Summer's almost over and I've had a chance to chill out a bit and reflect on progress. The final version of the site is nearly complete and I'm testing a new module: speed dating. The idea behind the speed dating module is to let people who are not connected through friends (ie. strangers) get to know each other through an online conversation without committing to a date. I plan to offer speed dates to different types of users so I might offer e.g. 'extreme sports weekenders' or 'tired medics' or 'fed up with the rat race' etc; etc; so that people with similar interests can meet in a controlled, safe environment. Users will get a couple of minutes to read another person's profile and then scribble a conversation to them. I could have blown the bank and offered on-line streaming video but the feedback I get is that people prefer to have a safety net between themselves and the person they're talking to and in your face video would scare a lot of people off. Anyway, so you get your 2 minutes with 10 - 20 different people and you can do the whole thing from home with a pizza and a glass of wine for fortification. At the end, you can give comments and a thumbs up / down and if you get a match (2 thumbs up) you can pay to get the person's details. The module is being tested and looks a bit clunky at the moment so I think they'll probably be a lot of shining and polishing to do to get it really functional but I really like the idea of it and I hope it will give lots of people the confidence to meet a whole chain of nice, recommended people without the stress of face to face contact.
The changes to the existing site will go live in the next month (I've given up putting dates on these things!) and then it's a case of planning and implementing Phase 2 which is all about improving functionality, polishing the existing navigation of the site and adding a payment layer. Then I can finally remove the beta label from the title and start publicising the site to the wider world. Who would have imagined this would all take this long? For anyone thinking of setting up their own company, you need a lot of patience and resilience. Ironically, I think it will prove to be a good thing in the long run because the very slow timelines from conception to implementation allow you to make strong decisions based on a lot of reflection instead of pure gut instinct (fear or greed depending on the circumstances).
I'll post again when we get the changes live so please come and check them out and send me your feedback.
Friday 11 September 2009
Saturday 18 July 2009
Changes / improvements and other expensive items
Now I've had a chance to see how smingl is working, I've realised some of the gaps that need plugging. The first and most obvious thing is that it needs to be more interactive. I have this great structure to put people in touch with one another then no way for them to chat once they are there. I did have a messaging system in the original spec. but it's hard to allow users to chat without charging a subscription (because otherwise they can just set up dates for free). This is forcing me to think very hard about how to monetise the site and thanks to the law of unforeseen consequences, I can see the bright side in the site taking so long to develop. My original idea for revenue was to charge to set up a date. A great idea on a piece of paper but hard to structure because people don't want to date someone they've never spoken to. So, I'm now thinking in a completely different direction ...
I'm now beginning to think about monetising the site through a credit based payment system. E.g. you would pay £10 for 20 credits and then activity on the site would be charged with the credits. I could charge for sending messages, responding to messages, sending virtual gifts, setting up multi-dates and entering a speed dating session (not yet live). I think the total revenue will be lower but I really like the idea of activity based costing. People tell me they hate paying a subscription for dating sites when they may not use them for 3 months. This gives people the chance to control their spend and have great visibility of exactly what it's costing them to date.
All this requires some structural changes to the site - not least a fairly big change to the central theme of the site which is setting up a date through the date search. I think this will become secondary to the messaging facility and will mostly be used for multi-dates. It's a big step and quite different from any other dating site so I need to mull it a bit more and take soundings from users but I'm quite excited about being able to offer a real value for money alternative to traditional dating sites.
I'm now beginning to think about monetising the site through a credit based payment system. E.g. you would pay £10 for 20 credits and then activity on the site would be charged with the credits. I could charge for sending messages, responding to messages, sending virtual gifts, setting up multi-dates and entering a speed dating session (not yet live). I think the total revenue will be lower but I really like the idea of activity based costing. People tell me they hate paying a subscription for dating sites when they may not use them for 3 months. This gives people the chance to control their spend and have great visibility of exactly what it's costing them to date.
