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:
Have you guys any ideas on how to gauge interest for such content? 🙂
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
@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 :)
Hi @reinard - sure thing, this sounds great: drop me a line via Twitter DM or e-mail! 🙂
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?
What problems are you solving and who should be reading your tutorials?
You can’t say anyone ;)