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Document: WM-007 P. Webb
Category: Project 2017.02.08
Roadmap for BeachfrontDigital
Abstract
Far-reaching goals for BeachfrontDigital.
Body
BeachfrontDigital[1] is a domain portfolio management tool I built
and launched late last year. To quote the "About" page:
> BeachfrontDigital is me scratching my own itch and taking cues from
> The 7 Day Startup. I buy domains on a regular basis and often from
> more than one registrar. As a result, I tend to forget I have some
> domains! *True story*, I ran a WHOIS search *on a domain I own*, a
> couple months ago. Terrible. 😩
The name is a result of a conversation I had with co-workers about
how domain names are like the premium waterfront properties of the
80s. Of course, the domain `beachfront.digital` was available so I
snagged it ASAP.
Since launching BD in October, I've made updates here and there and
it seemed like I was going to get valuable feedback from early beta
testers who assured me they would sign up at $6/year *instead of* the
regular $11/year price…turns out, *nobody* wanted to beta test and my
messages were ignored. Was it because of the upfront cost? Was it
because I didn't have a bunch of features fleshed out? I'll never
know. However, of the friends I reached out to for feedback Wojtek
Witkowski[2] was the only one who got back to me. Through him and a
prospective customer/commenter on Hacker News, I learned a
few things:
- I wasn't offering anything that a spreadsheet couldn't handle.
- $6/year was still too much to charge for someone who has
<10 domains.
- To make charging for my service palatable, I'd need to create a
sync system for registrars.
- Not all registrars have public APIs (see: Hover).
- There are *so* many registrars. It's not cost-effective to
maintain syncing for each.
- Creating a sync system based on undocumented APIs like some
people have done with Hover is a *terrible* idea. Undocumented
APIs means they can break at *any* moment.
For these reasons and more, *I have decided to make BeachfrontDigital
free* when V2 goes live. I'm currently working on a stock photography
site for people of color so upgrades and changes to BD will occur in
March (when I'm not playing my Nintendo Switch, hehe). I also plan to
update the site with a visual style reminiscent of the 80s. Here's
how the site used to look:
📸[First version of BeachfrontDigital][IMG1]
Here's how it looks now:
📸[Second version of BeachfrontDigital][IMG2]
As you can see, the styling went from pretty cool (the logo was
levitating and the background grid moved as well) to extremely
sterile. Nothing's *wrong* with a sterile look, that's what this blog
looks like, haha! But for something with the URL
`beachfront.digital`, it could stand to look a *bit* more impressive.
A key missing feature is the ability to import your domains. If
you've already got a method to organize your domains and you want to
use BeachfrontDigital, you sure wouldn't want to type everything
again right? *Hell no*, who has time for *that*?! I intend to make
the wishlist feature more robust, as well as the personal analytics.
For example, I'm paying $2027 for 75 domains per year 😅. Anyhoo,
watch this space and @BeachfrontD[3] on Twitter for updates. 🕸
References
[1] <https://beachfront.digital>
[2] <https://twitter.com/dubstrike>
[3] <https://twitter.com/@BeachfrontD>
[IMG1] <https://🔥.pixels.wtf/blog/image/2017/roadmap-for-beachfront-digital-a.png>
[IMG2] <https://🔥.pixels.wtf/blog/image/2017/roadmap-for-beachfront-digital-b.png>
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