For this new tool I’m working on, Startyk, there are a few features that I would love to use on my blog. I want this tool to be helpful to writers to understand their audience better, get discovered more easily, and for readers to have a filter, so that they don’t get overwhelmed by the amount of resources out there.
And I want it to integrate in the writer’s platform. They should be the owners of their content, not a third party. While the extra functionalities will live somewhere else, I pledge that the data will all be available to the user for as long as possible for me, possibly forever even if the platform were to close down.
Let’s go into the details of what I want to actually achieve.
The MVP: A rising star
The very first released version will be a star counter. What does that mean ? A little star that you can add to your blog posts, for people to click on if they liked your post. Nothing more. A very simple addition leading bigger features.
Along with this, the writer would have a dashboard on Startyk to show the list of its posts, and the number of stars each currently have. This extra feature allows to quickly see which posts performed the best. I feel like this is necessary to get some visibility on your blog, and releasing without this would make it very tedious for the writer.
Why have this star when you could just see traffic ?
Well, are you sure that the people who come to your blog actually like what you wrote ? By making the little extra effort to click on it, it would mean “I think that this is worth reading”, giving you better feedback on what works and what does not.
Your best writing, right there
With this core in place, the next evolution would be to have an extra widget with your 5 most starred posts.
The readers coming onto your blog now have an entrypoint to your writing. Have you ever been to a website only to go away because you did not know what to read next ? Not an issue for your audience anymore.
This ranking would be in constant evolution, a reflection of who reads you, and of your content. Someone getting on your blog probably got intrigued by one of your posts, and would get the best of you right away, as seen by your community.
Make your blog visible
The next (killer) feature would be to create a listing of blogs posts by topic.
Of course, the posts from the big players will have the most stars and may rank among the top, which is why I want to integrate a way to put the smaller blogs in the spotlight. The idea, which I’m not sure would work, would be to have a ratio between the number of stars and the traffic. The higher this ratio, the more likely your post struck a chord.
Sorting will be available with the following criterias
- Ratio of stars over traffic
- Total number of stars
- Stars growth rate per day / hour
- Time (just get all the latest posts)
See only what you (probably) want to read
With a base of writer publishing often, it would make sense that the readers may want to see only a subset of posts, or they would get overwhelmed. This next step is about the reader finding out interesting content, without having to read every blog post around. They could:
- Subscribe to specific blogs
- Get a daily/weekly/monthly digest of their subscribed blogs
- Get digests based on filters (Ex: weekly digest of the 5 most starred blogs posts in the latest week in golang)
On top of that, if you are registered as a reader on Startyk, any post you star becomes part of your history. Want to find this post you read 2 years ago and really loved ? The list you have to sort through now gets much shorter.
Not just stars anymore
Having a way to post comments directly on the blog post can be extremely valuable for the author to get some feedback. Offering a very light comments widget, allowing to see the comments from the blog and from the listing on Startyk would help in that regard.
For the ones who prefer to avoid comments, a feedback widget would also be available, allowing to engage in private conversations about your post, or your blog in general.
And then…
I cannot see further than that now. And that is just a plan today, which probably will evolve with what the readers and writers want. I have a lot to learn, and to make happen. Then I can keep planning even bigger.
If you see something that you find interesting in this, or straight up don’t like it, please let me know, I’d be happy to discuss the topic with you
Oh, and go to the Startyk landing page and register to the newsletter to get updates on the status of the tool, to be the first to be able to access it !