

Ask YC: How to create enough content for launch? - zabub

How does one go about creating content on a site to  have a public launch of a site that would interest others to stick around and contribute? (ie - if you were building a site for customer reviews of companies in a certain industry)
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ericb
For threads like this, you'll want precede the title with "Ask YC:"

I would look into using Amazon's mechanical turk to get it populated.

Edit: I see you fixed it. Cool.

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ecommercematt
I don't know of any silver bullet, but this is something I've spent some time
thinking about regarding my own startup. Our approach is to prioritize quality
over quantity, to encourage the type of community-driven content we're looking
for down the road. Generic or low quality content populating an unfamiliar
site can't result in a positive impression on your users.

Basically, the challenge is to find someone/people with strong writing skills
and domain knowledge pertaining to whatever your site is about. Is that you?
If yes, why not just crank away for a week or two on the keyboard? If you're
satisfied with the content you've produced, but conclude that you need more,
then at least you'll have some sample material to present to prospective pre-
launch contributors.

I'd be happy to discuss this issue further with the OP or anybody else
directly (check my profile for contact info). Our pre-launch content creation
challenge is quite different than needing lots of reviews, but it is similar
enough that perhaps some mutual benefit could come of a discussion with
someone dealing with this, or a similar, issue.

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samwise
I would look for "power users" or early adopters that have some loyalty to you
or your company. You can try to bring invite some from competitors or meet
some on some facebook groups, be imaginative. They should be able to generate
enough content for you to attract real users.

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pius
Perhaps you could create a designation for sponsored reviews and request that
companies provide reviews to seed their profiles. The key is clearly denoting
them as "sponsored."

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ajkirwin
Go for a beta launch and use that to prime your content base, to give you
something to build on? Rope people into doing work!

