No Code List

It's been a year since the last milestone on here, but it's a big one...

No Code List has been completely rebuilt using Bildr, a new nocode web app builder (bildr.com).

Since the last post here, the site and community have grown a ton!

The main list data still comes from Airtable, but with Bildr, I was able to add members, comments, and upvotes, using Bildr's native data.

I livestreamed the first 20 hours or so of the build, and here's a playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL88kNc_lJhJ_BRc7p74JnMk8S9STMhxJ8

In addition to a visual cleanup and more focus on comments (called Endorsements on the site), the site also got a new "member deals" section that will be revealed soon. I've lined up one partnership so far, but more will come. The partnerships are like super-affiliates... members get a special deal, and I get a cut.

The homepage is finally no longer an alphabetical list of all nocode software. Now, it shows six recently added tools, and then it lists tools that I have an affiliate partnership with.

In addition, I made the affiliate links more prominent in general. I used to use a non-affiliate link for every tool on the site, but I'd have a second affiliate link on some tools that said "use this to support the no code list." Now, if there's an affiliate link attached to a tool, it gets used anywhere someone clicks that tool.

I also made a decision to remove some of the site's content (the collections articles, which were good for SEO). But with the focus on endorsements and single software pages, I think I'll make up for it with additional traffic to those new pages.

Lastly, I improved member profile pages. Now members can show off the endorsements they've written and software they've upvoted in one place.

I'd love any and all feedback on the new site, and I'd be blown away if you'd create an account and endorse a tool that helps you build your product or run your business every day!

Here are some stats, with increases from one year ago (the last milestone post on here):

Pageviews in the last 30 days: 15.8K (~3x ▴)
Email subscribers: 798 (~5x ▴)
Software List: 310 (~2.5x ▴)
Software Waiting List: 100+
Resources List: 33 (~.3x ▴)
Agencies List: 71 (~4.5x ▴)
Endorsements: 40 (~1.5x ▴)
Members: 270 (~5x ▴)

nocodelist.co

Today I'm announcing a huge update to the site! Now, in addition to endorsing software they love, members can upvote other endorsements, and they can display their own on their profile page.

To celebrate, I'm launching on Product Hunt!

Upvotes mean the best endorsements will be shown first, and profile pages allow members to connect and discover new tools.

If you're into nocode, I'd love if you'd sign up to be a member (it's free) and endorse or upvote your favorite software.

Then tell me what you think on the Product Hunt listing!

producthunt.com/posts/no-code-list

Stats update...
Pageviews in the last 30 days: 5.2K
Email subscribers: 155
Software List: 150
Software Waiting List: 81
Resources List: 22
Agencies List: 15
Endorsements: 27
Members: 48

Last week, I launched a nocode resources list, and this week it's a nocode agencies list!

I started with a tweet listing 4 or 5 agencies off the top of my head. Later that day I had 9 or 10, and now that it's live, we're at 13 agencies and counting.

Currently, agencies can list any software specializations they have, and viewers can filter by specialization. However, I have some cool and useful ideas coming for this list. Being a nocode consultant/agency myself, I have some insight into what would be useful!

nocodelist.co/agencies

Stats since last milestone (1 week):
4K pageviews in the last 30 days (+ ~25%)
129 email list subscribers (+14)
142 No Code Softwares (+8)
73 Softwares in the queue (+0, but 8 were added and 8 went live, so really +8)
18 No Code Resources (+1)
13 No Code Agencies (+13)
26 Software endorsements (+2)
36 No Code List Members (+5)

Early this week, in addition to the No Code Software list, I put a No Code Resources list live. nocodelist.co/resources

I started with 9 resources and tweeted about each one to launch the feature. Now there are now 17 on the list.

The idea came about because some of the software submissions I was getting were for educational stuff, plugins, etc. They're not exactly software, but they're valuable for my visitors. Made sense to separate them out, give them unique categories, and add some resource-specific data points to each one.

