

Ask HN: Is it time to give up on my side project? - thisisdallas

I have a side project that is managed hosting for non-profits and churches. Since most are very non-technical, the premise is to remove all technical aspects from setting up&#x2F;having a website. Each site is build on a pre-built WordPress theme and I take care of getting the site to functional stage, content entry, file uploads etc. etc. Basically, the user signs up, sends in their content and I hand over a completed website. The only thing they have to do is add new content if they want to. I am also part of the Microsoft Bizspark program so I am running everything on VMs built in Azure. A CDN, backups etc. etc. are also included with the hosting. In other words, I am not using some $20 reseller hosting plan for host gator.<p>I could be wrong, but I think my product is pretty good and there is a need of what I am offering. Clearly, I am doing something wrong because I can&#x27;t get customers. I&#x27;ve talked to local churches&#x2F;non-profits, made calls, sent emails, bought online ads, wrote guest blog posts et.c etc. Really, the only substantial, feedback I have received is that I was turned down because I don&#x27;t offer &quot;unlimited&quot; everything like other hosts do...<p>I&#x27;m at the point to where I don&#x27;t really see the benefit of keeping this thing going. I could be wrong but I feel like most non-profits&#x2F;churches are distrusting of website companies, don&#x27;t see the value in paying for quality when something else is cheaper, and the whole concept of using a website to further their vision seems like a waste of time. It seems like the only way I could get customers is to spend 80&#x2F;hr a week writing content and personally meeting with people.<p>I want to help churches&#x2F;non-profits but it seems like helping and making money is off the table. I have several other side projects I would love to dive into but I am hesitant to just give up on everything I have done so far. I highly doubt there is any 1, 2, or 3 things I could do to improve my position but I would love any feedback.
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rachelandrew
One of the problems with developing a product for non-profits and churches is
that you run into needing to have your offering assessed by a committee before
a decision can be made.

Rather than one business owner or individual being able to say yes, what
happens is someone will need to propose the idea to the board/church council
etc. and then it will be debated, and perhaps might get the go-ahead. More
likely than not however someone in that group will have some objection, or say
"my nephew is good with computers - he can do that!" It's going to be a very
high-touch environment to work in, and probably not great as a side project
just because of the time you will spend.

Could you perhaps target people who design sites for these organizations? They
are already doing the high touch sales - perhaps you could come in as the
technical partner. That way you'd be selling the reassurance of all the
backend technical support, the backups, the CDN etc. but not dealing directly
with the end customer but instead hopefully a local web designer who has
several of these types of clients.

~~~
thisisdallas
"my nephew is good with computers - he can do that!"

Haha um yes.

Thanks for the thoughts. Your suggestion about partnering up with some
companies that already have a foot in the door is a great idea. I'll
definitely be thinking that through.

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saluki
Definitely add an unlimited plan at a higher price point if that's what they
have voiced concerns over previously.

Plus committees like choice so lay out a few options/plans and detail out
things they might ask about.

I would stress things like unlimited, custom, support, CMS and downplay things
like wordpress/themes.

I would also offer a higher price point where you maintain their website . . .
maybe with once a month or once a week batches of changes . . . this could
minimize WP training and them breaking things trying to learn WP or stressing
about having a member make updates.

btw, if you get a client taxing the limits of the bandwidth you were expecting
them to use on your azure vm set them up on a shared hostgator plan . . . just
set the price point of the unlimited so you can cover that if needed.

"my nephew is good with computers - he can do that!"

Think about expanding your services to include things their nephew can't do .
. .

Setup donations via stripe on the website . . .

A web application for events, event sign ups, prayer lists, etc . . .

As far as decisions typically being made by committees . . . test out asking
for a letter of feedback, questions, concerns from committees considering your
service . . . then you'll see what they are thinking about and can respond
with an outline of responses to seal the deal . . . plus use the feedback to
improve your plans/marketing.

Churches do seem to be a difficult sell . . . but there are companies that do
well in that niche . . . there is a local company that has a saas book keeping
app with a focus on churches that I know is doing well.

I would try some recommendations you received and see what happens . . .

Good luck turning things around . . .

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maxbrown
It sounds like you either haven't identified a need or haven't identified the
right solution for that need (I'm guessing the latter).

I'm willing to bet you could gather some more customer feedback, but let's
consider the item you mentioned:

"I don't offer "unlimited" everything"

My guess of what the customer is telling you is that because they don't
understand the technical side of things, they are worried they will end up
paying more in fees / overages. Same reason cell phone companies are offering
unlimited plans - they provide comfort that you won't go over.

How do hostgator and many others offer Unlimited Disk Storage & Bandwith for
such a low price? Because they know that even if they posted real limits, most
customers won't even go close to those, and I bet they deal directly with
those that do to optimize. Saying "Unlimited" is worth the (likely small) risk
to close the deal. Listen to the customer, they're telling you what they want!

Something to consider, not sure how they would respond - what if you charged
by the size of the organization (churches : church members)? That would
loosely approximate bandwidth, and probably make sense to your customer.

One other thing I would point out, a little customization goes a long way. Can
you offer to customize the site for their organization, or their specific
needs, for low cost or free? You want a recurring customer, right? Put in a
little work up front (show them their possible site?) and you may have a
better chance of closing the deal. IMO, for non-technical clients, it's much
easier to sell them on something they can see.

I wouldn't give up on this just yet, I think it's a nice niche, but you really
need to understand the customer needs and why they would or wouldn't make a
purchase decision.

~~~
thisisdallas
Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

You make a good point about offering "unlimited" resources. This early in the
game, I have nothing to lose and it would be a selling point.

As far as customization goes, that basically falls under setting the website
up. So, essentially yeah I mean a logo will be uploaded, colors will match
their branding, the homepage will have user selected elements etc. etc.

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logn
Then offer unlimited, right? Even if it means raising your prices, then your
clients would probably like paying more knowing that pricing is predictable.

Also, I think a free trial would be nice. Just set everything up and then show
it to them. Hard to say no to that.

And like patio11 recommended in one of his blog posts, write up a checklist of
every feature, something that can be printed out and passed around to the
decision makers.

I think you also need to make sure you're emphasizing how the site can help
boost their attendance and donations and lower their administrative costs. And
on that note, have you added many donation-related features? E.g., a meter to
reach goals, themed donation drives, paypal/credit integration, and maybe an
online merch store for church goods?

~~~
thisisdallas
Thanks for the input and suggestions. The problem with a free trial is that
the websites are built on WordPress. No matter what the WordPress community
wants to think about the CMS, it's not the most user friendly piece of
software for people are only comfortable with sending emails and checking
Facebook. My target audience is very non-technical so training is always
included before sites are turned over.

I toyed around with a free trial but found it wasn't a good idea because no
one knew how to use the WordPress backend.

>I think you also need to make sure you're emphasizing how the site can help
boost their attendance and donations and lower their administrative costs

This is definitely true and something I need to work on. One of my biggest
obstacles is writing content that will clearly explain the advantages of
utilizing a website instead of just having a "brochure site" thrown up on some
random host.

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hsuresh
Who is your target customer? You mention churches and non-profits, but why do
they build/setup a website. How is your product helping them address this?

~~~
thisisdallas
In short, they build sites to provide people with information/services. A lot
of these orgs have very basic websites and they don't use the websites as
tools to further their goals.

My product helps them by basically doing everything for them. They don't have
to worry about registering a domain name, setting up the hosting account,
setting up the website, modifying it to look good, installing updates, running
backups etc. etc.

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shiftpgdn
I sent you an email.