All this requires some structural changes to the site - not least a fairly big change to the central theme of the site which is setting up a date through the date search. I think this will become secondary to the messaging facility and will mostly be used for multi-dates. It's a big step and quite different from any other dating site so I need to mull it a bit more and take soundings from users but I'm quite excited about being able to offer a real value for money alternative to traditional dating sites.
Tuesday 14 July 2009
One month has passed since the site went live. What have I learned so far?
First, I'm really pleased with the number of users. It's 4 times what I expected at this stage so that's a really positive outcome. Second, I'm beginning to see what works and what doesn't in the site. There doesn't seem to be an elephant on the table - phew! But the activity is not working in the way I expected. I was expecting lots of deep, narrow interaction with the site: people setting up networks and motivated to join to friends (hey it's free and you get a really good choice of dating partners) but this isn't happening. The hierarchy is relatively flat at the moment - people joining up and then not linking to any friends. OK, so I need to work on this with more interactive elements, more marketing to pull people back to the site and improved navigation within the site. There's a temptation (big) to add lots of cool new features to the site - hey, what if you could send flowers to someone you like?? Yes, great but my primary aim is to build volume and will this build volume? I doubt it. I think these features will increase stickiness and make the site a more pleasurable experience but building volume is about getting the name out there and marketing it.
My first bit of 'paid' marketing is going to be a sticker campaign. I am about to get some cool stickers printed and will do some underground marketing sticking them on the back of loo doors, tube posters, lamposts etc; It's a low cost option and I will be able to measure the effect by looking at my google hits after posting in one geographical area. I have some more low cost marketing ideas but the challenge is to keep these ideas clean and separate and give each one a good go without getting over-excited (or depressed) about every twist and turn on the site.
I will update this blog when I have some results from the sticker campaign. Keep smingling!
First, I'm really pleased with the number of users. It's 4 times what I expected at this stage so that's a really positive outcome. Second, I'm beginning to see what works and what doesn't in the site. There doesn't seem to be an elephant on the table - phew! But the activity is not working in the way I expected. I was expecting lots of deep, narrow interaction with the site: people setting up networks and motivated to join to friends (hey it's free and you get a really good choice of dating partners) but this isn't happening. The hierarchy is relatively flat at the moment - people joining up and then not linking to any friends. OK, so I need to work on this with more interactive elements, more marketing to pull people back to the site and improved navigation within the site. There's a temptation (big) to add lots of cool new features to the site - hey, what if you could send flowers to someone you like?? Yes, great but my primary aim is to build volume and will this build volume? I doubt it. I think these features will increase stickiness and make the site a more pleasurable experience but building volume is about getting the name out there and marketing it.
My first bit of 'paid' marketing is going to be a sticker campaign. I am about to get some cool stickers printed and will do some underground marketing sticking them on the back of loo doors, tube posters, lamposts etc; It's a low cost option and I will be able to measure the effect by looking at my google hits after posting in one geographical area. I have some more low cost marketing ideas but the challenge is to keep these ideas clean and separate and give each one a good go without getting over-excited (or depressed) about every twist and turn on the site.
I will update this blog when I have some results from the sticker campaign. Keep smingling!
Tuesday 30 June 2009
Positive thinking
I'm getting really interested in the power of thinking in the business context. I'm reading a book by Daniel Tammet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIDMCC2SJek and it is totally fascinating and challenging. I have been thinking about some of Daniel's observations on the role of intelligence in success. He wonders whether talent can be learned or must be born. He has some very interesting observations about the role of coaching, practice and positive thought in the evolution of success.
