

Ask HN: review my app for instant "coming soon" pages - weirdcat

Hi everyone!<p>I'm working on http://soonhere.com. The idea is to provide the simplest possible way for a startup or a web developer to get a temporary "coming soon" page.<p>I'd really appreciate any thoughts you might have. In particular:<p>* Is there anything that's not obvious about how the site works? Anything needs explaining, perhaps in some kind of contextual help?<p>* I'll be introducing a <i>PRO plus</i> plan soon, with more features and higher limits; are there any features in particular you suggest adding?<p>And the mother of all questions:<p>What do YOU need from your "coming soon" page? What features would make you pay for it?
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nudge
It's not a bad idea but your own front page has way too much information on
it. What are we supposed to read first? Have a look through the hn archives
for gradual signup patterns. Look at the front pages of some really successful
sites and you'll see there's usually just a single call to action. You might
also want to switch to a front-page layout that's similar to the kind already
widely in use. It's not just that it's good in itself - it's that because many
other sites use it, it's clear how to read it: demo video / call to action /
bullet point info at the top, more info lower down and below the fold.

This is all totally separate from how well your own service works, but it's
just as important, because if you don't get your own front page right it
doesn't matter how well your service works.

Oh, and I have a bunch of parked domains, so it's a worthwhile idea.

~~~
weirdcat
Yeah, you might have a point here. What I was going for was let a visitor play
with the controls and preview the page without having to sign up, so I
actually had a gradual signup in mind. :)

I'll think about reducing the clutter. Thanks a lot!

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komlenic
Great idea with a lot of potential.

I'd strongly consider a complete from-the-ground up rethink of the new-user
flow. This may sound harsh, but I'd argue that as the site exists now there is
no _clear_ new-user flow. There's no concise path through what's being
presented.

If you're stuck, a good exercise is to go grab 5 people and show them the
site. Don't explain anything. See what they do. See if they get it. See if
they interact with it the way you expect a new, fresh potential user to. (In
effect this is what you did by posting to HN, and we're probably a big chunk
of your target.)

To be honest, I didn't even try the service because I'm not sure what to
do/click:

1\. There's no _clear_ call to action other than the red "create your page
now" button, which I'm not going to click if it requires an email
address/website, when I don't understand what I'm signing up for yet. "View a
sample page", "see demo", might be better.

2\. The most prominent thing that jumps off the page visually is "$9/mo". I
think I understand that you're selling a value-added service (which is good),
but why don't you hook me on trying the service for free, or pitch me a great
demo before showing me dollar signs? Seeing the value-added pitch at the top
and in prominent color, before I understand the service is a clear path to my
browser's back button.

3\. "try it free for a few days with no obligation" isn't comforting. What
happens after a few days? Is the basic "here's a pretty landing page for your
soon-to-be-built site" a free service indefinitely? It's _just not clear_.

It's as if you need to step back and consider what _one_ simple goal is most
important to you for a new user landing on this site, and then strip away
everything that doesn't _directly_ support that. To paraphrase some quote:
"perfection isn't achieved by adding, it's achieved when there's nothing left
to take away."

I hope the comments here will prove helpful (and not too harsh), and again,
great idea. Good luck with it.

~~~
weirdcat
Actually, the harsher the better. The problem is falling in love with your own
idea -- here it was combining:

* the introduction (the header),

* "plans and pricing" page (you've got two blocks: the FREE plan and the PRO plan),

* page creation interface with live preview below, allowing you to create the page and previewing it before signing up.

All of those separately make total sense, but obviously don't work when
combined.

Thanks a lot!

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SHOwnsYou
I think before you start to focus on a pro version, you should get this
version ready for attracting an audience.

Your home page is way too cluttered. I don't know what to do, I don't know
where to go, I have no idea what the random text boxes are used for.

Also, your homepage just isn't very pretty. The sample at the bottom (which I
only found by looking at comments here) looks good though.

My first instinct is to set your homepage to look like your product. A few
lines of copy and a big "Click here to make your own" When you click to make
your own, it is completely dynamic. If I decide I want an orange background,
the page background changes to orange. If I want to edit the text, I click on
the text and edit it.

~~~
weirdcat
Great idea! I think I can see it. I'll have to sleep on it and try to build it
tomorrow. Thanks!

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pacifika
I was looking for an example of the service, so I was looking for demo or
example or tour - I didn't realize the 'Live Preview' link is clickable. Could
just be me but I think it should be displayed more prominently and visually
look more clickable and perhaps label it better.

And your site should be at least as snazzy as the coming soon page to set a
good example - much of the value of your service is in its looks, I'd think.

~~~
weirdcat
Both good points, thanks. I've done some temporary tweaks to encourage
visitors to scroll down for the preview, but after all I believe now it needs
a complete rewrite to make it much cleaner -- I was going for "see all you
need to see right on the homepage", but obviously it's not a right approach.

Lesson taken: Clicking is easier than scrolling and less _really is_ more.

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weirdcat
Clickable: <http://soonhere.com>

On a related note: how many unused, parked domains do you own?

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dlsay
I agree with the other comments on the UI, so i wont repeat. As for additional
features, add some social media links after signup, maybe a "thank you" email,
and an option for multiple landing pages for testing.

I didnt see in the demo, where does the collected data get stored?

~~~
weirdcat
After you sign up, there's a "gathered emails" pane for every site in the
admin panel; you can export all of the data to CSV or only emails to plain
txt.

Good feature ideas. I'll look into that after I fix the homepage.

Thanks!

