Your Web Startup Is A Basket Of Fail

Hey everyone, check this article out! I guess it all depends on the way or what you think. Read the replies to this article.

Sincerely J. D.



By David A. Utter - Fri, 01/18/2008 - 11:52am.

Someone else will do it better


One person took a few hours and about a hundred dollars to build a credibly effective music search engine, and why that experience demonstrated how addressing problems will be a better use of time than building the next Google.

As the eponymous Red of RedFerret.net observed, "How hard is it to make a simple web application today?" As it turned out, not real hard at all.

Those efforts comprised about four to five hours of time, half of which appears to have been spent on crafting a logo and a page, and around a hundred dollars. Meet Groupzz, a meta music search engine.

We filled the lead-lined writing room with the sweet strains of Cliff-era Metallica, to the "delight" of WebProWorld admin and co-worker Raf Robinson across the hallway. 'Ride The Lightning' and 'Master of Puppets', streamed nicely through the Groupzz player. The proof of concept site sped through our searches and found hundreds of options for each.

Here's how Groupzz came into being, according to RedFerret.net:

Step 1 - Spend half an hour searching, locate a $99.00 script on Sitepoint (there’s probably free around, but I’m in a hurry see?)
Step 2 - Spend a couple of hours creating and tweaking a simple logo and page (yeah, so I’m not the world’s best designer, OK?)
Step 3 - Locate a free hosting supplier at webmaster-networks.com
Step 4 - Upload the whole shooting match via FTP and test
Step 5 - Point an unused $9.95 a year domain of mine at the server
Step 6 - Sign up for Shopping Ads, and embed the advert codes
Step 7 - Promote on the Red Ferret Journal…and profit!! Or not!!
"Unless your idea is unbelievably different, and more importantly, useful or hugely entertaining to a major section of a target population, you probably won’t gain traffic fast enough to make it work before someone else comes along and does it cheaper, faster, easier, or just plain better," said Red.

"Please stop trying to create yet another MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Google or whatever."






News Tags: Search, Social Media, RedFerret, Groupzz
About the author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Follow me on Twitter, and you can reach me via email at dutter @ webpronews dot com.
Comments
By Steve (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 2:07pm.
It is possible - I did it.
I own www.slwebsolutions.com and I started this company out of nothing. No outside funding just thousands of hours of building the site and business and marketing it. The business works and is successful and now supports the income of many people. Myself and my company have learned many effective ways of marketing websites and we can lead you in the right direction.

What I did? Built on an idea and focused on marketing, marketing, and more marketing. Made sure that my clients were given enterprise quality services and treatment and my business has flurished. The web solutions industry is very competitive which was a huge obstical. If you have a niche that is not very competitive it is NOT hard to gain steady traffic nor expensive. If you are depending on ads as your only source of income you will need a very large number of visitors.

Don't give up. If you truely want an online business to happen it can happen. Understand that It's not easy and takes time to be profitable. You can't whip up a script in a day and expect success. Be prepared to spend a large amount of money or put hundreds to thousands of hours in it. Contact me on our website and ask for Steve in your email.

reply
By Adam (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 12:31pm.
Fast Baby Steps...All The Way To The Finish Line!
In the new web-world, rapid development is a must. As Michael mentioned in his comment, this simple site probably won't last on this $99 sciript if it gets some real traffic.

In reality though, you only need to go one step further than this example, but that does not necessarily involve large sums of money. Using a quality open source programming framework and a talented programmer or two, can net a truly scaleable professional app/website.

The old days of building some Titanic application with a team of developers on some monolithic platform is long gone. Anyone using this old style will be buried. Every day that passes 'rapid-development' speeds toward 'hyper-rapid-development'. You need to get your idea out there as fast as possible before someone else does.

So it's true, it's quick and easy to build a simple web app. However, you'll likely need to go a step further than buying an off-the-shelf script to create your new empire. But, look at Python/Django. There are numerous small quality web apps that have used this combination and been built in a matter of days.

