Ask HN: How do I get people to find my pre-launch landing page?
19 comments
Hundreds of signups is thousands or tens of thousands of impressions, depending on the audience. There are only three ways to get traffic:
1. Pay for it (ads)
2. Borrow it (distribution agreement with a third party, who has an audience)
3. Build it (organic/SEO, use your own audience that you started building years ago)
That's it. Every other way is either a hybrid of two of those (e.g. paying someone to email their big list) or is one of them deeper down. So it sounds like you don't have an audience, which makes #3 impossible. At this point you can either talk to a friend or business associate who has a good-sized list, and see if you can come to some sort of an agreement with them, you can pay for ads on a relevant platform or blog, or you can start building your list now.
Is your landing page for a [free] lead magnet, or a purchase? Purchases in the impulse buy range ($27-47, but for developers maybe up to $97) get you qualified traffic, and for really good sales copy can be more-or-less self-liquidation, e.g. you are earning in net revenue basically what you're spending on ads. But often times it's just to take the edge off the ad spend and make sure your list is super-qualified people, since they've already paid you money they're more likely to pay you more.
My email is in my profile and I'm happy to give you an unbiased opinion of your landing page - I have nothing to sell you, it would just be what I think of the copy, offer, design, etc.
1. Pay for it (ads)
2. Borrow it (distribution agreement with a third party, who has an audience)
3. Build it (organic/SEO, use your own audience that you started building years ago)
That's it. Every other way is either a hybrid of two of those (e.g. paying someone to email their big list) or is one of them deeper down. So it sounds like you don't have an audience, which makes #3 impossible. At this point you can either talk to a friend or business associate who has a good-sized list, and see if you can come to some sort of an agreement with them, you can pay for ads on a relevant platform or blog, or you can start building your list now.
Is your landing page for a [free] lead magnet, or a purchase? Purchases in the impulse buy range ($27-47, but for developers maybe up to $97) get you qualified traffic, and for really good sales copy can be more-or-less self-liquidation, e.g. you are earning in net revenue basically what you're spending on ads. But often times it's just to take the edge off the ad spend and make sure your list is super-qualified people, since they've already paid you money they're more likely to pay you more.
My email is in my profile and I'm happy to give you an unbiased opinion of your landing page - I have nothing to sell you, it would just be what I think of the copy, offer, design, etc.
The other half of #1 is organic search traffic via SEO, but takes time if you're starting from scratch.
4. Have a product of enough value that it spreads through word of mouth
Which, at its core, is "build it."
The people who leave up a landing page and get hundreds of signups usually have an existing audience somewhere already that are following their projects and are curious about the next thing. If you don’t have an audience you probably have to join a community where your product is relevant and talk to them.
I don’t think there’s a lot of cases where having a landing page up will rank somewhere and people would just sign up to be notified.
I don’t think there’s a lot of cases where having a landing page up will rank somewhere and people would just sign up to be notified.
Have a look through this list of 100 startup directories - there will be a few places to add a link to your landing page. https://aeroleads.com/blog/startup-directories/
Definitely check out Indie Hackers and /r/SideProject as well.
Good luck!
Definitely check out Indie Hackers and /r/SideProject as well.
Good luck!
Is there anything interesting on that pre-launch page?
Saw a few of such things done by friends/colleagues and they always did that by building community on twitter or other media first. So it was just the same group they already had. The less the site actually explained and gave to the user the more successful it was. Pure local hype.
On the other hand it was just used to generate more twitter/facebook traffic about how that pre-lauch was successful, but nothing ever launched. It was always just a tool to generate noise and traffic on other media.
For instance [beware, biased personal experience]: a friend announced a mysterious site/service on topics he already was loud about on social media - personal trainer in IT area. Got 50 000 signups for a newsletter in a few days, actual organic traffic - this I'm certain about. Never launched anything new. He just took that site down when everyone forgot and started consulting more openly. The only new "product" was a newsletter that was sent for a year or so with the same content he already published regularly on twitter. Now he earns money on teaching others to get similar good PR (and other less soft IT stuff). Apparently this is called "building community". Mostly IT people, btw..
