A quick reader’s guide: How to Build Websites that Sell
Conversion is crucial and any steps you can take to improve your website’s conversion rates are likely to pay off. Peep Laja, a self-professed “conversion optimization junkie,” blogs regularly about the topic of conversion. How to Build Websites that Sell is a collection of his blog posts about the topic.
While going back and reading all of Laja’s blog posts may not be a bad idea, this ebook serves up the cream of the crop and allows you to jump into improving your conversions. Laja’s strategies are all based on the numbers, backed up by research and experiments — he’s not going from his gut. The information in the book is heavily backed up by real world examples, which makes understanding how to apply these strategies to your own business much easier.
Development: How HTTPS secures connections: What every web dev should know
Need to get up to speed on secure HTTP connections? Hartley Brody’s introductory article is a good place to start.
Funding: The unprofitable SaaS business model trap
The cost to acquire customers for an SaaS business can be high and, in some cases, the lifetime value of a customer doesn’t cover the cost of on-going growth. Jason Cohen sees a trap that many entrepreneurs following the SaaS business model are setting for themselves.
Operations: When should you hire a junior developer?
Depending on the circumstances, a junior developer can be an inexpensive way to get help in your company or he can be an expensive way to waste the whole development team’s time. Airbrake has some suggestions on when you should hire a junior developer and when to pass.
Marketing: 4 reasons why you should NOT pitch your startup to Techcrunch
David Haddad obviously has some skin in the marketing game as the founder of Publiseek — but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong about why startups shouldn’t waste time pitching Techcrunch. The most important reason to avoid the site? Your friends might read it, but your customers almost certainly don’t.
Beyond Tech: Make your side projects wildly successful: Treat them like experiments
We all want our side projects to turn into something huge. Paul Jarvis suggests that we’re more likely to see the results we hope for if we treat each side project as an experiment to be completed.
Our most popular link this week: How to use a preorder to prove your product
