What's New: Planning a viral launch

(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)

Want your launch to go viral?

• You need an exciting product, a great hook, and engaging videos showcasing the features. Round it all out with a strong CTA.
• These types of digital products are easy to create and sell. Think: Printables, templates, stock graphics, fonts, and more.
• $6K in total revenue in 48 hours. Philipp Keller spent two months building credibility on X, which brought in 2K users at launch.

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Planning a Viral Launch 🚀

by Lucas Rantzau

Within 24 hours of launching my new SaaS, I got 732 unique visitors, 2.5K+ page views, and 200+ registered users. This was all organic, and I had practically no followers.

This is the second time that my SaaS launch has gone viral, and I'm sharing the six elements that worked!

1. An exciting product

You can have the best launch and marketing strategy in the world, but with a bad product, it won't matter. To give you something concrete, this was my thought process for my latest SaaS:

• Problem: Founders don't want to spend time creating or maintaining personal websites.

• Solution: Create the world's first link in bio tool designed specifically for founders. Cool URLs, up and running in five minutes, and low maintenance.

I bought the domain and validated the idea through a simple waitlist landing page explaining the core features.

2. A great hook

No followers? No problem. Create a viral launch post on X.

The make or break of this post is the hook. This is the very first line in your post, and should make the user stop scrolling and get invested in your content.

Here are the hooks from the posts of my last two viral launches:

• "I did it! 🤯" (183K views)

• "It’s finally here! 🤯" (25K views)

Yes, the hooks had nothing to do with the product. But they were effective in getting the user to stop scrolling and watch the content.

3. Showcase the product in a few seconds

Attach an image or video to your post. The algorithm chooses what goes viral based on the posts that users spend the most time on, so a video is the better option.

For my viral content, I used a fast-paced product video demonstrating the core features, including zoom-ins to keep it engaging.

Comedic launch videos also tend to perform really well.

4. Explain the concept in one-liners

For Founder Site, I constantly use the phrase: "The Linktree for founders." It makes the product easy to understand for someone who is interacting with it for the first time.

5. Bullet points explaining the core features

Here, elaborate on your one-liner a bit further with a few bullet points explaining the core features.

6. A great CTA

Due to the steps above, the user is fully committed now. It's time to capitalize on the attention, and lead them over to your landing page with a strong CTA!

Platforms like X and LinkedIn punish links in posts with reduced reach. A way to combat this is to leave the link in the first comment on the post, and refer to that at the end of the post itself.

Don't just do the classic "Sign up now!" Reiterate the benefits or cool factors of your product in the CTA.

If you enjoyed this, check out Founder Site. Right now, it's 100% free, and the first founders to sign up will get a ton of free exposure for their startups!

Discuss this story.

In the News 📰

from the Growth Trends newsletter

📱 TikTok's report on mobile game marketing trends.

📝 Create on-brand forms, surveys, and quizzes using AI! #ad

🤖 Actual use cases of AI agents.

🎮 Video game startups could be a bright spot for VC in 2024.

📧 The anatomy of a perfect sales email.

📂 The text file that runs the internet.

Check out Growth Trends for more curated news items focused on user acquisition and new product ideas.

Types of Digital Products to Sell 💰

by Marc Andre

Recently, I wrote an article about my experiences selling low-cost digital products. I got several questions about specific types of products, so I created this list to help spark some ideas!

This list focuses on products that are quick and relatively easy to create.

Printables

Printable products like journals, planners, checklists, and other templates are incredibly popular right now. Best of all, there are possibilities for just about any topic or niche.

Spreadsheets

You can sell budget templates, meal planners, fitness trackers, or really any type of spreadsheet that helps people stay organized.

Canva templates

Create templates for Pinterest Pins, Instagram Stories, Facebook covers, resumes, etc.

Notion templates

Creating templates for things like weekly planners, project management systems, or study guides could be a great product to sell.

Slideshow templates

Many people use PowerPoint or Google Slides for work, school, or personal projects. Create themed templates that others can purchase and customize for their own presentations.

Resume templates

Similar to Canva templates, you can create resume templates in various formats (Word, Google Docs, InDesign, etc.) for people to use when creating their own resumes.

Downloadable guides

This is a broad category that could include any number of things. For example, a few years ago, I took a photography trip to Acadia National Park. When I was planning the trip, I purchased a digital guide to the park written by a photographer who's shot there many times.

Stock photos

If you're a photographer, you can license your photos on your own site, or through popular stock marketplaces.

Stock graphics

Creating stock graphics is another option. Photoshop files, icons, illustrations, vectors, and AI-generated images are all possibilities.

