[Journey] E-Learning website goal : £5k a month

[sp1d5r]

Hello hello!

I’ve spent the last 9 months programming an e-learning course in my free time while I’m off work. It’s been a bit of a pain in the ass but the problem I’m trying to solve is empowering shy/awkward computer science guys leaving college and going into the professional life.

okay cool. So where is the project now?

I didn’t want to give you guys dev threads, so I’m only posting now that the development of the program it’s time to do stuff more related to this website:
- content generation
- marketing
- SEO

I’m trying to get something released this month. I’ve been very consistent with the project so do expect more updates here.

I’m automating as much of this as possible because I’m only one guy. Will go into notre detail in a bit

 

[code API]

Sounds like a plan. Goodluck OP !

 

[dustfinger]

Godspeed

 

[sp1d5r]

quick update on content generation

I’m using GPT (obviously) to generate the content. Think I’ve got an edge because it’s generating direct JSONs that get loaded by the webpage into an interactive format. Which is pretty cool.

for the illustrations I designed. I want to keep the same style but not have to create it from scratch everytime. The goal here is to fine tune a stable diffusion model on the illustrations currently available and then use that to generate outlines I can follow up with the vector pen.

Exciting stuff. Aim to get one course built by eow and get some user testing done.

 

[sp1d5r]

Fucking stable diffusion. I tried to fine tune it on some of my images but nada. I paid this guy on Fiverr to fine tune as well and again nothing. I’ve linked the best ones, anyone see any mistakes I’m doing with the fine tuning I’d appreciate it
That’s the style of illustration I’m going for.

These are the closest the model has gotten to replicating the style. I’m not entirely sure how to fix this. It’s kind of an important part of the story otherwise I’ll have to generate like 40 illustrations myself.

(

 

[p3n7357]

What did you used as programming language

 

[sp1d5r]

What did you used as programming language

It’s all built using react. No need for a backend with services like fire base. Makes it super easy to spin up databases and track important metrics.

 

[sp1d5r]

Okay so update, the website is ready and I’ve made my first course. Made it around negotiation, there are still loads of problems (some around mobile) but I am going to get it in front of users and see how they fair. If you wanna see what it looks like have a look at the website. It’s called http://www.conventa.net.

 

[idfgjk8234]

I'd work on the visual aspect of the site, the idea for the main profile looks good, there is a solid start. Definitely need to add animations for buttons, links (fades for example), perhaps text and for the appearance of divs. Need a hold factor and wow effect from the site, so far it is seen that it is raw and incomplete. Stay strong! That's a lot of work there.

 

[sp1d5r]

I'd work on the visual aspect of the site, the idea for the main profile looks good, there is a solid start. Definitely need to add animations for buttons, links (fades for example), perhaps text and for the appearance of divs. Need a hold factor and wow effect from the site, so far it is seen that it is raw and incomplete. Stay strong! That's a lot of work there.

Hmmm that’s some solid advice. I would typically listen to you but unfortunately I do not want to spend more time on the product.

Now I’m open to changing my view on this but I think I need to put something out there, in front of users otherwise this project stays a project and never becomes a product. I also need to know how the target audience reacts to this and see if I need to pivot.

What do you think?

 

[sp1d5r]

Update - Pushing P(roduct)

I’m not an asshole but I don’t like LinkedIn recruiters. They keep bugging me about job opportunities even though it says in my bio I’m not interested. So I’m going to get these guys to test the product initially. I know there is a lot of bias here and the feedback I get might not be great but I’ll get a good “feel” for it.

So what I’ve done is responded to the messages with the following:

Hey! I'm super excited about the opportunity however as you might understand I get a lot of spam messages. A quick litmus test i'm conducting is to get some genuine feedback from recruiters on this new product i'm developing. It's totally free to try - I look forward to hearing from you.

{website link}


And it’s working a charm. We’ve had feedback from 3 people so far and since they’re in the target demographic (young professionals) it’s been quite helpful. Here’s an example of the feedback I got:

Feedback: Art of negotiation:

One of the slides you have written 'till' instead of 'until'
I like the interactive/minigame style, as I'm a visual learner
It's a quick 5 min improvement a day to grow personally and professionally that could fit into my busy schedule

So pretty cool! But yeah finish content is still goal number 1.

 

[Willyfish]

Hello hello!

I’ve spent the last 9 months programming an e-learning course in my free time while I’m off work. It’s been a bit of a pain in the ass but the problem I’m trying to solve is empowering shy/awkward computer science guys leaving college and going into the professional life.

okay cool. So where is the project now?

