Should I Build It Should I Build It
25 Aug 2025
Writing Productivity

A tool that allows any one, not only tech people, to publish content ...

...online. Simpler than every current alternative, especially Wordpress

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.

Your are here

Your idea of creating a simpler content publishing tool, especially compared to WordPress, enters a crowded space. The fact that we found 5 similar products indicates that there's demand, but also considerable competition. Since the average engagement on these similar products is low, it means most people didn't find enough value to comment, which isn't a great sign. Given this competitive landscape and lukewarm engagement, you're entering what we call the 'Swamp' – a market filled with mediocre, unloved solutions. Standing out will be an uphill battle unless you offer something radically different. Without any net use or buy signals, it's hard to gauge public perception, but tread carefully.

Recommendations

  1. Thoroughly research why existing 'simpler than WordPress' solutions haven't achieved widespread adoption. What are their shortcomings? What are users explicitly complaining about? Understanding their failures is crucial before investing time and resources into a new product. Pay special attention to the criticism summaries from the similar products to understand what users didn't like.
  2. If you decide to proceed, identify a specific niche or user group that existing platforms are demonstrably failing to serve. Don't try to be everything to everyone. Perhaps focus on a particular type of content (e.g., visual portfolios, audio blogs) or a specific demographic (e.g., local businesses, educators).
  3. Consider creating tools or plugins that enhance existing platforms like WordPress, rather than trying to replace them entirely. This allows you to tap into an established user base and address specific pain points without building a whole new ecosystem. From the similar product analyses, look at how people were asking for integrations; maybe that's a good place to start.
  4. Explore adjacent problems that might be more promising. For example, instead of building a simpler content platform, could you build a tool that helps users repurpose existing content across multiple platforms, or a tool that automatically optimizes content for different audiences?
  5. Focus on exceptionally easy onboarding. Since the idea is to be simpler than anything else, the moment a user encounters difficulty, they will abandon the product. Don't underestimate the importance of hand-holding, even if that means one-on-one onboarding.
  6. Since engagement tends to be low for this idea category, and the general sentiment is either neutral or negative, make sure to gather explicit feedback from your users early and often. Have mechanisms in place that encourage users to suggest features and identify pain points. Also, make sure you have customer support ready to help people right away!
  7. Explore alternatives to full automation and instead, focus on semi-automated workflows that still incorporate human oversight. Consider focusing on the quality of the work output in your marketing, instead of the speed, to combat potential negative sentiment or criticism.

Questions

  1. What fundamental assumption are you making that leads you to believe you can succeed where others have failed in creating a truly 'simpler' content publishing platform? Can you articulate what 'simpler' truly means for your target user?
  2. Given the low engagement observed in similar products, what specific strategies will you implement to foster a vibrant and active community around your platform and to get real feedback?
  3. How will you measure and validate that your platform is genuinely 'simpler' and more user-friendly than existing alternatives? What metrics will you track beyond just sign-up rates and initial usage?

Your are here

Your idea of creating a simpler content publishing tool, especially compared to WordPress, enters a crowded space. The fact that we found 5 similar products indicates that there's demand, but also considerable competition. Since the average engagement on these similar products is low, it means most people didn't find enough value to comment, which isn't a great sign. Given this competitive landscape and lukewarm engagement, you're entering what we call the 'Swamp' – a market filled with mediocre, unloved solutions. Standing out will be an uphill battle unless you offer something radically different. Without any net use or buy signals, it's hard to gauge public perception, but tread carefully.

Recommendations

  1. Thoroughly research why existing 'simpler than WordPress' solutions haven't achieved widespread adoption. What are their shortcomings? What are users explicitly complaining about? Understanding their failures is crucial before investing time and resources into a new product. Pay special attention to the criticism summaries from the similar products to understand what users didn't like.
  2. If you decide to proceed, identify a specific niche or user group that existing platforms are demonstrably failing to serve. Don't try to be everything to everyone. Perhaps focus on a particular type of content (e.g., visual portfolios, audio blogs) or a specific demographic (e.g., local businesses, educators).
  3. Consider creating tools or plugins that enhance existing platforms like WordPress, rather than trying to replace them entirely. This allows you to tap into an established user base and address specific pain points without building a whole new ecosystem. From the similar product analyses, look at how people were asking for integrations; maybe that's a good place to start.
  4. Explore adjacent problems that might be more promising. For example, instead of building a simpler content platform, could you build a tool that helps users repurpose existing content across multiple platforms, or a tool that automatically optimizes content for different audiences?
  5. Focus on exceptionally easy onboarding. Since the idea is to be simpler than anything else, the moment a user encounters difficulty, they will abandon the product. Don't underestimate the importance of hand-holding, even if that means one-on-one onboarding.
  6. Since engagement tends to be low for this idea category, and the general sentiment is either neutral or negative, make sure to gather explicit feedback from your users early and often. Have mechanisms in place that encourage users to suggest features and identify pain points. Also, make sure you have customer support ready to help people right away!
  7. Explore alternatives to full automation and instead, focus on semi-automated workflows that still incorporate human oversight. Consider focusing on the quality of the work output in your marketing, instead of the speed, to combat potential negative sentiment or criticism.

Questions

  1. What fundamental assumption are you making that leads you to believe you can succeed where others have failed in creating a truly 'simpler' content publishing platform? Can you articulate what 'simpler' truly means for your target user?
  2. Given the low engagement observed in similar products, what specific strategies will you implement to foster a vibrant and active community around your platform and to get real feedback?
  3. How will you measure and validate that your platform is genuinely 'simpler' and more user-friendly than existing alternatives? What metrics will you track beyond just sign-up rates and initial usage?

  • Confidence: Medium
    • Number of similar products: 5
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 3
  • Net use signal: 3.8%
    • Positive use signal: 10.0%
    • Negative use signal: 6.2%
  • Net buy signal: -6.2%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 6.2%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

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