Stock video footage

If you're a videographer or have drone footage, consider selling it as stock video. The demand for quality stock footage is still strong.

Stock audio or music

Composers, musicians, and sound designers can sell their work as royalty-free stock audio or music. You can also create sound effects and other audio clips.

Fonts

If you're a designer and have created unique fonts, you can sell them either directly on your own site, or through popular font marketplaces like Creative Market.

Add-ons

Some software provides opportunities for simple add-ons. I've sold things like Lightroom presets and Photoshop actions, brushes, and shapes.

Patterns

Create and sell sewing patterns, quilting patterns, knitting patterns, embroidery patterns, etc.

Coloring pages

Coloring pages are popular for adults and children alike. You can create a huge variety of coloring pages, from mandalas to animals to landscapes.

E-books

Writing an e-book is often easier than you think. Your e-book doesn't have to be hundreds of pages. You may even be able to repackage some content you've already written. Plus, it's a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your niche.

Online courses

Start with something small, and see how it goes. If it works well, you could expand into more in-depth courses.

Grab this free idea validation checklist to be sure there's a market for your product or business before launching!

Discuss this story.

🔥 Landing Page Hot Tips

by Rob Hope

Strengthen your landing page with these design, development, and conversion tips!

Embed your forms to capture leads immediately:

🚫 [Click here to sign up]

✅ (Enter your email) + [Sign up]

Remember, with each page load, your conversion rate drops. Try to capture leads as soon as possible!

Subscribe to Rob's One Page Love newsletter for his favorite UI, design, and development finds.

This SEO Kickstarter Hit 2K Users in 48 Hours 🔗

by Philipp Keller

Last July, I posted a screenshot on X of a tool I built for myself, asking if anyone else would also benefit from it. I understand this is not the way you truly validate a product, but it was a start.

Validation station

Lots of people replied telling me that, yes, they'd use this product. I didn't believe it. I thought they were just being nice. It was only when people started to DM me asking when the tool would be ready that I actually started to build.

Two months later, I had an MVP ready. Backl is a platform of 60 curated directories to help you get quality backlinks, kickstarting your SEO. I released it for $10 per month, but only opened it up to 10 customers total. It was still too minimal to open it up for widespread use.

Though I was thrilled to have 10 customers (and a lot more on the waiting list), I saw that they struggled with the outreach tool. Writing good cold emails is hard. Why would the other website link back to you? What do you give in return? A few SEO agencies had success in using the tool, but solo founders were struggling.

So, I began looking for an easier way for solo founders who had no prior knowledge of the subject to get their first backlinks.

The solution

Throughout the development process, I had stumbled over lots of great places to post your startup. These places didn't need to send an email, but allowed a user to directly register on the website. There were already countless lists out there promising "100 great places to list your startup," and the like. I had a look at some of them, and found the quality lacking.

So, I spent two months creating something better. I investigated 200 startups. Using four different SEO tools (Ahrefs, Semrush, MOZ, and Majestic), I investigated the backlinks that those 200 startups had in common, and organized them by backlink strength, achievability, and categories.

I DMed people on X, asking them if they'd like to check out the resource. And...no one was interested. Devastated, I lost faith in my own product. But I created the best video pitch I could come up with, and planned to launch the following Monday morning.

When I left the house, I said to my wife, "Today, I'll launch the product nobody will buy." I drove to the office (I have a full-time job) and tweeted about my product, thinking that this was it, the case was closed, and I would just move on to my next product.

But over the course of the next 48 hours, I hit 134 sales. I raised the price twice; in the end, it was 2.5x the original price. Within 48 hours, I had brought in $6K! I also gained 2K additional followers on X.

The takeaways

Over the course of the next 30 days, I made more revenue than at my day job. My learnings:

1. While doing the two months of research, I tweeted a lot about my findings and my questions. I underestimated the credibility I was building up on X. It helped me build trust with people, which eventually led to them buying my product.
2. It helped me attack one problem (how to get backlinks), and iterate over this problem. Over time, I understood the problems of my customers better and better, and came up with a solution. I could not have succeeded in my first attempt.
3. The proof is in the pudding. I needed to create a landing page, and launch with a video nailing the proper pitch, before my product was credible. Sending a person a link with "Hey, can you have a look?" is not validation.

Discuss this story.

The Tweetmaster's Pick 🐦

by Tweetmaster Flex

I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:

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Also, you can submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter.

Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Lucas Rantzau, Darko, Marc Andre, Rob Hope, and Philipp Keller for contributing posts. —Channing