Ask HN: The redesign of my startup, please review it. • Hacker News Board

Post by huuleon » Wed, Mar 16, 2011, 9:34 PM UTC

A couple weeks ago I asked HN to give me feedbacks on my website. I received great feedbacks and did a revision of my website, changing the user interface and build a community forum around it. Well the idea of my startup is very simple but I believe very meaningful. I'm trying to connect local buyers and sellers together via videos instead of photos. Giving users and sellers a better way to showcase their second hand products. Right now we're focusing on users acquisition and marketing but kind of stuck, meaning no growth. We're getting about 500 visits/day and around 5-10 people register/day but not many people are uploading videos. We want to get users more involved in the community and eventually list their used stuff with us. As of now I'm bootstrapping my startup where capital is very limited.

I'm thinking of 1. reaching out to bloggers and get some PR to increase more traffic to the website. 2. Then hire some people to build a mobile app so users can upload their stuff easier and faster. 3. Run some contests to motivate them to sell their unwanted stuff lying around their homes. 4. Contact local used car dealers, furniture stores, and yard sale associations offering people to list their products on the website for free.

Which one of these should I do first or not do at all? This is my first startup and I know I have alot to learn especially with online marketing. Please review my startup and feel free to offer any feedbacks or criticisms. Please advise me on some marketing strategies for my startup as well.

Thanks,

Leon http://www.123exchanges.com

Post by michaelpinto » Wed, Mar 16, 2011, 11:40 PM UTC

Usability tips:

- The name of the site doesn't communicate what the site is about (at the very least make the tagline more prominent and maybe get a writer to refine it)

- The title of what's being sold should be above the video thumbnail

- The $ symbol should come before the numeral

- I'd get rid of the ad (which is so slick that it distracts from the homemake content)

- "Stuff" is a very bad label for a button

- Having the "upload video" button is useless if it doesn't worked when you aren't logged in

Biz suggestions:

- I'd use the site to focus on a specific vertical market instead of being all things to all people (and focus on a vertical where you'd want video as opposed to a still image — cars would work)

- Get a college kid who is majoring in film/video to shoot your video demos (especially if you want to go after the high end of the market)