Comments on: The Underbelly of a Web App http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/ Everyone needs a hug. Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:33:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Ryan Campbell http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20690 Ryan Campbell Wed, 09 May 2007 11:17:08 +0000 http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20690 <p>Tony, that could probably be an essay all on its own. Right now, word of mouth is huge for us. We do our best to provide awesome cusotmer service, and that goes a long way. We have done a decent amount of SEO (only the clean stuff) and it has worked out quite well. We're now on the first page for many of our search related terms. Two things we haven't done at all are separate landing pages, and advertising. We will be getitng into both of those within the next 2 to 3 months, so we'll see how they work out. Chris has all of the stats on this stuff, so maybe he'll write up on it one day.</p> Tony, that could probably be an essay all on its own. Right now, word of mouth is huge for us. We do our best to provide awesome cusotmer service, and that goes a long way. We have done a decent amount of SEO (only the clean stuff) and it has worked out quite well. We’re now on the first page for many of our search related terms. Two things we haven’t done at all are separate landing pages, and advertising. We will be getitng into both of those within the next 2 to 3 months, so we’ll see how they work out. Chris has all of the stats on this stuff, so maybe he’ll write up on it one day.

]]> By: Catherine Erdal http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20688 Catherine Erdal Wed, 09 May 2007 09:26:59 +0000 http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20688 <p>I 'stumbled' across your site whilst actually searching for something else, however the well written and useful articles made me stop read and subscribe. The latest "The underbelly of a web app" I enjoyed not just because it was interesting but I found that the content actually applied beyond the scope of the original title with many of the points raised equally applicable to any area of good customer service.</p> I ‘stumbled’ across your site whilst actually searching for something else, however the well written and useful articles made me stop read and subscribe. The latest “The underbelly of a web app” I enjoyed not just because it was interesting but I found that the content actually applied beyond the scope of the original title with many of the points raised equally applicable to any area of good customer service.

]]> By: Tony Wright http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20681 Tony Wright Tue, 08 May 2007 20:14:54 +0000 http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20681 <p>Hey guys-- would love to hear about the "attracting users" portion. Wufoo doesn't inherently create a large "net" of SEO optimized pages like a lot of other startups (forums, wikis, blogs, vertical search sites, etc).</p> <p>What advice do you have to bring in folks besides the occasion news mention and adwords?</p> Hey guys— would love to hear about the “attracting users” portion. Wufoo doesn’t inherently create a large “net” of SEO optimized pages like a lot of other startups (forums, wikis, blogs, vertical search sites, etc).

What advice do you have to bring in folks besides the occasion news mention and adwords?

]]> By: Ryan Campbell http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20678 Ryan Campbell Tue, 08 May 2007 11:15:17 +0000 http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20678 <p>Really depends on what you're building and what you're comfortable with. We've done both approaches and they both work. One DB per account has the advantage of isolating problems and keeping things organized. But it also takes a good hit on the RAM of your server (especially during backups) so you will need about 4gigs more per server than a standard approach. I would make the choice depending on what you are doing. If each account can reasonably grow outside the limits of one table, the multiple DB's might make sense.</p> Really depends on what you’re building and what you’re comfortable with. We’ve done both approaches and they both work. One DB per account has the advantage of isolating problems and keeping things organized. But it also takes a good hit on the RAM of your server (especially during backups) so you will need about 4gigs more per server than a standard approach. I would make the choice depending on what you are doing. If each account can reasonably grow outside the limits of one table, the multiple DB’s might make sense.

]]> By: Warren http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20676 Warren Tue, 08 May 2007 08:47:30 +0000 http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20676 <p>One thing we have been trying to decide, is whether to create a database per account, or run x accounts in the one database.</p> <p>Any advice on this?</p> One thing we have been trying to decide, is whether to create a database per account, or run x accounts in the one database.

Any advice on this?

]]> By: Ryan Campbell http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20675 Ryan Campbell Mon, 07 May 2007 21:16:22 +0000 http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20675 <p>For inactive accounts, the method will change greatly based on your setup. For us, we have a master table with all accounts, so we had to add a 1 or 0 column to it showing if it is inactive or not. Then, we had to create a file structure to store our backups in. In some cases you can do a mysqldump for the rets of the data, and in others you might have to run queries to build a custom sql backup file. The goal is to store all customer information in an SQL backup file, so that is where the difference will be per application. Then for the restore, all missing tables are recreated, and then the batch file is executed again, and the customer is flagegd as active again.</p> For inactive accounts, the method will change greatly based on your setup. For us, we have a master table with all accounts, so we had to add a 1 or 0 column to it showing if it is inactive or not. Then, we had to create a file structure to store our backups in. In some cases you can do a mysqldump for the rets of the data, and in others you might have to run queries to build a custom sql backup file. The goal is to store all customer information in an SQL backup file, so that is where the difference will be per application. Then for the restore, all missing tables are recreated, and then the batch file is executed again, and the customer is flagegd as active again.

]]> By: Kevin http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20674 Kevin Mon, 07 May 2007 19:21:26 +0000 http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20674 <p>"Rewriting Code - Yes, almost 85% of our code has been rewritten since launch, and the other 15% will follow shortly."</p> <p>Aren't web apps the best?</p> “Rewriting Code - Yes, almost 85% of our code has been rewritten since launch, and the other 15% will follow shortly.”

Aren’t web apps the best?

]]> By: levon http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20673 levon Mon, 07 May 2007 18:57:45 +0000 http://particletree.com/notebook/the-underbelly-of-a-web-app/#comment-20673 <p>Inactive Accounts -"so we had to work out a way to programmatically back up their information" - Can you give us an idea of how you did that? Whats involved? Thanks.</p> Inactive Accounts -“so we had to work out a way to programmatically back up their information” - Can you give us an idea of how you did that? Whats involved? Thanks.

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