Point 4: 'Hacker News'<p><pre><code> Get to #1 spot on HN & you'll get tons of page views.
</code></pre>
Reminiscent of 'How to draw an Owl' - <a href="http://i.imgur.com/Z1oTC.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/Z1oTC.jpg</a><p>In all seriousness, Point 7: Share Buttons - are these actually effective? It's a genuine question as I've seen such a mixed response to them. We've chosen not to include any obvious share buttons on hackerjobs.co.uk as I figured no-one would want to share a job on their facebook account so lets not ruin the minimalism of the page. Thoughts?
I hate the way HN is emphasized every time I see something about growth hacking. If the only way you can get your startup on HN's front page is by writing about <i>something else</i> then this obviously is not your market and you are doing a terrible job even if you "win".
Very interesting and actionable. One thing I disagree is point #5 because your previous users could feel screwed.<p>Here are the 10 hacks<p>1. Guest post (send editor email with post and short intro)<p>2. Offer premium giveaways<p>3. Use Rapportive to find and connect with anyone<p>4. Use Hacker News (~10k to 50k visitors for #1)<p>5. Drop the app to free after a regular pricing<p>6. Create one day viral projects to promote your brand<p>7. Use share buttons<p>8. Distribute on AppSumo (+730k subscribers)<p>9. Reach out bloggers (provide value before asking for something)<p>10. Use Dropbox style to incentive and gamify signups<p>Accessible on this link <a href="http://tldr.io/tldrs/50c74e31babbb5f813000b32" rel="nofollow">http://tldr.io/tldrs/50c74e31babbb5f813000b32</a>
Pointless slides with no real tips or hacks. These are here just to promote Ben "Branding".<p>for example Guest blogging:
The tip is "Guest blogging is great, write stuff and send a small email to important people so they publish it on their blog". Social proof inside, " Look how i wrote an article for TC" ... Woopidioh!<p>Everybody know it is important to do guest posts. That is not rocket science. What would have been great is actually tips on how to write awesome guest blog post? The process, the research, etc .<p>Leo Widrich of Buffer wrote a great "Guest Post" on Guest blogging ( I know, so meta ^^ ) somewhere but I can't find it anymore.<p>The only thing I agree with the slide is the last comment.<p>"In the end none of this matters if you have a crappy product."
How about focusing on making the internet a better place? These tips generally do the opposite.<p>Funny that notification control's goal is to prevent web services from spamming you, but all of this advise is about how to spam other people on the internet.<p>The focus of all these things seem to be entirely self-serving, without any focus on really providing value to people. Instead, figure out how to help others so they actually want to share your content. If you can't do that, the work you are doing is not worth doing — and indeed harmful.
I fail to see how much of this is that useful to most startups. It seemed more about how to create and push mass amounts of spam in the hopes of hitting it big. I didn't see much in the way of actually increasing your interaction with potential customers. It's just a numbers game about how many eyes can I get in front of hoping something works.<p>I'm sorry, but I just cannot possibly take someone who uses the term "growth hacking" serious. Much like job postings using "ninja" or "rockstar"; it's just a blatant attempt to appear cool or hip in a strange way.