Had website built but lost passion for it.

[adamcjohnson]

Last year, I got super excited over an idea I had come up with.
I thought through the functionality, put together some rough screen mock ups, and of course spent time thinking of the name (the most important part!). I then took everything I had to put together, and started searching for an affordable developer to build my site out.

I hired someone on oDesk, and within a couple weeks, my site was complete. Awesome, right? ...Well, not really, for whatever reason, after the development work for my MVP was finished, I lost all ambition for moving the site forward. The more I waited the more I started to actually think the entire idea was stupid from the get-go. "Why did I even waste money on this site?" I kept asking my self.

This was back in September of last year, and as of today, my site still sits, rotting away. I sometimes consider just trying to see if it can gain some traction, but then get brought back into my feelings that I just need to chalk that one up as a loss.

Since, I don't want anyone to think this pity party is a backwards attempts to drum up visitors, I won't be posting the URL, unless you truly want to check it out, then PM me. Everything I've said is true, and there are only 2 members of the site, myself, and friend that I showed when it was first complete. You need an invitation code to even be able to join it.

But, ultimately, I guess I would like your feedback on the concept, which was an online address book of sorts.

Basically, you create an account, and then add all of your information. So, facebook link, twitter handle, instagram, website, phone number, etc etc, anything that pertains to you specifically. You can then decide which of that information is public (free for anyone to see), or private (only people you grant access to can view it).

The idea came to me, because of all the social networks, people always getting new phone numbers, moving, etc, my contact information always seemed out of date for people. If there was just an easy place where I could check that persons stuff (which they are responsible for maintaining) then I'd always be able to get ahold of them on whatever platform I needed.

So let me know what you think. Tell me how stupid you think it is, and confirm my doubts. Or, tell me you think it could actually be useful, and how I might spread the word about it.

Thanks for listening.

 

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[markustenghamn]

Last year, I got super excited over an idea I had come up with.
I thought through the functionality, put together some rough screen mock ups, and of course spent time thinking of the name (the most important part!). I then took everything I had to put together, and started searching for an affordable developer to build my site out.

I hired someone on oDesk, and within a couple weeks, my site was complete. Awesome, right? ...Well, not really, for whatever reason, after the development work for my MVP was finished, I lost all ambition for moving the site forward. The more I waited the more I started to actually think the entire idea was stupid from the get-go. "Why did I even waste money on this site?" I kept asking my self.

This was back in September of last year, and as of today, my site still sits, rotting away. I sometimes consider just trying to see if it can gain some traction, but then get brought back into my feelings that I just need to chalk that one up as a loss.

Since, I don't want anyone to think this pity party is a backwards attempts to drum up visitors, I won't be posting the URL, unless you truly want to check it out, then PM me. Everything I've said is true, and there are only 2 members of the site, myself, and friend that I showed when it was first complete. You need an invitation code to even be able to join it.

But, ultimately, I guess I would like your feedback on the concept, which was an online address book of sorts.

Basically, you create an account, and then add all of your information. So, facebook link, twitter handle, instagram, website, phone number, etc etc, anything that pertains to you specifically. You can then decide which of that information is public (free for anyone to see), or private (only people you grant access to can view it).

The idea came to me, because of all the social networks, people always getting new phone numbers, moving, etc, my contact information always seemed out of date for people. If there was just an easy place where I could check that persons stuff (which they are responsible for maintaining) then I'd always be able to get ahold of them on whatever platform I needed.

So let me know what you think. Tell me how stupid you think it is, and confirm my doubts. Or, tell me you think it could actually be useful, and how I might spread the word about it.

Thanks for listening.

I like the idea and I am not sure why you are stuck. I mean have you posted it on forums and stuff before and gotten feedback? The worst that can happen is that someone says it sucks. Anyways I think you have a nice thing going.

The question that I kept asking myself though is: Why would I go to your site and update my info when I could just as easily do it on a social network? I mean that is what social networks are for right? However yours is more private and I get that.

Maybe you are not done though? Maybe this is the first stage and you should make a plan... start pitching this to get some followers, some interest and then soon you pitch your next idea which is to have info from their social networks automatically update to your site.

Of course you might have a few more cards on the table, but only you know them. Show one card, get it out there and then show your next card. So after the social network thing you suddently launch SMS updates, update by email, let people connect their smart phones or let people make their own business card pages (A website in a business card format which could just be a page on yoursite.com/myname).

Just some thoughts, I think you had a good start and still something you could get more feedback and interested on. If you do bail on it then just make it look nice and use it as an example of what you are capable of when launching your next idea.