How does this relate to smingl? Well, setting up a business is an immensely personal challenge. When people like what you're doing, you bask in the glory but when people criticise, you take it personally and deal with it as personal criticism. So how to evaluate criticism when it's so personal? This is, I think, where positive thinking comes in. You need to set an over-arching goal and keep repeating it to yourself as a sort of mantra (read Daniel Tammet on the effect of trained meditation - again, fascinating). The purpose is to keep counter-balancing any negative thinking related to criticism with lots of positive long term thinking about success. This helps you to deal with the criticism in a less emotional manner because a bit of feedback doesn't break the ultimate goal of success. But it should be a structured plan for success, not a naive 'I can beat the world' type of feeling. I have written some achievable goals for myself and I feel comfortable with them. They require me to hit certain points in the evolution of smingl which will almost certainly involve change and challenge. If I can deal with change, I can hit my targets (hate that word - this isn't about numbers, it's about goals). So this is why Daniel's book has been timely and very interesting.
Please do keep sending me feedback. I keep thinking of that often recycled Henry Ford quote along the lines of: If I'd listened to my customers, I'd have made a faster horse. I love this sentiment for its sheer bloody mindedness but I reserve the right to make some combination of car-horse to get to where I want to be.
How does this relate to smingl? Well, setting up a business is an immensely personal challenge. When people like what you're doing, you bask in the glory but when people criticise, you take it personally and deal with it as personal criticism. So how to evaluate criticism when it's so personal? This is, I think, where positive thinking comes in. You need to set an over-arching goal and keep repeating it to yourself as a sort of mantra (read Daniel Tammet on the effect of trained meditation - again, fascinating). The purpose is to keep counter-balancing any negative thinking related to criticism with lots of positive long term thinking about success. This helps you to deal with the criticism in a less emotional manner because a bit of feedback doesn't break the ultimate goal of success. But it should be a structured plan for success, not a naive 'I can beat the world' type of feeling. I have written some achievable goals for myself and I feel comfortable with them. They require me to hit certain points in the evolution of smingl which will almost certainly involve change and challenge. If I can deal with change, I can hit my targets (hate that word - this isn't about numbers, it's about goals). So this is why Daniel's book has been timely and very interesting.
Please do keep sending me feedback. I keep thinking of that often recycled Henry Ford quote along the lines of: If I'd listened to my customers, I'd have made a faster horse. I love this sentiment for its sheer bloody mindedness but I reserve the right to make some combination of car-horse to get to where I want to be.
Friday 26 June 2009
Growth growth growth
Good things are happening with my users. I'm getting new ones every day-ish and the best bit is I don't know most of them. Someone somewhere must be chatting a bit about the site and that is great to know. I've also started twittering and facebooking. I realise as a web 2.0 entrepreneur I should be a bit more au fait with all this stuff but I've had 6 years in the off-line hinterland bringing up kids and I've turned into one of those scared, grouchy folk who criticise new technology without trying it. Not any more, Twitter is right up my street (I'm full of useless soliloquy) and I've even linked to all my friends on facebook. When I logged in I found a whole pile of new friend requests that I never knew existed. Brilliant! Keep smingling ....
Friday 19 June 2009
One month on
I've been tracking my web usage since the site went live and it's encouraging to see an increasing number of people visiting the site. The tricky bit is to get people feeding through from google. A friend of mine helpfully told me that when you type 'internet dating' into google, smingl comes up below 'Conjugal prison harmony dating' and 'Shemale dating'. Hmm - we'll have to work on this one. Meanwhile, I've been pestering my friends (well I thought they were my friends) and trying to get them to sign up. A few statistics for the data geeks out there - of all my friends contacted in the past couple of weeks, 62% responded to my email, 35% logged on and only 15% posted a photo or filled out a profile. This is a poor conversion rate especially the % posting photos. Photos and filled out profiles are what make the site feel trustworthy. You're a lot more likely to trust something if you feel other people have put their trust in it and exposed themselves. This is my small catch-22 at the moment - people are cautious. Even friends who know they can trust me are cautious about trusting the internet. Smingl is still an unknown quantity and a little difficult to summarise in one sentence so people are holding back. So the challenge for me is a) to get a better conversion rate of 35% logged in and b) to get these individuals to expose themselves a bit and stick a photo on the site.
