Every Tuesday, creative freelancers (like you) learn from my 12+ years out on my own. Pricing, productivity, mindset, and everything in between.
🤓 BWM02: My simple landing page validation framework
​ Hello! When I first had the idea for Block by Block, I was excited. I opened up Notion and started to write out the idea and concept furiously. I was ready to go all in. But then I slowed myself down. I needed to validate the idea before I spent my time on it. ValidationYou can validate an idea in many ways. My process is quite simple. I look for tiny moments of validation and let them continue building on each other. These moments continue to stack up, which creates momentum for your idea. Validators that I look for:
While working on Block by Block I will continue to look for those moments of validation. What I have done so farI have already spoken with a few friends in the WordPress space and got those nodding heads. They see the need for Block by Block in this space. ​I have also set up Twitter and begun to acquire a small number of followers. I have not aggressively promoted the Twitter account, and it is already getting traction. This has me very hopeful. To get those first few followers without leveraging any prior audience, I simply engage with other people’s content in the space. This gets the ball rolling. Those first few can be tough, but keep showing up and sharing useful content and people will find you. My next step is to set up a landing page that essentially pre-sells the concept but only asks for an email address. Building the landing pageIt would be absolutely ridiculous to create content around building with WordPress block themes if I did not build the landing page with a WordPress block theme. So that is what I did. I used the new default 2024 theme to build this. I did not choose Rockbase simply because I wanted to learn what the latest default WordPress theme offers and see how far I could get leveraging only that. Rockbase will be an excellent option for those who don’t want to learn the WP block editor inside and out, as it will be preconfigured and look amazing right out of the box. That keeps my products in the WordPress space separated. Great results quickly - You can check out the landing page at: https://blockbyblockwp.com I feel it came out great for something I spent around an hour on and wrote only a few lines of custom CSS (I copied from my other site to style the form better). If you are in the WordPress space, hop on the waiting list!​ Landing Page FrameworkThere are a lot of different landing page frameworks out there. The one that works for you depends on what you are trying to sell. For a simple email signup landing page, I keep it as simple as possible. Problem: What is the problem your product solves? Call it out as clear as possible. Solution: How does your product solve the problem? Focus on transitions. Who is it for: What kind of person should be paying attention? Who needs this? be specific. What to expect: What is coming? Be as specific as you can. Who is behind it: Tell people about the human behind the idea. Humans connect with humans better than with brands. Keep it simpleFocus on getting the idea out there. You can always change things later. Perfection is your enemy here! Landing Page ToolsI say this all the time. Use the tool that works for you and get your idea out there. If you are faster using Webflow then go for it. Some other tools you can use to create a landing page so you can validate your idea:
Keep it simple. Focus on getting the concept out there as quickly and simply as possible. Next validation stepNow that I have a landing page and a discovery platform (Twitter), I will begin to look for that next step of validation: email signups. My goal is to get to 100 subscribers by the end of February. Slow and steady. If this happens faster, it could be a sign that I need to speed up my work on the product. If it feels like a slog it could be a reason to slow down and rework the offer. I will also be paying attention to the conversion rate for people who visit the landing page. Pro Tip - If the validation is not coming it might not be the product itself but the way you are presenting it or who you are presenting it to. Change the strategy and see if that impacts your validation step. Next WeekI will discuss my simple content process and how I plan to leverage content creation to drive traffic to my landing page and continue the product validation process. Thanks for being here! Keep Creating! P.S. Do you use Instagram? I share a lot of behind the scenes on there, give me a follow and see how I run my business! |
Nerd Notes | Power-up your freelancing
Every Tuesday, creative freelancers (like you) learn from my 12+ years out on my own. Pricing, productivity, mindset, and everything in between.
👋 Hello Nerds! Today, I want to dive into one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced this year while traveling: finding time to work. As we move from one place to another, the days we’re not on the road are often spent exploring our current location. Balancing work with this lifestyle has required some creative solutions. Working in the car? One strategy I’ve adopted is working in the car. Yes, you read that right—in the car! It’s not always easy, battling the sun’s glare, the bumps on the...
👋 Hello! You can read this on CH.com if you prefer. You can always edit it…. As developers we can login to FTP, open the file, and make the change. It is that easy. Don’t overthink it. As a designer you can adjust that landing page design later, or fix the social template post launch. We spend so much time hoping to get it just perfect. But the truth is, we need to focus on getting the MVP out there. Figure out the core functionality and focus on that. Once that is ready, ship it. You can add...
Hello! Let’s kick off this Build With Me (BWM) series with how I got the initial idea for Block by Block. While working on the Rockbase theme (coming very soon), I realized how powerful the NEW way of building with WordPress is. But… While powerful, it creates some challenges for developers and users who are not experienced in the new way of WordPress. It moves away from what people know and into a new way of thinking. With a little bit of practice, I believe everyone can master the site...