Where and how to announce the launch of a website?

[JoeEntrepreneur]

Me and my friends have been working on developing a social marketplace called Onista. We are 4 to 6 weeks away from launching it.

We want to find out about where and how we should announce the launch event so people know about it.

we are thinking of following, 1. Press Release 2. Announce on YC news 3. Announce on Reddit 4. Announce on Digg 5. Send emails to TechCrunch, GigaOM, and Mashable. (Not sure if they will care in first instance) 6. Send emails to all of our friends and family

Are there any other ways to announce the initial release?

You can track our progress at our blog http://onista.wordpress.com

The site will be live at http://www.onista.com within next 4 to 6 weeks.

Please let us know if you know other ways to announce the availability of new website.

Thanks in advance,

[chmac]

I'd suggest you go focused rather than shotgun. Who are your target customers? What other sites are they using? Are you a cross between eBay and Facebook? Who are the biggest bloggers out there on those topics? Target those people, like a laser beam, you should be able to guarantee coverage on launch day.

Plus, you should be able to generate some hype beforehand. Start targetting these sites now. Tell them the launch is coming. Build the relationship. Make sure the authors know who you are and that you're coming.

Oh, and in 4-6 weeks means nothing, pick a date. Pick a date in 8 weeks so you can be sure you hit it, but a date, an actual date, a timeframe is always meaningless.

So you've targetted the top bloggers in the field, now offer them something. Tell them you're coming, then offer the top blogger a 4 hour exclusive if they'll guarantee coverage. Offer them all a sneak preview. Delay your launch by 3 days and run 3 days of "private, invite only beta testing". Tell all the bloggers you're targetting that they can invite people, on their blogs.

The people you're targetting (bloggers, not customers) have to feel like they're getting something real, something that's a scoop, not some generic, third hand, run of the mill announcement.

Second, target forums / user groups / fan sites / etc. Anything in the eBay / MySpace / Facebook / etc space, if there's a forum out there, find their news section, add them to your list above. Then get an account on the forum and start talking (try to keep it relevant, spam never helped anyone).

Scrap the "Coming soon" on your site and start a big, fat counter. LAUNCHING IN 45/44/43 DAYS, etc.

Generate some hype, get people excited, this thing is going to happen, it's going to be huge, and you want to get into it right now.

Most of all, good luck!

[greendestiny]

I'd agree with everything here except to say pick a date for 4 weeks after you're ready. If you want a big launch, don't schedule it for the day you've just finished that last bug. Make sure you're really ready and then in those last 4 weeks you'll discover all those things you thought were finished aren't. Otherwise you're a big chance to miss the launch date and not be ready, that's bad news.

[JoeEntrepreneur]

Thanks greendestiny. You have valid point. I picked a date November 1st a target for us to make sure we fix all issues and also communicate to interested folks about upcoming launch. I feel pretty confident that we can achieve November 1st (unless one of my friend convinces me to push two more features that he has been trying to push) because now we have only 139 more bugs to fix.

[greendestiny]

That sounds fair enough, although I was really trying to say don't pick a launch date now. Finish those 139 bugs and then plan a launch, I don't think it'll hurt to take it a bit slower but I could be wrong. A small number of weeks after you think the site is finished(ish) should be enough to drum up some hype and then launch.

[JoeEntrepreneur]

Thanks a lot chmac for all the suggestions.

Yes Onista is amalgam of eBay, LendingTree, Priceline and LinkedIn. We are basically trying to close the gap between social network and a marketplace.

We picked the date: November 1st. Will update the website with counter and the launch date

BTW, How do I find out who are the biggest bloggers in our area? I am trying to find on Google, TC, mashable as well.

Will start talking on different forums. Starting to search the forums now.

Thanks again for taking time and providing suggestions.

[steve]

Your blog is very optimistic. You'll need that:)

This is an interesting topic. I'm always trying to learn more about what other people do for publicity. I get really tired of all the bs stories with the founders who claim that they just told some friends and then woke up with ten million users the next day.

