Selling Digital ProductsThe story of Perch CMS

Rachel AndrewDev.Ocean, November 2012

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So what is Perch?

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A Self-hosted PHP & MySQL CMS.

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A simple use case

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Complete control of your design and mark-up

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Bootstrapped from our existing service business

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Do what you know

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Build something that you need.

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We need “a really little CMS”

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... other people might need this too

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Bootstrapping is easy if you can do most of the

work yourself.

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Use evenings, weekends, downtime in your

business to work on your product.

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For us, the code came free.

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What can you do that only costs your time and

not money?

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Pay for things that matter most

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We paid for User Interface design work.

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We paid a solicitor to create a software

license.

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We paid for top quality hosting for the marketing site.

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Balance the “Minimum Viable Product” with the

fact that first impressions count

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Perch was making a profit after 24 hours

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Your brand is incredibly important in a crowded

market.

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People remember we are the CMS with the

bird.

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Great support is free marketing.

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We offer unlimited, free support.

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When deciding product pricing, take support

time into account.

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Listen to your customers

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What will make the most difference to the

most people?

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Be open to change but don’t forget who you are

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Supporting self-hosted software

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People have terrible hosting

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Lack of server resources

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Baffling configurations

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People want to host PHP on Windows

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Web hosts passing the blame

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People have crazy working practices

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Stop developing sites in sub-folders!

http://allinthehead.com/retro/352/stop-building-sites-in-subfolders

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People don’t understand what is related to your

product.

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We have to use what is commonly available

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Put your customers first

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“A business that makes nothing but money is a

poor business.”

- Henry Ford -

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thank you.

@rachelandrew

rachelandrew.co.ukgrabaperch.comedgeofmyseat.com

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