I didn’t want to give you guys dev threads, so I’m only posting now that the development of the program it’s time to do stuff more related to this website:
- content generation
- marketing
- SEO

I’m trying to get something released this month. I’ve been very consistent with the project so do expect more updates here.

I’m automating as much of this as possible because I’m only one guy. Will go into notre detail in a bit

Great to hear that you've been working on an e-learning course to help shy/awkward computer science guys entering the professional world! It sounds like a valuable resource.

It's good that you're now shifting your focus to content generation, marketing, and SEO. These are important aspects of getting your course out there and attracting students.

Since you're a one-person team, automating as much as possible will definitely help you to be more efficient. When it comes to content generation, you could consider using tools like Grammarly or Hemingway to help you with editing and proofreading. You could also use a content calendar to plan out your content and make sure you're staying on track.

For marketing, you could consider running targeted ads on platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn to reach your audience. You could also try reaching out to influencers or bloggers in your niche to see if they would be willing to promote your course.

As for SEO, make sure you're using relevant keywords in your website copy, blog posts, and other content. You could also consider creating backlinks to your website from other reputable websites in your niche.

Good luck with your project and keep us updated on your progress!

 

[sp1d5r]

Whoop whoop… guess who got his first few people on the app!

Last week I managed to get a few more strangers to use the app and give me some feedback on how they’re finding the courses and website structure. I’m getting a lot of positive feedback for the courses.


So people are saying it’s pretty good and they like the design. The good news is people are enjoying it. I have a friend who’s using it regularly. Which is crazy. I’ve never been able to convince my friends to regularly use my shit. Ever.

Definitely feeling pretty positive about it. But also feeling really positive about the feedback I’m getting from people. Finding bugs I didn’t know existed ever.

 

[sp1d5r]

Okay so why the fuck am I not rich yet?

You may be asking. The answer to that question is the product is still not ready. Feedback is pretty constant. I’m really happy with it. I’ve switched an option from imitation into assessments. Now it’s a pretty cool use case of LLMs which is nice.

Once I have a few more games I can start doing some more sales to people. I’m going to reach out to people in my network to use the app. I’m going to try and convince people to buy it. As of yet I’ve just been giving it out for free. The real test is if people pay for it. I’m thinking of doing a free trial but that requires your credit card details.

anyway not tons of updates. I also made a content generator that makes Instagram posts straight from the courses.

A bit buggy but please check them out and give me feedback:



The gradient is automatically generated and kept consistent for each of the posts. I’ve currently got around 300 example posts which I’ll post to Facebook.

This is actually the same marketting method that Brilliant.org did so I’m hoping it increases engagement and helps to build the brand properly.

Also check out this feedback on the assessment:

 

[Dresden]

Very interesting journey, a lot different than what we usually see. I’ll be following this one closely. Keep the updates coming

 

[sp1d5r]

Brand Identity and Marketting

Great to hear that you've been working on an e-learning course to help shy/awkward computer science guys entering the professional world! It sounds like a valuable resource.

It's good that you're now shifting your focus to content generation, marketing, and SEO. These are important aspects of getting your course out there and attracting students.

Since you're a one-person team, automating as much as possible will definitely help you to be more efficient. When it comes to content generation, you could consider using tools like Grammarly or Hemingway to help you with editing and proofreading. You could also use a content calendar to plan out your content and make sure you're staying on track.

For marketing, you could consider running targeted ads on platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn to reach your audience. You could also try reaching out to influencers or bloggers in your niche to see if they would be willing to promote your course.

As for SEO, make sure you're using relevant keywords in your website copy, blog posts, and other content. You could also consider creating backlinks to your website from other reputable websites in your niche.

Good luck with your project and keep us updated on your progress!

Okay so this was really good feedback. The automation of content was step one which I managed to get done (fairly well) and now step two is to generate a marketing plan. Now I liked what you said about running targeted ads on Facebook but I'm very new to this (aside from some drop shipping a year or so ago). So I turned to GPT4... What I did is told it I need to generate a marketing strategy and I asked it to ask me for some questions about my business. Once I answered those questions I got the following:

Thank you for providing this information about Conventa. Based on what you've shared, here is a basic marketing strategy:

