My friend told me how much she hated the tedious and frustrating task of updating her “Link in Bio” website for Instagram every day. None of the affordable options provided a layout just like Instagram, and the site she used required her to wait for an animation after every click. I watched her use it, and it looked irritating. She just wanted to show her followers on Instagram where they can find detailed stories and comment on her blog.
I wondered if other blog owners might have the same problem.
So, I gave her an html template with the layout she wanted, and she immediately ditched the other site. Just having the right layout was enough, and she was willing to pay to use a site that would make her daily task easier. We talked about automation, but decided to go with a more straightforward approach that she could trust.
I built the site in python with FastAPI, Vue.js, and SQLAlchemy core, skipping all of the features that weren’t necessary (like self-service registration) to prove the idea and get quick feedback.
I was very pleased with this approach, as it protected me against over-engineering the site and enabled me to create software that my friend loves to use without taking on much risk. It was validating to see the success of an iterative, “release early, release often” approach.
Here is what my friend had to say about it:
I told Justin about the issues I was having with other commercial services, both with their layout and how difficult they were to use, and he quickly built a platform to solve that. He also made incremental improvements as I used it. Justinmy.bio is exactly what I needed to save time and frustration with Instagram conversion. The layout is closer to the format of Instagram than any other service I could find, it’s so straightforward and easy to use, and I’m really pleased with the features.
Celebitchy Owner
Go check it out! justinmy.bio
