ASK: Tips For Launching To Tech Community? | Hacker News Reader

ASK: Tips For Launching To Tech Community?

8 pointsboy887 comments

Hey guys, here is the project i'm working on: www.contentforest.com

We're going public on the 15th of this month and would be great if you guys had advice for the launch of the platform - we're focusing on technology publishers and content creators at the moment

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I am not sure if this pertains to you or not but what about using someone’s social media presence as a tool to promote the articles. For instance lets say Mike posts some content on your site and Mike has an okay Facebook following of about 800 friends and about 200 followers on twitter. Then lets say Sam does the same thing but he has 4000 friends on Facebook with a few hundred subscribers and 3,000 followers on Twitter. I am not sure if this would work with your business model but if Sam gets picked for his submission I think the publishers would like to not only know his social media presence but also see him send a tweet saying “I just wrote and article for XYZ Mag check it out here somedomain.com ” and then doing the same on Facebook. I also think that makes him far more valuable as a content creator. This is just a random thought do what you will with it.

As far as actually answering your question… I agree with everyone below me. It was hard to understand what I was looking at immediately which means I would probably not stick around to find out.

Check out Klout.com you could work with their API and include that into each content creator's profile.

Well, first of all, just glancing at that website you linked. I am sure you will have an all-new decked out one once it is actually launched, but for people like me, who you are linking to it right now, it isn't the best at first glance. Not because of any design aspect, just because I have absolutely no idea what your product is when I open the page at first glance. I should not have to click a "How does it work" to understand what your product is, and am much more likely to just leave the page after failing in my quest to discover what this new website is. A huge part of launching is about the hype you create beforehand, so I strongly recommend that you add a line or two, perhaps a working screenshot right under that first bold text, just to tell me what exactly it is that I should be looking forward to. I don't mean advertising jargon like, 'get more quality content, save time and engage their audience.' That is good, but I need to first know what it is that will do that. So give a short description of what your product actually is.

So this is a platform for freelance authors and Web publications to find each other?

If you're targeting technology topics exclusively, then IMHO you're going for the wrong audience. Any witty and insightful writer with a technology background will have a tendency to write posts for their own blog and put ads on it. You'll have a hard time pricing attractively for them, because you and the publisher are middlemen that they've figured out how to cut out.

On the other hand, non-computer-experts who have the skills and knowledge to produce content, but have no idea how to install Wordpress, could be a talent pool for whom you could have a genuine value-add by giving them a platform and a way to find clients.

1. By posting it to HN you have already launched.

2. The landing page needs to explain what you do in a clear manner. Its empty on the top and has some very hard to read explanations once you scroll down.

Agreed. When you launch, make sure your landing page has a short, easily digestible summary of what your product is, and a clear call to action for whatever it is you want users to do upon visiting your site. These articles have some good tips for landing pages:

http://unbounce.com/landing-pages/checklist/

http://blog.kissmetrics.com/landing-page-design-infographic/...

awesome points guys; I'll create two videos so both the publishers and producers can see how it works et

csense: great point regarding the technical/non-technical aspect - never thought of it this way

more recommendations would be awesome :-)

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