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Is it hard to build a web app that makes at least $1000 a month?

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Re: Is it hard to build a web app that makes at least $1000 a month?

#81

Post by getsat »

yeahsure wrote: post #24
getsat wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been wanting to build a niche video/picture site for a while (to deal with all the CDN/scaling issues involved myself), and I've also been looking for a project I can use this Programming Collective Intelligence book on. Adult seems to be a good next project for me. The only initial unknown I can think of would be where content would come from unless it's user-supplied. Any other links/info/thoughts?

Several years ago I thought about building something in the adult market (never got to it). Your best bet is to go to the adult webmaster's board: http://gfy.com If you're looking for affiliate programs, if I recall correctly, they gave you tons of content for free. Anyway... hope this helps - good luck!

Thanks for the link and suggestions!

Re: Is it hard to build a web app that makes at least $1000 a month?

#82

Post by mise »

patio11 wrote: post #59

Define "hard." It is an eminently achievable goal to build a business which makes $1,000 a month. That isn't a "get into the NFL then win the Superbowl" goal, that is a "get into college" goal on the relative-risk-of-total-failure continuum. The process of doing it is fairly well understood and focused application of effort towards it makes it quite likely that you will succeed. It does require a bit of a mindset cha…

It is certainly achievable. My worry is being able to do it once (along with a full-time job) but not being able to sustain multiple such projects.

Re: Is it hard to build a web app that makes at least $1000 a month?

#84

Post by patio11 »

mise wrote: post #82
patio11 wrote: post #59

Define "hard." It is an eminently achievable goal to build a business which makes $1,000 a month. That isn't a "get into the NFL then win the Superbowl" goal, that is a "get into college" goal on the relative-risk-of-total-failure continuum. The process of doing it is fairly well understood and focused application of effort towards it makes it quite likely that you will succeed. It does require a bit of a mindset cha…

It is certainly achievable. My worry is being able to do it once (along with a full-time job) but not being able to sustain multiple such projects.

Break down exactly why you think that that isn't sustainable, then engineer those worries away.

Do you think your project will need new features regularly? Pick a project whose problem domain changes rarely, and get out of the features = value mindset because it is outrageously false.

Do you think you will have to be constantly selling? Don't pick something with high touch sales processes for a side project.

Do you think your project will require support regularly? Do something less critical, so you have less time pressure on support. Do something simpler. Give people self-help resources and push them. Automate as much of your support burden as reasonably possible. (e.g. "Hey Patrick I need a receipt" takes me about 10 seconds to answer. It used to take a few minutes, but I get asked it frequently enough to justify 30 minutes of dev to make it quick.)

Do you think you will need to play sysadmin frequently? Become a better engineer. (I have a couple articles about this.)

I am not the sharpest knife in the HN drawer by a long shot. Currently I'm travelling internationally doing some networking at a Silicon Valley startup and, on the weekdays, consulting in NYC. I profoundly hate flying right now. I also have two software businesses and, from their perspective, this state of affairs is exactly identical to me just sleeping in back at my house. It is rather unlikely the businesses will cause significant work for me.

Re: Is it hard to build a web app that makes at least $1000 a month?

#85

Post by Mz »

jeromec wrote: post #52
Mz wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are better questions to be asking? (Serious question. I suck at asking questions that get me useful answers. I have some websites that have been around a while and make next to nothing in spite of having something of value to offer. I want to make $2000-$3000/mo. How on earth do I get there from here?)

How would one get more quality traffic with this specific challenge: It's a health site where I talk about getting myself well when doctors claim it cannot be done. The first thing to define is "quality traffic". Let's say the health condition is a painful nose wart. If only 14 people in the U.S. have this condition you're never going to get significant traffic. If the condition is indeed widespread you have to ask h…

Thank you!

I will briefly note that my best audience has proven to be people interested in alternative health stuff rather than people with my diagnosis per se.

Re: Is it hard to build a web app that makes at least $1000 a month?

#86

Post by mise »

patio11 wrote: post #84
mise wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is certainly achievable. My worry is being able to do it once (along with a full-time job) but not being able to sustain multiple such projects.

