@rahulmfg This is certainly a crowded market, but we still feel like there is room...
One of the hardest parts of building a website with one of these tools is the choice paralysis. First, you need to figure out which tool to use (certainly building another tool doesn't exactly help with this). But then, you need to choose how you use that tool: which template, which font, which colors, which layout, etc. Because the products in this space want to stand out from each other, they are constantly in pursuit of adding more templates, more integrations, more stuff... With Somebody, we want to do the opposite: Offer less stuff. We believe that constraints for a product like this are a massive help to the user... I've written more about this here: https://medium.com/@maxdeutsch/t.... Ultimately, we've built what we believe is the best product that gets users to a published site as soon as possible.
Awesome job! Sometimes all you need is just a simple website, nothing too crowded & highlights your passions. Can you map your own domain to the sub domain? Also can you update the colours, layout etc?
@gadgick Thanks, Nick! Right now, we are keeping it really simple - so the colors and layout are fixed (we actually think this makes for a better experience...at least at this stage). As far as custom domains, this is currently a possibility, but will require you to upgrade to Somebody Pro (for ~$4/mo, which we think is a pretty competitive price). Mostly, this is how we plan to subsidize hosting fees.
@_maxdeutsch Ok thanks! What do you get with Pro? Would be good to maybe include that on the site e.g. free vs pro. Also would recommend using SSL particularly the login/sign up.
@gadgick right now, Pro only features the ability to connect a custom domain name. So either you connect a domain you currently own or you can get a new one (the Pro subscription comes with one free domain name). We don't show free vs pro on the homepage because we are trying to reduce choice paralysis upfront as much as possible - we want you to first completely focus on building a great site, and then you can figure out what domain name you'd like. SSL is a good suggestion... Thanks
@_maxdeutsch Thanks Max, thinking about the free vs pro on the site is a good move. I'd still love to be able to customise it, particularly colour scheme... Adobe Portfolio does this w/ the CC subscription. Please add SSL... I work for a security company & it pains me when I don't see websites encrypt auth (in fact anything nowadays) data!
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Thanks for good app!
Max Deutsch is Somebody.io support custom HTML&JS code? It would be great to support embed widgets, such as https://widgetpack.com
@widgetpack Hey Daniil, this is a cool idea! That being said...Every new feature challenges our model of being "the simplest" website builder, so we need to be thoughtful about every addition. (We will look into this though)
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I also make portfolio(http://techacademy.somebody.io) by using somebody.io. The name of this service is "Somebody", right??
Nice site and concept!
I would suggest added a privacy policy. It will help with conversions.
What does the site offer in terms of SEO customization?
Does it allow and interaction with the markup?
Congrats on being upvoted to the top. People like it ;)
I wish you and http://somebody.io the best of success in the market!
@jjjams Thanks James! You bring up some great points... we need to get a privacy policy up. Right now, we don't offer any SEO customization or markup, but these are definitely things we are thinking about
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@_maxdeutsch This is really cool. I love the simplicity. I've already created a page for myself. I agree with you on the perils of choice paralysis. I'm that guy that won't complete things if too many options are thrown in my direction ha. Also, Is there an optimal photo size to use?
@cmcollin41 Thanks! There's no optimal photo size/dimensions, but if you are having trouble properly positioning your main photo, let me know, and I can help
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@_maxdeutsch Thanks for the response! I was just curious because trying to get my face positioned like yours on your page has been difficult.
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Update: it's not your fault... Somebody makes text with paragraphs look like it doesn't have any.
Hi Max! A bit of feedback: I think your "here's my story" is way too long. Giving the text some breathing room using paragraphs would look better, I think.
@grooveplex Hey Barend, thanks for your feedback! We are definitely thinking about ways to improve the "storytelling" on somebody (line breaks, bold/italics, links, etc.) while balancing our desire to be simple. I definitely hear what you're saying.
One surprising thing I've noticed: a lot people worry about "long copy". In other words, most people try to keep the information they write very concise out of fear that anything longer will turn "readers" off. What I've found is that the people who care are the people who read. If you write a compelling story, people will read it, even if it's long or not perfectly formatted.
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@_maxdeutsch@grooveplex I agree with both points. Giving the text some style elements with room for breathing would make things nicer. On the point Max made- if someone is taking time to check you out visiting a person specific site, I don't think they are turned off by long copy. The long copy only needs to look nice encouraging readers to poke around a bit longer.
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