| Haha yeah. Not entirely sure why I keep playing the contents of this site close to the vest. And interesting. I had not considered selling the Excel version of the product. That could be an interesting revenue generator, and definitely a way to get users involved. My first attempt at getting a solid user base was going to be through word of mouth (seemingly, one of the best marketing practices in this niche) and getting the word out on my home forum. They have a built in audience of 20,000 or so, and I interact with a lot of them regularly, so I'm figuring I can easily jumpstart membership, assuming my product is easy enough to use. There are also a few advertising venues I can use. There are magazines, but this is being built out of pocket and I don't have a large marketing budget. Matter of fact, I have no budget. My budget is: spend as little money as possible. This has been more of an exercise in flexing my coding skills primarily, so making money takes a back seat. I'm hoping I produce a better product that way. People go to public and private ranges alike, and every chance I get I talk to other shooters about my project. Everyone seems enthusiastic (with the caveat of a little fear.. apparently this crowd is a little afraid of the word "tracking," no joke. I will have to consider that sometime soon). I just joined a private range in Philly and when I get closer to completion I'm going to start pimping it out there, if they let me. I will read that article you linked me to when I get some time today, I barely have enough to keep checking this page. My biggest hurdle is getting these users to adapt to change. I also have to deal with the technical hurdle of making my site work in deprecated versions of browsers. It's going to be a fun challenge, no doubt. |
Honestly, stop holding those cards close to the chest and start selling to anyone and everyone who will listen.
Put up a simple one-page website (use http://unbounce.com to get going) and post the link on HN. Oh and get some advice from patio11 (if anyone, he understands non-web-savvy people).
Good luck and I hope to see your site soon!