| Hehe, I did consider blocking phone pictures, but some people get some great shots on them and I don't want to miss out on those. I've even managed a few rare half-decent ones: https://photographer.io/p/10 I think most people are actually pretty happy to pay for increased usage limits and the like, though I don't want that to be the only boon. I'm also trying to keep it to one subscription level, as I think the tiered plans on some other sites can make subscribers of the cheaper plans feel less important than those on the higher ones. I definitely don't want to go down the Flickr route of blocking ex-subscribers from their photos. I'll likely just prevent new uploads in that case. Imgur is great and I think there's scope for that ease-of-use in the more photographer-oriented market. My uploader at the moment is a bit basic, but I'm working on improving that. A blog is definitely coming; I've been really lax in getting it set up. I'll definitely have one for launch. I also really need to do some SEO work, as I've done very little so far :D In the past few days I've finally gotten to the point where I'm happy to do GUI work. It's weird; I have a degree in design, but I always feel like it's wasted time until I have all the important backend work done. I know that's not true, but it's why the design definitely needs some work right now. I'll be working on this quite a lot over the next few weeks! The rankings gave me a great excuse to play with Redis sorted sets. At the moment it's very simplistic and I don't think it'll scale very well with lots of new users, so I'll be adjusting that. It's really enjoyable to fiddle with though :) |
A blog will help with SEO and provide fodder for your social media feeds. Consider the kind of content you'd create. The question to ask is what would appeal to your target audience (I'd avoid making the blog all about your product). If time is tight then, curation beats creation.
I like the idea of one price fits all product. You should try to bill annually, but experiment with sales psychology (you could price it monthly, for example).
Imgur - the tools are so useful. I wanted to support it, as much as I wanted the extra features I ended up paying for. Much to learn. That lovely right click menu...
You're right about prioritising how it works over how it looks. The GUI stuff is fun, and you will no doubt iterate the design as you go along.
Good luck with the roll out!