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How I Got Over 500 Downloads In 24 Hours

I recently had some luck with my latest free ebook ‘101 New Business Ideas To Steal & Use’

I thought I’d share with the Indie Hackers community how I managed to get over 500 in under 24 hours.

I did try a bunch of things, but all we want to know is what actually worked right!

The single biggest technique that drove all of the traffic and downloads involved Twitter.

Here’s what I did.

Step 1) I published a tweet featuring a short description about the book, some pictures and a link to download the book.

Tweet below:

Step 2 ) I reached out to dozens of my followers on Twitter with the below direct message:

“Paul,

I’ve just published my new book ‘101 New Business Ideas To Steal & Use’.

It’s a free, PDF ebook with 101 new business ideas for entrepreneurs, makers and side hustlers.

Here’s your free copy:

( link to free ebook )

Can you help out a fellow indie hacker and please retweet my tweet to spread the word?

Thank you! 🙏

Craig”

And that's it, people helped me out with a like or a tweet and it went ‘mini viral’ driving loads of traffic and downloads.

There’s a couple of key takeaways for success here.

One, give something away FREE to your existing network, in return ask them for a small favour.

Two, make it really EASY to help you out. I made it very easy by sending them to a link on Twitter where they could easily hit like or retweet - nothing hard or complicated.

Lastly, yes LOADS of people ignored my request - but there was also enough lovely people that did help me out.

That’s the power of the community people!

Craig

posted to Icon for group Growth
Growth
on January 23, 2020
  1. 2

    A wonderful example and simple classic referral tactics. Congrats @CraigBarber

    I think your major success is because 1) you've created a nice e-book, 2) your twitter is very active. I would love to more from you!

    I'm also considering doing a small referral campaign with the existing subscribers (ard. 400) for my little side hustle, what's your advice :)?

  2. 2

    Excellent good to hear your technique.

    I have also just download the book Thank you!

    1. 1

      Thanks Iain, I appreciate the kind words : )

  3. 1

    How many Twitter followers did you have when you started messaging them?

    1. 1

      Around 700. Remember that I offered them a FREE book as a thank you to.

      Lastly, most people ignored my request, but some didn't and that's what matters : )

      1. 1

        Well, yeah, if you have only 23 followers your method probably wouldn't work :)

        1. 1

          No, it still would of worked. The reason why is because it wasn't my Twitter account that got the response it did... it was the people I asked to share it... those guys had the amplification factor not me : )

  4. 1

    This comment was deleted 5 years ago.

    1. 1

      Hey there, out of the approximately 50+ DM's I sent... only 10 or so responded with a like or a Re-tweet. As noted, most people ignored me, but I did get a result from the ones who did. It's network effects right : )

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