A litmus test for your idea
ninjasandrobots.com
ninjasandrobots.com
The litmus test is not how many people you can get to read your blog. It's whether you're teaching people how to do something that you can sell a solution to them later:
OP: "Are you teaching anyone who looks like someone who would buy what you intend on selling? If not, why not?"
This is a test that is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for the validity of an idea. If you pass this test, you don't yet know if this is a good idea. But if you fail this test, then you defn know it's a bad idea. The value of this test is that it's easy to setup, and relies on your actions, rather than what you tell yourself--which is more truthful. Sometimes ideas are bad, not because they're intrinsically bad, but because they're a bad fit for you, which is a good thing to test for.
And context of all advice matters. This only applies to ideas that are movements, not powder kegs or empires (via gabriel weinberg) http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2010/02/are-you-building...
The worst thing is to get into a market and realize you really can't get excited about your customers' issues. Better to discover that about yourself earlier.
We got a lot of sign ups, but upon release 3 months later that same level of interest isn't there. Even after sending out invites.
What's suggested after the whole test your idea via a landing page doesn't work out?
With pre-orders you have people that have given the ultimate commitment and you can offer them a discount and/or the ability to help shape the product through it's development.
A simple billing page with something like Stripe checkout (https://stripe.com/docs/checkout) will help you filter out the tire kickers and attract people with a burning need for your product/service.
>>Want to start a website matching up job seekers with employers? Start a blog with tips for finding a new job or new employees.
Just in time advice for me. I launched last week Jobrupt, a web site to help certain types of job seekers/recruiters when people are reserved to make the first step. I must immediately start blogging.
The problem of duplicate links in HN needs to be solved soon.