[JoeEntrepreneur]

I am very optimistic man in general.

I know. I wish I knew the secret.

[Kaizyn]

Press releases and public announcements on these aggregator websites really aren't good. You need to find some more creative way to generate publicity for your launch. Since you're working on a marketplace, what is some high-profile good or service you could offer that would draw people in? Were you to release next week, a couple hundred copies of Halo 3 might just do the trick (though at $60 a pop that could get expensive). There are too many online social sites for a simple announcement that it's up and running to draw in participants.

[JoeEntrepreneur]

We are bootstrapping this startup. Wish I had money to spend on hot items to buy and sell on Onista. It's a great idea though.

[JoeEntrepreneur]

Thank you so much everybody for taking time and replying to my questions.

To make things clear, yes we are building onista as amalgam of eBay, LendingTree, Priceline and LinkedIn. We are basically trying to close the gap between social network and a marketplace. We are also not as boring as auction or reverse auction.

It is a general marketplace and not specific to any niche.

The key take away from everybody's reply is

1. Pick a date. Sure We are confident that we will launch on November 1st 2007. (139 more bugs to fix) 2. Put a day counter on front page 3. Contact Bloggers that cover social networks and marketplaces and Web 2.0 in general. (Wish I knew where to find these bloggers) 4. Post on http://www.buzzshout.com/ & http://www.launchfeed.com/ 5. Post comments on TechCrunch with a link back to our site 6. Write a personalized emails 7. Though generating lot of pre-launch hype sounds very attractive idea it may not always work. as "ed" mention in the post, "I've never, ever ever ever, seen this work out in a positive way. Once the floodgates open, users are almost invariably disappointed by what's available. The result is that you lose the (critical) attention of early adopters". 8. Use SEO press release from PRWEB.COM for $200. (Any suggestions on services that can help us write a press release? I've never written one and certainly writing is not one of my great skills. Except javascript/css and html) 9. Send a link to the uncov guys. Loved this idea. Would be interesting to read how they will tear us apart.

Now I will post specific replies to each post here.

[nextmoveone]

I've found the best thing to do it Press Release.

Why? 1. It's syndicated across hundreds of websites including forbes.com and yahoo news. 2. People read them constantly to find what's new 3. Writers read them to get new stories 4. People in your industry read them to bring new apps to the limelight with their small audience

and all other forms of promotion should compete with the press release, not supplement it.

[tocomment]

Can you explain a little more about how to do this? Is there a place you submit your press release to get it "syndicated across hundreds of websites"?

[nextmoveone]

Yes. I'd recommend the SEO press release from PRWEB.COM for $200. The company I work at now, uses it;

We've been syndicated across forbes: http://www.forbes.com/prnewswire/feeds/prnewswire/2007/08/07...

and yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20070823/bs_prweb/prweb548843_...

it's very effective, as you can see. It lead on to other things like industry coverage and free links - we've had numerous travel agents cover us on their blogs or podcasts and a Forbes web article actually printed because of our press releases.

[JoeEntrepreneur]

This is GREAT advice. Thank you so much.

Any idea, who can write a nice press release? My English Writing skills are as good as MC Hammer's money management skills.

[nextmoveone]

We have an in house writer, but just put an ad out on craigslist and you should find someone talented enough to write an engaging press release.

[adrianwaj]

http://www.buzzshout.com/ http://www.launchfeed.com/ Social networks on Ning with collaborative blogs - write posts Google Ad-words Put a link in your email footers Make some good comments on Techcrunch with a link to your site

[rms]

I don't think I've gotten more than 50 hits from a TechCrunch comment, and that's when I get first post. It still won't hurt to make as many comments as you can on popular blogs with a link back to your site.

[mtw]

commenting on blogs is a great idea, but you do that to connect with the blogger and making him realize he might need to write a post about you. you don't comment on blogs to get traffic. and anyway, comments have all rel nofollow on them

[JoeEntrepreneur]

Thanks for the info.

[ed]

If you seriously want to launch this service you'll need to be ruthless about who you target. You're not going to get anywhere by playing nice and focusing on a handful of sites.

