Moonfruit Lounge - Moonfruit history - Comments

Moonfruit history - chapter I - 1999/2000 - Jana

Jana — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:18:56 +0100

hi,

like your story. :-)

wish you all the best
jana

Celebrate 10 years of Moonfruit and win a MacBook Pro - birdwatcher

birdwatcher — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:17:06 +0100

happy birthday moonfruit here is my present http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUq6...

Celebrate 10 years of Moonfruit and win a MacBook Pro - joe

joe — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:50:07 +0100

Hi Drew,

Thanks for your detailed note. Our subscribers are really at the heart of what we offer and the people we aim to please. We spend 90% of our resources on development and customer support, upgrading and supporting the software (free customers don't get support), and only a limited amount gets spent on marketing.

We have been blown away by the success of this Twitter campaign. The reason we chose Twitter was because it can go viral so quickly and is easy to pass on. Something that the other networks don't do so quickly or easily.

Both traditional marketing and the provision of free sites leads to more customers signing up. With more sign-ups we can hire more people and develop more quickly. We've just added to the Support team and now have ticket times back to a few hours and the Dev team will be added to again after the summer.

So thank you again for your feedback. We do hear you and want the same things you do - an awesome site builder with a full feature set and world class support. That's what we're aiming for and we're on the road to it!

Take care,

Joe

Celebrate 10 years of Moonfruit and win a MacBook Pro - hudmond

hudmond — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:29:46 +0100

yay for #moonfruit .. wait I'm not on twitter... hmmmm clever marketing ;)

Celebrate 10 years of Moonfruit and win a MacBook Pro - Phil

Phil — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:43:09 +0100

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOONFRUIT!!

Ten years, wow, that means I've been with you for nearly TEN years!!

I love Moonfruit, thanks to you, you've made me join Twitter for this competition. I'm abit lost with Twitter, it seems very confusing. Twitter should pay you for signing us up.

I hope my lack of Twitter skills will not ruin my chances of winning.

Hooray Moonfruit from Phil

http://www.phili.co.uk
http://www.louise-redknapp.co.uk

p.s. Geocities is closing down!

Celebrate 10 years of Moonfruit and win a MacBook Pro - Drew

Drew — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:20:43 +0100

We wouldn't be here today without all you wonderful people building websites with us and allowing us to support you in your online adventures. So a special thanks to the 2m+ of you who've built a site with us!

You may not like all what I have to say but here goes anyway (reality check)

well done for reaching 10 years I remember though you nearly going bust...

Twitter has only been around for a very short amount of time so not sure what that has anything to do with you or your Birthday....

Also well done for having a competion however my only gripe is not everyone is or indeed wants to use Twitter ( there is enough sites out there without anymore)

It would of been a lot fairer to use other established websites as well as Twitter such as myspace facebook even youtube etc etc

All I can see about the competion is for others to advertise Moonfruit on your behalf free advertising for you and really has nothing to do with 10 years or a birthday....

You pay thanks for (So a special thanks to the 2m+ of you who've built a site with us!)

However 2 million do not pay (it is the paying members you should be paying thanks for as they are the ones who piggyback free websites now)

I really think you should concentrate more on the paying customers you have now some very very loyal who have paid from day 1 and offer them something even for free...

How about those that have paid for there sites for say 5 plus years to get some freebies ????

I am in all favour of good new things but sometimes it seems all these surprises gifts treats freebies are always for new customers ...

I notice now you offer free websites without even any advertising I find this unfair as a paying member at least an advert pays for itself...

Also if to many people sign up for free websites is this non commerical and also a drain on servers etc for those that pay who want a fast reliable connected service...

I think you should not loose faith or hope but also think how you nearly went bust before !
I have to admit I am seeing some repeat patterns happing,,,,

I am not trying to blow your candles out on your Birthday ( I think constructive thoughts) good or bad help the client to understand there customer more...

I wish you every success for the next 10 years ( I want you to do well) but please do not loose sight into the paying members who pay your wages and also pay now for the free websites...

I pay £15.99 a month for my websites.. however what is actually stopping me signing up several times using differnt emails and getting my free websites ??? Nothing....

Area's that you need to work on is sorting out some of the bugs in the software you still have and communicating and replying more quicker to customer emails and forum messages of help and support...

Everything else is just spot on but do not loose sight who and what is your market....

Yours Drew

Celebrate 10 years of Moonfruit and win a MacBook Pro - joe

joe — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:30:05 +0100

Yes, we enjoy svelte things ;-)

Celebrate 10 years of Moonfruit and win a MacBook Pro - nick

nick — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:02:35 +0100

wow you actually used the word "Svelte" thats one that rarely comes up

Celebrate 10 years of Moonfruit and win a MacBook Pro - Drew

Drew — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:57:34 +0100

Happy Birthday:-)

Celebrate 10 years of Moonfruit and win a MacBook Pro - Keller

Keller — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:03:36 +0100

Yay! Happy Birthday Moonfruit! Here's to the next 10 years!

