5 ms·

What is the best time of year to launch a site?

3 points by awt 20y ago

awt 20y ago
I know I know -- as soon as it's ready to launch. But seriously, is launching a site going into the summer season a good idea? You're just not going to reach as many people as you would in the fall or right after the holidays.
- zaidf 20y ago
  Depends on what perspective you subscribe to and decide to follow. For example, launching in summer might not get you all the visitors you want but it will also give you time to use summer to optimize your site in time for when summer ends and you supposedly get the new visitors. I did learn in my media planning class that TV use significantly goes down during summer. I've a feeling the same holds true for computer use.
- jward 20y ago
  If you launch in the summer you'll have several months of user feedback to improve your site before the mad rush. You don't have to do a full out PR blitz launch and tell techcrunch or the like about it. Just put it out there and tell a few people and see what they say and how they use it. I'd still launch it as soon as possible personally ;)
vlad 20y ago
I heard that March is the best month to launch, and April through December are very bad. I guess you will have to wait until March. :) Actually, everybody always says a.s.a.p. Most people think they're competing against "people who will rip me off as soon as I release my product" which leads to conclusions of "if I release on day X, I will be ripped off Y number of days later, so I should wait until Z, the perfect time, to release." In fact, there's a higher chance that there are startups and current companies doing something similar REGARDLESS of YOU. A lot of the reason existing companies have not caught on to idea X is because the whole reason you have idea Y is because the current companies just came out with idea X and there's simply no way to do Y before X. So, they may have already had your idea Y in mind, or started working on it, but had to release X first. So, when you got your idea, so did employees of all of these other companies, as well as budding entrepreneurs. So, you should release and at least get credit for being first. The whole point of being a startup is you can create whatever there's a huge chance big companies are working on as well, but much faster because you're just implementing basic features and avoiding bureacracy, as well as have no responsibilities. So, if you're trying to do a startup PG-style, I would try to create it and release it as soon as it works, with the bare features in it, and get publicity about it. I'm sure there are other mantras, like targeting a very small niche and improving the product, and only publicizing it when its ready (but you have tons of feedback from your small niche). Or, maybe getting a lot of venture capital straight off and partnering with big shots after you're much older and have many contacts. But I think if you're doing it PG-style (and I don't speak for him), you should release it as soon as it works. More or less.
- awt 20y ago
  +1 for insightfulness
- timg 20y ago
  I agree with Feb/March/April. Summer will give you a lot of users who will use your site more thoroughly. If they're still around by winter then you have a good chance of sustaining the growth. That's my guess.
cwilbur 20y ago
Depends on the site. A site offering customized Christmas cards won't do well immediately if you launch in January; a site offering something useful for preparing for college won't do well immediately if you launch in November. Launch the site as soon as it's ready to be launched. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to micro-optimize and asking yourself if you'll get more traffic if you launch on Tuesday or Saturday.

3 points by awt 20y ago

awt 20y ago

I know I know -- as soon as it's ready to launch. But seriously, is launching a site going into the summer season a good idea? You're just not going to reach as many people as you would in the fall or right after the holidays.

zaidf 20y ago
Depends on what perspective you subscribe to and decide to follow. For example, launching in summer might not get you all the visitors you want but it will also give you time to use summer to optimize your site in time for when summer ends and you supposedly get the new visitors. I did learn in my media planning class that TV use significantly goes down during summer. I've a feeling the same holds true for computer use.
jward 20y ago
If you launch in the summer you'll have several months of user feedback to improve your site before the mad rush. You don't have to do a full out PR blitz launch and tell techcrunch or the like about it. Just put it out there and tell a few people and see what they say and how they use it. I'd still launch it as soon as possible personally ;)

vlad 20y ago

I heard that March is the best month to launch, and April through December are very bad. I guess you will have to wait until March. :) Actually, everybody always says a.s.a.p. Most people think they're competing against "people who will rip me off as soon as I release my product" which leads to conclusions of "if I release on day X, I will be ripped off Y number of days later, so I should wait until Z, the perfect time, to release." In fact, there's a higher chance that there are startups and current companies doing something similar REGARDLESS of YOU. A lot of the reason existing companies have not caught on to idea X is because the whole reason you have idea Y is because the current companies just came out with idea X and there's simply no way to do Y before X. So, they may have already had your idea Y in mind, or started working on it, but had to release X first. So, when you got your idea, so did employees of all of these other companies, as well as budding entrepreneurs. So, you should release and at least get credit for being first. The whole point of being a startup is you can create whatever there's a huge chance big companies are working on as well, but much faster because you're just implementing basic features and avoiding bureacracy, as well as have no responsibilities. So, if you're trying to do a startup PG-style, I would try to create it and release it as soon as it works, with the bare features in it, and get publicity about it. I'm sure there are other mantras, like targeting a very small niche and improving the product, and only publicizing it when its ready (but you have tons of feedback from your small niche). Or, maybe getting a lot of venture capital straight off and partnering with big shots after you're much older and have many contacts. But I think if you're doing it PG-style (and I don't speak for him), you should release it as soon as it works. More or less.

awt 20y ago
+1 for insightfulness
timg 20y ago
I agree with Feb/March/April. Summer will give you a lot of users who will use your site more thoroughly. If they're still around by winter then you have a good chance of sustaining the growth. That's my guess.

cwilbur 20y ago

Depends on the site. A site offering customized Christmas cards won't do well immediately if you launch in January; a site offering something useful for preparing for college won't do well immediately if you launch in November. Launch the site as soon as it's ready to be launched. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to micro-optimize and asking yourself if you'll get more traffic if you launch on Tuesday or Saturday.