I built a thing, now what?
I finally finished a side project earlier this year. I built a job board for the tech industry specific to my location (Utah). It has all of the features I'd consider essential for the MVP. I have many other ideas for upgrades that I'd like to build, but I am going to wait until there's more interest shown in the project.
My question is what do I do now? I shared it on LinkedIn and got lots of likes and reactions and a few comments of general interest. I don't know what to do next in terms of marketing and SEO.
In terms of addressing the cold start problem, I have an automated method of scraping jobs off of LinkedIn that are in my location and populating the database. Job listing purchased on my site will be prioritized above those that are scraped, but at least in the mean time it's not an empty page.
What's the best way to get the word out on something like this without spamming all the forums on the internet?
Link to the project: https://utahtech.work
It looks like you're getting some traction from LinkedIn and assuming your ICPs are also there.
You should keep posting more contents there and actively engaging with people interacted with your post, DM them and get them onboard.
I see that you're doing a bunch of development like scraping and etc. Be careful not to fall into the trap of development procrastination.
Less development more content. Talk to more people, reach out to people in LinkedIn get feedback, and post more useful contents where your ICPs are.
What is an ICP for the uninitiated?
Peter (@PeterTSFN) mentioned PR and since I'm a PR and publicity agent, that was my answer 😎. Keep your message laser-focused. Be brief and local to start. From there you can hit industry media/audiences where area users can also find you. Good luck, and please let me know if I may help get your thing known.
Congrats on finishing building your project! I'm gonna be honest with you, marketing your product is hard, especially if it's a 2 sided marketplace, like a job board. You need to fill your site with real users fast and keep it going, or you're going to lose steam and fizzle. No one uses a job board if there's no users on the other side of the marketplace.
I wouldn't rely on SEO as the first marketing channel as a small creator, as it takes quite a while to get some traction, but it's always a solid long term strategy (until now I guess where Google are looking to cutting out the middleman with SGE). Your site is based on Utah, so you should focus on building your local SEO presence. Start by creating a google my business page, so Google knows where your site is based on. And then you can plan a content strategy that's tailored specifically towards your location, like jobs in utah, etc.
Going door to door with universities and colleges are probbaly the best option. We do what we have to do to get the word out, and we're going straight to the source of who uses job boards the most. You can either be there physically, or connect with someone in each place that will promote your site for you. Opportunities to be featured on local universities' websites are also important in building up your SEO presence, so you can look into that. Get a list of websites, look for who's in charge, and ask them to feature you.
Getting local coverage is also an option, but PR is hard to do alone without prior knowledge. I'm not a PR expert by any means, but the consensus is, you need to have some stories about yourself to pitch to local reporters. If your story is attractive, someone might pick it up and you'd get featured. This is also good for local SEO purpose. Still, PR is hard, and you have to learn how to do it properly. Even people in PR jokes about how PR people doesn't know anything.
Of course, there's also social media, and paid advertising. Paid ads are not very worth it on a tight budget though. With social media, if you decide to use that channel, focus on building viral worthy content, specific to the chosen platform. Getting viral on tiktok, facebook, youtube, etc are all different.
Overall, there's a lot to learn about marketing something, infinitely harder if you're building a marketplace. I'm sure I missed a lot here, but that's a little primer.
I'm building a marketing resource for beginners over at my newsletter at: https://thesolofoundernewsletter.com
If you want to learn more about how to market your things, you can check it out and wait for that to be published :)
Cheers,
Peter
Congrats on finishing your side project! Focus on getting real users who need this right now—both employers and job seekers. Traction and positive feedback are great, but prioritize those who urgently need your service.
Here are some structured next steps to help you attract PAYING customers:
Direct Outreach
Targeted Advertising
Partnerships
Content Marketing
If you wrote this, that's some good actionable steps. But I don't know why it feels like something ChatGPT would say :)
Hey, thanks, I hope it helps! To your other point, honestly I wouldn’t argue, I'd focus more on the content and whether it makes sense and is useful, rather than the source. Ultimately, it's the quality of the advice that matters. Wish you the best in your entrepreneurial journey 🙌
congrats
Stay laser focused on discovering ONE channel that can consistently bring you relevant people to the site (i.e. those looking for jobs in Utah).
You won't get this right first time. Each product will have a different channel that works for them.
Therefore, experiment.
List out 10 experiments you could run (e.g. "promote at local universities through careers dept."). For each one, add a column for:
@toddgoates
You need to do some research and check how you can overcome your competitions SEO and rank higher than them. Not easy as a startup though.
Look up your competition and check the SEO or description and keywords they use that appear on Google or Bing.
Start writing blogs. Medium could be a good platform for that.
Answer questions related to your idea on Reddit and Quora. Answer the ones that are already indexed high on google. Goodluck!
Hi Todd, congrats on launching your product 🎉🎉
How about you find a way to promote it at local universities (maybe some students that will graduate soon might use it). Either through their bulletin or some kind of uni communities.
As for your question on what to do next, I believe SEO AI could be a great tool for you. SEO AI can help you optimize your keywords, website structure, and content to improve the visibility and engagement of your platform.
Also, don't forget about the power of social media and networking. Reach out to local tech communities and groups, and leverage your LinkedIn network to spread the word about your project.
Keep up the great work!
If you're interested, you can take a look: https://seoai.run/