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Comment by dm2 | Hacker News Reader

How saturated are the markets you are trying to enter? You're not going to invent a better search engine as a side project (without a ton of luck and an amazing idea/staff/developer/perfect execution).

Do you receive feedback for these projects?

Do you listen to your feedback and pivot when necessary?

If the idea is good and the site is made, then it should be just marketing and appealing to customers needs.

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The visits for one specific project were in the tens of thousands over the course of a few months after 'launch'. Feedback was numbered in the tens at most and mostly things like 'cool site!' 'cool idea!' or 'i cant find this specific product'

The site looked promising but noone comes back to check things and of the initial rush of users, a decent % signed up but did not participate in any transactions.

My first question is asking about your competitors. If I want a company to provide the service you offer, can I find an established one with a quick search on Google? Do you rank well on search engines?

If I'm a customer then I'm going to look for the best product to provide the service, some people will base it on cost depending on the service.

Keep in touch with your potential customers. Reach out and say that your site is new and you'd like to know what they think and maybe even be as bold as to ask why they did or didn't purchase from you and if they purchased from a competitor.

Those questions were asked and it came down to the fact that it was a collectibles marketplace and the specific things they were looking for were not available or not an attractive price. There is also the trust issue... many seem to rather want to use ebay.

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