 

[Jambla]

Ultimately you need to decide. Are you providing a solution to a problem? Are you providing a service people want? If the answer is yes, then go for it. If no then drop it and move on. You should do your market research and get a general opinion on whether people would use it.

Personally I wouldn't use it, however I am only one person.

 

[mikey3times]

Check out http://www.plaxo.com. This demonstrates that there is a market for your service. It isn't a bad idea.

Now figure out how you are better and get to it!

 

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[wade1mil]

I personally do everything I can to make sure people don't know how to find me, so I'm not your target market. But instead of thinking about whether people want it, why don't you setup a landing page with a good offer and send some quality traffic to it. If you have a good offer and good traffic and nobody signs up or buys anything, that's the market saying it's not worth their time or money. If you do get interest, I think that'll be enough motivation to pursue it. I'd rather spend $500 testing if there is a market for my product than let the theory of whether you think it'll work eat you alive.

Edit: No idea why the word target is hyperlinked.

 

[adamcjohnson]

Check out http://www.plaxo.com. This demonstrates that there is a market for your service. It isn't a bad idea.

Now figure out how you are better and get to it!

Hey, I took a look at plaxo...it looks like their whole thing is centralizing all of you contacts (but maintenance is still in your hands), where as with my site, the idea is social contacts (and it leaves it up to each of your contacts to keep their information current).

 

[adamcjohnson]

I personally do everything I can to make sure people don't know how to find me, so I'm not your target market. But instead of thinking about whether people want it, why don't you setup a landing page with a good offer and send some quality traffic to it. If you have a good offer and good traffic and nobody signs up or buys anything, that's the market saying it's not worth their time or money. If you do get interest, I think that'll be enough motivation to pursue it. I'd rather spend $500 testing if there is a market for my product than let the theory of whether you think it'll work eat you alive.

Edit: No idea why the word target is hyperlinked.

Thanks for the advice - I might need to try and drive some traffic to it. But it doesn't sell anything, so I wouldn't be able to test that side of things.

 

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[Winning]

Not sure if this has been suggested- but you can always try and sell on Flippa or a website marketplace.

 

[adamcjohnson]

Not sure if this has been suggested- but you can always try and sell on Flippa or a website marketplace.

Yeah, I've thought about that too. I'd guess it'd be hard to even get back what it cost me for development though, with 0 users.

 

[Winning]

Yeah, I've thought about that too. I'd guess it'd be hard to even get back what it cost me for development though, with 0 users.

It doesn't hurt to list it. Set a min selling price and see what the market is willing to pay. Sometimes you will loose money creating startups, but that money you make by selling it can help fund your next! Just my .02

 

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[J. van Driessen]

I'm looking at creating a website which needs to do what your site does, amongst other things. I MIGHT be interested in buying it.

How much did it cost you to get it build?

 

[doncruz]

You dont have to be actually selling anything yet.
Create a USP,( unique selling proposition.)
Test, adjust, test.
Then analyze data, number dont lie.
Feel the market.

 

[jmusic]

Yeah, I've thought about that too. I'd guess it'd be hard to even get back what it cost me for development though, with 0 users.

What you paid has 0 to do with what it's worth to someone else. Also a sunk cost. Would you let an old car rot in your driveway just because you couldn't get out what you paid for it?

 

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[RazorCut]

I personally do everything I can to make sure people don't know how to find me, so I'm not your target market. But instead of thinking about whether people want it, why don't you setup a landing page with a good offer and send some quality traffic to it. If you have a good offer and good traffic and nobody signs up or buys anything, that's the market saying it's not worth their time or money.

This is what I would suggest. You don't know if it's viable or not until you validate it. You could be sat on a gold mine. If you have the mentality that the grass is always greener you will end up hopping from one half finished project to the next and never get anywhere.

Have a listen to Earl Nightingale. It's old but provides a valuable lesson:

 

[RazorCut]

Edit: No idea why the word target is hyperlinked.

@wade1mil it's because Adam used 'target' as a keyword tag when he created the thread.

 

[rich_l]

success paralysis? Overcome whatever challenge your looking at, grind it out finish it, talk about it, get on reddit and talk about it and ask for feedback. seriously.

 

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[rich_l]

. . . and I just recognized the value of conversation. I have a website that I have invested a lot of time and money into and all I have left to do is get the catalogue finished and I keep side tracking to "other" websites and creations. Best to all, taking my own advice and going to get this finished.