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16Bugs
June 30, 2006 in 4 out of 5 stars, Hosted software, Issue trackers, Software Development16Bugs: An online bug tracking and management system for those of you creating software to take over the world. Michele Finotto I've been around many bug management systems at various size companies and I've found most to be too tedious to use and too complex to navigate. 16Bugs does a great job of making bug management simple, offering only the needed features. It's also a javascript-driven site which helps make the entry and review of bugs quite simple. There are some small items that could fixed. For instance, right now you can only add an attachment to a bug when you create it and not later. However, 16bugs is very responsive and multiple times I've supplied feedback and had new features and/or fixes implemented the same day! As a startup, they both encourage feedback and take it to heart. Tiers based on storage & features: free/$8/$15/$25 Reviewed by Mike LewisWhat is it?
Who makes it?
Why is it the killerest?
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FeedCraft
June 29, 2006 in 3 out of 5 stars, Hosted softwareFeedCraft: FeedCraft is an RSS feed publishing solution. It's a hosted service that enables the creation, management, and tracking of RSS feeds. Businesses that either need to create RSS feeds or are looking to use RSS for marketing use the service. FeedCraft also enables the publishing of podcasts with all audio files hosted on their servers. Users save money on bandwidth and storage costs. EvolvePoint There are only a few solutions in the marketplace that currently offer focused RSS feed publishing solutions. FeedCraft offers an easy to use solution focused on marketing professionals, small business owners, communications experts, and entrepreneurs. In private beta testing now (slated for release in August) are secure feeds, custom feeds, and better integration with existing resources. Free to $19.95 / monthWhat is it?
Who makes it?
Why is it the killerest?
How do they differ from Feedburner?
Companies go to FeedBurner if they already have feeds and wish to enhance them. Companies use FeedCraft if they either (a) have no feeds and wish to create them or (b) want to create additional feeds for specific marketing campaigns outside wherever their existing feeds lie (blog, CMS, etc.)
What could be improved?
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Happy Links
June 27, 2006 in Happy LinksResources:
- LegalDocs: (some) free legal documents.
- Berkeley on iTunes: download podcasts and audit the course.
- Free eBook - "When you can't earn an MBA": Rajesh Setty tries to make us all a bit smarter by teaching us how to get ahead without an MBA.
Happy Links
June 26, 2006 in Happy LinksTips:
- The hardest lessons for startups to learn
Paul Graham (our guru) offers some superb bits of advice and some warnings. This is one to print out and put on the wall. - A killer collection of "Creativity Techniques"
Need help getting the juices flowing? Here are a whole passel of ideas designed to help you shake things loose. [Thx Lifehacker] - Barry Bonds
Seth Godin talks about the difference between hitting home runs, and hitting singles -- as a metaphor for running a business, of course. "Singles are less thrilling and require way too much work, but they build on each other. Over time, if you grow by 10 or 15% every week or month, you grow, reliably. And that steady growth transforms into ever faster growth." - 7 Reasons Why Web Apps Fail (and 7 More Reasons Why Web Apps Fail)
14 excellent points. - Ten Smart Moves to Improve your Business
Another list, another batch of good ideas. - The Ultimate Home Office
Lifehacker offers up some great advice for establishing a functional productive home office. - Full-time freelancing: 10 more things in 360 days
Cameron Moll (web designer) jumped one year ago, and offers up some lessons learned. - Powering a Professional Web Firm: The hardware and software that runs our business.
Forty Media pops the hood on their operation. - The Secret to Small Business Success
Our buddy Josh Williams offers his take on what it takes... Summary: Raise your Rates. (I concur 100%, although it's much easier said than done). - The Four-Day Week Challenge
Ryan Carson makes the case for working less and offers tips to do it (no more IM, email only 2x/day, restrict mtgs, squeeze more productivity out of your 4 days.). "The reason is that when you work less, it gives you more time to experience life and think; you can use the extra time to not only spend with people you love, take up hobbies, or invest in causes you believe in, but also to have ideas. Some of our best ideas have come while driving, gardening, reading, or painting on the weekend."
Happy Links
June 23, 2006 in Happy LinksFund Raising:
- The Top 10 Questions Investors Asked Us
The boy geniuses at Particle Tree share this bit of insight after taking funding from Paul Graham's Y Combinator. - Venture Capital Panel MP3
A gem from Guy Kawasaki: "This is an MP3 recording from the venture capital panel at a Garage event called The Art of the Start... [discussing] entrepreneurship, fund raising, and market sectors."
Happy Links
June 22, 2006 in Happy LinksMaking the jump:
- Fire your Boss! The Successful Home Freelancer's Guide
Starts with a questionnaire to see if you're ready, followed by tips for making it work if so. - 10 Stupid Mistakes Made by the Newly Self-Employed
A few more great tips for after make the jump. My favorites are #4 (Putting on a fake front) and #7 (Being too formal). After 6 years of "non-employment" myself and I can say life became dramatically easier when I just got real. - Ready to Start your Own Business?
Keeping with this theme, Philip Wilkinson has a 7 question test. (It's worth noting that I jumped without any of this introspection. It's (ahem) also probably worth noting that I ran up $30K in credit card debt in the first 2 years before I turned the corner a split second before completely crashing and burning.)
Happy Quote
June 21, 2006 in Happy Quotes"Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory."
