
When is it time to give up? - monsterhunter32
I&#x27;ve spent two years trying to build my website and have tried for over a month to get people to join it with no luck at all. I know it takes time for websites to gain traction, but do you think the idea is stupid and I should try something else? I don&#x27;t like the idea of having wasted 2 years with nothing to show for it.<p>Website:  https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.doityourselfnation.org&#x2F;
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mindcrime
A month isn't a very long time. Despite the occasional story you see in the
press about some new site that is a literal "overnight sensation", you should
probably give it a bit longer. Most "overnight sensations" take a LONG time to
become such.

That said..

 _but do you think the idea is stupid and I should try something else?_

I spent a few minutes looking around the site and still don't really know what
"the idea" is. I mean, yeah, I see that you can share videos and stuff, but I
don't get what makes this site distinct. I can share videos on Youtube, why
should I use this site? Are you trying to appeal to a certain community or
topic? Is the key element the monetization aspect, or is just the sharing?
What's the "leaderboard" link at the top for and why would I care about a
"leaderboard"? And how does it go from videos to the stuff about flipbooks and
what-not?

I just feel like you need more / better messaging, right front and center,
that articulates exactly what/who this site is for and why they should use it.

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monsterhunter32
Thank you for your feedback. It was supposed to be a website that combined
YouTube, Amazon, and Facebook together along with other aspects like uploading
flip books. The leaderboard was an attempt to add a gamification aspect to the
website where others could compete for top views, sales, endorsements, ect...
I was hoping that the homepage could convey the message of being able to
upload books, video's, files, and products free of charge and earn money doing
so, but it looks like it doesn't do a good job.

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mindcrime
_the message of being able to upload books, video 's, files, and products free
of charge and earn money doing so_

Well there ya go. Add that sentence, almost exactly like that, right at the
top of page. Something like

<h1>Content Creators: Upload books, video's, files, and products free of
charge and earn money doing so!</h1>

would go a long way towards making the site's purpose more clear. You'll still
have to sell people that you can deliver on that promise, but there's probably
a segment of people out there, that if you can get them on the site, will say
"Oh, I'd kinda like to do that".

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monsterhunter32
Thanks for the great advice. Having a header to give an exact idea of what the
website is would probably help.

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oldmancoyote
Failure is a necessary part of the path to success. Nobody gets it right at
first. You must get help identifying why you have failed and redesign
accordingly. Then, you must iterate (probably multiple times).

Good luck!

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monsterhunter32
Thanks! I'll definitely take your advice!

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jmg1138
When I visit this URL in Firefox on Android I get a warning that says "This
connection is untrusted". That might be turning away visitors.

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monsterhunter32
Thanks, someone else told me this issue which I relayed to Amazon Web Services
and they said they didn't see the problem when testing it for themselves.

