If you take a look at the reasons we create web apps, it boils down to mainly one thing: organization. With that in mind, it makes sense that we keep organization simple. If we don’t, we get wrapped up in everything that had us disorganized in the first place. Simple. Is. Better.
Veteran creative director Rich Barrett recently talked to readwriteweb about some of the online trends he sees today. Keep Reading
It’s strange- we used to think we were in the business of creating web apps.
What we sell isn’t bundled up javascript, and glossy buttons… We sell a process. We sell conceptual ways to work and organize.
The thing to keep in mind is that people are actually buying into something completely different when you think they’re buying nothing more than your product. They’re buying…
... the attitude of your company.
... the belief that the process you preach is better than the alternatives.
... the experience of participating in your brand. Keep Reading
Internally, we’ve been talking a lot about managing growth and getting more organized. We’re a small company, super small in the grand scheme. So the fact that both Jumpchart and Staction each grow a little every single day creates a new job description for each of us daily. When we started building web apps, we thought these things would be our job: Keep Reading
The excitement of launching your app has passed, the rush of emails and tweets and blog posts has subsided, and now you find yourself asking, “What do I do now?”. Maintaining the motivation and the desire to keep updating and improving your app can be really difficult. We’re going to share just a few techniques that have worked well for us during the development, launch and update cycles of both our web apps, Jumpchart and Staction. Clearly, these ideas may not suit your app or your workflow, so please read on with a grain of salt. But if one or more of these ideas do work for you, all the better! Keep Reading
By now, you’ve probably heard that we’re in a global economic recession. The International Monetary Fund has projected that the world’s economy will shrink by around 1% in 2009. Around now you might be saying to yourself, “Well 1% isn’t that bad.”, but think about the scale of those numbers for a moment. Global GDP for 2008 amounts to around $69,490,000,000,000 (yes, that’s $69.5 Trillion), so one percent of that equates to, roughly, the combined GPD of Japan and India (who have the third and fourth largest economies in the world, respectively). No way around it, that’s a pretty bad prediction. But the doom and gloom spouted by 6 o’clock news can be a good thing. You’re a small business, not a mega-conglomerate car manufacturer or a giant bank who’s facing a balance sheet full of toxic assets, which means that this recession can work in your favor, you just have to know how to work it. Keep Reading
So you’ve finished it. Your web app is finally ready to send out into the world – your UI is beautiful and simple, your platform is powerful and flexible and you’ve already nailed down how you’re going to scale the thing when the users begin to overrun your current server setup. You throw the switch, the site is live and … no one is paying attention. So you post links on your Facebook page, your mySpace page and on your blog, you tweet about it repeatedly; and over the first month or so a few people sign up, but not that many, certainly not the server crushing tsunami you had envisioned. You’re faced with a tough question, How do you grow your customer base? How are you, the single developer or small company, with very limited marketing dollars going to raise awareness and build a following? Turns out, the answer to that question is a little more old fashioned than you might think, and it doesn’t cost a dime. Keep Reading