--Mahatma Gandhi
Google AdSense
June 20, 2006 in 5 out of 5 stars, A money makerGoogle AdSense: I received a few questions last week from folks wondering what AdSense is. These came from folks flabbergasted by Markus Frind whom I interview last week. Markus is making $25,000.00/day from AdSense(!). AdSense is a very simple way to place advertisements on your website and earn money. Here's how it works: Remember Google AdWords? AdWords customers pay Google to send them traffic. It's how you advertise with Google. So... So, AdSense is the program where you, as a website owner/publisher can help Google show ads. And in return, Google gives you a portion of the money they generate. The best part: it takes just minutes to sign up, then once approved, it's a simple matter of placing a snippet of HTML code in your website, and you're ready to start earning money. It's important to understand that Markus' experience is way, way outside of the norm--bordering on the patently absurd--and can be attributed to the fact that: (a) his market is one where AdWords customers pay a lot for traffic (b) he has insane amounts of traffic. Some folks make less than a dollar a day. But obviously the potential is there to make much, much more. Darren Rowse makes a solid six figures a year from AdSense on his various sites. Those Google nerds 2 reasons: 1) Because it's a very simple and easy way for anyone with a website and a little traffic to make some money. 2) Because Google ascertains the context of your site, and shows ads that are relevant to your content. For example: if you have a site about horse training, you'll see equestrian related ads show up on your site. This means (a) the ads that show up are more likely to get clicked and (b) you're actually helping your site visitors with relevant related information, services and products. At times the context ascertaining system has a hard time getting the context perfect. It pays you! Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
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Why is it the killerest?
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Toodledo - A simple task manager
June 19, 2006 in 3 out of 5 stars, Hosted software, ProductivityToodledo - A simple task manager: Toodledo is an easy to use, web-based to-do list. Jake Olefsky You can organize tasks into folders or projects, set due dates, set priorities, place notes on each one, and export your lists via RSS/XML. It also has some nifty reports and a nice interface. There is a detailed comparison list here stacking Toodledo up against many of the other to-do lists on the web today. It could support collaboration with coworkers. (This is a planned improvement for the near future.) Free Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
Who makes it?
Why is it the killerest?
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Interview with Markus Frind - AdSense Millionaire
June 15, 2006 in An interviewMarkus Frind runs a free online dating site called PlentyOfFish.com and he rocked the Internet world this week when he posted a photo of his latest Google AdSense check for nearly $1 million CAD.
It was a check for 2 months because the first check they sent was so big it was rejected by his bank. (I hate it when that happens.)
I asked Markus to share a few thoughts with us, and he was kind enough to oblige.
You're a one-man show running a very successful dating site. Tell us how you got started.
Back in 2001 after my birthday someone in the office introduced me to online dating sites. I went back to my desk and checked out udate.com and kiss.com and lavalife/web personals. I was bored and I wanted to chat with people. I was really annoyed when I found out you had to pay for everything, I ended up telling the girl who introduced me to the sites that I could do better and make them for free, so I went and registered Plentyoffish.com. All I ever ended up doing was creating an index page and forgot about it. Fast forward to 2003... [Find the rest of Markus' answer over on his blog]
Your site, if you'll forgive me, isn't terribly attractive, it isn't "web 2.0" it isn't even a terribly original idea. Many entrepreneurs today think that without those ingredients in the recipe, they'll never make it. You've clearly proved otherwise. What's your secret and what are your thoughts about what it takes to be successful?
To many people assume an "original idea" is just something that looks visually different then others. I created the first real free dating and the first one that actually worked. Just like Google created the first real search engine that worked. There is no such thing as a secret. When I came home from work I sat down and I forced myself to code for a hour or 2. The enemy was thinking, whenever I paused or started to think I would force myself to type something, its amazing how much you can get done when you just type. There are only 1000 or so sites in the world with massive traffic, and of those mine is the only one that is run by a single person. It's not possible for thousands of people to be as successful as me. For being successful in building sites you need to give something to the surfer faster or better or both. If you want to do pay per click, you just need to be good at picking words to bid on. For that business its just a matter of repetition and fighting boredom. At the end of the day you just need to sit down and DO it. Most people don't.
You've obviously done a brilliant job marketing the site because you have some insane traffic numbers. What do you feel has been your most successful marketing move and why?
It was all viral. My best move was not going out and spending a ton of money, with online dating you need to spend $6.00 for every free member, and most of those leave on the first day and the few that do become active don't stay more than 3 months. So 30% of your membership is turned over per month. There is no way you can make your money back. The site went ballistic in Canada all on its own I really didn't have to do anything.
What has been your least successful marketing effort? Why wasn't it successful?
Radio, too expensive, too hard to buy your way into markets. Yahoo, Match.com and Eharmony and Lavalife are each spending $10 million a month on marketing. How can you even come close to competing with them?
Can you share some of your favorite sources of inspiration and ideas? (e.g. certain blogs/books/magazines)
Never bothered reading books, magazines Just started reading blogs lately outside the dating world. For the most part I treated it as a video game, and defeat isn't an option you just find some way to win.
Any parting advice for other entrepreneurs trying to gain success with AdSense or other "eyeball/traffic"-oriented ventures?
Google pays out $500 million a quarter to AdSense users. That money is going somewhere, and if you look at the top 1000 sites not a hell of a lot of them have AdSense. Statistically speaking those sites that have low numbers of users and high EPC [Earnings Per Click] will make the most money. Build sites that no one else has done before, stuff only goes viral the first 1 or 2 times after that you have to buy your way into a market.
Thanks again to Markus for sharing his thoughts.