Is it pointless trying to build a website builder
I've always had this idea to build a website builder. I feel like everyone wants and should have a simple website these days and left and right I see people recommend squarespace and wix and I thought to myself that I could make something better and since it's just 2 companies that I could squeeze by some how.
Then a few weeks ago it suddenly hit me how I should make it, I had all these ideas flowing and I instantly wrote all of them down and was so damn excited. Over the past week or so I've been working on it here and there and I've made good progress.
However, yesterday I decided to scope out the competition and the viability of this project, and then I realized there's much more builders than just squarespace and wix. There's actually quite a bit... Granted some of them are quite bad, but they're there. I also came across something called Tilda which is 99% what I had in mind haha, like if I were to finish it right now, it'd look like that, however I've never heard of them so maybe they're not doing everything right.
I do have a small handful of features in my mind that would make my service stand out, but their services as a whole will probably just be better simply due to the fact they've been around longer.
So what do you guys think? Is this something worth continuing? Should I give up since there's just so much competition? Like I even searched around this forum and I found a post about how some guy wanted to build something like this then realized there's already so much of them and made a website builder review website which is now really successful.
Thanks in advance for your advice everyone!
I'd find a target market in mind that has crappy websites. And still make your product, for them.
Areas that come to mind:
Once you build your platform for that type of business, then you should be able to go around (local to you) and call/visit and talk to them about building out for them (at a discount / for feedback / etc). Once you have 5-10, you can really branch out to further out of your city, state, whatever.
There’s this new thing for real estate agents called relahq.com Pretty decent one page sites for listings.
Restaurants are a major one that sticks out in my mind as well. They all have the same basic pages but most of them seem to be custom built badly for no good reason.
Get even more niche. Asian restaurants in southeast US (well, maybe not THAT niche). It is amazing how many very good restaurants here in Atlanta have a PDF of the menu and/or awful text and no content.
Nothing wrong with being the 10th competitor in a space, just find your customers.
So say that is in fact my niche, how would I approach this? I'm from Canada so it's not local to me at all, but do I just email them? Call them?
I think the point was not the specific market, but the idea that you can niche down deep and then scale back out after you prove the idea (if needed). But, if you truly did want to focus on that market you could email or call them to get started. We live in a connected world and people seem to be more open to various types of contact. The real thing is building trust in any market you go into. So, for example, creating value-added content around the specific niche is a great way to build trust in an industry (and the side effect is that it forces you to dig deep into understanding the industry to be able to create content).
This is a great idea, I had something along the lines of this and was only able to think or Salons haha, thank you for the other options!
this! Most people outside developers and marketers don't search for builders. They search for 'websites for dentists' or the likes. Go for a niche and go heavy.
This comment was deleted 8 years ago
I see it almost 5 years later, so much good advises.
I'm curious to know, what did you do eventually?
I'm also creating a website builder, but rather than a business niche I'm creating a builder for specific types of pages. That's my entry point into the market, and plan to expand in unique (and not unique) ways after that.
In my opinion, it's totally doable. You just don't attack the entrenched players directly. Find an angle. After that, it's about user experience, and your execution.
My builder will be complimentary to generic website builders, and there could be mutual opportunity. Please reach out if you're interested.
Build it.
You know how you thought it was just SquareSpace and Wix? Millions of people think the same thing.
Make a website builder that is either easier to use, faster, more secure, or -- the holy grail -- converts more visitors to customers for your clients, and you'll have no trouble finding customers.
I have the same thoughts that you have.
There are times when I question myself why I bother even developing such a product when they are thousands of them. Some of them are terrible and some are great. They are out there.
The point is vision and execution. Think of competition as a great motivation factor for you. No product is exactly the same.
You said you have a small handful of features in your mind that would make your service stand out, but their services as a whole will probably just be better simply due to the fact that they've been around longer means that they haven't executed those features as you envisioned it to be.
Think of Netflix and Blockbuster. Netflix came around and Blockbuster went out of business even though it has been around longer.
Target a niche within a niche. Go down even further and once you found PMF, double down on what's working, and segment it. Don't chase after shiny pennies, hunker down on what's working.
If you could make something as powerful as Webflow and as easy as Landen, I'll be your first customer.
Haha thanks! Here's hoping it passes them both in those aspects lol
There are so many good platforms that there's more opportunity to build within those ecosystems rather than to build your own.
If you're thinking of a website builder, find the one that aligns closest with your ideologies and identify the pain points you want to address.
Additionally, keep in mind that SquareSpace and Wix came from the same approach you have now. The market is essentially dictating where they need to go. The features you see and the issues you're experiencing are due to feature bloat, driven by feature requests and competition.
I think it'll be tough but still doable. I've also played around with web builders because they're fun and useful for me. They've even helped inspire other projects (like starting with a web builder, and while playing with it, find an interesting idea/niche to work on). Main example: plugging in aframe.io in a block in my builder, so you could create 3D/VR views in a web page.
I've always thought that making a web builder accessible to people who build templates could make it more useful. A designer could plug in their own blocks and have a branded builder to help sell their templates. I know there is some version of that available as well.
This is a question entrepreneurs deal with all the time (myself included). The question of whether or not to build something because there is already competition in the space. However, like a lot of people have mentioned previously, competition in the space actually is a good thing. It proves that there is a viable market. The deciding factor between success and failure then if you choose to create a website builder is if your new app satisfies a "hair on fire" problem for a specific niche of web designers. Maybe start by targeting a micro niche that is really experiencing the issue you are looking to solve. If you get traction, you can then expand. Many of the platforms/products on indie hackers started with the exact same questions.
I say go with your gut and if you decide to build it and can win over customers through demos/trial interviews, you've got product validation.
This comment was deleted 4 years ago
This comment was deleted 8 years ago
Thanks for the advice! Im just a developer and one area I'm heavily lacking in knowledge is SEO so when the time comes I'll have to look outwards for that. Good point on the affiliate thing, if i can find some money and i think my product is worth it I can def do something along those lines.
This comment was deleted 8 years ago