Did you guys try other forms or marketing before reaching the conclusion of going for more traditional routes?

We’re going through our own launch process shortly and are targeting people outside of the web 2.0 world as well. Its going to be a challenge to get the general public to take notice because they don’t check 10 blogs every 10 minutes like the whole 2.0 crowd does.

Again, great post Ryan…and sweet blog…even writing a comment is fun with your big scripty fonts :)

Thanks mate! Nice to have you stop by the blog.

Great post…I think a lot of web app developers will be wrestling with the question of “how much to spend on marketing” over the next few years and I think that is only a sign that the web app space is growing up a little…and that’s a good thing.

Here is a post I wrote a while back that touches on the fact the you need to spend:

http://www.michaelmcderment.com/2006/06/07/your-sexyunsexy-mix/

So, if you want to bootstrap and grow organically (which is a wonderful way to run your own business, it just takes a little longer than the traditional VC route of FAST, FAST, FAST), then challenge is finding your balance between spending and not spending on marketing. It’s a tough balance, but definitely something you will need to put some thought into as more and more apps are released and things get crowded.

I also touched on some of these things in a Work Happy interview here:

http://www.workhappy.net/2006/10/interview_with_.html

Probably worth a look for anyone starting a web app.

Again, great post Ryan…and sweet blog…even writing a comment is fun with your big scripty fonts :)

I think there are 4 things you need to think about before you launch an internet biz

1. Biz Model
2. Revenue Model
3. Marketing Model
4. Pricing Model

I would start by creating a marketing model . If you have an idea that you can’t figure out how you’d market - ABANDON

The reason why a lot of ideas fail is not because they are not good ideas but because people have not figured out how to monetize them . If you have a good idea or invention that you can’t make money with - Its not a business it a Hobby and sooner or later it will fail because it cost you money and not maiking any .

When thinking of a business think about what you can offer a prospective customer . What will be the customers ROI ? If you can not quantify the ROI (i.e Invest $100 and get $200 back) you may run into problems .

Myspace Youtube Milliondollarhomepage etc are hard to duplicate .

My best advice
- Give thought to how you would market your product before you start developing it .
- Choose a Established Niche . For instance if you decide to make software for opticians or Mechanics
it will be easy to market because you know exactly who your customer is and they have trade associations, magazines, journals etc . You would not need to advertise to everbody . You can just join one of their trade associations to meet all the mechanics or opticians in one place or you can look them up on the internet .

Example - Seamlessweb.com has a site that provides onlinefood ordering for restaurants . They did not have to spend money advertising aimlessly . They just called the restaurants and pitched their product then they went to highrise office buildings and signed up entire companies to order food thru their website . They should have something like $120 million in rev in ‘06. They make a percentage of that as commision .

Look at a case study http://www2.seamlessweb.com/public/clientCaseStudies.html#CaseStudyOne

Seamless web is able to quantify their ROI by showing major savings .

To contact me post a message on my blog
See my blog I have posted over 100 internet businesses that I find interesting . I dont have any ads on the site - this is not a shameless plug .

Print up cards, and send them in small bundles (I’ll take fifty!) to people you know, trust, love, etc and get them to evangelise your product for you.

Wow, thanks mate. Might take you up on that ;)