Break down exactly why you think that that isn't sustainable, then engineer those worries away. Do you think your project will need new features regularly? Pick a project whose problem domain changes rarely, and get out of the features = value mindset because it is outrageously false. Do you think you will have to be constantly selling? Don't pick something with high touch sales processes for a side project. Do you t…

Patrick, yes it's a regular selling problem as my membership peaked a couple of months ago and I'm trying to keep current members during this plateau.

Perhaps I have fallen for the features mistake to make more value for those members, but I've not implemented much to start with.

Doing email marketing, email replies to customers, adding testimonials, adding features, creating new info products... this one project takes all the time, but it's multiple times too small to sustain me.

Re: Is it hard to build a web app that makes at least $1000 a month?

#87

Post by Mz »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #53
Mz wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay. How would one get more quality traffic with this specific challenge: It's a health site where I talk about getting myself well when doctors claim it cannot be done. The rest of the world thinks it cannot be done either so it's a hard sell. So far, I have been working on building an audience painfully slowly. Since I am also working on getting myself well, content does not go up as regularly as I would like. My…

Some thoughts: It's a health site where I talk about getting myself well when doctors claim it cannot be done. Besides your Mom, no one cares about getting you well. Since I am also working on getting myself well... Supposing I were sick, I'd care mainly about getting myself well. It sounds like you don't have the answers, so why am I bothering? It sounds like you aren't selling solutions. So your best bet is to sell…

Besides your Mom, no one cares about getting you well.

As noted elsewhere: The site exists because there are people who are interested in what I did to get well, not because I had any plans to create such a site. It gives them clues as to how to get themselves healthier when all else has failed. I talk about what worked for me in large part because I have zero interest in giving advice per se. I think that is part of what is wrong with conventional medicine: Doctors routinely prescribe treatments with short term benefits and long term costs, which is not so bad if you are basically healthy and can take the hit for an acute problem. But it's deadly if you have a chronic health issue. And the fact that they take this basic approach is no secret. It's done quite openly: We all know about the huge fold-outs detailing the negative side effects that come with most prescription drugs and the waivers that have to be signed before they will perform surgery. Since getting myself healthier relied heavily on trading short term costs for long term gains, I have zero interest in replicating a system that I am convinced is part of the problem.

So your best bet is to sell sympathy and motivation. My suggestion: make it more of a forum, allow other people to tell their stories as well. Focus on sharing emotions as much as sharing solutions.

I own several email lists. I cannot for the life of me get conversations going on them. I also briefly had a forum for the site. It was overrun with spam and had maybe three members (myself included). So I've tried that route and failed, quite consistently and miserably. It works better for me to try to get people sharing info when someone else owns/runs the discussion space. And that is a piece I am working on elsewhere, for the purpose of helping people help themselves. I'm also not interested in selling sympathy or motivation per se. There is a saying that "an example is the best lecture" and I have found that to be true. So I do offer myself as an example in hopes that it inspires people to feel "If she can do it, I can do it". But I have zero interest in being some cheerleader.

Again, I was not asking about monetizing the site. Only about getting traffic, a question you have not addressed. As stated earlier: I have several websites. I really don't expect this site to be where the money is. But it is the most mature/developed of the sites I own and it basically serves as a proving ground for me to learn stuff.

Re: Is it hard to build a web app that makes at least $1000 a month?

#88

Post by mtogo »

patio11 wrote: post #59

Define "hard." It is an eminently achievable goal to build a business which makes $1,000 a month. That isn't a "get into the NFL then win the Superbowl" goal, that is a "get into college" goal on the relative-risk-of-total-failure continuum. The process of doing it is fairly well understood and focused application of effort towards it makes it quite likely that you will succeed. It does require a bit of a mindset cha…

Except that web development is more akin to microwaving Eggo waffles.

Re: Is it hard to build a web app that makes at least $1000 a month?

#90

Post by petercooper »

naner wrote: post #22
dotBen wrote: post #11

Applying your startup skills to projects in the adult space will certainly help you wing your way to $1000/m v easily. Big data/machine learning of all the meta data associated on tube sites, repurposing content for tablets, recommendation engines, social layers that are delineated/firewalled from the mainstream social graph, hosting/live streaming services for adult content -- are all opportunity spaces that come to…

Legal - yes, but for a lot of us not really justifiable. I'd rather flip burgers.

Which would also not be justifiable for a lot of people. Well, unless they were veggie burgers ;-)
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