Nice to meet you. This is Kato. Although my main business is an infrastructure engineer, I do Distribute technical doujinshi in technical books and personally develop Web services.
Now, suddenly, do you personally develop and publish web services?
And are you having troubles such as "I developed it, but no one uses it" or "I want to monetize it, but it doesn't work".
The number of people who personally develop Web services using languages such as Python, Ruby, PHP and their frameworks and publish them on Firebase etc. is increasing year by year, and there are many opportunities to talk with them, so I often hear such voices. ..
Every time I hear it, I shout in my heart, "That's normal! Nobody uses that shit service."
The conversations that the majority of people who personally develop Web services, including myself, have conversations such as "I developed it using the language of XX and the framework of XX" or "Using Firebase". It just talks about ** what kind of technology was used to develop it **, such as "~~" and "Front end is □□ ~~".
"You guys want to monetize? Don't you talk about marketing?" "Because it is a wonderful service (self-proclaimed), do you think that if you keep silent, the number of users will increase and scale?" "I'm saying that I'm having trouble monetizing, but I haven't acted or studied for that."
I naturally started to distance myself from them.
To put it in my own words, there are wonderful services (such as this slip development app) and marshmallows (question box) that have helped improve business operations. There are services that many people have used, but most of the engineers said, "I came up with an interesting service. It's going to be popular!" Or "These people are surely worried about this, so these services can solve the problem. It must be ". ** It is the garbage produced as a result of realizing my delusion in the brain **, so it ends in depopulation.
Then, how can we develop a service that increases the number of users, and as a result, monetization succeeds?
After researching this, I arrived at the idea of creating a service that ** implements functions that allow users to "make money" and "satisfy their desires."
As a proof of that, Youtuber is increasing like a sword after the rain, Nico students are reincarnating to VTuber one after another and distributing it on YouTube and Mirrativ, etc. Many writers have published novels, painters and manga artists post illustrations and manga on Twitter and Pixiv, and many bloggers still post articles on free blogs and WordPress.
To tell the truth, everyone uses those services from ** "I want to make a lot of money (advertising income, throwing money, making books, making manga, etc.)" ** "I want to satisfy the desire for approval" ** I'm working hard.
And the web service that can be used as a reference for implementing them is ** Free Novel Posting Site **.
The details will be described later, but it is because you can both "make money" and "satisfy your desires" by the mechanism of returning profits and the interaction function between writers and users.
If you want to create a Web service that succeeds in attracting customers and monetizing quickly, you have the universal desire of human beings such as "I want a lot of money", "I want to be noticed, I want to be pampered, I want to be popular" (violating the law) Why don't you develop something that users can satisfy (to the extent that it does not)?
Here, we will introduce a service that allows you to return profits to the submitted work and give money to the artist.
In addition to this, you can also make money with services such as BOOTH where you can sell your own novels and illustrations, creator support such as Youtube's super chat membership and FANBOX, and throwing money services, so use it as a reference for service design. How is it?
Web service operators can make their own money (how to charge non-charged people) first ** regardless of whether it is a one-time charge or a monthly charge. Besides, I think it's something else, such as "customer experience" or "customer success".
Talk about customers only after building a mechanism that benefits users (+ monetization as a result), such as "returning profits to users" or "providing a mechanism to get compensation for the created work" Isn't it qualified?
Advertising revenue is distributed according to the PV of the work and the number of viewers. The novel posting site "scraiv" created by Peing (question box) developer Seseri has introduced this mechanism. Besides, Alpha Police, Kakuyomu, Novella, etc. have introduced the same mechanism.
The distribution of advertising revenue does not mean that the advertising links in the artist's work are distributed when they are clicked like Google Adsense or when the product is purchased like an affiliate.
The standard of advertising revenue distribution is different for each service, but it is a mechanism that purely ** revenue increases as the work is read **.
By charging the reader, we have introduced a mechanism to read the latest story posted by the writer before the release date, and 40% of the charged amount is returned to the writer.
Only Machi Rano has introduced this.
Like Youtube's Super Chat, it is a mechanism that allows readers to throw money to the author.
The throwing function is implemented by Novel Up Plus, Magnet Macrolink, Kakuyomu, etc.
Excellent works are a mechanism to hold a web contest on the site with benefits such as receiving prize money and making it into a book, so that writers can apply for it.
Kakuyomu, AlphaPolis, Everystar and others hold regular web contests.
From here, I will explain using ** Maslow's five-step theory of desire **. If you want to know more, please see the following article by ferret. Explanation of Maslow's five-step theory of desire with figures! Introducing services tailored to each stage
And the mechanism explained in "Making Money" is for ** writers ** on the novel posting site, but regarding the satisfaction of desires, the desires of both ** writers ** and ** readers ** (approval needs or writers / writers / It is a mechanism that satisfies the desire to connect with readers, the desire to belong to the community, etc.).
Otherwise, it will become a hellish service (no matter how many works you post, PV, bookmarks, and impressions will not increase) that there are only writers who want to satisfy their money and desires and no readers.
It is a desire for belonging and affection for a group. You will be satisfied by gaining affiliation with the community and connection with people.
Features that meet this requirement include the Novel Days collaboration novel (creating works with other users) and Everystar's community features.
