Ask HN: I built a site that IMO can be huge. How can I promote it?
6 comments
Interesting, though I would like to caution you regarding your assumption that it may go viral. In the world of business - assumptions are very dangerous.
Let me give you an example of what goes viral. I recently came across an app for calling a cab using a smart phone. They advertised it very cleverly. They said, think about you are stuck on the road at an unknown location. It is 2:00 AM in the morning and there's no one around! With our app, you can call a cab with a single click without knowing a thing about your location. All you have to do is click the button, stay put and a cab will be there promptly.
Now, I travel a lot so I realized that this could be really nice and handy. So, I immediately downloaded the app. I spoke with my wife and guess what? She downloaded it as well as she thought this could come in handy for her as well. My wife is more social than I am so she posted this newly found app on FB and within no time, most of her friends had downloaded this app as well.
The important thing I am trying to convey about virility to you is that it has to have two key ingredients - utility and the sense of urgency. If you can effectively communicate those two ingredients - your app will go viral. Otherwise, it’s a rat race so before you develop it a whole lot - test out the concept and its virility!
Let me give you an example of what goes viral. I recently came across an app for calling a cab using a smart phone. They advertised it very cleverly. They said, think about you are stuck on the road at an unknown location. It is 2:00 AM in the morning and there's no one around! With our app, you can call a cab with a single click without knowing a thing about your location. All you have to do is click the button, stay put and a cab will be there promptly.
Now, I travel a lot so I realized that this could be really nice and handy. So, I immediately downloaded the app. I spoke with my wife and guess what? She downloaded it as well as she thought this could come in handy for her as well. My wife is more social than I am so she posted this newly found app on FB and within no time, most of her friends had downloaded this app as well.
The important thing I am trying to convey about virility to you is that it has to have two key ingredients - utility and the sense of urgency. If you can effectively communicate those two ingredients - your app will go viral. Otherwise, it’s a rat race so before you develop it a whole lot - test out the concept and its virility!
Totally agree with your virility point.
Perhaps the title of my Ask HN is too much ambitious. I't be better something like "how to make it start getting traction" (more convenient than getting viral)
Perhaps the title of my Ask HN is too much ambitious. I't be better something like "how to make it start getting traction" (more convenient than getting viral)
This is an amazing idea.
I'm glad you like it! Now I have to find a way to attract users and see if they like it too :)
I wouldn't necessarily target specific markets. Things I've purchased in the last year that I would have used this for:
1. Herbal teas
2. A camcorder
3. A digital camera
4. A laptop
5. Console games
6. A new phone (which I still haven't bought, because I can't find one I'm comfortable with)
Most of those are electronics, but I'm sure that if I thought about it longer I could come up with a bunch more.
1. Herbal teas
2. A camcorder
3. A digital camera
4. A laptop
5. Console games
6. A new phone (which I still haven't bought, because I can't find one I'm comfortable with)
Most of those are electronics, but I'm sure that if I thought about it longer I could come up with a bunch more.
It's not targeted. Users can add any product as long as amazon sells it
My question is - if they are buying a product from amazon - why don't they check product reviews posted right on amazon? Why do they need a different site? I do agree that opinions from friends and family counts a lot but the concept has many unknowns.
1. You need to communicate (with friends and family) what product you want buy from amazon 2. Then your friends and family need to have purchased the same product 3. Now, when you are looking for a product, you need to drive them to make a recommendation.
I think you should quickly test the concept and obtain some real feedback before scaling it up.
1. You need to communicate (with friends and family) what product you want buy from amazon 2. Then your friends and family need to have purchased the same product 3. Now, when you are looking for a product, you need to drive them to make a recommendation.
I think you should quickly test the concept and obtain some real feedback before scaling it up.
I think that you get the whole thing wrong. GuysHelpMeDecide is a tool where you enter a question for example:
* What iphone should I buy?
And lets you enter 2 or 3 choices:
* iPhone 4S 16GB white * iPhone 4S 16GB black
The key here is that the search for this products is light fast and easy. It grabs from amazon.com the title of the product, image, description and even the price, but let's you modify it (if you don't want the price to be public or you want to customize the description with your opinion on that product).
Once created the poll it appears on your facebook friends wall, if they click on the story they'll see the page with the question, the choices and they'll be able to vote and to comment.
See a quick iPhone color example here:
http://guyshelpmedecide.com/uA7L
None of your friends needs necessarily to own an iPhone for providing a valid opinion.
I have endless conversation with my geek friends about the new LCD HD whatever 3D tv and none of us have ever tried it.
Hope it gets clearer now
* What iphone should I buy?
And lets you enter 2 or 3 choices:
* iPhone 4S 16GB white * iPhone 4S 16GB black
The key here is that the search for this products is light fast and easy. It grabs from amazon.com the title of the product, image, description and even the price, but let's you modify it (if you don't want the price to be public or you want to customize the description with your opinion on that product).
Once created the poll it appears on your facebook friends wall, if they click on the story they'll see the page with the question, the choices and they'll be able to vote and to comment.
See a quick iPhone color example here:
http://guyshelpmedecide.com/uA7L
None of your friends needs necessarily to own an iPhone for providing a valid opinion.
I have endless conversation with my geek friends about the new LCD HD whatever 3D tv and none of us have ever tried it.
