From X to the Online World
As I landed on X December last year, I encountered a dynamic community of entrepreneurs sharing content, exchanging insights, narrating their experiences, and marketing their products. The sheer volume of activities made it challenging to stay abreast of everyone's endeavors and the content they shared.
Unlocking X’s Potential
Viewed through the lens of an independent entrepreneur, the platform offers the distinct advantage of a rich learning environment. Despite the varying degrees of relevance in the shared content, a noteworthy aspect is the "Give vs. Ask" ethos, expounded upon in the insightful piece titled "Promoting on Reddit (or Anywhere) By Giving Before Asking" penned by Bill Prin. Here, the act of entrepreneurs sharing their learnings, data, or product statistics represents a 'Give', while the promotion of their product is an 'Ask'. The true value of time spent on X hinges on the prevalence of 'Give' content. But, the reality is that the recurrence of similar ideas dilutes the impact of the platform.
The Double-Edged Sword of X
If this is the benefit of X, the downside is that you become one among many entrepreneurs. If you want people to notice your stuff, you have to do a lot of giving and always be honest. I don't mind being honest and giving, but the thing is, it takes up a lot of time.
Marc Louvion said in one of the promotional videos that he spends 5 hours a day on X.
I’m pretty sure this can be a valid approximation and I don’t want to spend that much time on X. I decided to add Webtime tracker extension on Google Chrome and Firefox. This tool aims to provide insights into my time spent on browsers, helping me make informed decisions to maximize my productivity.
Strategic Spots for Startup Promotion
In this X journey, I stumbled upon this tweet:
Guess what? Some entrepreneurs out there are selling lists of places to promote your startup. I did some detective work on Google and found a bunch of websites sharing these lists. Check out the ones I looked into:
500+ Places to Promote Your Startup
75+ Places to Promote Your Startup for Free
Top 20 Sites to Submit Your Startup to Promote It in 2024
Top 14 Sites to Promote Your Startup
89 Places to Promote Your Startup
My goal throughout this journey was to amplify the reach of my projects without breaking the bank. While paid promotion options exist, I decided to steer clear, considering my budget constraints. These lists I found have a mix of everything—some duplicates, some websites that aren't around anymore, and some with dark patterns like making you fill out a bunch of info and then springing a surprise payment on you.
I spent quite a few hours sorting through all of this to figure out which websites let you submit your startup. I hope that I can save some time for folks who want to get their app out there. I've even included the ones that want you to pay for a speedy listing or make you wait for months before they showcase your startup. Here's the list:
- https://alternativeto.net/
- https://apprater.net/
- https://appsumo.com/
- https://awesomeindie.com/
- https://betalist.com/
- https://crazyaboutstartups.com/
- https://ctrlalt.cc/
- https://fazier.com/
- https://feedmystartup.com/
- https://financesonline.com/
- https://launched.io/
- https://lazyhunt.com/
- https://microlaunch.net/
- https://owwly.com/
- https://peerlist.io/
- https://pitchwall.co/
- https://portal.10words.io/
- https://sell.g2.com/create-a-profile
- https://startupbase.io/
- https://startupbuffer.com/
- https://startupinspire.com/
- https://startupstash.com/
- https://wellfound.com/
- https://www.affordhunt.com/
- https://www.allstartups.info/
- https://www.betabound.com/
- https://www.betafy.co/
- https://www.crunchbase.com/
- https://www.f6s.com/
- https://www.feedough.com/
- https://www.gartner.com/en/digital-markets/basic-listing
- https://www.indiehackers.com/
- https://www.insanelycooltools.com/
- https://www.launchingnext.com/
- https://www.producthunt.com/
- https://www.saasprojects.com/
- https://www.sideprojectors.com/#/
- https://www.slant.co/
- https://www.startupranking.com/
- https://www.startups.fyi/
- https://www.trustpilot.com/
- https://www.uneed.best/
Those lists also include Reddits, but heads up, all links posted on Reddit are "no follow" (here is a perfect article on why is this important). But since Bill Prin had a good experience starting to promote on Reddit, I'm thinking of giving it a shot sometime soon. Here's the list of reddits:
- r/advancedentrepreneur
- r/advertising
- r/alphaandbetausers
- r/announcements
- r/AskMarketing
- r/Business_Ideas
- r/Businessideas
- r/coupons
- r/CrazyIdeas
- r/digitalnomad
- r/Emailmarketing
- r/Entrepreneur
- r/EntrepreneurRideAlong
- r/growinpublic
- r/growmybusiness
- r/GrowthHacking
- r/ideas
- r/indiebiz
- r/indiehackers
- r/InternetIsBeautiful
- r/Lightbulb
- r/MadeThis
- r/marketing
- r/microsaas
- r/NicheWebsites
- r/Plugyourproduct
- r/ProductHunters
- r/programming
- r/projects
- r/roastmystartup
- r/SaaS
- r/sales
- r/SideProject
- r/smallbusiness
- r/socialmedia
- r/startup
- r/startups
- r/startups_promotion
- r/sweatystartup
- r/webmarketing
There are also Facebook groups and communities, but for now, as I decided to stay away from Facebook, there's no plan to check those out, for now.
Tracking Success with Bonetflix
Implementing this strategy, I've promoted my project Bonetflix on all these platforms. In a past issue, I shared some metrics about it, and I expect these numbers to evolve in the following weeks. Stay tuned to witness positive transformations in this journey.
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