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I built my startup as a side-project. In short, it is a social aggregator that I find way better than anything else on the market, and therefore I'm very actively using it. From my experience as a social network power-user it is good, so let's assume there will be other social network power users that would like it as well. What I've done so far:

  • submitted it to various startup and app directories
  • paid around $200 for google and facebook ads (currently not running)
  • got reviewed by 2 or 3 sites
  • added a link on my technical blog (read by a number developers), technically described it there, and added a link on my stackoverflow profile (viewed by many, since I'm a top 20 user)
  • submitted a few feature announcement to popular social media blogs (mashable, techcrunch, readwriteweb, thenextweb), but didn't get anything (no signup from x@popularsite.com even)

So far I've got around 400 signups, around 15 relatively active users. I've been improving the service since I released it as a "field trial" 6 months ago, so that now I consider it useful for the "general public". But what to do next in order to get more attention. A few things I plan to do:

  • Obviously, ask onstartups (both this question, and some more specific requests later on)
  • Ask HN: to review the service and give me feedback for things that I should necessarily improve before going forward
  • Whenever Google add sharing & streams to their API, announce the Google+ support to big social media blogs (in hope that it's a more interesting story for them)

What particular steps do you recommend that I should do next in order to get more exposure and better validation?

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I'd start with offering some screenshot tour on the front page. I don't want neither to sign up nor log in yet, and you seem to be forcing this choice on user without properly explaining why she'll like your service. – Dan Abramov Nov 24 '11 at 13:29
or better - an introductory video – Bozho Nov 24 '11 at 13:35
1  
What need does it fill? From there you figure out your target audience - and then need to find people that fit that audience... go to where they are (in person!) and bring your site (on your laptop) with you. Show them how it fills their need and they'll sign up. – Taryn East Nov 24 '11 at 15:08
...and if it doesn't fill a need... then you have a different problem ;) – Taryn East Nov 24 '11 at 15:09
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start with the screenshots, THEN think about a video... making a video is very time consuming. A demo could also be helpful. – danmaz74 Nov 24 '11 at 20:45
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3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

What particular steps do you recommend that I should do next in order to get more exposure and better validation?

  • Tell everyone on your home page about your brand's positioning--why/how it is different and why people should use it.
  • Create short how-to videos and post them on youtube
  • What are the problems you are solving? Search SM universe for conversations around such issues and offer your solution.
  • Do you have a facebook page?
  • Offer an incentive* to your current users to share your app with their network.
    • You mentioned that you have already spent $200 for online ads, but nothing happened, right? Instead of getting ads, use the money as reward or bounty next time.
  • What do you think went wrong with the ad?
  • have you tried lifehacker? makeuseof?

Don't be in a hurry to be an overnight success. That will come in due time. In the meantime, polish your app, interact with the online communities that use such tools--make yourself a valued member of their community.

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very good list, thank you. – Bozho Dec 3 '11 at 12:05
up vote 3 down vote

Just my personal opinion:

  • On the home page it is still not explicit enough what I am signing up for, the icons and text on the bottom half of the screen is good if I want to have more information, but I still want to know in the first 10 seconds what the site is for.

  • After signing in I am still not sure what I need to do. Facebook does this really when you first sign in, it gives the user immediate steps to take. After a new user logs in to your site it should be guiding them immediately to link their Twitter and Facebook etc. accounts

  • If I have just signed on to your service and I don't have anything to say I am likely to take off and not come back. Maybe you could have some trending stories or whatever that users could immediately view and share. Maybe this is not necessary if a user has linked their Twitter and Facebook accounts. Even so, I think there should be somewhere I can read what is trending on your site.

  • I got a bunch of 'not found' messages flash up when I connected my Twitter account, I would suggest these are unnecessary to show to the user.

  • After I got the above I am still stuck on the same page so it seems something didn't work

  • I haven't posted anything via your service so not sure if this is covered, but what would be good is to be able to slightly edit the message between firing it out to different services. What I want to say to my friends is not the same thing I want to say to Twitter followers.

  • Is there somewhere I can go to view scheduled posts? It would be good if you offered a full service for this so that I can schedule posts across various services and view the queue, edit, change schedule etc.

  • Your registration confirmation email doesn't have much info. I would at least provide a link or email address where your new users can provide feedback.

This is a good concept, I think it just needs more guidance for the user to fully integrate them from just signed up to avid user.

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thanks a lot for the feedback – Bozho Nov 25 '11 at 7:24
up vote 3 down vote

I don't really get "social media" and feel like that market is flooded like a tsunami, but I do like the design of the site. It is simple, elegant, easy to navigate and straight to the point. Nothing looks crowded and you left ample room on the left and right sides, possibly for new features or ad space when you decide to monetize. You could probably try to use a little more vertical space for those of us with high monitor resolutions however.

The biggest problem and one that I see others have brought up already is that I am still not completely sure about what the site provides as a service. You need more literature for curious people to find out about each of your services. Perhaps make the icons on the bottom of the page a link to a more detailed description or screenshots. The social reputation idea is intriguing.

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thanks for the feedback. I will really have to improve my homepage – Bozho Nov 25 '11 at 7:24

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