Hope it gets clearer now
I am sorry, I was out of town. My bad, I now see what you were suggesting. I am much clear about the concept. I also looked at your source code and I am assuming that amazon is paying you CPA right?
May be you should apply for shopping.com partners program and negotiate CPC payment based on their rate card. That way, you immediately start making CPC money when you drive traffic and you are not just bound to amazon. Though, amazon is good starting point as Shopping.com will ask to see your website (as a small demo). They are little slow but you can also try shopzilla affiliate program (CPC only).
Once you get good traction and traffic starts building, you will start getting offers straight from various merchants.
Hope things work out well!
Good luck :)
May be you should apply for shopping.com partners program and negotiate CPC payment based on their rate card. That way, you immediately start making CPC money when you drive traffic and you are not just bound to amazon. Though, amazon is good starting point as Shopping.com will ask to see your website (as a small demo). They are little slow but you can also try shopzilla affiliate program (CPC only).
Once you get good traction and traffic starts building, you will start getting offers straight from various merchants.
Hope things work out well!
Good luck :)
Yes, I am using amazon affiliates, which pays me a 4% on all the purchases we refer.
Thx for the info on other shopping affiliate platforms (I didn't know them), but right now my focus is on trying to get traction and traffic to the site. After that we'll see the best way to monetize it
Thx for the info on other shopping affiliate platforms (I didn't know them), but right now my focus is on trying to get traction and traffic to the site. After that we'll see the best way to monetize it
I think this is a cool concept. Let me caution you that I worked on a similar project about 3 years ago. What we found out was that most people that solicit advice, ignore it. We used affiliate links to monetize, and didn't find social feedback to be significantly better at converting than blog posts, or anything else.
What that meant was that we were in the same eyeballs rat race that everyone else is.
If what you are asking is how do you become the next pinterest, in terms of viral growth, it's a lot of hard work and a dash of luck. Shake and hope it turns into gold.
What that meant was that we were in the same eyeballs rat race that everyone else is.
If what you are asking is how do you become the next pinterest, in terms of viral growth, it's a lot of hard work and a dash of luck. Shake and hope it turns into gold.
Thx for commenting.
I'm using affiliate links to monetize it too, but it definitely it is not a company or something that needs to break even in x months. Actually I had a great time coding it and I learnt a lot about the technologies it uses (facebook open graph, amazon apis, twitter bootstrap...) so in terms of ROI it's already covered by far.
Being said that, of course I want it to be huge. Not as the next pinterest because it'd require lots of resources and energy but more like a bootstraped project that grows organically and we'll see.
In other words, I built something that I want to use (no other ambitions), and right now I am wondering if it could be something mainstream or not
I'm using affiliate links to monetize it too, but it definitely it is not a company or something that needs to break even in x months. Actually I had a great time coding it and I learnt a lot about the technologies it uses (facebook open graph, amazon apis, twitter bootstrap...) so in terms of ROI it's already covered by far.
Being said that, of course I want it to be huge. Not as the next pinterest because it'd require lots of resources and energy but more like a bootstraped project that grows organically and we'll see.
In other words, I built something that I want to use (no other ambitions), and right now I am wondering if it could be something mainstream or not
I don't want my friends advice on buying things. I want expert opinions from places like Cnet and ConsumerReviews.
Also word to the wise don't focus on trying to get your app to go viral, it really doesn't tend to work like that. Also success in general - real success - is almost by definition a slow process.
Also word to the wise don't focus on trying to get your app to go viral, it really doesn't tend to work like that. Also success in general - real success - is almost by definition a slow process.
I probably prefer expert opinions while buying tech products (for example a new HD TV), but I'll give much more credit to a friends' first hand experience on that same TV than the expert advise. That's the base idea of guyshelpmedecide.com
And as for the success opinion I fully agree with you. I don't pretend to create an overnight million dollar business from that, it was just an experiment that looks nice for me
And as for the success opinion I fully agree with you. I don't pretend to create an overnight million dollar business from that, it was just an experiment that looks nice for me
I think it looks great!
In order for other people to start using it, it needs to look like it's being used. I think that you should create about a 100 users and add a few hundred products and comments. It'll take you a few hours of work, but it'll make the site appear to be much more successful, thus bringing in more users.
In order for other people to start using it, it needs to look like it's being used. I think that you should create about a 100 users and add a few hundred products and comments. It'll take you a few hours of work, but it'll make the site appear to be much more successful, thus bringing in more users.
I agree - you need to fake some data... it sounds kind of shady but it's common and necessary for a service like this.
I would do it myself, but you can outsource on amazon mechanical turk (if it's dead easy), or use something like elance.
Totally agree, right now the site doesn't look like it's being used. In fact it isn't cause it's brand new.
However I don't want to make all this monotone work. Do you know any place where I could outsource that?
However I don't want to make all this monotone work. Do you know any place where I could outsource that?
In all honesty, I'd just go ahead and do it yourself. It's easy mindless work. Put a movie on the tv, sit back with your laptop and just go at it. You'll get more done by the end of the film than you'd think.
It is still kind of a pet project, but I do believe on its potential to go viral
The problem is that I'm a coder and I don't have a clue on how can I promote it.
Maybe trying to contact blogs/media and hope they write about it? Or it is better to create a facebook Ads campaign targeting amazon fans?
I really appreciate any ideas, feedback on the product or whatever that can help me to make this site huge