For Memorial Day weekend, I launched FlyTimeNotify.com flight schedule notifications a few days early (or late, depending on how you look at it). At this point, it’s fully functional as a notification site, and the only thing left is to setup the PayPal integration so that future customers can pay for priority notifications via email and SMS. To date, the project took 53 hours of coding.
Over those 53 hours, I built every line of HTML, CSS, Javascript (jQuery), and PHP by hand. I’ve also learned how to integrate with both SendGrid, email service API, and Twilio, SMS messaging API. I also explored building a website from the ground up with a focus on speed and performance, including an integration with Amazon S3 and Cloudfront (cloud-based content delivery network). I know that may sound like a lot of jargon, but it’s a lot of learning for me and a lot of progress. Until this point, I’ve never built a webpage layout completely from scratch. It’s amazing what ‘need’ will do to your skill set.
Now, I can’t say that I did it 100% by myself. One simple fact I learned was that the best lesson you can learn is understanding where your limits are and surrounding yourself with experts. Without the help of a great graphic designer friend, the centerpiece of the website would be lackluster (the large image at the top). So, I reached out and got exactly what the site needs.

To recap, here were the goals of this and all future web-designs:

• The page loads in less than 2 seconds
• Tell the user what the site does and what benefit it brings them within 6 seconds of them arriving on the home page
• Present a call to action immediately on the home page
• Build in a profitable business model from the beginning

Next stop, marketing. I’ll keep everyone posted on some of the avenues used to advertise the new service.

Update: June 2nd
An additional 8 hours, bringing the total up to 61 hours to completely launch (PayPal integration complete!). Phew!