Here's how I do it: medium.com/@marckohlbrugge/a-…
Hi Marc
Thank you very much for the tips! It's working! 🙌
I'll have to pay for Zapier 20/mo but it's a good investment. I can do lots more things instead of tedious copy&paste and reupload on social media.
I will look for more useful zapier recipes to get most out of the starter plan 🤔
I’ve been considering recreating this as a stand-alone service. I wonder if anyone would pay for it though. What do you think?
Short answer, YES.
I think that's a good idea! I will definitely go with it if it's less expensive than Zapier monthly fee. You can consider me your potential customer for Insta -> Twitter autopost service🤘
The long answer....
I met a lot of people from age 25 ~35 in Europe, and they mainly use Twitter and Instagram. So I want to be active both on Insta and Twitter.
I think solo-prenups have a lot of problems in managing social media accounts. When you have multiple brands, you might spend your day easily on social media, which nobody wants. We want to create more and spend less time on social media.
I'll manage three brands. So it will be a big time saver if I can make a clean tweet out of an Instagram post.
Here are the reasons I don't use cross-post scheduling software on the market for Instagram and Twitter. None of them fulfils my requirements for the moment.
Number of the characters
You can write long texts on Instagram.
Twitter, on the other hand, the number of character is very limited. When you use IFTTT Instagram repost to Twitter (which is already hard for non-techie/non-marketer person, I guess), the caption is cut off in the middle of a sentence or a hashtag. And it looks über ugly.
Instagram Features
I want to compose an Instagram post on its app (or Flume), not on a cross-post service.
On the Instagram app, you can add the location, hashtags on comment area, and filters.
Thanks. That's really helpful.
I'm not sure yet how to solve the character count problem though. As there's no easy way to count the number of characters when writing the Instagram caption. It appears when using Instagram's "Send to Twitter" feature it just cuts off the caption.
I’m not sure I fully understand the question. I’m assuming this is for Rails?
So you have a textfield where someone could enter either a URL or email address, and then based on what it is you want to generate the correct link?
You’d need to figure out a conditional that determines whether something is a URL or email address and then render it accordingly.
For example something like:
if @value.contains?(“@“)
mailto @value
else
linkto @value
end
This isn’t perfect because URLs could have @-signs in them, but you can use a method meant to check whether something is a correct URL/email. A simple Google search will return many results.
yes its for rails and yes i want to generate the correct link! right now i have two separate textfields --> it under one div <div>
<%= mail_to 'email', @post.email %>
or
Re: data exports
It feels wrong to me when I pay for a service and they take my data hostage. I understand it's a common business practice to create a vendor lock-in, but feels hostile to me.
Re: radically different
I'm not sure what exactly it should be. This isn't it, but just to give you an idea of thinking out of the box: everyone's stats are open to each other. So by joining Simple Analytics you're able to benchmark your stats compared to other websites. (e.g. to determine if your 62% bounce rate is good or bad, etc.)
To find such an idea (but an actual good one) you need to talk extensively to your customers and understand their deeper business needs. For example for me with regards to Startup Jobs I have these questions:
- Is there more SEO work that I can do? (analytics tool build around SEO with practical tips on which pages to improve and what to add/change/etc)
- How well is my paid advertising work? (
- Would increasing the number of job posts increase my revenue?
- Where are my customers coming from? (Google Analytics often says "direct" but I can't imagine so many people typing in the URL)
These are great questions. I can definitely do something to help answer those.
The more I think about it the more sense this makes. I feel like I need to grow in features that help website owner with whatever problems they encounter. So why limit it to analytics?
Homepage
- There's no product preview! Most important thing for me is to see the actual product (screenshots) right away without having to click another button.
- The dark blue headline with light blue background feels too soft for me. I'd like to see more contrast.
- Overall the colors feel too soft. More contrast would communicate the "simple" idea better.
- There's a lot of text. I'm not reading all of that. I wonder if anyone does
- The testimonials lack context. Who is this Pieter Levels guy? j/k, but maybe add a headline, etc
- The "clean" and "simple" benefits are too similar IMO.
- "Friendly" doesn't communicate the privacy aspect. I'd use a different word.
- In fact, I don't see any mention of privacy above the fold. Maybe you could use something like "Website analytics that don't invade your vistor's privacy" or "Website analytics that respect your privacy"
- Overall I think the page does a bad job explaining the privacy benefits. I think it would be great if you show a visual comparison with Google Analytics as that's what 99% of your leads will be using right now
- Your Intercom widgets says "we", but elsewhere you explain it's just you.
Pricing
- IMO all plans should include data exports
- $49/mo for 100k+ pageviews seems like a lot to me with current feature set. I'm not saying decrease the price, but I think you'll need to become more competitive in terms of functionality to warrant that price
- Have you tried a trial without credit card? I think once people overcome the hurdle of adding the tracking code, they are more likely to convert to retain access to their data.
