BuildFaster
HTML themes made easy as pie
I've been working on my side project buildfaster.co for the past few months.
But it's time to drop it. (temporarily 🙄)
My original goal with it was to make money. That’s about it.
I’ve also been quite bored working on it and I’ve felt forced to do newsletters and make templates.
I want to have fun with what I’m working on. That’s why I’m dropping this idea for now.
What do I want to try? 😄
So I for the next few months I'm going to pursue some other options such as:
- ReactJS and NodeJS 🧠
- Open Source 👨💻
- Blogging ✍
- Freelancing 🧑
I've been wanting to make an open-source CLI for web developers, learn React, and try blogging for fun. 😀
It's been a great journey.
Thanks for your support! 🙏
After a recent post where I asked if my free theme was getting all the attention, I came to a conclusion.
Yes. Yes it is. 😔
All of my premium themes are $20-40 while the Half-Half theme is free.
@Primer said:
Charge a nominal amount for it. $20 causes pause for thought. $5 is an impulse buy, and if you're giving it away for free anyway then why not?
This was a great help. That’s why I’m deciding to change Half-Half’s price to $5.
I am also deciding to lower the prices of some of my more expensive themes. For example, a $30 value theme will be bought more if I priced it at $20. Think of it. $30 value for only $20. 😉
This way you’ll be getting more bang for your buck. 🥳
These changes will take effect in the next few hours.
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You shouldn't reduce your price imo.
Give out discount codes and market it, you can even market it with a small widget in your home screen
"Click here to get 35% off on all products"
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Yeah, I'm doing that right now. If the user stays on for 15 seconds or longer, a small message will popup like this:
Hey there! Use the code "aktdbmz" to get 25% off ALL themes! 🎉
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That's a nice coupon lol
How did it go?
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Not so well... I didn't get any sales from that :(
But I've dropped the side project. You can read about it here: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/im-dropping-my-side-project-f08f83d251
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Cool, I’ll check it out!
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Nicely done! :)
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Thanks!
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Thank you sir. 😌
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I reached a big SEO milestone recently: 100 backlinks! 🎉
I am pretty happy right now. It was only a few months ago when I launched buildfaster.co and was a total noob at SEO.
Now after reaching 100 backlinks and 10 DA (domain authority), I can call myself a seasoned beginner. 😉
What's next? Hopefully 200 backlinks and 20 DA! 🤩
Thanks again for anyone who helped along the way and gave me some tips on a post a while back. View it here 👈
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Keep Going buddy and share valuable content to the guest websites. It will help you get more backlinks.
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I'll definitely work on that. Thanks so much!
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What is your go to strategy for building backlinks?
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Posting on guest post sites, IndieHackers, reddit, substack.
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👏 nice job! This will for sure help you rank better on Google. Best of luck to you and buildfaster!
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Thanks! Hope it does :)
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Great. I also wanted to learn seo, would be great to learn from your journey.
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🥳 Congrats Brayden!
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Thanks @sxsio!
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Nice man - congrats! advice for getting started with backlinks?
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It takes patience. It took me about 2 months to get here. If you put in the work every week, it will be worth it. Also you should try posting on guest post with a high Domain authority.
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Awesome man. Congrats on your accomplistment and best wishes for the future plan.
Would appreciate if you can share your journey of building the backlinks, like which websites, how you approached it etc. so it would help others
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Sure! I mentioned some of them in the comments below.
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Congrats! Care to share some tips?
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Congratulations!
I love you passion and how you post here.
Keep up the good work!
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Thanks! Small question: what's your personal favorite theme on buildfaster.co?
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Hello checked your site, cool work
I suggest you create some content over websites like quora!
Will definitely help.Thanks
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Congrats Brayden! Ahrefs (https://ahrefs.com/backlink-checker) says even more: 301 backlinks! 🎉
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Wow! I didn't know of that. Right now I'm using the free MozBar chrome extension.
Thanks for sharing!
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Beware with spam links I saw your website has 4% spam score.
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This comment was deleted 6 years ago
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I use the free MozBar chrome extension.
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Doesn’t that sound great?
—————
Hey everyone! 👋
Just wanted to share my milestone of reaching 30 subscribers for The BuildFaster Update! 🥳🥳
The BuildFaster Update is a weekly newsletter where I share awesome content such as:
- 👨💻 How I make BuildFaster's HTML themes
- 🔗 Great online resources
- 🎨 Updates on new themes
- 💵 Discount codes for themes every week
You’ll get a chance to evolve your web development skills by learning about trending topics in this area of programming and design.
—————
If you find this interesting, subscribe to get newsletters every Friday.
Thanks for being apart of BuildFaster.co’s journey this whole way! 😄
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Congrats my man! Keep up the hard work, subbing now 👍🏼
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Thanks so much!
