<![CDATA[Five Across >> We’re turning the web into a conversation.:
The new Bubbler “live” blogging tool with its drag-and-drop features is really cool, but I have absolutely no interest in paying for a hosted Web site to use it…. Change the deal so that I can post to my own sites, guys, and you’d have a customer.]]>
Cool, but wrong business model
<![CDATA[Five Across >> We’re turning the web into a conversation.: The new Bubbler “live” blogging tool with its drag-and-drop features is really cool, but I have absolutely no interest in paying for a hosted Web site to use it…. Change the deal so that I can post to my own sites, guys, and you’d have […]
2 replies on “Cool, but wrong business model”
Hey Mitch,
Thanks for the post. Sorry it took me so long to “get back to you” 🙂 Our business model includes hosting, but our main thrust is the engine itself, compact, fast, easy install, intended for ISP’s, hosting providers, companies, etc.
It is, of course, difficult to blast existing bloggers out of their URL’s, and we won’t try to do that, although we’d like to make it easy. Question for you: is it that you don’t want to pay for hosting, that you’d rather host it yourself, that you’re invested in your URL, or some combination of the above? We can solve some of these easily (redirecting URL’s, hosting it yourself). Although it’s a paid hosting service, it costs about as much as a triple grandĂ© no-whip mocha per month.
Disclaimer: I’m the guy who started the company that makes Bubbler…
Glenn,
I got the business model, but the functionality is something I’d want in the client, because I use a number of blog sites for a variety of reasons, including internal and external communication, collaboration and publishing.
The thing about a URL is that, like the email address, it has to remain stable over time for the person using it to build “brand awareness.” I host my own blogs, so paying for another cup of overpriced coffee a month (lattes add up, so I would discourage using the Mocha Scale for pricing) doesn’t make the functionality any more attractive. It’s a cool tool, but it has to fit into my workflow rather than me into its workflow.
I also think that, ultimately, the branded blog hubs, like TypePad and Blogger or LiveJournal are going to be short-lived, just as the self-publishing portals—Homestead.com, Digital Cities, etc.—were in the 90s. As the power to publish moves to the edge, the allure of a big brand in one’s blog URL falls to nil.
You should be talking about how easy it is to retain one’s current URL on your site, if it is that easy. I’d pay $4.95 a month (or less) for a client that allowed me to post to my site. I currently use Ecto, which gets better all the time, so latte or not, it’s going to be a challenge to win my business if you haven’t addressed my desire to keep my own URL, to import existing postings, etc., etc.