I just see stock photos and PR nightmare. What’s the catch?

I just hear a complaint. What's supposedly missing?

Even just skimming the first couple paragraphs the concept was conveyed to me, which is all I expect from a piece of text.

I don't know if the idea as novel as presented, but it sounds perfectly interesting to me and it's a new idea at least to me, and not a bad one either.

But even if the idea was bad, this complaint is about the post itself, and I don't see anything wrong with the post, in that it delivers it's message quickly and clearly.

(Post author and HN submitter here)

I'm a little confused - did you mean the linked blog post has stock photos and looks like a PR nightmare?

If so, maybe I'm just a little biased here but the blog/website looks pretty nice, IMO :). Is it really that bad?

If you meant that allowing anyone to publish posts or add files to your blog/file store could be a risk, you can choose to allow only specific emails that you trust to post blogs/add files. Hope that clears it up. You can also hide posts after submission and files in your File Store are by default private - these are your safety nets.

I mean: It looks like there’s no product behind that, all blog posts are just about laying out a vision with stock photos, and illustrations that have zero meaning. This + design of the website looks unprofessional and I’m not convinced to enter my email address to see what could happen in the future.

If you choose this approach at least try showing actual footage of it like you’re showing on your Twitter account. I know they are static designs so at least change example.com to something that looks like a live one used by others.

It doesn’t have to be perfect yet by being authentic you’ll have way more success. :)

Okay, I see what you mean.

TBH,

1. for blogging, the proof is the PretzekBox blog itself - I write all my posts in Gmail and email it in.

2. for email, the photo you see on the main landing page is of my PretzelBox for one of my domains

3. I have about 40 files in my File Store from where I share links with people who need documents for me. E.g., here's an image of me writing this message @ https://pretzelbox.cc/cdn/lkmn7s5/Screenshot%202022-05-01%20...

I know I am just some guy on the internet and you don't have to believe me but PretzelBox is very much a real product.

None of those points matter as this is not how it works, and you have few seconds to convince someone who visits your website without second chance as you have on HN. Potential clients will bounce of your website as I did without even question anything.

EDIT: To help out a bit check this resources: - https://greatlandingpagecopy.com/ - https://www.nickkolenda.com/free-guides/ - https://marketingexamples.com/

Website design at this point doesn’t matter that much, yet words are important. Try incorporating copywriting changes and show actual product. That will help more than writing PR blog posts and post them over the internet. :)

Good luck!