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Good going, Brayden. Keep the hustle up!
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Thanks @vd!
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Congrats man!!
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Thanks!
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This comment was deleted 5 years ago
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Thanks! I have been doing my best to attract more subscribers. Whether it was from cold email, landing page CTAs, or sharing my work on Indiehackers.
I definitely have learned a lot from this and I hope to reach around 50 subscribers soon! 😄
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10 is a beautiful number. 😄
Want to know why? It's because that's the new DA (domain authority) of buildfaster.co!
After a month, I've finally broken into the double digits. This helps my ranking on Google search and sets me up for success and more organic traffic.
You all have been great. If you want to join BuildFaster on this crazy ride 🎢, then give this post a like and follow us on Indiehackers.
Have a wonderful weekend!
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Congrats! Silly question, but where do you find that number?
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That's great Brayden.
I run a link building business so live in the world of DA/DR. I would look to Ahrefs metrics as a more robust way of measuring but tbh its pointless if your not :- Building content that answers the key questions in your space/teaches/informs and importantly contains the keywords you want to rank for. Google is increasingly rewarding sites that have the whole corpus around a subject.
- You need to build links to that content. Links are still the lifeblood of search. Links from relevant sites are the best but we have found that links from higher DR sites where your providing relevance at the page level (a guest post for example) are just as good.
I say all this having worked with companies from SaaS through to gambling and having seen what works.
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Thanks for these tips @Anfirld69!
I’ll work on writing content for BuildFaster in the coming weeks :)
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Good luck Brayden. More power to you ❤️
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Thanks!
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Congrats! That is pretty quick!
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Thanks :)
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This comment was deleted 5 years ago
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Thanks @motion_f2!
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I just got another theme download! You know what this means...
I've reached 30 customers!
8 of them were paid themes and 22 were the free Half-Half theme theme.
My future goals... 📃
What goals do I have in mind for the future?
- 👨👧 Reach 60 customers
- 💵 Make $300 all-time in NET sales
- 🔗 Launch an affiliate program
Thanks for sticking with me through this journey!
Since it's a happy day 😄, you can try out my newest theme and get it 25% off, use this link: https://gumroad.com/l/gpuZG/happy
Have an awesome day!
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congratulations.
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Thanks :)
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Congratulation. Super cool.
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Thanks!
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Your theme's and website look awesome. Keep up the great work Brayden 💪👍.
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Thanks :)
What’s your favorite theme? Would you need a theme for a current/future project?
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Nice one 🙋🏼♂️⭐
Now make it 600 🚀-
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Haha thanks for the motivation! 😄
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So I just reached 10 subscribers. (At the time of writing this)
Again, I know that's not a lot.
However after my previous milestone last week of reaching 5 subscribers in 3 weeks, I wanted to celebrate that I doubled that in less than a week! 🥳
My future goals...
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Reach 30 subscribers by the end of August. That would be awesome! 🤩
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It also would be cool if I could get some sales/customers out of my newsletters. I give discounts and updates for new themes I sell on buildfaster.co every Friday + other exclusive content so that is the perfect time to grab a theme for low cost. 👍
You can subscribe here ➡ https://buildfaster.substack.com
Anyway, I'd like to thank you all for being along the journey. We've made it so far and I couldn't have done it without all your uplifting spirits!
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Congrats!
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Thanks :)
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Congrats and BTW, I saw your newsletter CTA and think it's strong. Made me want to rework mine.
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Thanks :)
I'm actually working on a totally new design right now for the CTA so I'll let you know when I finish it.
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PS. Here is my change, I came to the conclusion I don't want to do a newsletter, but instead be able to send infrequent notices when I launch a ProductHunt worthy web tool and appeal to people who like good deals (discounts). I decided to call them "Alerts".
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Love the new one! Makes it feel more personal and real. Because you added your name and picture. The icons are pretty nice too :)
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I like the word "exclusive", makes it known you can't get it elsewhere, and then the emoji paired with the list is a nice visual touch. Definitely hit me up when you update it.
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Hey @Visiwig, I finished the new CTA.
Feel free to give feedback :)
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The good and bad:
- more straightforward: before you had a lot of text, I believe condensing is a good direction
- you're describing less value: why would someone signup? Because they think they will get value. Discounts was in both version and will certainly appeal to users. "more content that is fire" is catchy, but in my view is vague and doesn't offer clear value. Seeing the process, journey, and template related content and tools, as described in the last, sets better expectations. Other considerations for content, freebies, how to get the most out of templates.
- designwise it's solid, and I would expect that from a template producer :)
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Thanks! Great advice! I’ll work on the copy later this week.
Have a great week.