Product
- I really like the simplicity of the one-page dashboard. Google Analytics is powerful, but it feels like a chore to use. Simple Analytics is more fun and gives me a decent portion of what I need from an analytics tool
- I don't find it valuable enough yet to pay for it. It hasn't crossed that threshold for me. I'm not sure what it would take, but I wonder if you can do something radically different from Google Analytics rather than just being less privacy invasive.
- It's quite possible I'm not your target customer. Are there websites that are hyper sensitive to privacy? Websites that currently don't use Google Analytics? They might still want the analytical insights, but for whatever reason cannot use Google Analytics.
Great feedback!
The feedback on the homepage is clear, will fix that.
- Why do you think to have data export for all plans? I want to target businesses, and need more differentiating features between starter and business.
- I will get more features every day, so that price is maybe too high now, but will be good later.
- Haven't properly tried without cc, but I do have emails from people that fill in the demo input field. So will make something for them where they can try out without cc and bug them in the platform so they need to upgrade.
- Thanks 🙏
- Radically different, hm, if you know something, let me know. For me it's hard to think of more business features, makers features are easy. But I think that keeps me small.
- You know this Pieter Levels guy? He suggested to get a list of companies that I should contact for offering my products for free, so they can be on my homepage. Companies like Ghost (looks like they use GA). But selling myself to those companies is as easy as writing my PR message ;-)
Re: data exports
It feels wrong to me when I pay for a service and they take my data hostage. I understand it's a common business practice to create a vendor lock-in, but feels hostile to me.
Re: radically different
I'm not sure what exactly it should be. This isn't it, but just to give you an idea of thinking out of the box: everyone's stats are open to each other. So by joining Simple Analytics you're able to benchmark your stats compared to other websites. (e.g. to determine if your 62% bounce rate is good or bad, etc.)
To find such an idea (but an actual good one) you need to talk extensively to your customers and understand their deeper business needs. For example for me with regards to Startup Jobs I have these questions:
- Is there more SEO work that I can do? (analytics tool build around SEO with practical tips on which pages to improve and what to add/change/etc)
- How well is my paid advertising work? (
- Would increasing the number of job posts increase my revenue?
- Where are my customers coming from? (Google Analytics often says "direct" but I can't imagine so many people typing in the URL)
These are great questions. I can definitely do something to help answer those.
The more I think about it the more sense this makes. I feel like I need to grow in features that help website owner with whatever problems they encounter. So why limit it to analytics?
Context: I don't speak Chinese. I do happen to be in Taiwan right now and I'm interested in learning some basic sentences.
Heads up: I'll be blunt as this is a roast. Overall I think the app looks alright and seems to do the job. In my feedback below I'll only pick on things I think can be improved, so it's all negative feedback.
My feedback:
App Store listing
- I don't know what HSK means.
- The letter L in "learn Chinese" should be capitalised.
- From that tagline it's not clear whether this is about reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking
- It's not clear either to who this is targeted at. Completed novices like me? Or people that already know the basics?
- Why is it better/different than Duolingo etc?
- A tagline like "Learn to speak basic Chinese in 30 days" would grab my attention
- The panda in the app icon looks kinda sad to me
- The name isn't memorable and there are similar apps with similar names. Could be a problem.
- The app has no reviews in my version of the App Store. If you had a homepage to link to instead of the App Store listing you'd have more control over the initial user experience which would allow you to include testimonials, etc.
The app itself
- The typeface looks kinda childish to me
- I don't know which level I need to select as a complete novice (I guess the app isn't meant for me)
- The "Save" label on the button when choosing a level is rather uninspiring. Could be something more exciting like "Let's start learning…"
- That said, the the select down menu doesn't make sense here anyway as there's only 3 options and you have plenty of real estate to work with. Why not show 3 buttons for each level, rather than a dropdown + save button?
- It's not clear how easy it is to go back and try a different level. Maybe add something like "Don't worry. You can always change to a different level later'
- On iPhone XS the notch cuts down into the top of the screen so "Panda HSK" isn't completely visible.
- I immediately get greeted with an upsell (Subscribe now). Not a good first experience. Better to wait until I've received some value from the app
- When starting to learn, I see some Chinese characters and a bunch of words to choose from. Having never learned Chinese, I have absolutely zero idea what the right answer is. So I'm guessing this not the right app for my level. Therefore I won't comment further on the learning functionality of the app.
- The "Next" button becoming tappable once an answer is correct feels like a lazy UX solution. I think you could just hide the button at first. Then when the correct answer is chosen, prominently (big, centered, etc) show that button so it's more easy to move forwards.
That's all I have for now. I imagine someone who's actually in your target audience could provide more feedback on the learning experience.
Thanks for the feedback, below, I'm answering some of the questions:
I don't know what HSK means. - Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì, or Chinese Proficiency Test, it's an official test for Chinese learners. The app has all of the HSK vocabulary for a given level.
