My claim is that is that it will be hard to build significant momentum prior to getting a level of design and marketing which is significantly beyond your current ability as someone with a programming background.
Ok, now I understand. (As an aside, I don’t even have much of a programming background! I taught myself Rails this past summer, and this is the first website I built.)
I disagree; I think there’s a very real need for more comprehensive student reviews, and the design of my website isn’t going to prevent people from using it. The design may not blow you away aesthetically, but I think it’s at least pretty straightforward and easy to use. Aside from my own intuition, a lot of people I’ve talked to said they love the site and would find it useful if it had reviews.
Regarding marketing, 1) I talked to a college advisor I know, and she said she likes the site a lot, and wants to tell all the other advisors she knows about it once I get reviews. So I think I could spread the word by doing more of this. 2) I talked to a guy on the school board of my town, and he said he loves it and that guidance counselors would be happy to spread the word, so that also seems like spreading via guidance counselors will also be effective. 3) There’s a lot of people writing about How to Choose a College, and I think it’ll be in their interest to spread word of my site, being that it helps people choose a college. 4) Social media advertising. 5) Word of mouth. Not to downplay the value of marketing, but from what I read, things that solve real problems tend to find their way to users.
Ok, now I understand. (As an aside, I don’t even have much of a programming background! I taught myself Rails this past summer, and this is the first website I built.)
I disagree; I think there’s a very real need for more comprehensive student reviews, and the design of my website isn’t going to prevent people from using it. The design may not blow you away aesthetically, but I think it’s at least pretty straightforward and easy to use. Aside from my own intuition, a lot of people I’ve talked to said they love the site and would find it useful if it had reviews.
Regarding marketing, 1) I talked to a college advisor I know, and she said she likes the site a lot, and wants to tell all the other advisors she knows about it once I get reviews. So I think I could spread the word by doing more of this. 2) I talked to a guy on the school board of my town, and he said he loves it and that guidance counselors would be happy to spread the word, so that also seems like spreading via guidance counselors will also be effective. 3) There’s a lot of people writing about How to Choose a College, and I think it’ll be in their interest to spread word of my site, being that it helps people choose a college. 4) Social media advertising. 5) Word of mouth. Not to downplay the value of marketing, but from what I read, things that solve real problems tend to find their way to users.