Static Site Builder
Looking for validation on a web app that will generate static sites. The basic idea is you enter your name, bio, color theme, etc. Next, from this information the site will be created. It will be cheap to run around ~$5 per month. I think for now the MVP will be for a portfolio site and then expand into different options if things take off (blogs, restaurants, etc).
Benefits:
- Anyone can make one of these sites easily. They don't have to deal with the shenanigans from WordPress or SquareSpace
- Sites will be very fast with good SEO using the latest and greatest tech. (React/GatsbyJS)
- Much cheaper than these bigger companies who charge $15 a month or more
- Custom domains and SSL
Doubts:
- Is this space already too crowded? Can I compete with these giants like WordPress, SquareSpace?
- Is there even a need for static sites like this? My target audience is anyone who wants to make an easy and cheap site.
Let me know what you think. Do you like this idea and would it be worth doing? How could it be improved? Thanks.
Just built this with two people, took 14 months so far.
https://versoly.com/
How do you plan on targeting customers? There are website builders that cost $1 a month, so you can't compete on price.
How will you market to them?
That is why I picked SaaS, they all listen to the same podcasts, are in the same groups. I also know them well and built https://saaspages.xyz/ for them.
Hi, I was wondering if you could help me on a topic - adding custom domain (like you do in versoly). I could send you an email if you want.
Thanks
https://servr.app/ might have more experience than myself
@volkandkaya If you don't mind me asking, around how many users do you have across the different payment plans? Or are you still in beta?
80% on launch 20% on startup.
We launched in November 2019.
We grew 70% last month :)
Interesting. Curious to know why it took so much time. Did you try to do something different or it is very hard to create a drag and drop page builder?
P.S. I really like your products. You did a great job ✌️
Mainly the ability to edit/import code into the builder. Also being static added some complexity.
Versoly is great.
I love the way you can test everything, without login.
Thank you :)
We created a service like this just for static generated blogs at:
https://prosaic.blog/
Our original idea was to remove the overhead of getting a Jekyll site up and running, allowing us to benefit from the community of themes available and provide users with a hosted experience where they could just focus on their content. The Ghost(Pro) or Wordpress(dotcom) version of Jekyll. However, after running into scalability issues with Jekyll and testing a few alternatives, we decided that we could provide the best possible experience if we just handled the generation ourselves. And porting themes made for any SSG is actually pretty easy.
I built HTTPS://tiiny.host which you might find interesting
Like how you think @TonyDeCarlo and a cool site builder is very important.
It's clear that Landen, Launchao, Carrd are part of this segment and they make it super easy too. I used the classic Squarespace for my side project, their 7.1 engine also super cool!
well, I think the space IS crowded, you have to offer something extra the others don't have. It's realy easy to have static site builder platform. you can use grapesJS for building websites + store html+css in database + namecheap API to sell domain names = PROFIT but.. you need something extra that makes your site more desirable. Or run an agressive ad campaign like wix.com did. I used to see them in all the youtube ads ....
Hey Tony,
This is a great idea. I was looking into something similar a few years back for my marketing agency. We were creating websites, doing content marketing, social media and SEO for home improvement companies.
I think this is a great opportunity for someone with the right approach.
A few companies to look into are
https://bluehatmarketing.com/ ($3000 per month SEO services)
https://www.sitedudes.com/ (Done for you websites from about $100 per month)
wpcurve.com - sold to Godaddy.com - (unlimited minor wordpress edits for about $80 per month)
I think there is a sweet spot between these three companies that could be very popular. Somewhere between $1000 and $200 per month would be ideal. It requires a direct sales approach, but very doable. Creative marketing in this space could do very well.
Websites are the easy piece of the puzzle. Content is the bottleneck for most small businesses. You can give them a site, but they'll never get the content to you. It should be a complete "done for you" service that they don't have to worry about ever.
Add in SEO services that actually produce results and this is a killer business.
Let me know if you want to chat more.
John
@TonyDeCarlo
Ofcourse there are demands for these kind of platforms.
Especially in no-code website generation sector, this can be of great demand.
Rather I'm also building something that is very similar to you idea.
If your products are adding value and pricing is done strategically then it might have good demand.
WordPress and SquareSpace do not qualify the static site generation sector, which drastically reduces the hosting cost.
So, your target of easy and cheap site generation with this tech stack is right!