1. Understanding Your Brand Identity: You mentioned that you're unsure about this aspect. Your brand identity can be thought of as the personality of your business and the promise you make to your customers. It's important that this is defined before proceeding with the marketing strategy. This could potentially be defined around the concepts of interactive learning, career growth, and convenience.
2. Content Marketing: Given your educational focus and the fact that you're already producing valuable courses and mini games, content marketing could be an effective way to attract and engage your target audience. This can involve creating blog posts, infographics, or short videos related to your courses, and sharing them on your website and social media channels.
3. Social Media Marketing: This can be a cost-effective way to reach and engage with your target audience, particularly if you focus on platforms popular with young professionals such as LinkedIn. Share engaging content, interact with your followers, and participate in relevant discussions.
4. Email Marketing: Consider starting a newsletter, which can be a valuable tool for maintaining engagement with your users. Share updates about new courses, offer exclusive content, or even run competitions to keep your users engaged.
5. Influencer Partnerships: Partnering with influencers in the career growth and professional development space could help expose your platform to a wider audience. This could be especially effective on platforms like LinkedIn or even YouTube.
6. Online Ads: Given your limited budget, you might want to consider targeted online advertising on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Ads. These platforms allow you to reach specific demographics (such as young professionals in English-speaking countries) at a relatively low cost.
7. Affiliate Marketing: Consider creating an affiliate marketing program where users are rewarded for referring others to your platform. This could help to stimulate growth and foster a sense of community.
8. Customer Retention: Given that customer retention and loyalty is an area you're looking to improve, consider creating a loyalty program where users earn rewards for completing courses. This could be an extension of your current 'gem' system, with users earning rewards such as exclusive content, discounts on future courses, or even physical merchandise.

So pretty good - I need to understand my brand identity for conventa. Simple enough, so I went back to GPT4 and asked it for the brand identity of other e-learning brands and if it could ask me some questions to try and determine my brand identity. Again very useful tool here.

1. Examples of Brand Identities in the E-Learning Space:

• Udemy: Udemy positions itself as an accessible learning platform that democratizes education. Their identity is built around empowering anyone to learn new skills, irrespective of their background or previous educational experiences.
• Coursera: Coursera is known for its academic credibility. They partner with top universities and organizations worldwide, offering courses that provide in-depth learning and even certification. Their identity is built on academic rigor and high-quality instruction.
• Khan Academy: Khan Academy's brand identity is centered around making education free, accessible, and fun. They present themselves as an alternative to traditional education systems, emphasizing their self-paced learning and personalized approach.
• Duolingo: Duolingo uses gamification as a key part of their brand identity. They make language learning fun and addictive, promising that anyone can learn a new language in just a few minutes a day.

1. Questions to Help Identify Conventa's Brand Identity:

• How would you like your users to describe Conventa to a friend?
• What are the core values that drive your business?
• What emotions do you want to evoke in your customers when they interact with your platform?
• What unique benefits does Conventa offer that you want to be known for?
• If Conventa were a person, how would you describe its personality?
• How do you want Conventa to be perceived in relation to its competitors?
• How do you want your brand to evolve over the next five years?
• What kind of voice and tone would you like your brand to communicate with?
• How do you see your brand interacting with its users and the broader community?

Super cool. Now I've got the brand identity, and am ready to start! My first plan of attack is to finish the task I've been dreading finishing which fine-tuning stable delusion to learn how to draw icons in my style so the website has a consistent style (This is to avoid situations where the lessons do not have an illustration and the marketing looks like this)...

 

[Digital Finger]

I see you're very early stages. I don't typically follow journeys but this one I like.

I'm liking the overall feel of your site, very minimalist not too much clutter which is perfect for learning.

There's some things here and there that could be improved but overall great.

I see that you stayed pretty consistent with the design, but a quick ease (CSS) on the cards and buttons would be ideal.

 

[Obsidian Knight]

Really interesting journey. I like the branding and the feel of the posts and really cool that you're getting positive feedback so far.

Good luck!

 

[sp1d5r]

I see you're very early stages. I don't typically follow journeys but this one I like.

I'm liking the overall feel of your site, very minimalist not too much clutter which is perfect for learning.

There's some things here and there that could be improved but overall great.

I see that you stayed pretty consistent with the design, but a quick ease (CSS) on the cards and buttons would be ideal.

@idfgjk8234

You both mentioned this and i have updated the app to have some basic functionality. @idfgjk8234 sorry i was under the impression when you said animation it would be super complicated and a whole ordeal. Actually ended up being super simple - and looks way better now. Thanks both!

 

[onlinemarketer12]

quick update on content generation

I’m using GPT (obviously) to generate the content. Think I’ve got an edge because it’s generating direct JSONs that get loaded by the webpage into an interactive format. Which is pretty cool.

for the illustrations I designed. I want to keep the same style but not have to create it from scratch everytime. The goal here is to fine tune a stable diffusion model on the illustrations currently available and then use that to generate outlines I can follow up with the vector pen.

Exciting stuff. Aim to get one course built by eow and get some user testing done.

You are using free version or paid version ? Do you have live web feature available yet ?