
You have hacked together a site, now how do you promote it? - hybrid11
Fellow hackers, I'm interested to find out what you guys think are the best ways to promote a website?
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matthodan
There are a bunch of paid ways to promote an app, but I've focused on what I
usually do to get free exposure:

1) Post a 'Ask HN' post to get some feedback

2) Search for blogs that discuss the problem your product solves, then comment
on those blogs (don't spam!)

3) Email the tip lines of each of the major tech blogs

4) Submit your site for inclusion in site directories (e.g. webapplist)

5) Contact sites that rank highly on your target keywords and see if they'll
link to your site

6) Search Twitter for people who have the problem that your product solves,
then refer them to your app

7) Post updates to your personal Facebook / Twitter

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trbecker
One of the best ways to do it is to ask for promotion for other websites that
have the same target audience as yours. This is usually done with cold pitch
and a link exchange. Then ask the user to subscribe to your twitter account or
rss feed (if you have one), and create content that can be retwitted or shared
on Google Reader. Also, engage with your community as soon as you have one.
Treat them well and they'll be more likely to help you promote your business.
Good luck.

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eunomad
I like your list but you are not using video to your advantage. I don't know
what kind of website you are trying to promote but you can get a substantial
following by using youtube videos. Your videos would focus on what your
audience wants (tutorials, editorials, vlogs) I have been following several
websites who are successfully using this medium for their website marketing
and I plan on using it for mine when our site is ready to go live.

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bluecobalt
I've been reading great things about advertising with Stumbleupon. One person
told me that it's $.05 per view, and you're getting targeted views based on
the type of sites that people are interested in.
<https://www.stumbleupon.com/ads/>

I don't have any firsthand knowledge yet, but we're going to try it out later
this month and I'll post a report on how it works for us after we launch.

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toisanji
The startup I've been feverishly working on was built to help startups promote
their websites by connecting you with influential bloggers related to your
industry. Check it out and contact me (profile) if you want use it:
<http://socmetrics.com>

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khanm
If you have hacked together a site and are ready to start analyzing customer
acquisition & lifetime value costs, Id suggest looking into the following:

1) Video Blog (start up a series of about 50-100 separate really short 2 min
videos discussing about individual topics in the industry your site is in.
(host these videos on the top 5 major video hosting sites including itunes)

Also embed these videos into your daily or weekly blog on your own site while
incorporating sharable options for users to share your page with others.
(transcribe your video blog into text for SEO benefits)

2) Add facebook and twitter badges on all of your sites pages for people to
become a fan or follow on twitter (this is like a mailing list)

3) SEM (PPC) through Google adwords, yahoo search marketing, facebook ad
network, linked-in ad network.

4) Leverage well known blogs in your industry and ask to place an ad in their
email newsletter or ask for a solo ad.

5) write guest blogs on related blogs within your industry while writing a
review about your site and placing a like back to you. (check sites link
reviewme.com etc..)

6) Get a writer to write a press release then send it though the top 3 PR
sites online. (don't bank on this too much)

7) Use tweet adder to find relevant topics to your industry people are talking
about as well as people who state your keywords in their profiles. add them
and contact them to offer free offers. (help them first... give then get)

8) use twitter by hooking in google's voice tweet app through your phone and
constantly be tweeting about relevant topics in your industry. As natural as
possible. replace your twitter background with one which shows links to your
site. (also add link in your profile)

9) create a facebook fanpage and start adding the same tweets to the status.

10) Find podcast websites which talk or interview in your industry. They are
always looking for content or wanting to interview related topics. become an
interviewee.

11) create 10 unique relevant infographics and post them up on your blog while
trying to promote them on stubmleupon and digg.

12) Find biz or dev partners where you can leverage their audience and they
can leverage your technology or your audience.

13) Start a little beef. Find a fellow blogger who is interested in playing an
intense back and forth argument about a sensitive topic in your industry. Both
of you will reap rewards.

14) Don't forget to provide an incentive for users who refer users through
your site. Provide a free whitepaper, space(mb), internal credits etc...

15) Allow potential partners to become affiliates for your site. (will need to
plug in a app to your site for this) Then contact the top 50 relevant bloggers
in your industry and tell them about it via email or even ask to call them.

Just a few off the top of my head in addition to ones stated by others.

Try them out, hope these helped.

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hybrid11
what about running a contest that promotes users to refer their friends?