I'm sure he achieved some goals and is successful personally, but if you are able to mobilize 50 000 people to get their emails spammed and none of them complains when you don't create ANYTHING new it does rise questions. What is your significant community worth, if they don't care at all? Is there anything you actually deliver when you are hired?
Saw a few of such things done by friends/colleagues and they always did that by building community on twitter or other media first. So it was just the same group they already had. The less the site actually explained and gave to the user the more successful it was. Pure local hype.
On the other hand it was just used to generate more twitter/facebook traffic about how that pre-lauch was successful, but nothing ever launched. It was always just a tool to generate noise and traffic on other media.
For instance [beware, biased personal experience]: a friend announced a mysterious site/service on topics he already was loud about on social media - personal trainer in IT area. Got 50 000 signups for a newsletter in a few days, actual organic traffic - this I'm certain about. Never launched anything new. He just took that site down when everyone forgot and started consulting more openly. The only new "product" was a newsletter that was sent for a year or so with the same content he already published regularly on twitter. Now he earns money on teaching others to get similar good PR (and other less soft IT stuff). Apparently this is called "building community". Mostly IT people, btw..
I'm sure he achieved some goals and is successful personally, but if you are able to mobilize 50 000 people to get their emails spammed and none of them complains when you don't create ANYTHING new it does rise questions. What is your significant community worth, if they don't care at all? Is there anything you actually deliver when you are hired?
From my experience, you should first understand your audience, who they are and then find places where they hang out.
Find groups on Reddit, LinkedIn and Facebook and post about your product.
Another thing you could try is services like Betalist. For my last project it worked pretty well: i spent 120 EUR on paid promotion and got around 250 signups. I can't say that they were all relevant to my product, but around 30% signed up for the app and used it at least ones.
Another thing you could try is services like Betalist. For my last project it worked pretty well: i spent 120 EUR on paid promotion and got around 250 signups. I can't say that they were all relevant to my product, but around 30% signed up for the app and used it at least ones.
+1 for understanding your audience. My side project, an inspiration-based film recommendation engine, has a niche audience but is of little interest to the general public (or HN) or those that only watch Netflix+Disney/Marvel. My traffic comes from arts magazines, twitter and things like apartmenttherapy.com. So you have to seek out communities that may be particularly interested, then maybe the traffic will follow.
Then it's also just luck in getting noticed. I got a significant amount of traffic this fall from the Recomendo newsletter which led to someone reposting it on Reddit with a couple of thousand upvotes.
Then it's also just luck in getting noticed. I got a significant amount of traffic this fall from the Recomendo newsletter which led to someone reposting it on Reddit with a couple of thousand upvotes.
I was lucky to get featured in a blog post by a french blogger, who was subscribed to the betalist and noticed my app.
(What is also cool with niche audience, is that they are usually more eager to adopt your product in the early stage and give you feedback, which is great if you are only starting and need some solid feedback from couple people but not from hundreds)
Off topic but this is the first I've heard of ApartmentTherapy, that's a pretty neat site.
Similar problem, what I am trying currently is niche reddit boards to try and launch.
It is a fine line between spammy and getting people to hear about your stuff. If you click my account, I posted twice, with a big space between each post about my product with a pretty big update for each on HN. When you click people's accounts who have a high ranking show HN post, they seem to post 2 or 3 times in a row to get it to catch. I am not sure the secret.
My only advice is to look at the dropbox show HN and take that as inspiration that anything is possible!
It is a fine line between spammy and getting people to hear about your stuff. If you click my account, I posted twice, with a big space between each post about my product with a pretty big update for each on HN. When you click people's accounts who have a high ranking show HN post, they seem to post 2 or 3 times in a row to get it to catch. I am not sure the secret.
My only advice is to look at the dropbox show HN and take that as inspiration that anything is possible!
> When you click people's accounts who have a high ranking show HN post, they seem to post 2 or 3 times in a row to get it to catch. I am not sure the secret.
