

Ask HN: Review My App | "LifesBook"  =  Twitter  +  A Diary - peternicholls

Please review my app AND business model:<p>http://www.lifesbook.com<p>WHAT THE SITE DOES<p>LifesBook is a private online diary (or journal) that works much the same way twitter works (in terms of SMS and hopefully user frequency of posts).<p>To make an entry all you need to do is send in an SMS, make as many entries as you like whenever you like!  If you start to get lazy with your entries (like you would with a normal diary) don't worry we can kindly remind you.<p>THE BUSINESS<p>So I think this is the kind of app that a few months ago you would see with no business model apart from ads, basically fuck that.
I have gone for the typical subscription based approach set at $9.99 per month for now, I hope to get this cost down and I will be able to when I get a bit of the economies of scale loving.<p>I aim to and hope that I have created such a good product that $9.99 seems like great value. As you would expect after a user has been using the site for a few months the data (their entires) we store for them becomes really quiet valuable to the user. This makes me want to extend the trial period from the current week to as long as possible (eg 3 months) but SMS costs are just to crazy to be able to do that right now.<p>What do you think about this business model and approach?? Its an app that I think allot of people would use if free but how can i make that financially viable? I don't think I can so thats why iv done what iv done.<p>FEW MORE THINGS<p>Due to the SMS cost I currently only have a UK number available, this may mean it will cost a user outside of the UK more to send a text in. I am not to sure. But either way I plan to add a US number as soon as its financially viable, I am guessing thats within the month.<p>Search has just died on us in production, its a hosting issue and we are on to it.. Decided to release anyways. Meh<p>FEEDBACK<p>I want as much feedback as possible and not just on the app I also want feedback on the business behind it.
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unalone
First off: You stole Tumblr's icons. That's a really, really shitty thing to
do. They paid good money for those icons and you blatantly ripped them from
the site.

Not just that. You copy your "translucent borders" from Facebook, your "close
window" dialogue from the original lightbox and your feedback tab links to
Getsatisfaction. The one original idea you had, putting notebook lines in the
background, you couldn't even bother to sync up with the size of your font.
(Aviary does this but they actually sync up the lines.)

Second off: How is this _better_ than Tumblr? Do you know what Twitter is
without ultrasimplicity? It's a downgraded version of a regular blog. That's
why "Twitter+this" startups fail. Twitter is _only_ good because it's so
simple.

I use my blog as a diary. I write 20-30 posts a day about whatever comes to
mind in the hopes that I can preserve it as a diary for half a century and
then figure out a way to make use of it. Why would I pay $10 a month for
something that gives me less than I've already got?

Third off: I like the header design but it's hard to navigate. I'm also a
little offended that as your "famous diary person of choice" you picked Anne
Frank, whose diary is most famous because _the person that wrote it died_.
What's the implication? "You'll die so write stuff down?" For an online
service, that's pretty obnoxious.

All that stuff aside, it looks nice, though I wonder just how much of this
design you ripped off sources of which I'm not aware. (I could swear that font
looks remarkably close to the "sparse black-on-white" that Posterous uses.)

~~~
peternicholls
The tumblr icons are all removed, I just put this site together quickly and
admit it was the wrong thing to do, I apologize.

Im not sure about the facebook stuff your talking about I also thought using
lightbox and Getsatisfaction the way I have is ok.

Header was never ment to offend, its was just a bit of fun. As most people
would assume I am not implying that you die if you use this service. Has also
been replaced.

I put the site together in a few days and design is not my strong point. The
orignal diary type design is shown here:
[http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/design-
watercolor-e...](http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/design-watercolor-
effect-menu/). I have permission to use this stuff, including the 404 page.

I honestly dont expect a HN user to use this site, its more geared towards
people that havnt got a clue what wordpress or tubmlr is.

~~~
seekely
"I honestly dont expect a HN user to use this site, its more geared towards
people that havnt got a clue what wordpress or tubmlr is."

If the people you are targeting do not know what Wordpress or Tumblr are, how
in the internet world would they stumble upon you before first landing on one
of those sites?

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thinkzig
First, as always, congratulations on launching and getting something out the
door. I think that's one of the hardest things to do, so kudos to you for
getting something out there.

I kinda like this idea though I'm not sure I'd pay $9.99 a month for it. Also,
if you were industrious enough you could do this yourself with a private WP
blog that you email posts to, but obviously not everyone knows how to do that.

A few thoughts about your web site that after a first look.

1.) The first thing that grabs my eye is the "A Diary + Twitter = LifesBook"
yellow block in the center of the page and it immediately confused me. I first
thought that the app somehow integrated with Twitter and then thought "There's
no way I'd post my private thoughts to a Twitter stream." At this point, peeps
who feel the same way might move on.

2.) The phrase "(SMS type functionality)" in the yellow box only confused me
more and I still have no idea what it means even after realizing that you can
text thoughts to your service.

3.) The next block under the yellow block focuses more on features than
benefits. I wouldn't lead with "SMS Diary Entires", "Memory Bank", and "Locked
and Secure". Those don't mean much to me as the user. Try something like "Post
from Anywhere", "Never Forget a Thought", and "We Keep Your Secrets" instead.

4.) Small typo under the Spare Change heading on the home page. You end with
"Seriously just got nuts." I think you mean "just _go_ nuts", right?

5.) Others may disagree, but I don't love the name. I think my biggest fear of
using a service like this is that I'd be posting my most private thoughts out
into the cloud, so a name that somehow let me know that you're storing my
secrets as securely as possible would be a plus. Sorry I don't have a good
name suggestion right now, but it's something to think about.

Anyway, best of luck to you. I think if you keep tweaking and iterating you'll
find something that people really dig.

~~~
peternicholls
Thanks for the great feedback!

Regarding 1,2 and 3, I agree Ill look into changing this now.

5\. I see what your saying but I think its possible to put these concerns to
rest by building a strong brand based on things such as security. I don't
think a new name is what should express that, I think thats the brands job.

------
peternicholls
Iv killed the site, clearly lots of things i need to fix. lesson learnt.

~~~
unalone
Best of luck to you! When you do your next thing, absolutely feel free to
submit - don't let criticism this time stop you.

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callahad
Meta-feedback:

To be successful, you need the tenacity to keep going and the humility to
realize where you erred. Welcome to the crucible.

What could you do next time to avoid these particular responses?

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callahad
"As you would expect after a user has been using the site for a few months the
data (their entires) we store for them becomes really quiet valuable to the
user."

True enough, but please don't hold your users' data hostage.

~~~
peternicholls
Oh I don't plan to at all

~~~
sjs382
We don't care what you plan to do. We care what you have in place already that
allows data portability.

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sjs382
I guess this is as good a time as ever to be concise and blunt. You have
competitors that do exactly the same thing, better, for free, that have
traction, and a recognizable brand. Good luck.

------
markca
I think you meant <http://www.lifesbook.com/>

~~~
peternicholls
Cheers!

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utnick
good luck, but I dont think u will find many customers for this due to the
fact that:

wordpress if free & twitter is free and lets u keep your updates private if
you want i believe

it does look very well done though

~~~
peternicholls
I see what your saying and thats why I am looking for feedback on a business
model

