4 ms·

How to get 170k users in six months with zero marketing

14 points by timothyjcoulter 15y ago

mnml_ 15y ago
It doesn't load
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
- timothyjcoulter 15y ago
  You guys are taking the server down. ;) Coming up soon.
  - timothyjcoulter 15y ago
    Back.
    - mnml_ 15y ago
      not yet
      - timothyjcoulter 15y ago
        Yep, you're correct. Another lesson learned: Cache Wordpress.
        koopajah 15y ago
        Still not working (from France at least) EDIT: ok now it works
      - timothyjcoulter 15y ago
        Try it now! :)
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
    - koopajah 15y ago
      Still nothing ^^
ja27 15y ago
I like the visual appeal of it. Evernote or Springpad have maybe 20+ times as many features, but I end up using Corkboard because it's simple and looks interesting. I showed it to my middle-school daughter and on her own she used it to collaborate on a project with another kid.
- allang 15y ago
  Agreed. The ascetic approach to features is what keeps me using it, even though there are other services with 20x as many features. Very simple, very useful.
PagingCraig 15y ago
I wouldn't say zero marketing :P
absconditus 15y ago
I can only assume that what the author really meant is zero advertising. Most of what is described falls under marketing.
Hisoka 15y ago
This is misleading because if LifeHacker hadn't found your article on HackerNews, everything else probably wouldn't have happened. So I don't know if I would want to build something people wanted, and not focus on marketing... and hope one or two people spread the word to others. You might've gotten lucky. Yes, building something people want is the first step, but there's more.
gpjt 15y ago
Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks like you've had 170k unique visitors on your website, not 170k users -- quite different things, no? The advice is good, though.
- sparkygoblue 15y ago
  As far as I can see, the site basically creates a public account for you automatically when you visit it, so unique visitor = user.
DanLivesHere 15y ago
Totally misleading headline. Not OPs fault -- the problem is in the post. 171k unique visitors is not 170k users. Take my project, a daily email newsletter (http://dlewis.net/nik http://dlewis.net/nik if you're interested). It's about a year old, and I've had about 500k uniques over that period. I have 5,000 subscribers. I'm one of Corkboard's 171,000 people but I'm not a user of Corkboard. I tried it for a few minutes and left, not coming back since. And honestly, if you're not capturing people, that traffic is not all that valuable. This isn't to say that you aren't capturing people; hopefully, you are. Just that you shouldn't conflate a visitor with a user. Visitors visit; users stay.
- thekevan 15y ago
  How did you get those testimonials from some rather interesting people? Did you know them before you had this service?
  - DanLivesHere 15y ago
    I know Jimmy, didn't know the others.
- mtw 15y ago
  from what I get from the site, every visitor is a user for them, a session is created and you get to have a unique page (like netvibes)

mnml_ 15y ago

It doesn't load

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

timothyjcoulter 15y ago
You guys are taking the server down. ;) Coming up soon.
- timothyjcoulter 15y ago
  Back.
  - mnml_ 15y ago
    not yet
    - timothyjcoulter 15y ago
      Yep, you're correct. Another lesson learned: Cache Wordpress.
      - koopajah 15y ago
        Still not working (from France at least) EDIT: ok now it works
    - timothyjcoulter 15y ago
      Try it now! :)
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - koopajah 15y ago
    Still nothing ^^

ja27 15y ago

I like the visual appeal of it. Evernote or Springpad have maybe 20+ times as many features, but I end up using Corkboard because it's simple and looks interesting. I showed it to my middle-school daughter and on her own she used it to collaborate on a project with another kid.

allang 15y ago
Agreed. The ascetic approach to features is what keeps me using it, even though there are other services with 20x as many features. Very simple, very useful.

PagingCraig 15y ago

I wouldn't say zero marketing :P

absconditus 15y ago

I can only assume that what the author really meant is zero advertising. Most of what is described falls under marketing.

Hisoka 15y ago

This is misleading because if LifeHacker hadn't found your article on HackerNews, everything else probably wouldn't have happened. So I don't know if I would want to build something people wanted, and not focus on marketing... and hope one or two people spread the word to others. You might've gotten lucky. Yes, building something people want is the first step, but there's more.

gpjt 15y ago

Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks like you've had 170k unique visitors on your website, not 170k users -- quite different things, no? The advice is good, though.

sparkygoblue 15y ago
As far as I can see, the site basically creates a public account for you automatically when you visit it, so unique visitor = user.

DanLivesHere 15y ago

Totally misleading headline. Not OPs fault -- the problem is in the post. 171k unique visitors is not 170k users. Take my project, a daily email newsletter (http://dlewis.net/nik http://dlewis.net/nik if you're interested). It's about a year old, and I've had about 500k uniques over that period. I have 5,000 subscribers. I'm one of Corkboard's 171,000 people but I'm not a user of Corkboard. I tried it for a few minutes and left, not coming back since. And honestly, if you're not capturing people, that traffic is not all that valuable. This isn't to say that you aren't capturing people; hopefully, you are. Just that you shouldn't conflate a visitor with a user. Visitors visit; users stay.

thekevan 15y ago
How did you get those testimonials from some rather interesting people? Did you know them before you had this service?
- DanLivesHere 15y ago
  I know Jimmy, didn't know the others.
mtw 15y ago
from what I get from the site, every visitor is a user for them, a session is created and you get to have a unique page (like netvibes)