johnsocs

Monetization Ideas for http://mailwebo.com

Okay, so by even posting this I feel like I have failed. I'm looking for some thought / ideas on how to monetize what I have today. I'd personally consider this project a success if it just paid for hosting on it's own.

I have several ideas on how to move forward, but perhaps I'm just looking for validation on those ideas.

I know there exists services like this today, but what services, features would you find beneficial and pay a small fee for.

Possible ideas:

* Callback webhook for when a message arrives with API

* Email Parsing API

* Being able to handle custom domains and providing an API to work with message for that domain

* Add simple advertising to the site ( meh.. not really interested in this idea.. )

* Close down the project.. it's not going anywhere, it was fun to tinker with?

I'll start... none, so far I've had a stressful career, I'd like to think that my work speaks for it self.

Having a Network+, Linux+, PMP, or anything else is great to show that you keep up with things, but are they really looked highly upon when it comes to getting actual work done ?

I'm seeking a front end web designer for a bootstrapped startup. I notice a good number of the 'weekend' projects posted have great web designs, how did you find your designer or did you do the design work yourself ?

I'm a strong backend engineer, but web design, UI, CSS etc.. is just not in my bag of tricks.

While poking around HN we always see stories about startup's being funded, how to bootstrap your startup, startup's seeking funding etc... From my perspective it's strage that in order to fund a startup or to be considered an investor to a startup you have to have an elite status already.

How about a startup to fund startups by allowing the general public to buy shares of the startup, sure there are lots of 'issues' to think about here but it's possible right ?

Maybe I'm late to the party and something like this already exists and I'm not aware... anyone ?

My weekend project is not a webapp yet more of a 'brick and mortar' business; My wife and I have a Photography business in our area. While we advertise locally going to 'trade shows', make use of adwords, etc, we continue to battle with our search engine rank.

I'm a software engineer who's real focus is backend development ( client, server, gui's, distributed systems, etc.. ) so I don't really have experience in the SEO area.

Also if there is a designer out there who really thinks they can help us take our site to the next level we'd love to talk. You can contact us via our site or me direct, my email is my username @gmail.com

Our site: http://staticmoments.com

Everyone is always asking about best startup practices, what startups they spend money on and best frameworks to use.

Lets turn this around and learn from the other shoe, what startups are not worth your money and what frameworks are bound to kill you..... thoughts ?