Now in the case of Groupzz.com, they have teh idea out there in sa few hours with just $99 our of their pocket. They can watch and see if it becomes popular. If it is a hit, take that next step and artie a replacement app that will scale. Seeing the simplicity of this app, a scalable replacement should not take long to build anyways! Marketing is the key...and you've already started down the right path there. :)



reply
By Guest (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 12:15pm.
Keep Trying - YES
RedFerret must be talking about himself and his lack of success. Too bad. He should keep trying.

I had never heard of RedFerret, so perhaps his article was just a last desperate attempt at gaining attention. I looked at his sponsor filled website and see why his is a failure.

My only question is why did David at WebPro feel his article was worthy? Perhaps even after the somewhat success of WebPro, David still does not accept that small level of success as successful?

In the mainframe days, my small company sold $30,000 software products and we did not need to sell many to achieve a level of profitable success. But even after success, holding onto the benefits can become a serious problem.

Now, I am screwed after the dotcom-bust. My only option is to attempt to gain a little success on the Internet. I'll drop dead before I give up.

reply
By ThoughtSponge (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 12:15pm.
Too negative
I never like articles like this. Reason being that you don't know and can't tell anyone else what the next big idea will be. So how can you tell people what not to create if you don't know what is going to work in the first place?

reply
By Darren E (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 10:20am.
If at first you fail, fail and fail again!
There will always be someone out there with an idea of being able to start their own web developer's business. Many of them will be married housewives with kids looking for an outlet to create extra income for their families. Many will be graphic artists who want to expand their skill set through the web. Some will be computer I.T. people who dabble with Adobe products or (gasp) Front Page.

The good news with this is the web CUSTOMER wins. There are enough developers out there to satisfy budgets from $100 to several thousands of dollars. Those who try to discourage other developers or the less experienced creative minds are often the ones who are wallowing in their own failures or frantically holding on to their current success with fear of falling behind.

With just about any business there will be success and there will be failures. It's whether or not we triumph in the face of adversity or let the negativity of others drag you down with them.

Overall, there is money to be made in this industry in more ways than one and new ideas are evolving every day.

reply
By Al (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 9:27am.
You never fail until you quit trying
Telling people to just give up is about the worst advice anyone can give concerning any subject.

It is those of us who continue to try in the face of adversity that make the innovations that improve our world.

There are others who have "already done that". There will be others who "do it better". That simply means that I must continue to investigate, learn, and innovate.

Do NOT give up! Keep developing ideas and methods. Yours may be the next big sensation.

reply
By Red (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 9:26am.
We're back, and we want your money... :-)
Yep, my web host disappeared from under me just after the article ran, but I'm now back on another free host and we're shooting for the moon. Or at least somewhere East of that nice restaurant in the main street. :-)

More seriously, I wasn't trying to put anyone down or discourage hard work and a dream. Just perhaps putting it into perspective so that people would think a little more about the reality of their chances of success.

Red

reply
By Michael (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 8:51am.
Your Web Startup Is A Basket Of Fail
David, I had to chuckle after reading your article, Your Web Startup Is A Basket Of Fail.

As a person who has spent over $100,000 and countless hours creating a start-up website, to be launched this year, I saw your article and my heart sank. I thought, "could he be correct, am I just wasting my time".

And then the "chuckle". I clicked on the groupzz link and ... nothing.

I think it only fair to explain to your readers that virtually anyone can create a website in minutes, but unfortunately that is how long it will last once "real" traffic starts hitting the site.

Business fundementals and planning for success are still critical in this web world, and that still takes time, money and risk.

Thanks for the chuckle.

Getting back to my Big Basket of Fail.

Michael

reply
By Guest (WPN reader) - Sun, 01/20/2008 - 8:47am.
keep trying
For every thousand or 10 thousand web 2 start-ups there will only be a couple who succeed, but that is not a reason to tell people not to try. Some of us dream of being the next Google, YouTube... but understand that it is not always possible.

I have been working away on Mobbly.com now for a year and it just start to get there but as i get there the goal posts move. But as with the start up of webpronews I am sure there we others about when you started but continuing to provide a good resource you have steadily increased your market share.
So in conclusion yes i would like to be the next google, but I will settle for adding a little to my living.
reply