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> Apps with ads in them. Easy enough to churn out, but decreasing revenues and most of the high earning adverts are the scummiest. Low value and of low moral us

by wtracy 11y ago

> Apps with ads in them. Easy enough to churn out, but decreasing revenues and most of the high earning adverts are the scummiest. Low value and of low moral usefulness. I assume that by apps you mean native mobile apps. Anyone know how ad-supported mobile apps stack up against web apps? On the one hand, there's no such thing as ad blockers for native apps. On the other hand, web apps run on more platforms out of the box including desktops, and desktops in general seem to be easier to monetize via ads. > Hosting / simple websites. Again, little bit of up-front commitment. Works best if you can find a local niche of people who want a friendly face to host their websites. Usually as simple as buying a domain, setting up WordPress, and turning on automatic updates. Does anyone here have experience with this? It's an awfully saturated market, and there's not a lot of ways to differentiate yourself without turning it into a full-time job. That said, if it is as easy as edent makes it sound, I'd love to dive in as an excuse to get some system administration experience (and try out some ideas I have in that area).

shanecleveland 11y ago
I don't have direct experience on the hosting question, but I have often though that if you could come up with the purely simplest way to allow a small, local business to create a one-page website, they would pay $30 a month for the service. Better yet, target a specific niche – Restaurants, spas, landscapers, etc. You could then have a dead-simple template they could type their info into. Not gonna win any design awards, but so many small-biz sites suck badly because the tools available aim to do too much and become complicated or encourage the user (probably non-technical to begin with) to get too fancy and do too much. Piggy-back off this and up-charge: https://picnic.sh https://picnic.sh Biggest challenge would be gaining traction.
- markyc 11y ago
  maybe a facebook page works better these days though
  - shanecleveland 11y ago
    Good point. Probably the best option for many types of local businesses.
- quintes 11y ago
  I've tried at that price point. They won't pay that but will want you to do more for less. Small business has proved to me that even a simple cms is not something they think their business needs. They're happy to trial and have themes development done as long as it's cheap but they just won't update their site themselves. And mail hosting is worse. forgot passwords and new users issues, Outlook configuration (even though comprehensive instructions were sent) and they want you to respond within the hour like it's enterprise level support. thinking back one client moved because she said she couldn't update her site herself (note it was a cms) and some dude bamboozled her into drupal. He used the theme I'd built her from my custom cms and years later the site still has the same content copied from the one I did for her..
- jakobegger 11y ago
  A friend of mine does that, but there are a few problems with that model: - it's harder than you think and a lot of work to find new customers - customers usually want more than "just a website"; you also need to offer things like newsletters, online reservation, etc. - if you get enough customers to make it worthwhile, you will be get lots of support requests Every time I meet him, someone calls him for help with their website.
  - shanecleveland 11y ago
    Agreed. I guess I was thinking more of a "landing-page-as-a-service" option. Barebones, but enough so anyone searching locally wouldn't have trouble finding their phone number, hours, location, etc. I don't use Facebook or the yellow pages. If you don't have a website, I probably won't find you. And if your website quickly tells me what I want to know vs. making me click through pages under construction to find it, I'll be much happier. But, as markyc said, Facebook may be the best strategy for small businesses.
dsr_ 11y ago
>there's no such thing as ad blockers for native apps There is on Android. Two options: install a pseudoVPN proxy that happens to consult an adblocking filter; root your device and install an /etc/hosts blocker.

by wtracy 11y ago

shanecleveland 11y ago

I don't have direct experience on the hosting question, but I have often though that if you could come up with the purely simplest way to allow a small, local business to create a one-page website, they would pay $30 a month for the service. Better yet, target a specific niche – Restaurants, spas, landscapers, etc. You could then have a dead-simple template they could type their info into. Not gonna win any design awards, but so many small-biz sites suck badly because the tools available aim to do too much and become complicated or encourage the user (probably non-technical to begin with) to get too fancy and do too much. Piggy-back off this and up-charge: https://picnic.sh https://picnic.sh Biggest challenge would be gaining traction.

markyc 11y ago
maybe a facebook page works better these days though
- shanecleveland 11y ago
  Good point. Probably the best option for many types of local businesses.
quintes 11y ago
I've tried at that price point. They won't pay that but will want you to do more for less. Small business has proved to me that even a simple cms is not something they think their business needs. They're happy to trial and have themes development done as long as it's cheap but they just won't update their site themselves. And mail hosting is worse. forgot passwords and new users issues, Outlook configuration (even though comprehensive instructions were sent) and they want you to respond within the hour like it's enterprise level support. thinking back one client moved because she said she couldn't update her site herself (note it was a cms) and some dude bamboozled her into drupal. He used the theme I'd built her from my custom cms and years later the site still has the same content copied from the one I did for her..
jakobegger 11y ago
A friend of mine does that, but there are a few problems with that model: - it's harder than you think and a lot of work to find new customers - customers usually want more than "just a website"; you also need to offer things like newsletters, online reservation, etc. - if you get enough customers to make it worthwhile, you will be get lots of support requests Every time I meet him, someone calls him for help with their website.
- shanecleveland 11y ago
  Agreed. I guess I was thinking more of a "landing-page-as-a-service" option. Barebones, but enough so anyone searching locally wouldn't have trouble finding their phone number, hours, location, etc. I don't use Facebook or the yellow pages. If you don't have a website, I probably won't find you. And if your website quickly tells me what I want to know vs. making me click through pages under construction to find it, I'll be much happier. But, as markyc said, Facebook may be the best strategy for small businesses.

dsr_ 11y ago

>there's no such thing as ad blockers for native apps There is on Android. Two options: install a pseudoVPN proxy that happens to consult an adblocking filter; root your device and install an /etc/hosts blocker.