You got your new web2.0 service out there, and you are waiting for users graph to show a happy face. Critical size is your challenge now (probably the most difficult) You have 3 uncontrollable options and an extra:
- spend a few bucks in marketing (but this might not work and you might not have the money)
- wait for techcrunch to review you > see the techcrunch effect
- Get digged/slashdotted > see the digg effect
Or be patient and wait for the magic of virality as Flickr did. But then you might have to be very patient.
So here is a tip and i don t see so many Startups applying it. Suggest your existing users using his existing contacts to spread the word. But not just by putting a web form where each one has to enter his friends’mail one after the other, which makes the mechanics unefficient because it is just a pain in the ass to do that.
Remember your users have existing contact list in either Outlook or other web service (Instant Messengers). Just put in place a mechanism where users can easily import they adress book and spread the message. Skype ( is doing that and some others too. I came across an items sharing company called Multiply that is also doing that with all your contact books offline/online (hotmail, facebook,…) and you can then send a message by email or IM.
This is worth both for consumer and business services (linkedin and plaxo are also using those techniques). No need to say i would put that function in a VERY PROMINENT WAY. Most companies i review don’t do that. It is so easy and can be very rewarding. In my previous StartUp more than 20% of the traffic was coming by that technique. Make the numbers…
Of course this is assuming you have something interesting to offer
Does someone know of a gmail addresses script that is free/open source?
Most of them are for money as much as I know.
Posted by: Uri L. | 12 April 2006 at 05:58 PM