Tell me more ×
Answers OnStartups is a question and answer site for entrepreneurs looking to start or run a new business. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I have an early-stage site that I think is pretty good. I won't put the link here because I don't want to seem like spam. But the link is in my bio.

While I have been able to get some attention to it, getting big publications to cover the site seems impossible. Small sites get no traffic themselves, so getting their attention is not helpful.

Has anyone had success with getting attention or PR, or some useful links that drive traffic? (Free is best of course)

share|improve this question
3  
Appreciate your being respectful about spamming. Too many questions get posted without any indication about the product, industry or site. You'll get better feedback this way. – JeffO Mar 27 '11 at 17:18

5 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Be Patient. Stay the Course. It took twitter a couple of years of under the radar" activity before gaining the attention they deserved.

Promote your site by yourself, convince bloggers to talk about it, start a facebook/twitter presence for your site, be active in forums that may be related and sign with links to your site, use google Ads...

..or hire a social networks marketing specialist if you can afford one.

and most importantly: don't be discouraged for lack of results. If you stay the course and your site is really good -- it'll come.

share|improve this answer
If there was one thing harder than marketing and getting attention, it would be having the patience :) – Genadinik Mar 27 '11 at 17:57
I firmly believe that with a quality product/service--consistent marketing efforts will yield proper reward... it's just a matter of when. – Shango Mar 28 '11 at 1:03

I agree with Geo. You need to update your site with fresh content to attract visitors.

Also, to jump-start the site it would really help if you spend a little bit of money on SEO and advertising.

Patience will only bear results if you prepared well and continuously worked for it. ;)

Edit: I visited your site and I feel it can use more engaging user interface and features.

Just my 2 cents.

share|improve this answer
Thanks for visiting the site by the way. How do you think the site could be more engaging? In what ways? This is something I also have been thinking about so I am curious to hear opinion. – Genadinik Mar 27 '11 at 17:55
I'm more of an expert in programming than hiking so I'm not exactly sure if hikers would be interested in sharing pictures or other media etc? You could definitely use some forum/public group like space where people can share their experience or just have a laugh. Also I'm being a little blunt here but you could really use better design and choice of fonts/placement etc. A site like this should have a spark which jumps up to the visitors ...so that they share/post content etc. Again, I'm not much into hiking..these are just some of the many ideas/enhancements you could implement. – CodingDNA Mar 28 '11 at 0:24

You probably have an email list of at least a hundred people interested in hiking, but keep building on it. Keep them posted with new features. Keep reminding them to forward to others. The site can be utilized to gather users, but few are just going to stumble on the site; someone they know/trust will need to make the recommendation. There should be no confusion that you want people to sign up and not just browse the site.

There should be current users, hiking groups and events displayed on the home page. As you build up a larger user base, you can use this space to reward users and groups who are promoting the site. Have two distinct paths: those organizing hikes and those looking for hikes. Either way, encourge them to register.

Take advantage of any pay per click you have and work on identifying the keywords.

Blog if you can or provide a place for a few people you know that would be interested in teaming up on your site. Blog content can take advantage of SEO as well. A large amount of changing content with the same theme is appealing to Google.

Build links. Know someone with an old site and lots of links? Build this up gradually, but continuously. Google won't like it if you try and outsmart them.

Offer some advertising space to someone who has a small product niche or is a local hiking guide or a non-profit summer camp.

If you're more of a programmer, create the tools to allow others to help with the content.

share|improve this answer

Go to your local sport center, and leave some cards with the link.

Comment on bloggers that talk about hiking. Build momentum. Don't play it safe, make bold statements, even if you put some people off.

PR is about getting out of your comfort zone.

Good luck.

One more thing: be patient.

share|improve this answer
In regard to your suggestion in going to a sports store, do you know what the rate of offline advertising is to online conversion? – Genadinik Mar 27 '11 at 4:48
1  
I don't, but don't lose focus, you want to create a movement of people sharing trails and other hiking related activities. Also, get a few hikers bodies to create some content for your site. Content is a great way of slowly bringing good steady readers. – Geo Mar 27 '11 at 5:03

First launch a home page and give a small intro where people can get curios to know what exactly the product is and ask them to subscribe it and give updates about the product in a blog about where it is and when it will release and other things about the product. Use social media a lot and market it as much as possible.Go to twitter and update your profile with it and also go to all the people which twitter suggests and tell about your product.

This i feel is a perfect marketing strategy and this increases your clicks.

share|improve this answer
1  
This is a great way to get absolutely no where :) – Genadinik Mar 27 '11 at 4:47
hahahahahahaha ehy don you try and see and then you could comment :) – bhanu prasad Mar 27 '11 at 14:14

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.