Ask IH: What should a startup use for a blog and marketing? 📊
Hello,
What is your recommendations for writing about your startup and its features?
Thank you in advance!
Hello,
What is your recommendations for writing about your startup and its features?
Thank you in advance!
Little biased but I built Versoly super quick to get started but has the flexibility of code unlike other no-code builders.
Lots of Indie hackers are using us as the learning curve is 0 if you can code and the page speed is usually 99+/100 (devs love making them numbers go up).
This looks awesome man! Congratulations on the beautiful work ❤️.. I may circle back with you in a few weeks about building an integration.
I have been working on a free side project recently based around a long running email chain that I've been having with Dang at YC.
Paul Graham wrote a brillant essay on his website about "Schlep Blindness". I applied the Schlep Blindness test on Paul's website itself, and I think I found something fun to work on.
http://www.paulgraham.com/schlep.html
Cheers ✌️
I think the first thing should be to determine the nature of the content.
Since you said that you want to write about your startup and its features, then WordPress can do.
However if you would be doing Content Marketing in the long run, then I advise that you make use of Ghost. (https://ghost.org/)
I say this because Ghost has a newsletter feature that helps with content distribution.
Newsletter helps with content distribution on the short term, while you perfect your SEO for long term growth.
Thank you. Ghost looks pretty sweet! I'm going to check it out more. I agree that using a newsletter to reach your followers is highly affective.
Hubspot is an all-in-one marketing platform that includes tools for blogging, social media, email marketing, and more.
But from a startups prespective, I would think t/hey want to move fast and cheap. If I remember correctly Hubspot is expensive right?
I've recently been using a CMS called Tina in combination with NextJS on a few of my websites. What I've liked about it so far:
It definitely requires some dev know-how though and a bit of set up to get started so not ideal if you need something already set up for you.
I love this! Thank you for your comment. An admin panel on top of Next.js using markdown files would be a game changer!
Tina looks pretty sweet. Plus I'm pretty sure it's named after the llama in Napolian Dynamite which makes it that much better lol
astro, nextjs, hugo
My first time seeing Astro and Hugo. Thank you for you comment, I'm going to research those more :)
To an extent the platform doesn't matter, what really matters is your experience. You can create an SEO-optimised blog in ~any~ most CMS.
If you have no experience in any CMS then I would opt for something like Ghost. If you have a little dev experience, then I would opt for something like Statamic.
If you have previous experience of WordPress or Drupal then they're the obvious go-to.
Our blog is created from scratch, but we have some requirements that would have made an off-the-shelf CMS a pain to deal with.
Monthly hosting cost is one of the biggest factors for us in determining which tool to use. I fell like I couldn't find a way to host Wordpress for under like $20/month when I look last year lol.
What? Wordpress is cheap to host. There are endless PHP hosting providers. I use one in our local market (Czech republic), and get 10 sites/domains (plus anything on subdomains) for like $5 with one-click WP install. With backups and support.
@petr17102018 I think I found an even more effective solution compared to WP install.
How do you feel about this demo I'm working on? https://demo.elegantframework.com/
I am not interested, static site generation doesn't replace wordpress, and anyways there are already so many CMSs. Why building something new?
Hey thank you for your response : )
In many past projects, I have tried to use Wordpress to set up simple user guides and documentation websites. For example, a company wanted an internal Wiki for all their company SOP's and employee guides. Wordpress sounded great in theory, but it didn't turn out to be a fun project.
I recently launced a proof of concept called Elegant, and I'm preparing to have a major version release on Wordpress' 20th anniversary 😄..
Elegant is a free "batteries included" framework for rapidly creating beautiful React web applications, complete with an MDX powered blog and user guides, in under 5 minutes.
It is built on top of Next.js, and comes with a perfectly crafted Tailwind CSS theme with full dark mode support.
It does indeed use modern static site generation technology, but Next.js is a huge improvement over anything Wordpress is currently offering.
The cost to host Elegant is $0.00/month, and our demo website currently outscores wordpress.com in all Goolge Lighthouse categories, and we haven't even finished building the public beta yet.
You can a full demo of these features in the upcoming release here: https://demo.elegantframework.com
My post wasn't about the suitability of WP for yours, mine, or anyone's specific needs. I just wanted to comment that hosting Wordpress is not expensive.
No need to try to sell me Elegant. Not interested, I don't need it, and it is not related to my tech stack. Best of luck, but not for me:)
Depending on your traffic, and so long as you have a lean site, you could do the following:
Maybe I should do a post on how to keep hosting costs low, I guess this sort of info isn't readily available :)
I voted for Other.
HTML and CSS is a good choice in many cases:
Yours,
KodingKitty
Thank you Koding Kitty! I agree, static HTML is the best way lol.. Why do I need to query a backend database to get text for a blog post when it's just static text after all?
And Tailwind ❤️
you can try hashnode.com
Thank you! I am going to check it out :)
Use wordpress for blog. It is simple quick and easy to setup. This way you do not have to reinvent the wheel and can focus on your product. You van also use Buffer to schedule social media posts.
I tried to standup a new wordpress instance for a React based startup last year, and it was surprisingly difficult and expensive lol
Hi Brandon - I’m validating an idea currently called “Hacker Tools” to help answer questions like these:
https://hackertools.co
The hope is to provide a list of trusted tools so you can easily choose your tech stack and jump-start your product!
Would you find this valuable? Any feedback is always welcome!
I think the answer is whatever you're most comfortable with. Whatever you can move fast in and do what you need to do.
I personally always end up back with static site generators like 11ty or Hugo because they are so simple and so fast (Google loves the speed!), hosting is cheap.
When you're a developer I think just adding static html / twig / razor ... is dead simply, super performant and still saves you time.
You can integrate much easier with your actual product, css, Domain etc.
There are many options available for startups to use for their blog and marketing, but the best choice will depend on the specific needs and goals of the startup. Here are some popular options to consider:
WordPress: WordPress is a popular content management system that allows you to create a blog, manage your content, and even build a website. It's easy to use and has a wide range of plugins and themes available that can help you customize your site.
Medium: Medium is a blogging platform that allows you to publish your content to a wider audience. It's easy to use and has a built-in community of readers, which can help you get more exposure for your content.
Ghost: Ghost is a blogging platform that is specifically designed for writers and publishers. It's simple to use and has a range of features that can help you create a professional-looking blog.
HubSpot: HubSpot is an all-in-one marketing platform that includes a blogging tool, email marketing, social media management, and more. It's a comprehensive solution that can help you manage your marketing efforts in one place.
Mailchimp: Mailchimp is an email marketing platform that can help you manage your email campaigns, build landing pages, and more. It's a great option for startups that want to focus on building their email list and nurturing their subscribers.
Ultimately, the best option for a startup will depend on their specific needs, goals, and budget. It's important to carefully evaluate each option and choose the one that will best help you achieve your marketing objectives.
Thank you for the response! This was great feedback. Ghost looks neat, I'm going to dive into that one and check it out a little more :)
Comment with your “Other”, and I will add it to the poll list 😊
TBH i've found it's best to just use contentful.com and nextjs and boom, you can make a blog in a few hours.
e.g: my blog i spun up two days ago https://www.essense.io/blog