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Will do, thanks!
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Yeah I know... that's not a lot 😅
...but I really wasn't expecting this. I thought I wouldn't reach this for about a month or so.
This "somewhat great" achievement inspires me to create even better content for BuildFaster.co's newsletter.
I try my best every week to give you content such as:
-👨💻 How I make BuildFaster's HTML themes
-📝 Other parts from my journey
-💻 Awesome design resources
-🎨 Updates on new themes
-💵 Discount codes for themes every week
If you have any tips for me, feel free to comment below. 💬
And if you want to subscribe to get this great content every friday, click here! ⬅📧
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Like your landing page!
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Thanks! I've worked a lot on it :)
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I think this is a great success. It means that people are interested. Take this momentum and build on it. 👍👍
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Thanks so much for your support!
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See...
this is what I love about this beautiful community.
this people always keeps you inspired. :)
I always get motivated when I see people in this community working so hard to make their dream come true.-
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Thanks so much!
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Perhaps give them tips about how they can improve their code or SEO. The more valuable your content, the easier you’ll gain new subscribers.
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Congrats! don't worry about number, just keep up the good work and it'll eventually grow. Goodluck
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Thanks!
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Getting those initial subscribers may be hard, but as they say "the first 100 is almost impossible, but the next 100 is almost guaranteed". For a newsletter and blog all in one go, I made this: www.getwavium.com. If it's something you think you'd be interested in, feel free to give it a shot!
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Hey @dylan_b, I check out Wavium and it's pretty cool. I tried it out but am looking to use it for a different project. Is there a way I can delete my account for now and start it again later?
Thanks :)
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Well, you now have a brand new subscriber. ;)
Quick nitpick: you might want to change the sender's email address to your domain. @gmail addresses for services might send the wrong "message".
Good luck!
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Thanks @m15o!
I’ll invest in buying one soon :)
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We all start from zero. Don't worry! You'll get there 😄
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This comment was deleted 4 years ago
I just finished a theme called SimplyApp. It's a great theme for displaying your app. The modern style and very neat layout makes it easy to understand what you are trying to sell.
View the demo here: https://buildfaster.co/themes/simplyapp/
Get it here: https://gum.co/CbEkU
Use the promo code indie to get 25% off the SimplyApp theme.
Let me know if I can help with the setup! 😄
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Great theme Brayden! Not looking for an app landing page right now, but will consider this in the future 👍
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Love the minimalism, great job!
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Amazing stuff Brayden
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Wow, this is almost exactly what I’m looking for! Any chance for a dark theme version? My app “takes place in space” so everything is white/color on black.
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👏 nice dude! I'll ask my friend if he's interested in SimplyApp :)
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Thanks!
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I have an announcement to make 😄📢
In BuildFaster.co’s first month of selling HTML themes, we made...
Drumroll please... 🥁
$130!! 💵
With a total of 8 customers (5 of them paying) we have succeeded our goal of $100 in our first month.
Thanks for all your support so far!
If you would like to help, purchase a theme from our gumroad: https://gumroad.com/BuildFaster
Right now we have a FREE theme available called Half-Half. You can learn more about it here: https://gum.co/CqlLdt
22 Comments
You're right, if you're not having fun on it you'll never be motivated when it gets tough, and everything will seem insurmountable. Good decision! Now let's find something you love and find a way to make money with that 🙂
Thanks! I plan to go into open source and open up a buymeacoffee account.
That's a great start. 5 years ago I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I got into react and react native because that seemed like a lot of fun. This was the beginning of a new path of doing stuff I enjoy. Fast forward to today and I'm building my dream product full time ✌️
Good for you!
I wish you the best in your next project. I will turn my project mvp maker in something similar to BuildFaster, any advice what did you learn in your journey you can gave me?
Thanks! I say that having a good sales strategy is most important. I didn't have one and neither did I have a big audience so it failed.
Hope this helps :)
Thank you!
Good luck on your next journey! 👋
Thanks!
Hey @BraydenTW , I just send you email from mtonev@entro.... can I have your answer, please
Yep. I just saw it. When you say adopt, do you mean acquire (sell) ?
Yep
Is it just on hold for later? Have you thought about selling it?
Yes I have. I’m just not sure if people would buy it :P
Let's chat. If you have any revenue and traffic I'm interested. Even if you don't have much I'd still be interested. DM me!
Sorry, but I am not interested at selling at this time. I might come back later with a fresh start and more skills on my belt.
Good. Take a break, maybe you'll find new motivation to continue building it.
Don't make irreversible decisions rashly.
I hope you find your next calling really soon!
Thanks for your support. I hope so too :D
we should chat...! :)
:D
I saw the same post a several weeks ago :D
Yep :P
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