Check list before launch on product hunt
Anastasiia Holiachenko 🇺🇦
8 replies
Hi there! I am preparing for the first product launch here.
That's why I wonder if there is something important that I am losing. So, here is my checklist of materials and actions before PH launch:
- Video. Most of the product posts have short videos that introduce the products. It is the first thing that I will watch no matter if I am on the PH post page or the product website. Not required, but good to have.
- Images. One-pagers, posters, brochures, etc. Anything showing the product features or business value depending on the product.
- Title, tagline, description, website URL, product status. Everything should be prepared in advance according to the tips here: https://help.producthunt.com/en/...
Before launch:
- Use this built-in tool https://www.producthunt.com/ship to announce your product launch to the community.
While you are posting:
- Choose the right time to post. Can anyone give a piece of advice about it? I have heard that the timing makes some difference.
- Leave the comment under the PH post to start a discussion. I enjoyed the makers' comments with short stories about the product creation process and its features list overview.
- Be proactive in answering the questions from the community.
- Feel free to share the news about your launch on Product Hunt.
What are your thoughts? Please share your experience on PH launches.
Replies
Yaroslava Antipina 🇺🇦@yaroslava
@anastasiia_holiachenko thank you for raising the topic.
I'm not quite sure right now but it seems to me that the best time to post is 12 am PST. We'll figure it out anyway, but yes maybe there're guys who can share their experience.
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Posting just after 12am PST (ie. 1 or 2 minutes after) is a good time to post. We were able to engage many people in our comments by answering questions and liking their comments. Every few hours, we'd post updates to our social media (ie. Twitter & Linkedin).
@maxine_buchert Thank you for sharing! That's a great idea of updates posting to social media! Will write it down for myself.
I was hesitant to add my reply, because even though I've launched a product (albeit a free and open-source one), I don't think I have a lot of experience in it, nor do I think I was doing it well. Still, you might find something that might come helpful for your launch :)
While launch timing is probably best be left at 12 am PST (the default, I think), building a community (~ hype) around your product first might come handy. AnotherPomodoro (the app I launched) got lost on the home page quickly. It pretty much started around the 20th place, which is clicks away on the home page (you have to click "see more" to find those products) and never went higher. Getting people to join your launch (not in the sense of "just get someone to upvote your product") is probably the best you can do: build a network of friends/followers on PH by engaging in discussions and following makers and hunters.
If I remember correctly, I think I've also read that getting a hunter (who has a larger network here) also helps, because through them you can get a higher exposure.
Looking back, I think that not getting into the top 10 on the home page was likely the result of me neglecting the "networking first" part. I've been developing my app in my free time and since it does generate revenue (other than from people who would decide to support me), I just wanted to get the news out quickly instead of waiting for more months to finally announce 1.0 - but you can't build a network in 10 minutes :)
I hope that you can find something helpful among these lines. Take everything with a grain of salt, though, because as I said, I'm more of a developer and less of a PH expert 😅
Wish you luck with your launch!
@hanziness Thank you for such great tips!
I agree with all of them. My research has also shown that the popular hunter can simplify your road to the top 10 😅
Also, building a community in PH looks like a good thing to do. Anyway, people here are so friendly, and they always have a huge bunch of ideas, so I am enjoying it 😃
🥳 Congrats on your launch by the way! Your product looks amazing and animations are so smooooooth!
In fact, there will be no universal list, since cases, times and products will be different. However, I would recommend create checklist template, and writing down everything you need in it so that at the beginning of the launch it goes according to plan