Ask HN: How do I get traffic and distribution for my app cheaply?
However, our website and app have no almost traffic. The money we made was from single platform that has shutdown now. So we dont have distribution.
I am posting on LinkedIn and have started blogs. But, it will take time to capture traffic with blogs. I dont know but it could be 6-12 month game based on what I have read.
What can I do to bring much more traffic and increase distribution of our web app? I have tried Show HN but my app had no comments. HN is likely not a good audience anyway.
I can spend probably $300/month on Google Ads but that does not lead to massive traffic and often we get people from third world countries and freeloaders who never buy. I never made money from someone subscribing to our app using Google Ads in the past.
I reached out to some creators on X and got quoted $3k, $5k or $10k per post. I did not realize prices are these high when we are not even not sure whether X is mostly bots.
I have read $200 - $500 per mention from newtubers but again that is very expensive for someone like us who sells $20/month SaaS.
How are people who are not part of networks like YC or not funded by venture capital doing it?
Unfortunately I dont have much following on LinkedIn (all engineers who never buy) and our company, being new, also dont have much following on X (10-20 followers only).
What do you suggest that helps us bring traffic, distribution and ultimately leads to purchase?
- Most LI and X posts are just bots; do not believe the numbers. I paid for posts on LI, saw 300 to 400 likes, about 100 comments, and a handful of reposts, but the traffic didn't reflect. Later, I learned they were just pods (automated bots or automated accounts liking each other with no real engagement).
- Writing comparison pages (alternative to) between my service and competitors. Took 3 to 4 months to start having keywords indexed, no real traffic yet, but it is expected (my market is saturated with SEO, all competitors are years older than mine).
- None of the usual channels (HN, Reddit, ProductHunt) brought any meaningful traffic.
Things I want to try:
- TikTok marketing, I might start doing some videos explaining the value of the product to see if it helps or not.
Things I want to try but can't due to the service being free:
- Affiliate marketing. I've seen some services gaining traction with that.
Good luck!