Ok, let me just start off by saying that my design/user interface skills are horrendous. I'm talking about pages I've built looking worse than a third grader drawing a straight line in Microsoft Paint bad. I've always had ideas, ideas galore springing from left to right, but putting idea to paper or web design or even an initial launch page has been tremendously difficult for me. It's more the art of design than the process that has gotten me stuck for so long.
But there are two things that I am pretty fluent in, process/project management and content development. I can write for days on the mundane, but ask me to submit a design of those thoughts and I'll instantly shrivel up.
I recently stumbled across an idea that I've become pretty passionate about, it's literally overtaken my daily interactions as to how I would grow, expand, scale, iterate, you get the idea. And I've read and read and read about not sinking so much capital until an idea has been fully validated.
VALIDATED
Anyone who peruses this subreddit should have a pretty decent understanding of what an MVP is. For those that don't, an MVP or minimum viable product, is the least concerted effort placed into a product, offering, or service, meant to act as a validation system. In laymen terms, make something that shows off what your final product will be to see if anyone is interested. This is essentially the kickstarter method, is there interest in an idea or product, and more importantly, are people willing to pay for such a product without immediately receiving said product.
Types of MVP's
An MVP can be anything that shows off your product or service or even simply showcases the initial idea and groundwork for your project. You just simply need to put it out there and hope for feedback.
The classic MVP model is through developing a rough, unfinished prototype and allowing others to tinker with it and provide their feedback. This is ideal if your end goal is a tangible product. Let the end user feel and interact and connect with your prototype and give you direct, uncensored feedback on what they like, but also what they want and what they hope for.
Landing/squeeze/splash pages are the digital age classic MVP model. These pages allow for you to showcase either product, service, or idea without the need for a usable prototype. Most startups and entrepreneurs opt for this method due to scale, ease in setup, and relatively low cost.
Wireframes are another simple startup method, which should eventually evolve into mockups, allowing for the founder to showcase their ideal step-by-step process and workflow on a new application or piece of software. While not relegated to only applications and software, they're generally co-opted for such methods due to their simplistic design and malleability. Wireframes are easy to set up and even easier to redesign.
Explainer videos are also another good form of initial user feedback as it allows the end user to receive direct narration on the ideal product. These videos offer direct control to the founder, offering users what the ideal product completion should be. I don't recommend these as much as it leaves less to the imagination and the feedback generated is typically priced into what the final form product should be.
LANDING PAGES
Jumping back to my original goal, I wanted to build a landing page that converted, one that would showcase my idea and allow for users to opt into receiving emails and updates along our progression. I simply wanted a quick, easy, clean site that would allow me to get an email address and feel good about this idea.
But have you looked into the amount of landing pages available. The influx of templatized sites really thows one into disarray, offering a variety of bells and whistles that aren't really needed. I mean, sure, some of them are cool and the features are rich and interactive, but the point of building a landing page is to validate, not to begin to sink cost. However, that was my point of view, if you're looking for all the bells and whistles, then more power to you. Below is a pretty good list of some of the best landing page builder sites I've found:
- Squarespace
- Webflow
- Instapage
- Kickofflabs
- html5up.net
- Unbounce
- Bitblox
- strikingly.com
- weebly
- Wordpress (need some technical knowhow to complete)
NOW WHAT
Your landing page should be simple. Like dead simple, like I should understand the gist of the idea/product/service almost right away. And it should come to me from you, the founder. Too many times new sites and services begin to expound on their vision and how they are revolutionizing this or that. Don't do that, give me a clear, simple message, written by you the founder. Why did you come up with this, what is cool or new or unique about your offering. Who is the "you" behind this product.
Give me facts and don't use hyperbole. Give me a reason to give you my information. Make me want what you have. Have a call to action (CTA), a simple button instructing me on what to do. Let me easily give you my information. Add a nice picture or two, have your headers aligned correctly, don't use bold across the site. Make it easy and pleasant to read.
TEST
You should never stop validating. You should always be looking and understanding your metrics. Why are users coming and leaving without providing information. Why are my conversion rates so low? Conduct a ton of A/B testing, iterating with the placements on your site and testing hypothesis. You don't want to get discouraged from incorrect information or confusing layout.
You should also test your own site, make sure it works correctly, that clicking on "Register Now" allows a user to register. Make sure there are no typos, no mismatched text, you put yourself in the users shoes.
NOW WHAT
Once you've set up your landing page, market it. Market it to everyone you know and don't be afraid of spending some dollars on CPC advertising. In addition, you can look through this thread on where to promote your startup.
https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/54q4ij/here_is_a_list_of_20_awesome_places_to_submit/
MY IDEA
If you've made it this far then I do thank you. My idea is to provide ephemeral, disappearing short stories. We provide three new short stories every 24 hours, with user access to one of their choice. Once they've chosen their story, they have the ability to read it once and then it disappears. We are working directly with authors around the world to provide exhilarating short stories, available exclusively on our app.
MY LANDING PAGE
My design skills are only nominally better now, but I am continuing to work on them. So without further ado, I would appreciate some feedback on my current landing page.
[link] [comments]
from Entrepreneur https://ift.tt/2kETuzj
via IFTTT
$$$http://howmakemoneywithblogging.blogspot.com/$$$
how to make money out of blogging & become a successful blogger
No hay comentarios.:
Publicar un comentario