In addition, Hameln has a function called "Search Bulletin Board", and if you ask a question about the work you are looking for, other users will tell you in reply, so you can get excited about the work there.
The desire to be respected, recognized, and praised by others. Specifically, I want to read the work, I want the readers to support me, and so on.
With Magnet Macrolink, points called "magnetic fields" are automatically accumulated when the reader reads the work or the writer engages in creative activities. A writer can promote his work on the site by consuming the magnetic field (points) he has acquired and the magnetic field (points) given by the reader.
In Novel Up Plus, there is a mechanism to support writers and works by presenting points that can be obtained by logging in to writers, and sending impression comments and impression stamps.
It's also important that you have a wealth of rankings and pickups, and that you have many opportunities to expose your work. For example, Novel Up Plus has a pick-up of new works, featured works, recommended works by readers, etc., and Hameln has multiple rankings such as comprehensive, short stories, original (works), derivative works, and R18.
In Kakuyomu, special features (articles introducing works selected by Kakuyomu official reviewers) and pick-ups of works of each genre are released, making it easier for many works to be exposed to the sun.
It is a desire to pursue one's potential, strive to improve skills and abilities, and realize one's ideal image as a writer.
Tsugikuru has a "text analysis system that uses artificial intelligence," and AI objectively analyzes the work.
Also, with Novel Up Plus, you can improve your account level and title by posting novels, reading novels, writing impressions, and so on.
I wrote about the importance of introducing a desire fulfillment mechanism, but there are some prerequisites that you need to know in order to build it.
It means that the desire for approval is bloated **.
What this means is that, for example, there is a writer who has collected 1 million PV, and the comment section of his work is full of acclaim.
If you do so, you will become too accustomed to praise, and you will not be able to satisfy your approval needs with about 1 million PV anymore. You can't drop the standard value needed to satisfy your desires, and you won't feel anything unless you collect PV and praise.
What's more, the trouble is that when the number of PVs and praises we've been getting has slowed down or declined, we'll be demoralized at once.
Also, suppose that the work of a certain writer digs into the top of the ranking and collects a lot of PV numbers and praise comments, satisfying his desire for approval.
When something that has an advantage over me in another aspect (booking has been decided, contest prizes, etc.) appears in front of him, the same ranking, number of PVs, and praise comments will be given to him. Even if it is sent to the work, it will not be able to satisfy the approval desire.
Therefore, after introducing a mechanism to satisfy the approval desire, it will be necessary to add more methods for satisfying the desire for those who can satisfy the desire.
The method introduced this time is not the correct answer.
There are other ways to get a lot of users, and I hope you will study them.
However, there are "bad moves that Web service operators should never do".
That is, ** preferential treatment only to some users ** and ** over-pushing products and advertisements operated **.
** Preferential treatment only for some users ** means, for example, on a novel posting site, "Post a banner of a writer's work that earns PV in a prominent place on the top page, back up the book, etc. (on the official blog etc.) ) Supporting sales promotion, "getting a job through the operation," "giving a high-class meal in the name of a meeting with a writer who can earn PV," and so on. Refers to the situation in which you are.
** Too much promotion of managed products / advertisements ** is a situation where, for example, on a novel posting site, "the top page is full of book advertisements, etc., making it difficult for users to use."
In addition, it is better to do it so that it is not depopulated rather than a bad move, and it is better to design a service that "gives users the opportunity to pay attention as equally as possible" and "rewards the efforts of users".
For example, on a novel posting site, not only existing rankings (based on PV and bookmarks), but also rankings only for writers with a short history of activity and rankings divided into genres are prepared, and works and niches of writers with a long history of activity. The management picks up and introduces works with strong fans, although the PV is not high in a niche genre.
In a nutshell, ** novel posting sites **, ** Youtube **, ** Hatena blogs **, the ranking of platforms for posting some kind of content is
** The current situation is that the top ranking players earn more PV and bookmarks by getting on the ranking and continue to be on the ranking **
And in such a situation, it is "** strong personality and talented person " or " who originally has a large number of fans (entertainers and other novels) that can push out the top veterans who are standing side by side and dig into the top of the ranking. Collaborate with people who belong to the office that is recommended by the box or who can earn the number of video views and the number of simultaneous connections of distribution (VTuber's Nijisanji) And Hololive) ** ”.
I'm sure that the readers of Tsuyotsuyo writers and self-proclaimed intellectuals who have achieved commercial publishing will say, "Because there is not enough effort of human beings who cannot rank. Because they are not talented." Youtuber / VTuber with more than 100,000 registrants and Hatena bloggers who open online salons will agree that it is.
That may be correct from the user's point of view, but as a Web service operator, ** even if you continue to make efforts (developing the concept of the work, posting every day, returning comments, etc.), it will be ranked. We must consider the risk of increasing the number of writers ** who cannot leave and ** depopulate **.
If your web service isn't the only one in the world, writers will move on to similar services from their competitors.
And, if you don't take care of ** works that don't look good (such as reincarnated in another world of the so-called deaf system) and readers who get tired of rankings filled with writers **, they will become similar services of competitors like writers. I will move.
As with the mechanism that rewards care for this, it is necessary to have a mechanism to dig up works by creating rankings and picking up different from existing ones.