Target everyone and anyone. Then go back and do it again. Marketers typically try to make 3 impressions on a person for any given product or service.

And as others are mentioning press releases are pretty ineffective. I find it's always best to write a personalized email even if you're just changing some boiler-plate text. Personalized emails create a sense of obligation to respond.

[iamwil]

While I'm not a marketer, targeting anyone and everyone isn't the way to go, imo. Despite all the greatness we think that we built, most people simply won't care. And spam is the evil that doesn't think it's evil because it thinks it's doing everyone else a service.

"And I'm not saying that television is vulgar and dumb because the people who compose the Audience are vulgar and dumb. Television is the way it is simply because people tend to be extremely similar in their vulgar and prurient and dumb interests and wildly different in their refined and aesthetic and noble interests." X David Foster Wallace

While the guy is a novelist, and not in television, he's done work in observing the effects of television on fiction. But, I think it makes sense.

Given that, unless your service is pretty basic, like water and sun of the internet, or pretty vulgar, like porn (also appeal to basic affinity towards sex), it will probably only first appeal to those that are interested in that particular niche.

This is why finding those people that are fans or first movers in that particular field/industry is important, and especially if they're obsessed enough to keep a blog on it, due to a need they have to tell other people. For a new market however, you'll need to find a cross-section that cuts across other groups--this, I have no idea how to do.

Anyway, that's why it's usually considered a good idea to pick problems that are your problems to work on for a startup, because in addition to scratching your own itch, you'll know where to find other complaining fools (besides yourself) that have the same problem. If you can do it well, they'll tell others.

[ed]

Those are all great points so maybe I just misunderstood your service. Is this a general marketplace or does it only appeal to a niche market?

Either way, the social component makes it sound like you'll need to get over the cold-start "hump."

One more thing -- another poster suggested trying to generate a little bit of pre-launch hype. I've never, ever ever ever, seen this work out in a positive way. Once the floodgates open, users are almost invariably disappointed by what's available. The result is that you lose the (critical) attention of early adopters.

[JoeEntrepreneur]

Thanks lot ed. Point very well taken. Same thing happened to me. There was a company called www.riya.com who hyped lot before launch. They were building some image comparison and search technology. I saw there demo on demo.com and signed up for beta. I was following their blog everyday and waiting for release. When release actually happened, the product was POS (Piece of Sh..) I never visited riya.com again ever.

[ed]

I know riya well (they are in my competitive space) and agree completely. Best of luck and keep us posted on your progress!

[mynameishere]

"My friends and I"

Best foot forward, you know.

[JoeEntrepreneur]

Right. Will use that going forward.

Thanks

[natrius]

Send a link to the uncov guys.

Any publicity is good publicity, right? But seriously, a social network... for selling things to each other? They're going to tear you apart.

[steve]

news.yc is a "social networking" site...

I'd try to lose that buzzword, but the concept of making sites that users can communicate over is still pretty solid.

[natrius]

But news.yc doesn't call itself a social networking site. There's a big difference between sites that happen to allow people to communicate and interact with each other, and sites that list "we're a social network" on their FAQ as a reason why they're different from the competition. The latter tend to be much lamer.

[steve]

How is that not exactly what I said?

[majimojo]

Get a friend of yours to try it out and then link to it on Digg. Careful about self promotion tho!

[JoeEntrepreneur]

Can you please explain what you meant by "Get a friend of yours to try it out and then link to it on Digg". I did not follow. Thanks in advance,

[wimkhan]

It means you should find some friends to become your beta tester then ask him/her to submit some articles about your product (press release/faq/about us/how to get started) to famous social bookmarking site like Digg, Mixx, Reddit.

This will prevent you by what he called "self-promotion". Wouldn't be nice if it is other people who submit you to digg and co's rather than yourself. Isn't?

[andy]

On Facebook.

[JoeEntrepreneur]

I have profile on Facebook.

Actually after initial launch, we are planning to build a Facebook application as well. I expect our Facebook app to be out by end of the year.