For me, not every post on Indie Hackers helps me answer the questions I have. Despite the great content, threads that provide real value get buried over time. So I decided to review the top-ranking posts of all time to find three that I can actually use (I summarized them below).
For context, my goal right now is to grow my newsletter. So the posts I’m looking for should be tailored toward growing a subscriber base. Specifically, I’m looking for content that helps me write better copy and execute strategies to promote it.
However, discovering relevant posts on Indie Hackers is not easy. Even with the search bar, filtering for content is time-consuming. So I built a web scraper to politely visit the All Time Popular Posts page and grab the links to the threads.
I then exported the data to an Excel file. There, I was able to sort the posts by upvotes, create various keyword filters, and quickly scan the titles for relevance. Lastly, I summarized the three posts that I found the most helpful.
You can see the full file here: Google Sheet Link
0-19k email subs. How I promote my content
Distributing your content across channels is one way to quickly grow your subscriber base organically. The key is to tailor your content to the platform. Post long-form content on Twitter, Indie Hackers, and Reddit. But convert your content to summaries for Facebook and Slack groups. In addition, post direct links to sites like Hacker News, Designer News, and Growth Hackers.
7 practical ways to write copy that converts
Effective copy focuses less on your product and more on the value your product provides. At the end of the day, your audience is looking to fill a need. Be hyper-specific on what you offer and who your product is for. In addition, write content that reads like a conversation. Address the reader personally and break up long text into consumable sections.
How I grew my newsletter to 130k subs in 20 months
Your website is the first piece of content your audience interacts with. Use a minimalist design with concise copy to increase signups meaningfully. The next step is to outreach to newsletter directories and review sites to build backlinks and credibility. Then run cross-promotions with other content creators that are roughly the same size.
Honorable Mentions:
I hope this helped! One last thing. Similar to the summaries above, every week I curate the best strategies and case studies focused on growing B2B SaaS companies. Here’s the link to the SaaS Weekly Newsletter I run if you’re interested!
I’m always looking to learn something new! Which Indie Hackers post helped you the most?
This is one of my favourites. https://www.indiehackers.com/post/need-a-saas-idea-to-work-on-next-year-5-myths-to-help-get-you-unstuck-over-christmas-d8d5632ede
Thanks Ian, I'm working on HedgedStocks. The cross promotion tactic def is interesting. I'm 'stealing' the email template and testing it.