The letter L in "learn Chinese" should be capitalised. - cheers, I added it to the backlog and will fix in the next update
It's not clear either to who this is targeted at. Completed novices like me? Or people that already know the basics? - people who know what HSK stands for :p Eventually, I want to target it at general Chinese learners, but the app will need a lot of work before I get there.
Why is it better/different than Duolingo etc? - it's targeted specifically at people reviewing for the HSK exam, do you think I should make that more clear in the description?
The panda in the app icon looks kinda sad to me - Bummer, I drew it myself and that's the height of my artistic abilities :(
A tagline like "Learn to speak basic Chinese in 30 days" would grab my attention - that would be a lie, I've been learning for 6 years and only starting to get conversational now, it's a super hard language. I actually think it's impossible to learn using only an app, that's why this app is target more at people who are already studying with a teacher, as a revision tool, the rest is doomed. That said, I'm toying with "Learn HSK 1-3 vocabulary by practising just 5 minutes a day", what do you think?
The typeface looks kinda childish to me - valid point, I'm still trying to nail down the design, I don't have as much design experience as I would have liked
I don't know which level I need to select as a complete novice (I guess the app isn't meant for me) - I'll add a note saying 'if you don't know where to start, start at 1', good idea.
The "Save" label on the button when choosing a level is rather uninspiring. Could be something more exciting like "Let's start learning…" - good idea, will do that in the next update
That said, the the select down menu doesn't make sense here anyway as there's only 3 options and you have plenty of real estate to work with. Why not show 3 buttons for each level, rather than a dropdown + save button? - I'm quite fond of that dropdown, I think it's a rather clean solution
It's not clear how easy it is to go back and try a different level. Maybe add something like "Don't worry. You can always change to a different level later' - added to the backlog, will implement in the next update, switching between levels is painless.
On iPhone XS the notch cuts down into the top of the screen so "Panda HSK" isn't completely visible. - I'm not gonna lie, it's going to be a while before I fix that, focusing on other more pressing issues for now, but thanks for letting me know.
I immediately get greeted with an upsell (Subscribe now). Not a good first experience. Better to wait until I've received some value from the app - very good idea. I'll hide the upsell until the user has made progress in at least N words
I have zero interviewing experience as an applicant, but I've hired some freelance developers before. So take my feedback with some grain of salt.
I imagine they will try to understand the following things:
- Do you have the relevant technical skills? Whether you coded your own thing or within a business doesn't matter for this part. Expect them to ask about your decision making. Why this framework over another. What trade-offs did you make and why. Etc.
- Are you able to pick up new technologies and ways of working? What are some of the recent things you've learned?
- Do you work well with others? You mentioned not having coded "professionally", but only your own products. Have you worked with other people in another capacity? Can you share some examples and possibly any conflicts and how you resolved them?
- Related to the above: Are you able to clearly communicate technical stuff? What about talking to non-technical people?
I also suggest reading up on the company, which technologies they use, and maybe check some of the LinkedIn profiles of employees to see how they describe their roles within the company. That might give you some more things to research.
The site ( jobboards.co ) doesn't load for me.
As for the revenue model: do you have any users/customers yet? They tend to be your best source for revenue model ideas.
I’ve been considering recreating this as a stand-alone service. I wonder if anyone would pay for it though. What do you think?
Short answer, YES.
I think that's a good idea! I will definitely go with it if it's less expensive than Zapier monthly fee. You can consider me your potential customer for Insta -> Twitter autopost service🤘
The long answer....
I met a lot of people from age 25 ~35 in Europe, and they mainly use Twitter and Instagram. So I want to be active both on Insta and Twitter.
I think solo-prenups have a lot of problems in managing social media accounts. When you have multiple brands, you might spend your day easily on social media, which nobody wants. We want to create more and spend less time on social media.
I'll manage three brands. So it will be a big time saver if I can make a clean tweet out of an Instagram post.
Here are the reasons I don't use cross-post scheduling software on the market for Instagram and Twitter. None of them fulfils my requirements for the moment.
Number of the characters
You can write long texts on Instagram.
Twitter, on the other hand, the number of character is very limited. When you use IFTTT Instagram repost to Twitter (which is already hard for non-techie/non-marketer person, I guess), the caption is cut off in the middle of a sentence or a hashtag. And it looks über ugly.
Instagram Features
I want to compose an Instagram post on its app (or Flume), not on a cross-post service.
On the Instagram app, you can add the location, hashtags on comment area, and filters.
Thanks. That's really helpful.
I'm not sure yet how to solve the character count problem though. As there's no easy way to count the number of characters when writing the Instagram caption. It appears when using Instagram's "Send to Twitter" feature it just cuts off the caption.
Yeah,
I post Instagram from Flume (Mac) so I would use Ulysses or www.lettercount.com to count text. but I usually don't count text. I just keep the caption shorter than the twitter limit because there will be instagram link and image urls.
Oh, if I can, I want to make a tweet storm when instagram caption is too long. Zapier solution is good, but I have to cut the text in the middle. Sometimes hard to decide where to cut. but not sure other people want it though...