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Jason Leow
@jasonleow
I still use it. I use the cheapest tier, plus Postgres add-on. It does the job, although every month there'll be downtime of a few minutes not sure why
how much do you pay for it Jason?
Yes daily for 1 month. But also depends on how you use it I guess. I was mindful to not @ the entire codebase every time, cos that costs lots of tokens. I think that helped.
Just first month in now. A few dollars so far.
are you using it daily? that’s great! hopefully, they will lower the price for the next updates.
Yes daily for 1 month. But also depends on how you use it I guess. I was mindful to not @ the entire codebase every time, cos that costs lots of tokens. I think that helped.
Re: high traffic, I dunno either. Maybe 10k impressions per month is high. But again, depends on your niche/audience. If very niche and small community, traffic is low but if you serve their needs well, maybe conversion is better. High traffic but doesn't convert is also not too beneficial.
Speaking to users is one way to find keywords. What terms do they use. It helps if you're also a user, so you can dogfood your own directory. Otherwise, ask ChatGPT to suggest some, and research on Ahrefs/SEMrush. No actually you dont need to test. Just research on Ahrefs and you'll know which keywords has more search volume and competition.
If no results, maybe speak to users, and ask why? Might need to iterate or pivot.
Whether ads/membership/brand sponsor, it again depends on the opportunities in your market. Just got to trial and error to see which works. In general I try to get to high traffic first or high word-of-mouth either via SEO or content marketing or social media, then it becomes valuable. Then can try diff ways to monetize.
SEO for directory means optimising for keywords for your niche. What words do people use to search for the problem your directory is trying to solve. Use those. Like for Lists Kit, I'm still figuring out if the main keyword is "business directory" or "info directory".. (or listing)
That's super useful, @jasonleow. I'm curious what do you mean by high traffic — and at which point it is considered high traffic.
Do you have a process you use to figure out the keyword? Like for Lists kit, do you try them both and see which one gets a better result? And is there a specific testing timeframe before you conclude?
If both don't seem to get results, then how do you proceed? Just curious about your thought processes and the what if scenarios if you're open to share!
Re: high traffic, I dunno either. Maybe 10k impressions per month is high. But again, depends on your niche/audience. If very niche and small community, traffic is low but if you serve their needs well, maybe conversion is better. High traffic but doesn't convert is also not too beneficial.
Speaking to users is one way to find keywords. What terms do they use. It helps if you're also a user, so you can dogfood your own directory. Otherwise, ask ChatGPT to suggest some, and research on Ahrefs/SEMrush. No actually you dont need to test. Just research on Ahrefs and you'll know which keywords has more search volume and competition.
If no results, maybe speak to users, and ask why? Might need to iterate or pivot.
It depends on your niche. Some directories make money by selling sponsorships to brands, some by membership, some from ads sense.
Selling point is usually info aggregation where the info is usually hard to gather or make sense. So it can be in any industry or niche.
People come to you searching for an answer or a resource. So usually a good directory has great SEO, target high volume or niche keywords. That's marketing.
Ah, infor that is hard to gather or make sense, actually makes sense.
How do you decide whether ads or memberships or selling to brands are more suitable for which niche? They all just kinda look somewhat the same to me right now.
SEO is still the stuff I don’t really understand, it seems. I do get content marketing, but I’m not sure how a directory would lead to SEO.
Whether ads/membership/brand sponsor, it again depends on the opportunities in your market. Just got to trial and error to see which works. In general I try to get to high traffic first or high word-of-mouth either via SEO or content marketing or social media, then it becomes valuable. Then can try diff ways to monetize.
SEO for directory means optimising for keywords for your niche. What words do people use to search for the problem your directory is trying to solve. Use those. Like for Lists Kit, I'm still figuring out if the main keyword is "business directory" or "info directory".. (or listing)
That's super useful, @jasonleow. I'm curious what do you mean by high traffic — and at which point it is considered high traffic.
Do you have a process you use to figure out the keyword? Like for Lists kit, do you try them both and see which one gets a better result? And is there a specific testing timeframe before you conclude?
If both don't seem to get results, then how do you proceed? Just curious about your thought processes and the what if scenarios if you're open to share!
Re: high traffic, I dunno either. Maybe 10k impressions per month is high. But again, depends on your niche/audience. If very niche and small community, traffic is low but if you serve their needs well, maybe conversion is better. High traffic but doesn't convert is also not too beneficial.
Speaking to users is one way to find keywords. What terms do they use. It helps if you're also a user, so you can dogfood your own directory. Otherwise, ask ChatGPT to suggest some, and research on Ahrefs/SEMrush. No actually you dont need to test. Just research on Ahrefs and you'll know which keywords has more search volume and competition.
If no results, maybe speak to users, and ask why? Might need to iterate or pivot.
X defs sucks you in for sure.
I try to:
Timebox my screentime there, ~1h per day.
Mute/block trolls, haters and toxic folks liberally.
Use the Following feed or a list and go straight to the profile pages of folks I want to follow closely.
Avoid replying to drama, rage bait, etc, even from accounts i follow
Tweet build in public stuff, thoughts, thoughtful posts, jokes.
Engage mostly within my circle. When tweet goes viral and extends outside circle, i'm selective with those replies I engage with.
Great tips! Thanks.
Yeah, time-blocking seems like a good way to do this. I might need to block it in Chrome by default and only allow myself a certain amount per day in a time block.
Ah i see. Hmm for WIP data related questions, I can think of: how much % tasks spent on coding vs marketing, which time of year am I most productive, any patterns of highs and lows of work, which product has the best streaks, what kind of tasks i do the most, are they busy work or work that moves the needle on revenue. "I have this problem, who else had solved it or working on it before." "I have an idea, how many other WIP indies had built it, launched it, made it profitable."
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