General No Code List progress since last milestone:

• In addition to Resources, I also announced an upcoming No Code Agencies list and got a great response
• Redesigned several different parts of the site, including the menu, individual software pages, and software card design
• More consistent and detailed tweet updates with new software each week... great for getting attention

Stats:

• 3.1K pageviews in the last 30 days
• 115 email list subscribers
• 134 No Code Softwares
• 73 Softwares in the queue
• 17 No Code Resources
• 24 Software endorsements
• 31 No Code List Members

TL;DR

• No Code List now has memberships
• Memberships are free
• Members post short endorsements for the tools they love
• Members and non-members get a great resource to vet new tools before using them on a project

It's been a while since the last No Code List milestone. In that time, I've gone down several different paths to make the product more unique. Ultimately, I decided this site is about community, vetting software in a new and growing space, and sharing knowledge to help other aspiring makers and businesses. This is the first step in that more focused direction.

Last night, I quietly pushed No Code List Memberships live. It's completely free to sign up, and once you do, you can endorse different nocode tools in a short, guided way.

Each nocode tool on the list now has its own dedicated page to list endorsements, and if I get even a few, upvoting the best endorsements will be the next feature.

I would absolutely love if you would sign up (just an email address, super simple) and show some love for your favorite nocode tool!

Whether you sign up or not, I would also really like to hear if this idea resonates with anyone. Or is it just meh?

Thanks, IH!

Here's an example endorsement page: https://nocodelist.co/tools/?id=recw5GkCZTZ06zOcy

Lastly, some stats and info:

Tools on the list: 112
Tools in the queue: 64
Pageviews last 30 days: 2.2K
Weekly mailing list: 66
Software endorsements (so far): 15

For the memberships themselves, I'm using Ghost's new membership feature they launched with Ghost 3. The list was already using Ghost Pro, so enabling members through there was the simplest (and cheapest) way to go!

Thanks for reading!

Today I added the 100th no-code tool to the No-Code List. Each tool was vetted by me and released in slightly curated, weekly groups.

I started with 3 new tools per week, but because the backlog is growing pretty quickly, I'm doing 4 per week now.

This week was BuilderX (no-code front-ends that generate React code), Mobirise (an offline app to create websites), Sheetsu (turn a Google Sheet into an API), and Parabola (the new integration and automation platform that everyone is loving!).

Here are some additional stats and where things stand now...

2 months since (re)launch (Sept 11, 2019)
2.3K views over the last 30 days
$0 revenue

100 softwares on the list
54 softwares in the queue
11 user-submitted projects and their no-code stacks
15 software endorsements
2 original articles

And lastly, some site updates I made this week...

Search - search by software name or tags
Category cleanup - categorization should evolve as the list grows, and it was time for a cleanup
Mobile filters - finally stopped listing out all the features on small screens (slide out filter menu instead)
New description line - "Tools to build, grow, and run your business without code"

Until next update! 👋

I finally started cranking out some content... I wanted to be organized, purposeful, and focused. I wanted to use the data I'm compiling on all of these softwares to inform my content (so it's unique and insightful).

I ultimately decided to start with Collections. These articles are basically lists of different software, with interesting data points, grouped around topics that are applicable to real-world use cases and real businesses.

The first two are here: https://nocodelist.co/posts/collections/

One is about building apps and websites with only a spreadsheet, and the other is (ironically) about no-code for code! Hope they're helpful!

I've got two more started and a couple more topics, so expect a few more next week, followed by the next overarching content theme (beyond lists/collections).

If there are any topics that you're curious about, let me know in the comments, and I'll write about them!

I published a roadmap, in article format, to explain what I have in the works with the No Code List.

You can read it on the site at nocodelist.co/roadmap, but here it is in full. The TL;DR is I'm adding new sections for Stacks, Endorsements, and Resources.

--

The No Code List is a list of no-code software: tools to build, run, and market a digital business without code.

My goals with the list are to:

• Show people the breadth/depth of no-code
• Help them choose which no-code software is right for them and their project

To achieve these goals, I have three sections planned to support the main list: Stacks, Endorsements, and Resources.

🧩 No-Code Stacks
The Stacks section is a list of projects that are built on no-code stacks.

Visitors can see how many projects use each software (displayed in the main list), and they can check out the projects themselves.

My hypothesis is that seeing and using real-world projects is the fastest way to understand what a software is capable of.

I also think it will be really cool to see the commonalities between different projects' stacks. That in itself will be a good signal when vetting a piece of software.

