I totally understand that a sideproject entales a lot of work in regards to creating a business plan, doing market research etc. The thing is, we who click your link don't really see that. We see the product. Which in this case, is not there.
I hope you appreciate direct criticism, please don't take it personally.
Sideproject implies probably working nights and weekends. How many calendar days it takes to complete something shouldn't have any bearing on how appropriate a project is for a Show HN post.
Thanks evlapix for building this and good luck with the project.
You're completely missing my point. It is not the fact that he has used 4 months to get where he is that I'm criticizing, it's the lack of product he's showcasing.
You're absolutely right. I made the rookie mistake early on of focusing entirely on the app before getting any market feedback. The copyright issue you pointed out is evidence of that.
I do have a ton of the app built. I'd actually be done if I hadn't made a silly mistake a while back while migrating computers and having to redo a bunch of work.
As a side project though, the amount of work I accomplish in 4 months is something that is entirely unique to my situation. And in this cas I'm terrible at marketing copy, design, etc. So I'm proud of what I've accomplished.
I disagree. Many of the posts on HN deal with marketing, copy, and focusing on business messaging vs technology as that's the difficult area for many.
Viewing the results of a fellow technologist's efforts in this area is very useful to those of us who similarly struggle. The feedback here from copywriters and people with layout issues is fantastic.
The term 'Gig' is a registered service mark (held by Fiverr) for uses related to "Operating on-line marketplaces for sellers of goods and/or services" [1]
While this might not be a big consideration right now, this is almost a guaranteed loss in a UDRP/WIPO case against your domain, since you're in a very similar space. It might be a good idea to weigh your options prior to launch, as rebranding will inevitably become more difficult as you acquire users.
I'd rather not get distracted by potential issues like that for now. If GigYard gets enough users to upset Fiverr over a potential registered service mark conflict, I'll consider that a good thing.
Two quick notes: The h3 subheading type is so thin it borders on unreadable on my display (HP LP2065). And I'd rephrase "There's no shame in asking for help. And with GigYard it isn't a hassle either." into positive expressions - a study I've read a few years ago has shown that people subconsciously parsing texts often filter negations away together with other filler words (leaving only "shame asking help. GigYard hassle."). Therefore it's usually better to phrase things positively if you call for action.
My instinct tried to steer me away from doing that, but my urgency to get something out there overcame it. I had anxiety about every damn word I wrote so I ended up settling with copy I felt "flowed".
I'll look into the type thinness. Thanks for the feedback.
Copywriter here. I can't tell who I'm supposed to be hiring by reading. From the pictures, I'm guessing GigYard is a place to hire dog walkers, chefs, and landscapers. Perhaps you could be more specific on what a "gig" is? Unless your target market is musicians or freelancers, your audience isn't sure what it means.
The first rule of copywriting is to highlight benefits, not features. So don't rave about your powerful search that can filter by territory, hours, or experience. Say how users can easily hire skilled workers when and where they are needed.
Also, how is this different than task rabbit? Is hiring local service providers a problem in need of solving? Do people really need or want this?
I'm so glad to have this feedback. Identifying my audience and avoiding feature speak where two things I tried to give consideration to while writing the copy. Still, I couldn't work out how to accomplish that.
The biggest difference from TaskRabbit is likely the direction of communication. GigYard encourages you to seek out and engage a candidate based on your needs. While TaskRabbit encourages you to describe your needs then promotes them to candidates for bidding.
For simple tasks I think the TaskRabbit approach works well. I expect that GigYard will be used to find service providers that meet more specific requirements.
It seems the service I used for those "share" links is conflicting with my CSS (www.addthis.com). Can't fix it right now, but at least I know where the problem is. Thanks for pointing it out!
TaskRabbit seems to focus more on simple errands that anybody can do and handles the details for you. They describe it as "Your to-do's, done".
GigYard focuses on helping people describe their unique qualifications so that they can be offered as specific services. Then gives customers the tools sort through those qualifications in order to find what they're looking for. It also takes a more hands off approach and expects that the customer and service provider work together. Similar to the way Craigslist works for buyers and sellers.
Zaarly is new to me, but yes it seems similar. Probably the biggest difference between the two is that GigYard's service providers are individual people, not businesses.
I'm thinking that sharing it with existing communities that already engage in this way will be the easiest sell. My first target is my neighborhoods Facebook page that has something like 300+ user. Besides that there are a ton of folks attempting to do this type of work with Craigslist's service postings and I'm hoping a few considerate posts there might help.
I totally understand that a sideproject entales a lot of work in regards to creating a business plan, doing market research etc. The thing is, we who click your link don't really see that. We see the product. Which in this case, is not there.
I hope you appreciate direct criticism, please don't take it personally.
edit: clarification & typo