

Ask HN: Review my startup, sponzu.com - sponzu


======
dralison
I like the idea, low friction for people that want to help a cause. My concern
is getting people engaged when they land on the page. The graphic on the home
page doesn't really tell me enough in just a glance. It's relatively small and
hard to read.

Very cool concept though. Watched an ad to help buy new schoolbooks for some
kid in NY ;)

~~~
sponzu
Thank you! We are making a video about How It Works, should make it easier to
understand the concept.

------
swellular
The layout of the site and the diagram in the forefront makes it clear what
the premise is. Nice job there.

It seems like the revenue generated by watching ads is very small. How many
viewers of a 30s ad would someone need to raise $500?

~~~
sponzu
During beta, the payout is between 5 - 10 cents per view. We are, however,
working on bringing it up to a dollar by giving users an option to rate
videos, provide feedback to advertisers, sharing the videos on the network and
taking other actions which are all payable by sponsors.

------
profitbaron
Clickable link: <http://www.sponzu.com>

Feedback:

The main problem of this idea is that I don't see how an advertiser would see
a benefit from being involved in this because, people aren't really going to
engage in the adverts they are going there to "support" an idea and letting
the advertisement run rather than be engaged in it.

You need to show a benefit to the advertiser, as to why show an advertisement
with yourselves as this would aid the advertiser problem and allow them to see
a value in advertising on your website.

Additionally, you also need to look at how to keep users engaged when they
come to the website because, when you first go to the website you are
presented with the "How It Works" and if you want to get people engaged and
involved in "supporting ideas" then you need to change this graphic as it is
too small and isn't really engaging.

You need a 3 step "How It Works" from a user pespective AND not from an idea
submitting pespective as well, save this step for the "Submit your idea" page.

Additionally, there are a few call to action buttons on this website soon as I
arrive "Register" "Fb Login" "Submit Your Idea" (which is repeated twice) etc
which don't benefit you at all because, there are so many of them. You should
focus on one call-to-action button and acquire the user sign ups when
submitting the idea in a slick user interface instead of trying to get them to
click "Register" etc because, if they aren't submitting an idea there doesn't
seem much value (if any) to join the service.

Additionally, when I went to click submit an idea I was immediately presented
with "Login" or "Register" that really sucks from a user perspective, you
should have a page with a form where people can fill out their information and
at the bottom have a "create account" setting where a user registers a
username, password and email etc (additional information can be acquired when
they have signed up) as this will significantly improve the UI from a user
perspective.

Also, why does it just have to be for "ideas" I mean you could contact
charities to get them involved and they can get users to view the ads as a
"donation" to their charities. Continuing with this idea, you should have a
"widget" so people can place their ideas on another website etc, then they can
go and view the ad such as on a Charities Website for instance.

~~~
sponzu
Thank you for your feedback. We do support organizations and non-for-profit, I
guess we should make it clearer. Also, the widget is available under each idea
if you click on the Share button.

