Im_a_throw_away

Hi,

I'm a web freelancer who plans to build some landing pages for my clients (to promote their products and capture emails).

I'll build the landing page myself with some HTML/CSS/JS. But then I'd like to give my clients some kind of backoffice so they can edit the content of the page itself if needed.

How can I easily "convert" my static landing pages into a really simple CMS for my clients? I'm looking for something lightweight.

Like adding some info in my html tags, then running some scripts, and I automatically get some kind of backoffice to edit the page, with no database needed.

Thanks!

Hi HN,

I'm a self employed guy living in Paris. I know how to code (mostly websites), and I'm pretty good at conversion optimisation (landing pages, AB testing, email marketing, etc). In 2017, I'd like to give freelancing a try, but how can I find my first few clients? My current plan looks something like this:

Go to 2-3 developer meetups per week; talk to 4-5 people per meetup; introduce myself as a web freelancer; be friendly/helpful; exchange emails; wait to be contacted.

With this I would be talking to ~10 developers per week, and I feel like it will take me months to just get one client... What I am missing?

Any advice on this would be really helpful. Thanks!

Hi HN,

I love the vueJS framework, and I'm looking for a side project. So I was thinking: maybe my side project could be to teach people vueJS. Something like: start a blog, build an email list, and later sell an ebook. And I have 2 main questions:

1. How can I make sure people are interested in this before I actually start creating content on vueJS? Basically how to validate the need for vue.js tutorials?

2. And what is the best format to teach vue.js? Written tutorials, youtube videos, one-to-one teaching, ...?

Thanks for your help!

Hi HN,

I'm a self employed guy living in Paris. I know how to code (mostly websites), and I'm pretty good a conversion optimisation (landing pages, AB testing, etc.)

After reading the thread "Ask HN: How much do you earn through software freelancing?" [0], I would like to givre freelancing a try. But I don't know how to get started.

First: what should I freelance in? Build website? Give CRO advice? Run A/B tests?

Then: how to actually find clients? Is networking the main option? Where should I go to network?

Any advice on this would be really helpful. Thanks!

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12894209

Hi HN,

I'm subscribed to a dozen of blogs, and they send me on average one email per week each. I love reading this content, but it's starting to clutter my inbox.

Do you know any app/website that let you manage all of these subscriptions? Being able to see these emails without actually getting into my inbox would be awesome.

Thanks!

Hi HN!

I'm building a static website in HTML/JS, and I'm wondering what's the best place to host it online. I'm especially concerned about getting a good SEO.

Here's what I'm looking for:

1. A custom domain with ssl, for an httpS url.

2. A CDN, for super fast loading.

3. Be able to create 301 redirects with something similar to an htaccess. So it seems GitHub page are not an option.

4. Something simple to use, because I don't want to lose time learning/configuring stuff. So the Amazon combo S3+route53+cloudfront won't be possible for me.

5. And not expensive, less than $10 per month.

Any idea? Thanks!

Hi HN!

I recently realized that a lot of people use Excel in their day job, yet most of them don't really know what they are doing. They could save hours of work per week if they knew how to filter data, use the VLOOKUP function, play with pivot tables, and so on.

I'm a web developper who knows a lot about Excel, and I'm actually good at writing tutorials. So I'm thinking about making a website with Excel tutorials, an email course, and a paid course (I have a lot of free time for the next 12 months).

It seems like a huge market, but it also looks like there are already a lot of websites doing that. Though most of the tutorials I saw are either out of date or not very clear. So I have 2 questions :

1. Do you think it's a good idea or not? 2. How would you get traffic for this website, besides SEO?

Thanks! :)

Hi HN,

I've seen a lot of comments here lately about the power of meditation.

What book would you recommend to someone who wants to try meditation?

Thanks!

Recently we got 2 ask HN related to SaaS business [0] [1].

This time I'm curious if you have any SaaS business idea that you don't plan to pursue? And if so, feel free to share it here.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11924009

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11937132

Hi HN,

Do you know any one man SaaS app that are profitable?

I'm asking this because I'm considering starting a SaaS app as a side project, and I'm looking for some inspiration.

Thanks!

Hi HN,

I'm curious if you are currently using any B2B SaaS app that you hate?

It's basically an app that is useful for your business, but you wished it was done differently/better.

Thanks!

Hi HN,

I have an idea for a small SaaS business.

I'd like to follow the "lean startup" approach: find customers first and then build the product. So I plan to cold email a few companies to get their thoughts on my idea.

My target customers are small companies in my city, that have a website, and that are currently hiring.

However I have no idea where to find the emails of my potential customers. I'm willing to do some scrapping, but where?

Do you have any advice to share on this? Thanks!

Hi HN!

I'm a developer that currently have a lot of free time. One idea that I've had for a long time is to write a series of tutorials on how to code for complete beginners. The goal of the course would be to be REALLY accessible.

But I'm now wondering: is this really worth it? Will people be interested in this project? It seems like "programming tutorials" is a crowded market...

So I'm interested in your input. Thanks!