Archive for August, 2009

August 10th, 2009

Tr.im closing, and thoughts on monetizing on the web

trim_logo_home If you haven’t heard, the URL shortening service Tr.im is closing down. It’s a shame because it was my favorites, and I wasn’t alone. In a busy space, the tr.im product wasn’t particularly unique, but it was easy, clean and offered a couple features that no else did. And it was free.

But all of the url shortening services are free. Some have freemuim models, some, like tr.im, are meant to drive traffic to the company’s other products. Free is a big topic of discussion right now, and a lot of people building web apps struggle with it. What do we give away, and what do we charge for? What will people pay for? How do we make money off of free? Read the rest of this entry »

August 5th, 2009

Web Startup Success Guide and Social Media

A couple weeks ago, Bob Walsh sent me a pdf of his new book the Web Startup Success Guide, I think because I’m quoted on page 42. *ahem* I’ve been anticipating the book for a while because it’s bound to be full of great tips. I wasn’t wrong. I hate reading pdf’s so I ordered the paper version anyway. Sorry, yes, I kill trees…

Anyway, upon getting the book, I jumped straight to chapter 6 on Social Media. It’s what I’m dealing with at the moment with DubFiler. Part SEO, part community (or ‘tribe‘) building, part vanity – using social media and blogging are the next step for me, now that the site is up and running. Read the rest of this entry »