30 ways to promote your web application with little or no money
Making web applications is a very special way to make money online. If it’s bad executed you can do as much as $0. If you do it well, you can become a billionaire (not sure? ask Larry, Sergey, Chad or Steve).
I’m a web applications maker besides being a blogger, and I’m actively working on a web application I intend to launch in mid-2007. So I tried to figure out some ways to promote without spending more than US$1000, and without bothering anybody to do something for me for free, and here’s what I got:- Submit your web application to Techcrunch.
- Submit your web application to Read/WriteWeb.
- Submit your web application to eHub.
- Make easy to be bookmarked on del.icio.us so you get into the popular page.
- Hire a top digger and ask him to digg your web application.
- Use technorati WTF to promote your product (write a neat blog entry and promote that).
- Send press releases using services like PRWeb.com
- Better yet, send press releases to local newspapers (from your city or your country, it’s easier when you are outside the US).
- Send press releases to local magazines and blogs. They will easily feel empathy for you.
- Let your users take something from your web application into their blogs (i.e. a widget).
- Even better, give them a way to put your widget in their desktops.
- Exchange widgets with other similar web applications to promote each other.
- Create a neat promotional video and feature it on your blog.
- Even better, upload it to YouTube and encourage people to share it.
- Create a neat PDF brochure and put it in the sidebar of your website and blog. This will help you those times where a person likes your product but he’s not the decision maker, so he can pass the brochure up to the boss.
- Write an article for the O’Reilly Network, and put a link to your web application in your bio.
- Hire somebody to write a review of your web application for the IT Managers Journal telling them how useful it has been in her job.
- Pay a review with the best blogger who covers your web application’s niche.
- Offer your web app for free for minor bloggers, exchanging an account for a banner on their blogs.
- Use open APIs from famous web apps so you get featured on their websites.
- Keep a corporate blog publishing useful information, not just corporate scrap.
- Write guest posts for your blogger friends (make your homework and network with prominent bloggers before launching your web app).
- Write an article for Think Vitamin, and cross your fingers to be accepted.
- Subscribe your web application to search engines like DMoz.
- Choose very carefully your desired keywords and use Google AdWords wisely.
- Buying advertising from Stumble Upon won’t hurt you too.
- Look carefully for good bloggers on your niche and buy Text Link Ads on their blogs.
- Kontera will allow you to advertise inside the content of those bloggers.
- Start an affiliate program and make easy to join it.
- Before launching your web app collect as much emails as you can, and then send newsletter for every upgrade on your software.
This list is by no means definitive. You will surely get some more ways to promote your web apps for free and without bothering anybody, so if you know one that wasn’t featured on this list please share it in the comments.
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April 17th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
One may also want to find blogs that talk about applications with similar functionality, and post a link to their application on that blog. I find that generates a little bit of interest, especially from other discussion forums.
Tim
April 17th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Absolutely true. If you post interesting comments on blogs about apps with similar functionality you will get some visitors.
If those blogs have a list of top commentators you can even do better by submitting enough (good) comments to get featured on that list
Thanks a lot for your contribution Tim
April 18th, 2007 at 3:47 am
Great articles! I think I’m going to refer my readers to this page by ping, even though most of my reader are not tech-savvy, but what the hack, I think you have something valuable to provide to my hoobin.com readers.
I’m a blogger and reviewer for online make money ebook, but it’s seldom to come across an articles to promote web applicaiton and software, and I think you have something solid here because fundamental online marketing is about the same for ebook for web-application.
April 18th, 2007 at 4:18 am
Ken: Web applications are the real gold mines here on Internet, but as I said, you have to execute them well or you risk $0 earnings.
Thanks a lot for your support!
April 18th, 2007 at 9:13 am
…and step #31 is to shout out your link to the world for free via www.LinkShouter.com
April 18th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Hey Roberto,
Billionaire is spelled wrong and taxative isn’t a word. This is a fantastic article! Thanks for the tips!
Che
April 18th, 2007 at 10:54 am
I have another to add. Join a “mutual admiration society” like the Buzzards. I am not into the “paying” thingy. I have created a lot of buzz in a short time for my site without paying, and without having to create multiple sites pointing back to my primary site.
April 18th, 2007 at 11:08 am
@LinkShouter: That’s an option for a quick link
@che carsner: My fault! and fixed. My native language is not English so it’s very easy for me to write with typos. Sorry for that!
@Ninja1: I didn’t know about that but I’ll check.
Thanks a lot for your comments!
April 18th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Add your demo to http://demomyapp.com
April 18th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Look at you on the front page of del.icio.us. Congratulations, Roberto - and it was a well deserved win - this is a great post!
April 18th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
sharpshoot: If you build it to the point demomyapp.com receives a lot of traffic, then it will be a nice way to promote your webapp for free
Wendy: Yes, I check my stats at 1am and I was surprised when I saw my post on del.icio.us/popular (and now in the hot list). Good to know ppl found my posts useful for them
I’m very happy for that. Thanks a lot for your support Wendy! You are kind as usual! 
April 18th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Much of your list also works for promoting one’s blog! Thanks dude!
April 18th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Yeah Katrineholm, some of the points are useful to promote a blog, but I think they are the most common ones. Anyway they are useful
Thanks a lot for your comment!
April 18th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Nice information Roberto; thanks for sharing.
Here’s a tip I want to share:
I put together a social media network search engine, which searches around 200+ sites now. (I shall update this as often as possible):
http://social-media-marketing.blogspot.com/
Users can search for a competing site/application and see where all it is included. Then they can go ahead and add information about their own application on those sites. I recommend keeping a target of 1-5 sites a day; this is easier to handle than trying to get as many in as possible.
I have also provided a list of sites, which can be tackled individually.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Roberto.. nice article.. lots of good tips there.
Just wanted to drop a link to my post on Technorati WTF.. should anyone be interested in learning more about using WTF to promote your web application:
Using Technorati’s WTF as a Promotional Strategy for Your Blog : An Experiment
April 18th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Roberto - demomyapp is about 7 days old. Soft tested this week. Watch the blogs next week. Early heads up to entrepreneurs
April 18th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Maki: Of course, your articles have lots of useful information. They will be very useful for the readers
sharpshoot: Nice idea although you have to polish it. Do you have any plans to monetize it??
April 19th, 2007 at 7:27 am
Yes, we have a couple of sponsor offers in the last week or so. It needs a lot of polish i agree and we’ll modify it according to user feedback.
We had this problem last wednesday of wishing for a site where we could submit our app to early adopters to try it. So the current site was built on an all nighter by thursday morn.
We’re taking this somewhere good. So be interested in your thoughts.
April 20th, 2007 at 9:07 am
I’m still learning about how to attract visitors to my blog, and you’ve got really nice tips about it. Thank you for that.
April 20th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Good to know you have found useful material here
Thanks for your support!
April 20th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
I write an entrepreneurship blog and found your article very interesting. This is the stuff I love to read - a good, concise, informative article that gets to the point and tells individuals how to do it for themselves and succeed using the resources available to them. Good stuff!
April 20th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Great article. I’m thinking on doing some press releases.
April 21st, 2007 at 1:50 am
That’s the idea: to write good content for my dear readers
Thanks for your support!
April 21st, 2007 at 11:45 am
Really useful list. I suggest a new point: submit your site to css showcases sites, like cssmania for example, if you have a good design and a valid css.
May 11th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
You can also submit your applications, tools or services to www.Listio.com. Great community based directory of web 2.0 apps and services. You get to vote for your favorite applications and services.
May 12th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Got your advice Geekie. When Listio has worked its way through a bigger audience it will be even more useful.