Ask HN: Please review re-release of launchly
Recap: Launchly is devoted to getting web startups (like the ones that come here with posts like this) the feedback and exposure they need to succeed. Multiple rounds/iterations of feedback are fully supported and encouraged by the system. We also track all aspects of new launches and provide powerful analytics to help the site owner(s) focus on what matters - delivering value to their customers.
In the two months since I first released launchly the site has gone through quite a few changes and I'd like to get a feel for what the HN community thinks of the idea/site as it stands now.
Some of the biggest changes are a completely new feedback system with support for screenshots, new category and tag navigation, user profile pages, and by far the biggest of all - a reputation system.
I added the reputation system to try to enhance and encourage the community aspects of the site a-la StackOverflow. Users build up reputation by providing feedback and voting on launches. They also earn (or lose) reputation by others voting on their feedback quality. As your reputation increases so does your influence on the site (votes weighted more heavily, limited admin powers granted, etc.).
Another big change (which necessitated the reputation system) is the addition of a free Basic launch tier. When I first created launchly I had only planned to have paid plans. That hasn't worked out in practice, especially not while trying to build up the community, so I added the new free plan. The free plan leverages the reputation system by requiring users to spend 100 reputation (it's not deducted, just subtracted from what they have available) for a free launch. 100 rep would not take long to earn (4-5 feedbacks + voting) and it hopefully will encourage community participation and keep the spammers at bay.
Anyways, please let me know what you think of the updates and the change in direction launchly has taken.
I'd also love to hear any ideas anyone may have on other possible ways to monetize something like this. Lets face it, even if I get 100 launches a month (which seems high) and every new site opts to go for a $40 paid plan, that's still only $4,000 in revenue per month.
http://www.launchly.com
[+] [-] yannis|16 years ago|reply
People will come to you for two things:
(a) Links, yes unfortunatley
(b) Real reviews
You need to mod submissions. You either narrow it to 'applications' or anything websites go. Based on the former I would not list any web sites selling Bollywood or templates.
Go for freemium, free rating and comments, but have some people who are professional to give a professional assessment and charge for tis perhaps on a 50/50 basis.
Building a community is hard work, but most of the times you need ten or twenty very active members to provide the catalyst for growth.
Ask the same question at http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/ also. Here we are all HN groupthinkers you may get some different angles (usability, SEO, community) from some really nice people.
Final question to you, would you pay for a review of launchly.com? If yes what would you consider value for money, if not why not!
[+] [-] bdmac97|16 years ago|reply
I hope that the submissions will be community moderated soon. Downvoting them "enough" will remove them now. The Bollywood/template/static sites are leftovers from before I added the reputation system.
I would certainly pay for feedback on my sites. I have in fact done so with feedbackarmy in the past but was not impressed by the mechanical turks' responses so I made launchly to get real feedback from real people (like we get on HN). I've also used usertesting.com in the past and they were great but aren't really the same thing (although that's one of the upsells I'm planning to add to launchly eventually).
[+] [-] stijnm|16 years ago|reply
EDIT: Had a quick poke around. Note, I did not look at your previous iteration. This review reads more as a narrative because I am just flicking between tabs to add comments.
It looks good. I must say my personal taste is a little more minimalist and so I find your site a little busy. At the top there are lots of options to choose from. I wonder if you can't cut down on or combine some of those buttons. Oh, I know what those buttons do now, they filter the list. Was a little un-intuitive for me.
Following on from my previous paragraph, why not get rid of all that text starting "Iterative feedback..." in the middle and just have a separate 'about' page? It takes up space between the list and the filters you can apply. Oh, you do, have a separate about page ("What's a Launch?"). Hmm, you need to update screenshots there. Oh, sorry there is a third description of what Launchly is in the footer when I press 'About Launchly'. Maybe all of these disparate descriptions can be combined?
Hmm, when I hover over vote up/down a pop-up appears which disappears before I can move my mouse pointer back over it. Sometimes I can get it to stay and perform an action - mostly I can't.
Additionally, I may be a little slower in this post-lunch state, but it isn't that clear to me at a glance what the site offers. Can I build a site using your tooling? Why do I need you to launch my creation?
Other question raised in my head: Why, for example, is 'Ask HN' not the best place to get feedback and exposure for my site?
Looking at your pricing - seems a little expensive for me. How can I be assured the reviewers are going to give me good feedback? Could I not better spend my USD 40 independently on specific feedback from my site's targeted usergroup?
On the whole, I like the site, it just feels a little disjointed here and there and the message of what you do is a little lost in the clutter.
[+] [-] bdmac97|16 years ago|reply
The banner text is there to try to tell people what the site is about on the landing page. I didn't want them to have to go to another page to figure that out since normally I believe that is considered a bad thing if they HAVE to read an about page. You're right though that the information is a bit disjointed. The "What's a Launch?" link is meant to be more of a feature tour (maybe I should just call it that). The About page is supposed to serve as a standard about page that tells what the idea is, why it's different, etc etc. Is it not common to have both these days?
I have seen the problem with the voting widget before and will look into it, thank you! The pop-up is for category voting, the big up/down arrows are for overall.
To clarify, the site offers a few things:
a) Iterative (multiple rounds) of feedback. The site was basically created because this seemed to be frowned upon on HN. Maybe I won't get boo'd off stage this time since it's been two months in between! b) Analytics. We track a number of specific things pertaining to your launch and then graph them for you to track how your launch is performing over time. c) Exposure. Your launch is actively pushed out to our primary audience (and anyone else watching social media streams). You also get front page attention on our site and depending on your launch's quality you could make the hottest launch or highest rated lists as well. If your app is especially standout (like Guestlist and TweetBlocker) I'll also give it a full review/write-up on the blog.
HN and an "Ask HN" post are great ways to get feedback and exposure for your site but I think we can do better!
1) HN's primary function is not to serve as an app review forum so by using Launchly in addition to HN (all you would have to do is follow on Twitter or RSS, not visit daily like HN), HN can go back to being about... well... Hacker News! I'm not saying review my site posts do not belong here but I think there is room for a dedicated community. 2) Launchly offers analytics that are not offered here and a comment system that is better-suited to feedback (screenshot attachments are just the first improvement, more to come). 3) Many times app launches get lost in the madness that is HN and go without any (or very little) feedback. Sometimes they end up with very little exposure as a result (heavy news day for example). That won't happen on launchly so if you really want feedback, we would be a better option.
At this point in time, Ask HN may still get you more exposure than you get on launchly because of sheer numbers but we're growing and if people start participating in the community soon that won't be the case.
The pricing is still in flux and I'm not sure where it will end up. It's always easier to go down than up though! There is a Basic, free plan as I'm sure you saw. The Plus plan adds guaranteed feedback plus the full suite of analytics. I plan to add further differentiators as the site grows.
I will work on decluttering the site, thank you!
[+] [-] dhimes|16 years ago|reply
The home page is neat and clean. One thing I noticed: "Launchly Blog" text in tab on mouseover becomes hard to read (dark font on dark tab). It renders differently than the other tabs, so perhaps it's an oversight.
"Iterative feedback & powerful analytics service for new websites" doesn't quite do it for me as a catch-phrase/title. Maybe something like "Founder roundtable for web-app startups."
[+] [-] bdmac97|16 years ago|reply
I have been playing with the tagline quite a bit and you're right, I don't think I've found one that works quite right yet.
[+] [-] varikin|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bdmac97|16 years ago|reply