Hmm... I think I disagree with this approach. This assumes $USER already knows what your service is about, before they get to your home page. If that's true, then no problem. If not, how do they know what they're signing up for? How do they know what Housefed even is?
My assumption is if you came to my site, you obviously were intrigued enough by the service to visit. I want to put as little between you & that service as possible. Without taking a signup out all together, this as close as I can get.
People use webapps because they provide some kind of value to them. Housefed.com doesn't tell me what value it provides, so why would I waste my time creating a new password and a new spam-email on absolutely pure unfounded speculation? I actually have negative sentiment towards it now for appearing so arrogant as to think it doesn't have to explain itself.
Really, how does having an explanation hurt? You have nothing backing up your over-the-top linkbait claims in your post.
Let us know how it works for you. My experience, you have left a huge obstacle between me and signing up: my lack of willingness to disclose information without knowing what I am getting in return.
You're actually killing part of your virality, because part of how word-of-mouth works is when you hear about something offhand. You aren't always being directly pitched, and you don't always have a chance to press for specifics. For example, if a service is mentioned in someone's Twitter feed, or if I hear that one of my competitors, enemies, or heroes is using it, then I might have no idea what it is for and no better way of finding out than going to the home page. In that case what's standing between me and signing up is ignorance, and you're leaving that barrier in place. There's nobody out there so similar to me that it's worth my while to sign up for any web site they use, but there are a lot of people out there with enough taste and intelligence that if they use your service AND I'm interested in the same kind of service, then I'll sign up.
Ok, so we all read his blog post and checkout his homepage -- which is a lot of referrals but not a lot of signups because none of us have a clue what the service is.
This assumes that you're doing more marketing of your service than you are coding of it. Otherwise, how will the general public know who you are, what you're about?
Putting this info on the homepage almost seems like free marketing, in a sense.
Are you assuming that if you build this "product" (housefed.com site) that people will come? Is there a market for what you're making? It seems to me that you'd have the greatest degree of success in finding your market first, and then building a product/service to meet that need that you've already vetted... instead of making a product and trying to convince people they want it.
It assumes the opposite - more development, less marketing. My point is I'm not trying convince you to want it. If I do my job properly by building a great site- my current users will do the marketing for me.
This is exactly what great restaurants do. When was the last time you saw an ad for your favorite restaurant down the street? I have never seen an ad for the top three restaurants I go to. Their food is awesome, and my friends told me to check them out.
I couldn't disagree more. Only because of the fact that those restaurants more than likely didn't just open their doors and people came. They had to do some marketing first. You will, as well.
If you think if you simply build the site, and people will come... I think you're going to be sorely disappointed. Right now, you're a tiny tiny fish in the Pacific Ocean. If you want people to come, they have to _know about you_.
Chances are the site is viable enough already. If I were you, I'd focus less on the code, and more on the marketing efforts. :)
When you have more customers, and product is moving (so to speak), your priorities will change, and the code will be more of a priority.
Well now, you've been talking up Housefed.com to all of us. And I go to the site, and I still have no idea what the hell it does. I'm just hit with an ugly login page, and no incentive to sign up at all.
I guess I'll wait to sign up until a user refers me to your website. As it stands, I read your article and then visited your site; I was curious about what kind of service could get away with not describing what they do.
I think relying solely on a positive k-factor is a bad customer acquisition model. Everyone wants their business to grow virally but the reality is that the reason turntable.fm grew quickly is not because of their lack of a homepage, it's because the service lends itself to virality.
I do, however, agree that you should focus on building an awesome thing that people want to use, but if you're serious about building a business you should be serious about broadening your customer acquisition channels.
+ 1 Thanks for the comment. I think the way I am building it will help it sufficiently spread. But I guess everyone will have to wait and see about that..
This assumes a certain type of user: someone who will signup first and ask questions later. I'm not that type of user. You might think, well it's so easy to signup and play around, who wouldn't do that? But I'm actually a lot more cautious about giving out my email and signup with yet another password.
