a single source, nothing corroborates it · contested
Submit what you learned, not what you are selling
A link to a product page rarely survives the new queue, while a write up of what the launch taught you can hold the front page for hours and drag sales along behind it. If the first attempt dies, write the second piece that same evening rather than writing off the channel. Landing cold readers on an article rather than the offer also keeps your sales page conversion rate honest.
Where this splits
The same author's sales page submission earned twenty minutes of front page time and six hundred visits in one launch, then barely registered in the next, which is why he switched to submitting a write up.
3 claims against 1
Nathan Barry
Submit a write up of what the launch taught
- 01A link straight to a sales page will usually die on an aggregator; a teaching post about the launch is what survives, so submit that instead
- 02If your launch-day submission dies, write a second piece the same day shaped for that site rather than giving up on the channel
Submit the sales page, brief front page time converts
Submit your own sales page to Hacker News on launch day: front-page time converts to real traffic even if it is brief.
- 03Point cold aggregator traffic at a relevant blog post rather than straight at the sales page, so only the genuinely interested reach the offer and your conversion rate stays honest
What it returned
- $6,000
His sales page link barely reached the home page and fell off; a post about what he had learned selling $6,000 that day held the front page five or six hours, and he credits $3,000 to $4,000 of sales to it on the way to $12,000 in the first 24 hours
- 4
Second attempt was written by 4 or 5 that evening once sales had reached $6,000
- 3.9%
First book's Hacker News traffic landed on a blog post and its sales page converted 3.9% on 8,162 uniques; the second book sent that traffic to the page and converted 2.9% on 14,436 uniques
- 600
About 600 visits from roughly 20 minutes on the front page before the post fell from #20 to #40
Sources
- $39k in eBook Sales Part 2: Design, Testimonials, and TrafficNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Finding Traffic · 2012-10-08 · dissenting
- $26,679 in 24 hours: Stats from my latest book launchNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Comparing the two books · 2012-12-21 · dissenting
- What I learned selling $6,000+ of my ebook today.Nathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · The Launch Strategy · 2012-09-04 · dissenting
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in hacker news
- Bank the front page wave as reputation, not revenue2 unconnected
- Test the idea there, then distrust the verdict2 unconnected · contested
- Answer the question first, name the tool second2 unconnected
- Keep showing up long after your launch day2 unconnected
- Plan the front page spike as reach, not signupssingle source
- Publish your own numbers in unglamorous detailsingle source