A lot of it is luck. I posted a Show HN years ago, on a whim, and it became one of the top-10 Show HNs ever. It led to coverage in Fast Company and dozens of other outlets. In subsequent months, I posted about significant updates (bookmarklet -> Chrome extension, new PDF tool), and those posts went nowhere. It is hard to know why things catch on sometimes.
I'm still working on the same project, and I have HN (and the luck of that first post) to thank for it!
A lot of it is luck. I posted a Show HN years ago, on a whim, and it became one of the top-10 Show HNs ever. It led to coverage in Fast Company and dozens of other outlets. In subsequent months, I posted about significant updates (bookmarklet -> Chrome extension, new PDF tool), and those posts went nowhere. It is hard to know why things catch on sometimes.
I'm still working on the same project, and I have HN (and the luck of that first post) to thank for it!
This is a very general problem for aggregators - time and luck are big factors. Time, because there is new stuff on the front page every day, and luck because with new submissions, only a small amount of people are going to see them, and if that small amount aren't a good fit, then the submission is going nowhere.
When someone is considering signing up, they're weighing the possible upside (of whatever you're offering them) and the possible downside (SPAM!). You need to make sure that the upside clearly outweighs the downside.
You might also want to make the upside bigger for people who share with others. Some startups let folks jump the line if they refer friends. Don't turn people into annoying spammers, but consider why/how people would spread the word about your new thing. At the very least, give them easy share buttons.
You might also want to make the upside bigger for people who share with others. Some startups let folks jump the line if they refer friends. Don't turn people into annoying spammers, but consider why/how people would spread the word about your new thing. At the very least, give them easy share buttons.
For one you could at least mention where it is in this post.
Definitely, I didnt want to spam.
Here it is: https://swapiverse.com/
Here it is: https://swapiverse.com/
Oh, I was looking for something like this! I was thinking vinted.com for books. Because vinted takes care of all the payments and shipping, all you need is a printer to print the label and a visit to a drop-off point to sell/swap), which in essence turns it into a distributed wardrobe. And I want a distributed bookcase :)
Very curious to find out more, I signed up!
Very curious to find out more, I signed up!
A friend of mine launched a product using indiegogo, but before the campaign began they used Facebook ads to drive traffic to the launch signup page.
From my understanding they initially targeted several specific demographics that might be interested in the product.
They then used that knowledge to see which groups they should increase as spend on based on how they responded and whether they signed up to get notified of the campaign launch.
From my understanding they initially targeted several specific demographics that might be interested in the product.
They then used that knowledge to see which groups they should increase as spend on based on how they responded and whether they signed up to get notified of the campaign launch.
Typical startup advice is to talk to the customer first, find out their problem. You shouldn't have a landing page. Find someone who would literally pay for it before building anything. Normally, it's a community that has already built a hack of the product.
In your case, it's probably book clubs. Try talking to them first, and make sure you have what they want.
If your target is yourself, and this is something you really want, then you should go ahead and just build a prototype. A prototype doesn't have to be complex - it can just be a shiny website built on top of Google Sheets. If you get only 1-3 sign ups, you can scrap it. If you're getting a thousand out of nowhere, then get to work.
In your case, it's probably book clubs. Try talking to them first, and make sure you have what they want.
If your target is yourself, and this is something you really want, then you should go ahead and just build a prototype. A prototype doesn't have to be complex - it can just be a shiny website built on top of Google Sheets. If you get only 1-3 sign ups, you can scrap it. If you're getting a thousand out of nowhere, then get to work.
I built https://BetaList.com specifically for this purpose. Helping pre-launch startups get their first signups. (Although these days we also include recently launched ones)
You need to buy traffic for it.
So you can calculate the "cost of acquisition" - how much you need to spend on advertisement in order to get a new customer.
And based on that you can figure out whether you have a viable business.
So you can calculate the "cost of acquisition" - how much you need to spend on advertisement in order to get a new customer.
And based on that you can figure out whether you have a viable business.
