Meet Ekko

I’ve built a service that allows people to create business websites in seconds, using only their Facebook Page.

Why have I done this?

As of the end of 2016, more than 60 million businesses have a Facebook Page.

Before I thought of Ekko, I distinctly remember Googling for a local business, I believe it was a gym…or a barbers…I genuinely cannot remember, but the more important thing is to note that the no. 1 result in Google was this business’ website, and no. 2 was their Facebook Page. I kicked it old school and clicked through to their own website, and was met by a drab design and stale content. Unappealing…are they still going??

Clicking through to their Facebook Page revealed to me that they were indeed still alive, and as of 6 hours previous, had posted a status update.

It’s very clear to me, and as someone who’s been building websites for 8 years now, people hate CMSs. Or updating their own site. Or fiddling with HTML. Or waiting for WordPress to load. Or paying money to their web designer to change their business’ opening hours. Several of my past clients can attest to at least one of these undesirable scenarios.

“You could build a really great CMS Ben….”

“Hmmm…could do that, but…are you sure?”

Unfortunately, it wasn’t as glamorous coming up with Ekko as it was for Jesse Eisenberg coming up with Facebook in The Social Network. Same amount of Trent Reznor synth though…

Some time later…

“Make Facebook the CMS, everyone knows how to use it.”

The fire was lit.

I want every single person who starts or runs a business to have the easiest time possible making and updating their website.

What Ekko produces in reality is:

Every person can now make a website in 45 seconds, and never have to touch it again.

What does Ekko give you?

Ekko gives you:

• A hosted website
• Fully synced content from your Facebook Page
• A free domain (with annual plan)
• SSL
• WHOIS privacy
• A variety of themes to choose from
• G Suite and Google Analytics integrations
• SEO
• Domains can be purchased through Ekko’s dashboard. No more getting lost on confusing domain registrar websites.

Our FAQ page has a bunch of your questions, definitely maybe, answered.

A Brief History of Ekko

I’m definitely not alone doing this, but day-to-day my mind will act as a petri dish for ideas. Some will barely make it past amoeba stage, some will grow limbs but nothing more, and then some will grow up to become real living creatures.

Hand on heart, I’d really say that only two have become fully grown-up: Plot and now, Ekko.

Ekko has taken over a year to get it to where it is now. When I tell people this length of time, I have a burning desire to justify it…now is no exception. I contracted for Cisco from March 2015 👉 July 2016. Roughly 1/3 the way through this contract, the idea of Ekko was conceived in the aforementioned petri dish. Over the coming weeks/months, I would plan, develop, re-develop, plan some more, develop some more, design, etc….until I finished Cisco in the summer of 2016.

In the past 6 months, I could’ve probably launched Ekko at multiple points. Many many others would have done. My reason for not doing so was split 3 ways:

• I was precious over it. I’d never been more excited by a project and I didn’t want to half-arse the launch. I’m happy it’s being launched with a lot more polish and stability than other projects I’ve been sorely tempted to rush out the door…and have.
• It’s primarily aimed at non-technical folk, so I knew I probably wouldn’t get the (sort of) patience and understanding that other developers/designers might choose to afford a new app (or….shudder, MVP).
• I wanted to be sure I liked it. I’ve got 80% through projects before, lost heart in them and then either abandoned them or released them for cathartic reasons. I wanted to sit with Ekko for a bit, make sure that if I was going to promise what I was planning to, that I was very sure I believed in it.

Which direction is Ekko going?

There’s no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going

I have some idea which direction Ekko is going…here are a few destinations along the way:

Reseller and white-labelling Ekko

I’m pleasantly surprised to be considering this so soon, but it’s already been requested multiple times by different people, “Can I build client sites with Ekko?”

After thinking about it, I imagine it’s quite appealing to offer your clients. You charge your client a small monthly fee (or a slightly larger one-off fee) for their website, and all you’ve got to do is create a Facebook Page for them and then build/design a React Component. Done. You’ve then got domain names, DNS, hosting and a CMS to offer your client, and you’ve done relatively little.

Marketplace

Out of the box, Ekko comes with a variety of stellar themes to pick from. However, it’d be very short-sighted of me for the rate of new themes to be limited to my own (and a couple of very generous designers who’ve helped me out) output. By opening up a marketplace to designers and developers to sell Ekko themes, I’m taking the creative ceiling off of what end-users can have for their own websites. By picking React to power themes, the development experience is very enjoyable to work in.

No more:

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

but more:

<div className="page-name">
  <h2>{ name }</h2>
</div>

Ekko customers will be able to browse through this marketplace and purchase premium themes, with a healthy % of the profits going directly into the theme author’s bank account.

E-commerce

After Cisco finished, I began working with another client, Plasso. They make it insanely easy to accept payments and to sell your products online. I can see a beautiful romance blossoming between the two products, and adding e-commerce support to specific Ekko themes would be a cinch with Plasso’s out-of-the-box functionality. Sign up to Plasso, then sign up to Ekko, BAM, instantly you have an auto-updating e-commerce website, ready to accept payments.

The Ekko Directory™

Drop the “The”, just…Ekko Directory

As I can grab a Facebook Page’s category, and the location of a business, and as Ekko grows, I will be able to easily tell you where to find a good florist in Cheltenham, or a new coffee shop in Leeds. I envisage this may be a standalone website, or just a page on Ekko’s website, but there’s something there.

Encore

I’m genuinely excited by Ekko. I’ve put a bunch of work into it so far, and I’m not naive enough to believe the hard work has even begun.

Take the mic Alan…

We thought of life by analogy with a journey, a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end, and the thing was to get to that end, success or whatever it is, maybe heaven after you’re dead. But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played.

- Alan Watts

If you want to chat about Ekko, or just building products in general, hit me up:

Ben Howdle (@benhowdle) | Twitter

Or more privately, hello@benhowdle.im.

If you’re interested in giving Ekko a go, head over to https://ekko.site/, or reach us on Twitter:

Ekko (@ekkosite) | Twitter

Or email, hello@ekko.site.

✌️ Ben