I built a widget -- how best to sell it?

foreveranon

To cut a long story short, I sold some time on a charity auction, and the person who won was a science student who had a lot of projects with a lot of files to keep together.

I spent a fevered afternoon with some MySQL and PHP and the end result was a secure little web system where she could upload files and log notes and have the whole thing tied together in a database so she wouldn't keep losing files (so each file is attached to its project and so forth). Got a friend to beta-test the thing, and her response on first sight was "hey, I had all those file types last year -- wow, I could have used that!"

So, I'm thinking there are a few Biology/Chemistry students who could use something of this type. Unfortunately, she's graduated last year and I'm night-schooling my way through a foundation degree and don't really get to meet any other students. However, I'm going fulltime for a year next year, and wow a bit of extra cash could come in handy.

For the time it would take me to alter it for new folk (add a new stylesheet they liked, add them as users with secure usernames/passwords) and host it in my own space I'd be happy enough to do it for £25 or so a time. Or, I suppose I could just grab a new domain name, add a stylesheet which isn't really going to look *bad* to anyone (I'm a database person -- stylesheets are not so much my thing) and set up account creation while running it as advertising supported/pay to join.

I suppose really, I'm asking which way might be best, and how best I might get folk interested?

CharliLynx

Firstly - Very sorry, can't help you much in any aspect that you are asking for help with!!

However, I would like to say that, as an Education student with a lot of different topic notes to keep together, this sounds brilliant. Also, would be nice to have some sort of feature to have notes shared with friends and other students - For example, if you're doing a group project, to have the ability to up- and download files from each other while working on the project (an issue I found great difficulty in with my last project, forever emailling bits and bobs and odds and ends to other members when it would have been much more useful to have it in a central pool)

Just as a layman, I would suggest if you get it up and running, get some cheap advertising posters done and distribute them to universities. My uni is always happy to display posters on student noticeboards and around campus.

(Also, I'm *amazed* at the number of students who do not back files up and then go into crisis when all their vital coursework is lost! Personally, I've used mozy.com for years and yet, so many other students don't have a clue! Educate them!! XD)

Browntoa

suppose offer first person in the uni a freebie and a percentage to them for sign ups on theri recommendation. They do all the donkey work on your behalf ??

foreveranon

CharliLynx wrote: »

Just as a layman, I would suggest if you get it up and running, get some cheap advertising posters done and distribute them to universities. My uni is always happy to display posters on student noticeboards and around campus.

They are? I'm a mature student so Northumbria, the "proper" University I'm moving to next year after two years at college still looks very big and official (and a wee bit intimidating) so I wasn't sure if that stuff was usually allowed.

Lokolo

foreveranon wrote: »

They are? I'm a mature student so Northumbria, the "proper" University I'm moving to next year after two years at college still looks very big and official (and a wee bit intimidating) so I wasn't sure if that stuff was usually allowed.

Careful using the term "proper" university.

foreveranon

Lokolo wrote: »

Careful using the term "proper" university.

I'm not sure how else to put it ;-) I've been studying at a local college (accredited by Sunderland for the foundation degree, yada yada) which well. I forgot how big Universities WERE until the Open Day? (Good-big? Shiny big. But still a little intimidating.)

CharliLynx

foreveranon wrote: »

They are? I'm a mature student so Northumbria, the "proper" University I'm moving to next year after two years at college still looks very big and official (and a wee bit intimidating) so I wasn't sure if that stuff was usually allowed.

My uni will put pretty much anything up as long as it has their marketing stamp on. So you have to go up to the marketing department, get it OK'ed by them (ie no explicit images or gambling or such) and they stamp it, and you can display it.

foreveranon

CharliLynx wrote: »

My uni will put pretty much anything up as long as it has their marketing stamp on. So you have to go up to the marketing department, get it OK'ed by them (ie no explicit images or gambling or such) and they stamp it, and you can display it.

That sounds.. actually, a lot less scary and official than I was expecting! Thank you!