy for them to do so). Maybe have a weekly 'Featured Vote' or something. There are a lot of possibilities with a tool like this, it just needs some guidance. Giving people a way to "be heard" on issues that they care about is valuable.

ztay
Yes, currently getting 3K-15k visits/mo. About 20% repeat visits.

Agree that giving people a way to "be heard" has value, just need to get the process right.

CyberFonic
An excellent idea! The public needs effective ways of making their voices heard. Your site just needs heaps more exposure to gain more traction.

You don't mention what your motivations for setting up the site are. Since there appears to be no way to monetize it, there might be some other agenda?

Went off and took a look at govit.com site. A few comments:

The name "govit" just doesn't jell for me. I think you need something trendier, click2vote, SamClick ...

"Beta" suggests that the site isn't complete. Any progressive web site remains as work-in-progress as it adapts to the demands of the marketplace.

The concept appears to be sound. Needs heaps more marketing, PR, exposure, get talked about, get journalists quote your stats, etc. Yeah! lots of chicken or egg problems. But you have enough to build up momentum.

ztay
Thanks, glad you like.

My motivations were fairly pure, wanted to build a platform that gave citizens more power. Also thought there could be a way to monetize (ethically) with traction.

Got some press in the early days, and believe the problem is other than exposure. The site just isn't filling a need. Need to come up with something people really want.

nickff
I like the idea very much, and have a suggestion for you, if you are trying to be non-partisan, as indicated by your comment. I think you should change some of the colour scheme on the website, especially on the won/lost bar, because using red to denote loss, and blue to denote winning makes it seem like you are 'siding' with the democratic party. You might also want to change the colour of the banner, and possibly hide the number of votes for each side on incomplete polls, so as not to make users feel like part of a small minority who participates (which would be discouraging), unless there are a large number of voters.

Disclosure: I am a Canadian with no interest in US internal politics, and would just like to see this kind of site succeed.

triviatise
did you market to political communities like dailykos? They are often trying to do things like this, maybe figure out how to "integrate" with them or sites like theirs
kongqiu
Keep at it, or sell it. See if you can partner with some politically-oriented websites. Maybe find more "marketing"/politically-oriented partner(s) who can help? Don't kill it though!