20 (?) years ago there was something called "organic traffic". People finding your stuff through random searching or clicking around in website directories.
That doesn't exist anymore.
Today you pay for it.
That doesn't exist anymore.
Today you pay for it.
Some will tell you to grow an audience.
Maybe you can do that.
But often the audience will be off. For example you are building a webshop that sells shoes. And you get an audience by blogging about setting up your webshop using ruby on rails and kubernetes.
You can direct that audience towards your webshop; problem is that they are probably not going to buy your shoes.
Maybe you can do that.
But often the audience will be off. For example you are building a webshop that sells shoes. And you get an audience by blogging about setting up your webshop using ruby on rails and kubernetes.
You can direct that audience towards your webshop; problem is that they are probably not going to buy your shoes.
This story was 2 years ago but I just made a simple 1 page landing page for a product idea with just the first things that came to mind for describing the problem and solution. I have no SEO or copywriting expertise at all.
After making Google Index it it just got traffic in a couple of months, now still having 2-3k views/mo.
After making Google Index it it just got traffic in a couple of months, now still having 2-3k views/mo.
On this --> https://www.facebook.com/montemagno/videos/1674746662593144/
I liked it very much while I was beginning my first StartUp project, unfortunately it is in italian, but I think you can use english subtitles.
The idea in a nutshell: You have the landing page, you invest some euros on FB/LinkedIn ads (or whatever social media you think your audience it's more linked to, either B2B or B2C).
See what happens.
I liked it very much while I was beginning my first StartUp project, unfortunately it is in italian, but I think you can use english subtitles.
The idea in a nutshell: You have the landing page, you invest some euros on FB/LinkedIn ads (or whatever social media you think your audience it's more linked to, either B2B or B2C).
See what happens.
We used Ship on producthunt for promoting when we were pre-launch. Then we had a decent number of subscribers built up so when we did a real producthunt launch we already had people to tell about the launch.
LinkedIn also worked surprisingly ok if you have a decent sized network.
Finally, if your product fits a topic that's being discussed here on HN, we've seen that can easily drive 50+ your products landing page.
LinkedIn also worked surprisingly ok if you have a decent sized network.
Finally, if your product fits a topic that's being discussed here on HN, we've seen that can easily drive 50+ your products landing page.
I sometimes see launch pages with e-mail sign up posted on special interest group message boards. Like subreddits for example.
If it interests me enough, I will sign up. And I'm very conservative about that. The last thing I signed up to be notified about was the Flipper Zero kickstarter. (Yes they had their own launch page). But I don't remember where I found it, probably reddit.
If it interests me enough, I will sign up. And I'm very conservative about that. The last thing I signed up to be notified about was the Flipper Zero kickstarter. (Yes they had their own launch page). But I don't remember where I found it, probably reddit.
First time I'm hearing about that product. Wish I had when the kickstarter was still active. I think that product is going to trigger folks taking another look at their security systems, possibly upgrading them. It seems like most systems use unauthenticated, unencrypted tokens to unlock. Unlocking those would be trivial to someone with this device.
I'm been working on the same problem, it's a hard grind though when you're starting from zero.
I've started to get some traction though with constant tweaking of my landing page. Unfortunately unless you get some third-party recommendation you'll most likely have to pay for it at least for now.
I've started to get some traction though with constant tweaking of my landing page. Unfortunately unless you get some third-party recommendation you'll most likely have to pay for it at least for now.
I saw a video on out-teaching or out spending.
https://youtu.be/agc816dYWvw
I have been learning a lot more about the power of positioning a product correctly for an audience .. sometimes without changing the product itself much.
https://youtu.be/agc816dYWvw
I have been learning a lot more about the power of positioning a product correctly for an audience .. sometimes without changing the product itself much.
I don't think getting hundreds of signups for a free preview is that hard. I did it once, and the traffic came from Reddit Ads. I got a steady flow from there, but I never launched the project (I thought there were too few signups).
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I've tried writing and sharing a blog post on it and I've tried grinding via social media, but have had little luck.
Any advice?