I like to research the services and products that I'm going to use. If I like your text, price, and screenshots then I'll signup and try your demo. If you have no content, I better have gotten a really good referral otherwise I'm just got going to bother.
Great point. This does mean I'm missing potential signups + their potential referrals. The question is do I lose more than I would have with a homepage? I don't have enough data to tell but in the time before I wrote this post, the signups were exactly on par with when I did have a homepage.
This is ridiculous. Due to this HN link I visited housefed.com for the first time, having never heard of it before. I guess that was a waste of my time, since I still have no idea what it is.
Probably mostly/only because of curiosity (due to this HN post) and not because they're there from hearing about your project/story/product/service (take your pick - since as the site currently stands... it's very unclear)...
In my opinion, you don't just want numbers, for numbers sake. You want people who are genuinely interested in what your business has to offer.
You want other foodies, who are passionate about being involved. Know what I mean, Vern? :)
"And I go to the site, and I still have no idea what the hell it does. I'm just hit with an ugly login page, and no incentive to sign up at all."
What he said. what the blog is suggesting is what Dropbox does amazingly well (which his site does not)- Explain what the service does on the front page with little to no navigation, show how your day could be improved by using the product - and then split second the user thinks "mmm, maybe I'll give it a shot" they should be registered and using your product in less than 5 seconds. Super quick registrations with no verification emails and those damn password/email 'type your email again' boxes will sell me every time. Hell, let me just type in a username and email, log me in and shoot me the password later. If it's worth using, I'll come back and use the password you sent. So while the blog has a good point, it's just applying it to the wrong area.
Also worth noting that if I go to connect with facebook and hit don't allow because I don't want your wall posts, I get faced with the weirdest rendered page in the history of today, that simultaneously has all and none of the info.
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[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 54.1 ms ] threadReally, how does having an explanation hurt? You have nothing backing up your over-the-top linkbait claims in your post.
Putting this info on the homepage almost seems like free marketing, in a sense.
Are you assuming that if you build this "product" (housefed.com site) that people will come? Is there a market for what you're making? It seems to me that you'd have the greatest degree of success in finding your market first, and then building a product/service to meet that need that you've already vetted... instead of making a product and trying to convince people they want it.
This is exactly what great restaurants do. When was the last time you saw an ad for your favorite restaurant down the street? I have never seen an ad for the top three restaurants I go to. Their food is awesome, and my friends told me to check them out.
If you think if you simply build the site, and people will come... I think you're going to be sorely disappointed. Right now, you're a tiny tiny fish in the Pacific Ocean. If you want people to come, they have to _know about you_.
Chances are the site is viable enough already. If I were you, I'd focus less on the code, and more on the marketing efforts. :)
When you have more customers, and product is moving (so to speak), your priorities will change, and the code will be more of a priority.
I think relying solely on a positive k-factor is a bad customer acquisition model. Everyone wants their business to grow virally but the reality is that the reason turntable.fm grew quickly is not because of their lack of a homepage, it's because the service lends itself to virality.
I do, however, agree that you should focus on building an awesome thing that people want to use, but if you're serious about building a business you should be serious about broadening your customer acquisition channels.
I like to research the services and products that I'm going to use. If I like your text, price, and screenshots then I'll signup and try your demo. If you have no content, I better have gotten a really good referral otherwise I'm just got going to bother.
In my opinion, you don't just want numbers, for numbers sake. You want people who are genuinely interested in what your business has to offer.
You want other foodies, who are passionate about being involved. Know what I mean, Vern? :)
What he said. what the blog is suggesting is what Dropbox does amazingly well (which his site does not)- Explain what the service does on the front page with little to no navigation, show how your day could be improved by using the product - and then split second the user thinks "mmm, maybe I'll give it a shot" they should be registered and using your product in less than 5 seconds. Super quick registrations with no verification emails and those damn password/email 'type your email again' boxes will sell me every time. Hell, let me just type in a username and email, log me in and shoot me the password later. If it's worth using, I'll come back and use the password you sent. So while the blog has a good point, it's just applying it to the wrong area.