Ask HN: What is my website?
So for much of the past two years I attempted to get a start-up going. I began alone only to find that single-handedly building web apps was more than I could take on at the time. Then I joined with a biz partner. His expertise drastically sped up development but we didn't quite complete any one project. All the while I took up the hobby of blogging. I wrote scathing reviews of technical choices that vexed me. Years of cube dwelling had taught me that my opinion did not matter. That I was an insignificant subordinate in a world of self assertive jerks. Much to my surprise it didn't take long for CEOs and marketing people to contact me and try to do damage control with my thrashing of their baby. It was a strange sense of power, and I liked it.

Lo to my surprise, site owners began implementing my suggestions! Since when does anyone listen to Steve, the corporate asset of negligible consequence? I closed my random blog about everything under the sun and started one geared toward my professional area of interest: Start-ups. I spent much of the past six months writing articles for it and charging $15-50/article. I had finally gotten a start-up off ground zero and was doing something I absolutely loved. The only issue was the price point being too low.

As you may have guessed, something went amiss. Just when I decided to stop subjecting myself to the cruel interrogations of potential employers one of them had the nerve to offer me a job. It was actually a great offer with a great company, so I took it. I took the long, recession induced hours that came with it as well. I haven't written for my website since.

Pressing forward I've been trying to keep the dream alive. In a whirlwind of panic I placed an ad on Craigslist to find other writers. I dug up two, both of whom seem to be taking things in stride. They get great reviews and one has taken over sales/management. It's running somewhat smoothly. I make no money, just pass along the pittance to them and am happy to know the site is at least still there.

Some people suggest that I should stop it altogether. Others say I should start investing money into marketing. I'm writing HN to help answer the following question. What is the goal, purpose, point, business plan, model, strategy, 7 steps towards happiness fitness and health, for my website? Here's a list of ideas on the table.

1) Harsh Critique: A review that thrashes and shreds websites so bad that they never knew what hit them. Pros: it's fun, so fun. Cons: clients aren't often happy. Silver lining: a harsh funny critique is much more amusing to read, potentially more credible, and fits the no PR is bad PR marketing rule. Conclusion: clients hate being shredded, if you want to get paid, write nice things about them. They'll post links to the article.

2) Surveys/practical feedback: Include surveys at the bottom of the article that collects user feedback on various design choices. Sell this data to site owners. Pros: easy to collect, could have a good dollar value. Cons: need high traffic to get enough surveys filled out. Silver lining: it can wait til later. Conclusion: not now.

3) Marketing: As much as I poured myself into every article and analyzed the intricacies of a website, I could never escape the cold truth that what people were really paying for was marketing. Throwing ~$35 at a blogger to say something generally nice about them is worth it. Should I just admit that I'm a marketing site, not a review site and shoot for that? Pros: more $ in marketing. Cons: need the same thing as every other site owner in the world- traffic. Silver Lining: now have a job to pay for it, if I choose. Has greater $ potential than just being a technical review site. Conclusion: I'm still a purist, but deep down I think this is the way to go.

4) Marketing 2: As it turns out, the two writers I found are musicians, as am I. We've kicked around the idea of including songs for our reviews. Perhaps we could be the website that includes musical interpretations of websites, along with the already sometimes outlandish posts. Pros: Fun. Different way to connect with audience. Cons: more work. Silver Lining: whiz bang. Conclusion: none yet.

5) Funny: The site is and has always included humor. Pros: it's readable and more interesting than bland reviews. Cons: It takes far more work and time than just providing an overview with suggestions. Sliver lining: I've received feedback from many sources that this distinguishes the site from others. Conclusion: Keep it funny.

The ultimate goal is for the site to be THE place for start-ups to be featured. Like being on the front page news. A honor, or dubious honor, if the tone remains occasionally too harsh.

All I ask of HN is to let me know what you think the site is, or should be. Does it have potential to be more than ~$35/article? Is it just a glorified blog? Do any of the ideas resonate, or do you have others?

Replies can be made through this account, comment board, etc.

To those who would would like to see the site, in an effort to not be accused of spamming HN, I made it an acrostic. Not counting the numbered list with a dot com on the end. Thanks!