A bit of a backstory: The first version of blogstatic (about a year ago) was built in 30 hours over a course of a month. Since then, it has gone through multiple iterations with 95% of requests coming strictly from registered users. The "newsletter" feature was included around December '21 after a long hesitancy on my end to implement it.
Everything started around December '20. I wanted to create a Medium like platform without the paywall. However, being that 'distribution' is quite a hard thing, especially when working solo on a product, I decided to not pursue it.
Then, around March 2021, I exited a product that I was running since 2017 (Claritask), which created the perfect conditions (read: more runway) to create something I've been wanting to do for quite some time, even if it didn't make any money: an online CMS's of sorts for bloggers, which makes it easy to create a blog and start writing, with as little hoops to jump as possible.
Hence, blogstatic.
Since implementing Stripe so users can pay the low yearly fee, I've added 1 new payment per week on average. Fingers crossed this continues.
If you want to give it a go, there's a forever free plan. And you don't have to confirm your Email address. So your blog will be created a few seconds after you hit "Register" — it takes a minute or so for the SSL to be created.
You can also hook up your own custom domain/subdomain on the free plan. No restrictions there.
Next: I plan to upgrade the "Newsletter sending" section, which I had avoided for so long to implement initially, but I have noticed that users are wanting to do more with it.
Sort of maybe go a bit into Sub*tack territory and implement payment plans for bloggers, without taking any fees whatsoever.
I know I will be leaving a ton of money on the table, but I have no investors and can spend my time listening to my users.
One way I am trying to differentiate in terms of "Newsletter sending" is allowing users to send Newsletters not just of their posts. In other words, a Mailchimp/Convertkit functionality of sorts.
Other ways it differentiates is: Multiple blogs under a single account (same price) and lower pricing ($39/year at the time of this writing).
Stats (Newsletter and visits) is something I want to further advance and giving bloggers a way to monetize their blog without any fees (besides Stripe fees from connecting their account).
Blogstatic user here too. It's so nice and simple. It removes all the obstacles (or excuses) to writing. Very convenient if you just want to focus on writing, and not have to deal with maintaining your blog. It's also super fast!
11 comments
[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 32.1 ms ] threadA bit of a backstory: The first version of blogstatic (about a year ago) was built in 30 hours over a course of a month. Since then, it has gone through multiple iterations with 95% of requests coming strictly from registered users. The "newsletter" feature was included around December '21 after a long hesitancy on my end to implement it.
Everything started around December '20. I wanted to create a Medium like platform without the paywall. However, being that 'distribution' is quite a hard thing, especially when working solo on a product, I decided to not pursue it.
Here's a cringeworthy tweet I had posted back then : ) https://twitter.com/valsopi/status/1337540047470551040
Then, around March 2021, I exited a product that I was running since 2017 (Claritask), which created the perfect conditions (read: more runway) to create something I've been wanting to do for quite some time, even if it didn't make any money: an online CMS's of sorts for bloggers, which makes it easy to create a blog and start writing, with as little hoops to jump as possible.
Hence, blogstatic.
Since implementing Stripe so users can pay the low yearly fee, I've added 1 new payment per week on average. Fingers crossed this continues.
If you want to give it a go, there's a forever free plan. And you don't have to confirm your Email address. So your blog will be created a few seconds after you hit "Register" — it takes a minute or so for the SSL to be created.
Here's what it looks like inside (the editing area) — a tweet from announcing a new feature: https://twitter.com/blogstatic/status/1458507499263430663
You can also hook up your own custom domain/subdomain on the free plan. No restrictions there.
Next: I plan to upgrade the "Newsletter sending" section, which I had avoided for so long to implement initially, but I have noticed that users are wanting to do more with it.
Sort of maybe go a bit into Sub*tack territory and implement payment plans for bloggers, without taking any fees whatsoever.
I know I will be leaving a ton of money on the table, but I have no investors and can spend my time listening to my users.
Other ways it differentiates is: Multiple blogs under a single account (same price) and lower pricing ($39/year at the time of this writing).
Stats (Newsletter and visits) is something I want to further advance and giving bloggers a way to monetize their blog without any fees (besides Stripe fees from connecting their account).
Mainly to add blogging alongside existing Carrd sites.
Nice and simple!