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Before you throw in the towel, let me give you some things to think about. So I am not directly answering your question of whether you should open source the pr
by codegeek 10y ago
Before you throw in the towel, let me give you some things to think about. So I am not directly answering your question of whether you should open source the product or not.
Real estate markets are very local. Are you targeting agents in the UK and Spain ? I am guessing based on the currency/language switcher on top.
In the US, I can tell you that the market is huge but quite competitive. Not sure about UK and Spain but it could be. Have you done some market research and validation before you started building this ? Have you not been able to get a single client yet ? Have you reached out to an agent personally just to get some perspective ?
If I was you, first thing I will do is to ask myself : Why am I building this product. Is there a potential market for this ? If yes, how big ? Are there existing competitors ? If yes, that is usually a good sign that there is some validation but you may have to compete. You also spend a lot of time doing marketing and primarily "inbound". Take this free course from hubspot
https://certification.hubspot.com/inbound-certification https://certification.hubspot.com/inbound-certification
Learn from your competitors. Go to Google and type "real estate website templates" etc. See what comes up in your local google search. Study those companies and how they are doing business. Get inspired.
Now, some feedback on your landing page. It doesn't tell me anything on what I get as a real estate agent. Saying "build website" in 2016 is as good as saying nothing. So you need to be more specific on the landing page. For example, in the US, real estate agents use something like MLS for listings. It is some type of agreed upon database (pretty shitty though) they they all subscribe to. So do you provide integration with any MLS if there is an equivalent in UK/Spain ? Real estate agents are not necessarily looking for a website. If at all, they want solutions that can get them more leads and eventually clients. What does it take for real estate agents to get more leads/clients ? Figure that out and you can make tons of money.
- etewiah 10y agoWow, this is the sort of detailed constructive feedback I love to get - thanks so much! You make a good argument that I haven't really done a good job of selling my site and I have to agree with you. I hate the marketing side of things and for each day I spend marketing I feel like I need to code for a week to recoup my energy!! If I do not get some motivation from others to go open source, I will take your advice and have another go at marketing. In the meantime I really hope I can find a good justification for going open source - or someone comes along who wants to work with me on the marketing side. Thanks again for your feedback @codegeek - really appreciate it. I hadn't heard of hubspot before - the course looks great so I'll give it a go.
- codegeek 10y agoI hear you. Coding is easy for people like us. Getting someone to pay for it is a bitch. May be you should find someone to help you with marketing a bit.
- etewiah 10y agoI am actively looking for someone to work with but its hard to convince people without a budget. Ah and to your question about if I researched the market beforehand - someone in the industry convinced me there was a market and I guess I wanted to believe it was true so I didn't do that much research :(