Next big step is to get our payment facility live and to do our full live launch in September. This is going to take a bit of planning on the marketing front so I need to keep myself enthusiastic and motivated so that I can make the right decisions now for the Autumn launch. If this were the C4 documentary, it would still be all smiles but they'd be cutting to shots of cloudy weather and the odd shot of my face crumpled into a frown.
Final thought - for those who thought that you just set up an internet company and let it roll, here is the unadulterated truth. It's just as difficult and dirty as selling lightbulbs in the first few months. You have to push, push, push, find your inner salesman, pester your friends and keep thinking of new ways to get yourself out there.
Until next time ...
Next big step is to get our payment facility live and to do our full live launch in September. This is going to take a bit of planning on the marketing front so I need to keep myself enthusiastic and motivated so that I can make the right decisions now for the Autumn launch. If this were the C4 documentary, it would still be all smiles but they'd be cutting to shots of cloudy weather and the odd shot of my face crumpled into a frown.
Final thought - for those who thought that you just set up an internet company and let it roll, here is the unadulterated truth. It's just as difficult and dirty as selling lightbulbs in the first few months. You have to push, push, push, find your inner salesman, pester your friends and keep thinking of new ways to get yourself out there.
Until next time ...
Tuesday 9 June 2009
smingl.com!
It's finally live - but only as a beta site. It feels a bit like your first drag on a cigarette - a lot of anticipation, a brief high and then a nasty sore throat. Yes, it was exciting to go live but immediately the nasty gremlins were back screwing up functionality that worked fine on the development site and fell over once it went to the live site. You find this stuff out gradually - it's not like there's a little active X control that you can set up to whizz round the site to tell you where drop-down menus don't work or where photographs are still showing up as cartoons not photos. Gradually we're discovering them and beating them into submission but still they come. My best analogy is to compare these little gremlins to a snagging list on your dream home. The house looks great, it has the right number of rooms, the kitchen's all shiny and new but the tap on the top floor doesn't work and the door into the sitting room gets stuck and there's a big fat hole just by the backdoor that you have to remind people not to trip into.
Anyway, here are the exciting bits of setting up a new site - every day you can check to see if anyone new has signed up. I have an easy way of doing this because their thumbnails appear along the bottom of the landing page so new thumbnail = new user. To start with there were no new thumbnails and just the same picture of me and my lead developer reappearing again and again but now, excitement is mounting as I spot new people turning up on the site. I don't know who some of them are or how they found us but I hope they like the site and I hope they're telling their friends.
Next step is to fix the XXX???!!!! remaining gremlins then get our payment system live then prepare the site for a full launch in the early Autumn. In the meantime I have to be patient (not one of my strengths) and try not to blow my top every time another gremlin comes and chews at the site. What I want to do is scream at my developer for not having everything fixed by now and sulk at my friends for not signing up after a couple of pleading emails. What I have to do is accept that it takes time and patience and it will all come good in the end.
Will post with more news soon ....
Anyway, here are the exciting bits of setting up a new site - every day you can check to see if anyone new has signed up. I have an easy way of doing this because their thumbnails appear along the bottom of the landing page so new thumbnail = new user. To start with there were no new thumbnails and just the same picture of me and my lead developer reappearing again and again but now, excitement is mounting as I spot new people turning up on the site. I don't know who some of them are or how they found us but I hope they like the site and I hope they're telling their friends.
Next step is to fix the XXX???!!!! remaining gremlins then get our payment system live then prepare the site for a full launch in the early Autumn. In the meantime I have to be patient (not one of my strengths) and try not to blow my top every time another gremlin comes and chews at the site. What I want to do is scream at my developer for not having everything fixed by now and sulk at my friends for not signing up after a couple of pleading emails. What I have to do is accept that it takes time and patience and it will all come good in the end.
Will post with more news soon ....
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