Ask HN: Review my startup, Xuland.com
I presented my site, Xuland a while back on HN but being a newbie the link/submission was closed for comments soon after. I've made considerable changes since then and even started working on a mobile app - or at least a mobile "web" app that should suffice until the native Android/iOS versions are complete.
I started working on Xuland back in Oct, 2009 as a hobby/side-project. At first, I was looking to create an alternative to Craigslist - a site with a commenting engine similar to Facebook/etc but with a map and geolocation features. Since then I've migrated away from that idea.
I don't think the world needs another social networking site necessarily but Xuland does offer some location-based features which I think folks could really come to find useful. Under the deals tab for instance, the Restaurant.com search is better than their own website. I also added an affiliate ID to the deal URL's so there's a potential for monetization there.
I've gotten around 8,000 unique visitors worldwide since I went public, but going public involved nothing more than a blog post and a mention on some small sites like KillerStartups. My blog post has risen to become the 4th most popular blog post on Adobe Feeds in the past year (http://feeds.adobe.com/index.cfm?query=byMostPopularYear) even though I'd say its contents are now probably outdated. One point to mention: the site is built using Flex/Flash so I apologize to iPad users in advance. I am working on the app versions.
I'm interested in what the HN community thinks of the idea and its implementation. Any advice or criticism? I plan on moving forward with releasing it to the public more and more to drum up traffic if possible, stress-test and pinpoint areas for change.
I appreciate all your feedback! ;)
Sincerely, Erich
http://www.xuland.com