Next steps for Stacks
More projects! Projects and their stacks are user-submitted, and I need to do a push to get submissions. It might be possible to seed a few myself, but it's rare to know the full stack a project used. (Do you run something on a no-code stack? Submit it at nocodelist.co/submit-stacks!)

📣 Endorsements
The Endorsements section is a purposely modified version of "comments" or "reviews." I limit it to vetted no-code experts (who knows what that will mean, though, since it's only me so far), and it's positive comments only (hence the name).

The choice for positive comments is because the idea of negativity and putting down hard-working people building software doesn't sit right with me. Instead, by raising good software up with positive endorsements, it will stand out from the ones without endorsements. Plus, software grows and gets better, so "bad" software might just be "young" software.

The goal of this section is to add some context and specificity to each software. Endorsements are a great way to differentiate between all the no-code web app software, for example, where the one-line descriptions are very similar.

Next steps for Endorsements
More endorsements! From people who aren't me, haha.

I paused on this section because I didn't get great feedback (in post replies or analytics) for the original version, called Comments. I've since switched it to Endorsements and standardized the format to create more useful content, but I need to dig in further and figure out who would read these, who would write these, and why. That will help to shape this section.

📄 Resources
Lastly, Resources is a list of links to third-party sites related to each project. This is the least developed section right now, but eventually, resources will be categorized and potentially have upvoting.

If done well, this section should be pretty helpful to people vetting software. It's also a good way to create synergies with the other great no-code resources that exist. If I can help people when they're initially considering no-code, I can graduate them to others for demos, courses, tutorials, and consulting.

Next steps for Resources
Resources isn't really on the site yet, although a couple entries link to a single article. The next step is to build and launch this section.

Content
In addition to building out those sections, I'm also focusing on generating some content (something I'm usually good at but haven't done much for No Code List).

Right now, I've got three content categories in the works, aimed at three different "levels" of no-code builders. The names are placeholders.

How to no-code (beginners... more general, less software-specific)
No-code landscapes (intermediate... thought pieces or roundups about no-code in different verticals, industries, or business styles)
Tips (experts... novel, software-specific tips)

Timeline

• Week of 9/30 Initial Endorsements section

• Week of 10/7 Initial Stacks section

• Week of 10/14 (this week) Initial Resources section

• Week of 10/21 First batch of content

I'll update this roadmap as things progress. Thanks for reading, and feel free to reach out with any thoughts or feedback!

Last week I launched Comments. This week, it's Stacks: add your product and share which no-code tools you use to build, run, or market it.

By sharing your stacks, you get exposure and a link to your project, but you're also helping all of the indie hackers who come to the site to figure out what no-code software they should use and how far they can take it. There's no better way to vet software than to see real-world examples of things that were built (or run or marketed) using it.

If you have a product or project built with no-code, please submit it, and thank you in advance for helping other makers! nocodelist.co/stacks

In addition, I've made some tweaks to the comments section from last week. It's now called Endorsements (only positive comments 😁), and I played it down a bit while I figure out the stacks stuff. I hope it picks back up one day, but the feedback I got was generally mediocre. I'm hoping stacks is more enthusiastically received!

Lastly, here are some stats for the new version of the No Code List site, which has been up for just under a month...

Tweets about the list: ~16
Indie Hacker posts: 4
Indie Hacker milestones: 4

Website traffic: 1.7k page views
Revenue: $0

New sections or features: 4 (Niche list, Enterprise list, Endorsements, and Stacks)

🛠

Yesterday was a big day for the No Code List... I've been searching for what unique value the No Code List can add (and for who) and what problems the No Code List should address.

I decided the next step is comments from experts on specific no-code software. Each comment has to be marked as "I've used this for a project" or "I've tried this" for credibility. They'll all be focused on helping site visitors vet no-code software and find the right tool (or consultant) for their job.

Eventually, I hope to have a slew of helpful comments for each software, and I hope the list can help promote people who build with no-code tools. If this initial step is received well, I have lots of plans for how it can evolve.

Software with comments is marked in the main feed (yellow bar at the bottom of the card). Click through to see some comments! I'd love to know what people think!

nocodelist.co