Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because prgmr is cheap and I wanted to keep costs under control from day one. :) For example, there's no point in me paying for a nice control panel when I can set up Apache or nginx in no time on my own. I'm not a super sysadmin, but I know enough to quickly write a script that backs up code and database to Dropbox at regular intervals and so on. So paying for those extras? Not sure I see the point when you're not e…
if you don't mind me asking, what package are you using on prgmr.com and the level of traffic it handles. I've been looking at some VPS options and I wanted to make sure I select the right one that is not oversold + performs well.
Building a Web Application that makes $500 a Month – Part I
41–50 of 119 posts
Re: Building a Web Application that makes $500 a Month – Part I
#42This is great, look forward to reading the second part. At first, the price seems expensive, but when I think about it, it's really not. You are offering a lot of functionality when it comes to scheduling tweets and that's a feature people will find super useful (unfortunately a lot of those people may be spammers, but at the end of the day as far as your concerned, your business is your business and theirs is theirs…
I'm not a huge advocate of freemium and I would not suggest lowering the price, however you may want to extend the free trial period a little longer.
Thanks for the positive feedback :) Regarding the free trial, I'm kinda hesitant, as if you can't decide after 10 days, will another 10 really make that much of a difference? That said - I accept I could be wrong ;) How long do you think would be fair?
Re: Building a Web Application that makes $500 a Month – Part I
#43Hey everyone, I have a semi-related question (since it's briefly mentioned in the article): is it possible to make a decent salary exclusively by doing freelance work through vWorker (rentacoder) and the likes?
I have never tried getting work off of vWorker or similar sites, but today I looked through vWorker for the first time in a while and it still seems to be what it was: a bunch of people offering hardly anything for complex projects. I'd imagine you would need to go through hundreds of postings in order to find someone who is offering a fair amount of money for a decent sized project.
That said, if you dedicate all of your time to doing that (sifting through all of the bad postings on multiple freelance work sites to find the gems) and build a reputation, it seems possible to make some good money.
Re: Building a Web Application that makes $500 a Month – Part I
#44Hey I remember when you launched! I even gave you some "business" advice - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1166641 . Well done, waiting anxiously for the rest of your story (you drama queen :-P).
Me? Drama? Never! ;)
Seriously, thanks for the initial advice, it helped me hugely! :-D
Re: Building a Web Application that makes $500 a Month – Part I
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because prgmr is cheap and I wanted to keep costs under control from day one. :) For example, there's no point in me paying for a nice control panel when I can set up Apache or nginx in no time on my own. I'm not a super sysadmin, but I know enough to quickly write a script that backs up code and database to Dropbox at regular intervals and so on. So paying for those extras? Not sure I see the point when you're not e…
How about a write-up on how to get prgmr up and running? If it doesn't take a super sysadmin, it might be nice to see the process you took.
How about a write-up on how to get prgmr up and running?
I could do, but honestly it doesn't differ much more a standard Linux setup - the only difference is a lack of control panel.
Re: Building a Web Application that makes $500 a Month – Part I
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because prgmr is cheap and I wanted to keep costs under control from day one. :) For example, there's no point in me paying for a nice control panel when I can set up Apache or nginx in no time on my own. I'm not a super sysadmin, but I know enough to quickly write a script that backs up code and database to Dropbox at regular intervals and so on. So paying for those extras? Not sure I see the point when you're not e…
if you don't mind me asking, what package are you using on prgmr.com and the level of traffic it handles. I've been looking at some VPS options and I wanted to make sure I select the right one that is not oversold + performs well.
if you don't mind me asking, what package are you using on prgmr.com and the level of traffic it handles.
I'm using the 1GB offer. This is something that I may blog about briefly, so far it's running TweetingMachine and a couple of other tools, and has supported the Hacker News traffic decently as well. That's most likely thanks to me using nginx and w3 total cache on the Wordpress blog. That said, if someone really wanted to DDOS me, it wouldn't take much for it to fall over ;)
Re: Building a Web Application that makes $500 a Month – Part I
#47Hey everyone, I have a semi-related question (since it's briefly mentioned in the article): is it possible to make a decent salary exclusively by doing freelance work through vWorker (rentacoder) and the likes?
I found it not too troublesome to earn between $2,000 and $3,000 a month. By Polish standards (even after tax) that's really not bad, but I realise it might not be that great in, say, London or New York.
Re: Building a Web Application that makes $500 a Month – Part I
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can definitely see it from your perspective: not only does it take less time to write one article rather than three [and probably less pressure as well!], it gives you content for your website (not to mention a steady stream of visitors wanting to see your content, rather than just one big group of visitors then nothing). From my perspective though, it is unfortunate: I'm interested in the story, but I don't know i…
Solution: RSS! I'm a google reader user, and when I find things like this, I toss them in there. If it's not interesting enough going forward, I can always unsubscribe. Of course, if the author is using twitter/facebook/whateverelse to hype posts, you can use those to similar effect, too.
My solution is looking at integrating MailChimp's offering once the traffic's died down a bit. I should have done it before really, but am reluctant to further stress a server that's already getting a bit upset ;)
Re: Building a Web Application that makes $500 a Month – Part I
#49Hi everyone, blog post author here. Over the last 18 months I've learned an incredible amount from the users here on Hacker News, and I figured that it's about time I started giving something back. None of my web apps make serious money, but they bring in enough to make a difference to life, and I'm hoping that my articles will help others get on the same path - if not somewhat more successfully! ;) Please feel free…
Thanks for writing this article. Looking at the timeline and the slowish traction really gives balance to the i-built-a-5000-a-day-app-in-three-days-in-my-PJs articles that tend to dominate the news. It's a good look at building an actual product that shows it's not all roses and hockey-stick adoptions.
Agreed, it was nice to see you speaking in terms of months, and not days-or hours.
Re: Building a Web Application that makes $500 a Month – Part I
#50I absolutely love reading articles like this that are grounded in reality where the point of the app is to actually make money. The fact that you are making any money at all brings value to what you have to say that all of us can learn from. I think most entrepreneurs will agree that it is that first sale that is the hardest part. I look forward to your next article!