Ask HN: How can I grow my webapp? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How can I grow my webapp?

5 pointse1ven7 comments

I put together a web application evenings and weekends over the Summer- Lonava.com - It's a Social News site (like Reddit/HN), where people post under their real names.

The problem is, I'm not really getting any traction at all.

I tried posting to HN for advice (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1628254), and I've tried advertising on Reddit (http://www.reddit.com/comments/d4oyu/lonava_is_a_redditlike_site_i_put_together_where/) and Google, but registrations have been next to nothing.

I'm not shooting for FB-levels, but I figured I could at least get a few dozen people to give it a shot. What else can I do to try growing the site?

Should I try pivoting the site, dropping the key differentiating feature (real names), and relaunching as a generic anonymous reddit/4chan clone?

What other strategies do you have for growing a userbase?

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I'd drop the real names - people do want anonymity (for example, posting about problems with their job or spouse) and the membership fee.

Instead why not have exclusivity ? People can create groups - like subreddits - but you can only post to a group if you are a member. Membership might be invite only, or you have to apply. That will keep out the spammers and trolls - bad behaviour gets your membership revoked. Let the people running the groups decide on their own membership (some might make it open to all, others might only allow friends etc).

Hrmm.. Under that scenario, I'd transition from a Reddit-like model, to more of a Meta-filter like model.

That could be interesting, but would probably fit a forum-like discussion site, better than a news-aggregation site, no?

I suppose I could redesign it to be forum-skinned, and drop the news importing, and the real names, but at that point, what's left?

Imagine something like Reddit, with groups(subreddits) for programming, US politics, Twilight, whatever.

Each group can do auto news aggregation - maybe by customizing what RSS feeds get fed into the group. Each group gets to set a theme. Most important though is that each group gets to set the rules.

For example:

- who can post to the group ?

- who can comment ?

- how do you get to join the group ?

So for a programming group I want it to be invite only (you apply for membership, the group owner gets an email, and clicks a link to let you in). I also want to allow only members to be able to post links and comments. As group moderator, I can also ban people who break the rules.

Another group might let any site member post, and so on. Another may or may not allow profanity, or NSFW posts.

You're in a bit of a predicament with the verified name aspect. On the one hand it is an interesting idea, on the other it creates a lot of friction with respect to users creating fully-functioning accounts. The process is so onerous (by web-standards, mind you), that it'll be tough to get many users participating at the outset on a nascent site.

I'd also consider narrowing or focusing on a specific topical niche (possibly with a better brand-name that might give a n00b some hints about what the site is and what it can do).

I see you have also seeded the site with some content, but you may also need to artificially seed the site with some user participation (via "fake" accounts). I know this runs counter to your idea of "real/verified" users, but one of the toughest things about growing a userbase is convincing people that there's some worthwhile activity going on at your site to begin with. If they arrive and there's no discussion taking place, most of them will just as soon leave (there's no compelling reason for them to register to comment to nobody when they can just as soon go register at reddit or hacker news to talk to folks).

You should also look at using SEO urls for a lot of your pages. So rather than http://lonava.com/stories/314687, use a url like http://lonava.com/stories/sonys-hirai-were-over-10-years-fro...

Once you fix some of the simple stuff, you can start taking a crack at things like link-building, link-bait, link exchanges, forum postings, ad-word campaigns and viral strategies.

So I have no panacea for you. Growing an audience can sometimes require a number of small tactical moves.

One last thought: In a prior job I had worked on an account verification product. There many, many companies out there who are interested in such technologies for a variety of purposes (usually for financial transactions). Your application may have a hidden gem beneath the surface that is more valuable than the aggregator: the identity verification component. You might want to look at some of the verification solutions out there and see if there's some opportunity for you.

I appreciate the points, thanks again for taking the time.

I don't know that "fake" accounts would work, but what I might be able to do is to convince some of my friends to each reply to a half dozen articles a day. Even if I had to needle them until they did, it would provide some content.

For the SEO-level- Reddit does that, and I suppose I could. As I user, I prefer a short, straightforward URL, but I suppose I could see why generating Google traffic might outweigh that. Fair enough. Thanks! ;)

The acct verification product I'm using is off-the-shelf. It was a pain in the ass to find one that was both affordable and reliable, but It's working pretty well. I don't really think I could/should leverage it.

Ah, I thought you had "rolled-your-own" for the verification solution. If you went off the shelf, you can't really leverage it as you say.

By the way, here's a hacker news equivalent for internet marketing that I've found useful (since marketing is a key component of audience building): http://sphinn.com/

Good luck!

Thanks, I'll take a look at that site. I've been reading SEOMoz, but there's a lot more I can/should do, a resource like yours is a great step!

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