Meet the Moonfruiters - Kia

Kia — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:15:08 +0100

Is Erik single?

Meet the Moonfruiters - Toronto Printing

Toronto Printing — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:28:20 +0100

great post!

Crunchy times - how are you? - Leonardo

Leonardo — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 15:10:11 +0000

Hello Jo

thanks for this article, as you know one of the most dangerous numbers in business is 1, if I base my business around just 1 supplier Moonfruit and it goes belly up I will also lose my web business. are there any insurances in place or back up plans to avoid such a failing.

I do feel safe with you, I cant comprehend nearly 2million websites being wiped out but I would like your comments on this.

Best wishes

Leonardo

Crunchy times - how are you? - hasti

hasti — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:22:01 +0000

Hi Joe I am new to moonfruit. I've been advised by professionals to d a test run first. After reading comments and your article I can see why you come highly recommended.
I am warmed by your optimism and past resilience. I am looking forward to working with moonfruit.

Hasti

Crunchy times - how are you? - tantris

tantris — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:51:18 +0000

Good article Joe. I agree totally with you about the need to move early and doing the needful now instead of later.
We hear daily on the news how the UK is going to be hit much worse than other countries and how we'll have to grin and bare it. Obviously on the net we are at an advantage as plenty of business comes from overseas. In fact the fall in the pound has actually been pretty good for me on www.tattoodesignreport.com
Rick

Crunchy times - how are you? - Arif

Arif — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:03:41 +0000

Tim - excellent and inspiring post - and Joe - nice to see the man at the helm (arguably) being possessed of such insight and savvy.

Before the media started to run with this 'recession' lark - I'd got the ball rolling to start making websites for a living - having done it as a hobby only for a while.

Cue my exiting a 9-year career at the FSA (UK financial regulator) in order to use the gift of Moonfruit to allow small and some medium-sized businesses to have a decent website. Much in parallel with what informed the original Moonfruit vision - 'share your passion' - I felt strongly that current web-design fees should not prevent small businesses from having a website. Hence my 'affordable' offering.

Gathering prospects as I went up and down the M1 during my many years of commuting from Northampton to Canary Wharf (you know - nice van, nice graphics, mobile, landline, generic e-mail - but no website!) - I haven't looked back since!

It's still 'start-up' - but the relationship between input and output seems to be pretty direct and proportional, thankfully.

So thanks again guys - and especially Tim - for your reassuring angle on things (which applies to me and my new business totally), cos as we know, this 'crisis' thing - it's all in the (collective) mind.

Arif

Crunchy times - how are you? - Drew

Drew — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:35:02 +0000

I know people turn to the net however I am also worried a little about the next year or so it already seems people are losing there jobs if this is the case people will not have the money to splash around or even bother to build or even buy a website hosting package etc also I remember moonfruit having a lot of problems back in 2001/2 the .dom boom boost and then you charged people for there sites my only worry now is you now offer free websites again with advertising I wonder is this section is a threat and a burdon to moonfruit now and if everyone does not bother with paying for website and only uses the ree ones like you have how will you substain from not going under ? do oyu have enough paying members to help you come to think of it how many paying members do you have ? I get the £15.99 a month package however if i loose my job (there is a risk and already talk of cut backs) then of course I am going to have to downgrade which of course means less revenue to you I hope you can see my concerns !

We of course would be a lot better off as a country if we stopped paying a billion pounds a week to get our soldiers shot and killed in areas of conflict in iraq and afgansitan but then i suppose that is a different story lol

Anyway like my last post said I love moonfruit and have been loyal since around 2002 and will always :--)

Crunchy times - how are you? - Tim Fifield

Tim Fifield — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:30:38 +0000

Good article Joe!

They say that more millionaires are created in recessions than at any other time. Why? Because people need to get creative and focus on needs rather than wants. Companies NEED more sales to survive, they NEED to get competitive advantages, they NEED to add value.

The web is an inexpensive way to trade (especially with MF) but businesses still need professional advice to get a decent return on their investment (however small). If, like me, you're a MF Reseller you should see a rise in business as more start up businesses begin out of the ashes of redundancies and existing clients are looking to raise their profile higher.

Counter to current thinking I'm optimistic about the future - but you NEED to get creative!

Meet the Moonfruiters - BikiniJoe

BikiniJoe — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:54:43 +0000

Seems we need more OSSIE...to get that Shopping Cart Store thing going.

http://BikiniJoe.com
http://LegalBeach.com
http://JoeAmerica.org
http://JoeThePlunger.com
http://FakeNewYorkTimes.com
http://GoDummy.com
etc...

Meet the Moonfruiters - Tim

Tim — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:04:59 +0000

I feel a revival coming on - hey if Howard Jones can do it...

Or maybe a tribute band..Sexual Chocolate Lite... sounds the same but with less calories.

And relax.