Which Came First, The Marketing Or the Product?
After having our little startup live for 2 weeks, many questions have popped up about whether we are doing things the right way and if we are headed down the right path. The major issue we have is marketing.
We decided to jump in with a live beta without a marketing plan. Was this a smart decision? Right now the answer is “We Don’t Know”. We saw a need for the site we were designing, and wanted to get it out there as soon as possible. But very rarely can you rely on the “build it and they will come” mantra. Maybe some PR is needed? We know this. But we have been able to get a feel on how users will use the service during the last 2 weeks, which will go a long way in helping us define some of the goals in a marketing plan.
We also have begun writing notes for a business plan. The major question we have is, “How the heck are we going to monetize this thing without spamming our users?” Are we in this for the money? Honestly? No and yes. Short term, we want to create a great and useful product. My wife and some of her fellow bloggers were frustrated with the social bookmarking sites out there because there really wasn’t one that was family-based. We are trying to fill that void by creating a place where mommy and daddy bloggers can quickly find and share stories from everyday life. But if this takes off, the bills will rack up, whether it is server and development costs, or just the amount of time and effort we put into it.
Like Chad Randall, I hate Google Adsense. It’s just not for me, although I know it has it’s place. Yes, we have some on our site right now. It’s a placeholder. We’ve gotten one click. I’ll be happy to donate the few cents we earned. I honestly don’t think it’s fair to have adsense ads next to content that other people have written, especially when they may have their own adsense ads on their own site with the original post. We would hope that you click through the the full article, then check out their own ads. But again, with success come bills, so we are looking at revenue-generating alternatives.
So are we blindly going down the right path? Time will tell, I guess. What do you think?
Thursday, April 12th, 2007
April 20th, 2007 at 6:48 am
I think over time, Babblz will be the perfect place for direct ad spaces and through the sale of these direct ads, you will make you money. But these things take time…
In the meantime, I love the site and plan on contributing to its growth.
April 30th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
I hear what you’re saying, sister (er - brother)! It’s a constant balancing act… wanting to get your product out there, but not wanting to bombard people with useless shiznit. We’re in the same boat!
I think Babblz is great… we’ve learned that time is our best friend… gotta just wait it out and get the word out there.
Good luck and keep it up!
May 2nd, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Thanks for the support guys. Things never move as quick as you want them to, but I’m not convinced that in our case, that’s not a bad thing…
July 20th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I came across to your site from Babblz. Reading a couple of your posts on Fresh Yields I realized that your wife runs Babblz. I came across Babblz for the first time today and I love it. I am so impressed with it. I have been quite frustrated using digg and del.icio.us because I could tell that they were based more on Technical sites and not so much family, parenting and educational sites like I run. Anyway, I am enjoying reading your blog… you now have a new fan and Babblz is now my favorite Social Networking site for my Preschool Educational sites. You may tell your wife that if you would like.
Keep up your great husband/wife team-work… It shows.
Shana Albert (TheNanny612), Owner
http://www.abchomepreschool.com/
http://www.abchomepreschool.com/PreschoolEducationBlog
February 12th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Wow - I am really impressed with Babblz. I had not heard of it before and it is a great social site. Thanks for putting this out there for us.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:55 pm
no kidding, haven’t heard of them before either. must be new or something.
March 17th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
4. Start a home business selling your services. Anything that is being done on the Internet can be done by you for pay. Virtual assistants are becoming in demand, website design is still very popular, setting up blogs for people is a hot business right now, writing website and blog content continues to be a great way to make money on the Internet, and so on we go. Earn money providing a service!
June 19th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
A marketing plan is always a smart idea. The nice thing about an online biz is that it doesn’t take a big start up cost
July 9th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
The product came first, trust me!!