1
10 Comments

Would you be interested in bite-sized software tutorials?

I'm currently testing out an idea: a landing page, where I'd host bite-sized software tutorials for professionals.

The main idea is to list on a single page different tips & tricks and/or very short software tutorials for various office workers - ex.: "Google Sheets for Product Managers".

Inside the page, I'd prepare a couple of simple steps of, let's say, how to build a burndown chart inside Google Sheets, etc.

I'm having trouble determining the following:

  • Is this content the type of content that people really want?
  • What tone should I use when preparing content: more serious or more relaxed, almost casual?

Have you guys any ideas on how to gauge interest for such content? 🙂

  1. 2

    Tutorials tend to become stale, especially with today's growth rate - and old tutorials (those for older versions of software) are frustrating: in order to be useful they need to address some obscure/rare/niche issue, something you won't find everywhere or in the official docs. Otherwise, they're just the same omnipresent basic stuff, and being "bite-sized" doesn't make it more appealing compared to a more detailed basic tutorial.
    Your public is either the total beginner, who can benefit from a few tips he can't find anywhere else, or the professional, which knows the tips&tricks, all the basic and medium stuff but needs help on something hard; can you address those targets?

    1. 1

      Hey Damien, thank you for your insightful comment - after thinking about it, I'm going to revisit the user personas one more time: perhaps I'm targeting the wrong group or my targeting isn't detailed enough.

  2. 2

    I built something like this a few years ago but for IT pros at techsnips.io. Everyone loved the “snip” format but I had a hell of a time monetizing it. I eventually sold it for close to nothing.

    1. 1

      Hey @adbertram thanks for the link: Techsnips is actually close to what I was thinking, really helpful to see how somebody else executed on a similar idea like mine.

      Is the current version of Techsnips close to the original or were there significant changes from the time you've sold it?

      1. 2

        It’s pretty much dead on other than the fact that the videos are hosted on YouTube. I wanted to eventually create a subscription service but that never happened.

        I’m hindsight, I don’t know if it was my market or the fact that I’m terrible at marketing/sales that led to little income.

        However, I know that software devs typically spend more on training than IT folks do.

  3. 2

    Ask your customers directly, find them on linkedin, find their email address, email them, set up a 15 minute interview and learn from them. That's the best way to validate any idea.

    Your customers will tell you about your tone, content, delivery, subject etc.

    1. 2

      @blendor I'm happy to jump on a call to discuss. I probably fall into your target market being an Engineer / Maker. All I ask is that I can ask you some validation questions about my idea in exchange. Tell me if you're interested :)

      1. 1

        Hi @reinard - sure thing, this sounds great: drop me a line via Twitter DM or e-mail! 🙂

    2. 1

      Thanks Prateek for the comment, really appreciate it - have you tried anything similar? If so, how successful were you with LinkedIn as lead generation channel?

  4. 1

    What problems are you solving and who should be reading your tutorials?

    You can’t say anyone ;)

Trending on Indie Hackers
Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 29 comments My Top 20 Free Tools That I Use Everyday as an Indie Hacker 18 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments How I Launched FrontendEase 13 comments