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Just launched on PH, this is what we did

Hey Hackers,

we finally launched Welder on ProductHunt today and I am so pumped about it.

Here are a few things we focus on before the launch and post-launch.

Product
As Welder is in early access for some time now, we made sure that when we push it on PH there is some big news. That's why we timed releasing the web version of Welder on the same day as posting Welder to PH

We also set a 30% discount just for the day of launch - for everyone. I will get later into why.

Visuals
I find it important to animate the logo (see on PH). It grabs attention on the homepage as there are many products and if it's well made it's the first thing that is going to build trust for the product.

Then we went with the way of making it funny. Funny video showing what you can achieve with Welder, funny images.

There are many products every day, checking UI, even beautiful ones can be mundane. So let's make people smile at least!

Nurturing
I have a powerful network of friends in the industry. I asked specific ones if they are willing to share the product into their company Slack.

We also leverage our close friends with this attitude.
1° Segment your close friend with small groups (5-10 people max)
2° Catch their attention by a funny message first and a funny group name
3° Then go straight to the point asking if they are ok to give a little hand tomorrow by upvoting (take 1min)
4° Select the one that said yes so we had them to a group
5* We prepare dead simple instruction for tomorrow

Post Launch
It's important to get traction as soon as possible. We release products at midnight PST (that's 9 am CEST for us). I immediately start to pinging all my connections to go and upvote.

But the important part is not to send them the direct link. Rather send them to the homepage and let them know to find the product, check the page and then upvote.

If anyone is willing to leave you a comment, well that's a win!

One important bit is to send an email with the new features and discounts (I mentioned above) to your current users and asking them to support your project by upvoting. This can be really powerful if you have decent userbase.

Last but not least
It can easily go wrong. Too many new accounts giving you upvotes can lead to losing the front position easily.

BUT, PH should not be a sales channel. It's just an early traction and branding builder in the community of product creators. You never know who will see it!

Good luck!

What's your strategy?
  1. Focusing on visuals (logo, video, slides)
  2. Having as many people upfront to upvote for you as possible
  3. Being active in the PH community a lot beforehand
  4. Letting your users upvote if they enjoy your tool
  5. Just post it. It's destiny! 😇
Vote
  1. 1

    Is there any way to test it as a beta tester? I want to share some reviews of it on my article of welder review, you can see here https://welderstream.com/best-electrode-holder

  2. 1

    That's fantastic.
    A practical question, though: why didn't you send them the direct link to the product? I'd guess it would reduce friction and improve possible engagement. What was the reasoning there?

    1. 1

      Good question. And there are sporadic answers to that.

      The basic thinking is that these platforms need to filter organic upvotes from "fake ones". Organic upvote behavior is like this
      Go to PH homepage > Scroll > click on product they like > visit website > upvote.

      Fake is going directly to the product. So it's the easiest way for them to recognize this and they probably give different "upvote weights" to organic upvotes.

      1. 1

        Interesting. Did not know that. Thank you!

  3. 1

    @Jordan971 did this with me! Any other insight?

    1. 1

      It was a pleasure my dear :)

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