
What is the best time of year to launch a site? - awt

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vlad
I heard that March is the best month to launch, and April through December are
very bad. I guess you will have to wait until March. :)

Actually, everybody always says a.s.a.p. Most people think they're competing
against "people who will rip me off as soon as I release my product" which
leads to conclusions of "if I release on day X, I will be ripped off Y number
of days later, so I should wait until Z, the perfect time, to release." In
fact, there's a higher chance that there are startups and current companies
doing something similar REGARDLESS of YOU.

A lot of the reason existing companies have not caught on to idea X is because
the whole reason you have idea Y is because the current companies just came
out with idea X and there's simply no way to do Y before X. So, they may have
already had your idea Y in mind, or started working on it, but had to release
X first. So, when you got your idea, so did employees of all of these other
companies, as well as budding entrepreneurs. So, you should release and at
least get credit for being first. The whole point of being a startup is you
can create whatever there's a huge chance big companies are working on as
well, but much faster because you're just implementing basic features and
avoiding bureacracy, as well as have no responsibilities. So, if you're trying
to do a startup PG-style, I would try to create it and release it as soon as
it works, with the bare features in it, and get publicity about it.

I'm sure there are other mantras, like targeting a very small niche and
improving the product, and only publicizing it when its ready (but you have
tons of feedback from your small niche). Or, maybe getting a lot of venture
capital straight off and partnering with big shots after you're much older and
have many contacts. But I think if you're doing it PG-style (and I don't speak
for him), you should release it as soon as it works. More or less.

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timg
I agree with Feb/March/April. Summer will give you a lot of users who will use
your site more thoroughly. If they're still around by winter then you have a
good chance of sustaining the growth. That's my guess.

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cwilbur
Depends on the site. A site offering customized Christmas cards won't do well
immediately if you launch in January; a site offering something useful for
preparing for college won't do well immediately if you launch in November.

Launch the site as soon as it's ready to be launched. You'll drive yourself
crazy trying to micro-optimize and asking yourself if you'll get more traffic
if you launch on Tuesday or Saturday.

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awt
I know I know -- as soon as it's ready to launch. But seriously, is launching
a site going into the summer season a good idea? You're just not going to
reach as many people as you would in the fall or right after the holidays.

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zaidf
Depends on what perspective you subscribe to and decide to follow. For
example, launching in summer _might_ not get you all the visitors you want but
it will also give you time to use summer to optimize your site in time for
when summer ends and you _supposedly_ get the new visitors.

I did learn in my media planning class that TV use significantly goes down
during summer. I've a feeling the same holds true for computer use.

