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I haven't done any promotion for http://asoftmurmur.com http://asoftmurmur.com besides posting to reddit and HN, and it now has 400-500 regular daily users. It

I haven't done any promotion for http://asoftmurmur.com http://asoftmurmur.com besides posting to reddit and HN, and it now has 400-500 regular daily users. It depends entirely on what type of product or service you're offering. Another key thing is to understand the community. There is radical cultural diversity between subreddits which manifests in very different reactions to self-promotion. It's essential to engage appropriately and respectfully. Something I've used for other projects is searching for coverage of competitors in the same space, then pitching to people who have already featured them. Again, very important to hand-tailor each pitch and offer value to the person you're contacting.

brandonhsiao 13y ago
I have to say, that's probably partly because you actually have a good product. Added to my bookmarks. I've been looking for something like this for years. Thanks for making it!
- gabemart 13y ago
  Thanks very much for using it! I built it because I wanted it to exist. I got tired of jury rigging three instances of VLC together on my laptop every time I wanted some background noise.
  - NicoJuicy 13y ago
    Ever tried http://coffitivity.com/ http://coffitivity.com/ ?
    - phoenix1887 13y ago
      SWEET!
    - NicoJuicy 13y ago
      And i see the op has added "humans", which is a sound of coffitivity ;-)
christiangenco 13y ago
Oh man, I love this. I've been using it since you've posted to HN. For the life of me, though, I haven't been able to remember the name the last couple time's I've wanted it (and my bookmarks are horrendously disorganized at the moment), and googling different iterations of "white noise generator sliders people birds rain" didn't yield success. I need to stash this away somewhere I won't lose it...
- gabemart 13y ago
  Hey, thanks! I have actually wondered about the name thing. It is a little whimsical, and I guess it would be easy to mix up with lots of similar descriptions like "a quiet buzz" or "a gentle burble". From that perspective, it might have been better to choose something more memorable. The site won't rank well in google for descriptive terms because it doesn't contain a lot of text. Even for terms it does contain, it doesn't do very well (e.g. it ranks at ~20 for "ambient noise" in google US). I haven't worried about that so far because the large majority of the traffic is direct, social or for the exact term "a soft murmur".
  - hrayr 13y ago
    I've come across this site several times and promptly forgot where to find it.. perhaps a browser extension will make your user base more sticky instead of transient (I have no idea what i just said but it works).
  - snayan 13y ago
    Perhaps the reason a large portion of the traffic is direct, social etc. is you're far better optimized in these areas. Based on your other comments it seems like you really know what you're doing in these spaces. I'm no expert, but based on all the positive feedback, capturing organic search traffic could help you kill it. Show them and they'll stick.
    - matznerd 13y ago
      Add a blog of other subpages with content...
basicallydan 13y ago
Oh, this is cool. There are lots of things like your app out there but this is the best implementation I've seen so far. Great work!
- gabemart 13y ago
  Thanks very much! It's still a big novelty and great pleasure for me to hear positive feedback. I really appreciate it.
  - basicallydan 13y ago
    Of course. I hope that it remains a novelty and pleasure for a very long time :)
lauriswtf 13y ago
This is so good! Big fan!
gedrap 13y ago
>>> It depends entirely on what type of product or service you're offering. And the luck/chance involved :) basically, the votes a new link gets in first 30mins largely decides whether it will make to front page or not. More specifically, the first upvote because then social proof kicks in (hey it must be good if someone liked it). So while posting to HN/Reddit might help to kick in, I would take it more as 'good if it hits, fine if it doesn't'.
- gabemart 13y ago
  Sure. I didn't mean to suggest that if your product is a good fit it will definitely get a lot of traffic. Just that, if your product isn't a good fit, it definitely won't get a lot of traffic.
1757 13y ago
Your site is great! To add similar services I've been using for quite a while: http://www.noisli.com/ http://www.noisli.com/ (very nice UI with changing background colour, a distration free editor and so on) http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/ http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/ (quite professional)
97s 13y ago
This is fantastic. I am in love, I feel like I'm beside the ocean while I'm working. Thanks for this. Instantly bookmarked.
- lmg643 13y ago
  agreed - asoftmurmur rocks - listened to it all evening.
- iterationx 13y ago
  https://archive.org/details/Sounds_of_Nature_Collection https://archive.org/details/Sounds_of_Nature_Collection
patrickdavey 13y ago
Wow, that is absolutely great - also bookmarked. Very nice and many thanks!
JacobH 13y ago
Yeah, this is great.
d0m 13y ago
This is really useful and very well implemented gabemart, congrats. The "humans" is a big no-no for me but I see why some people might use it. That would be amazing if you had more stuff.. Maybe some relaxing instruments such as piano or acoustic guitar. Wind could be great too.
ChrisNorstrom 13y ago
Please add "Crickets" pleeeeeeease. And make sure it's the subtle crickets and not the really harsh sounding ones. Find crickets that sound like these: http://naturesoundspa.com/nature-sounds-for-sleep/relaxing-crickets-at-night http://naturesoundspa.com/nature-sounds-for-sleep/relaxing-c... and NOT these: http://naturesoundspa.com/nature-sounds-for-sleep/undisturbed-crickets-at-night http://naturesoundspa.com/nature-sounds-for-sleep/undisturbe...
- gabemart 13y ago
  It's funny, I was watching House of Cards last night and during one scene there are crickets in the background and I found it very relaxing so I was just thinking about adding this sound. I'll have a hunt for some appropriate samples. I have to do some back-end tweaks before I can add more sounds, though, because there's a practical limit to how many samples the browser can stream at once. Thanks very much for your suggestion!
Ind007 13y ago
I liked the simplicity of UI. Good work!!!
rukugu 13y ago
I have something like this that helps me sleep at night sometimes but this is much better!
petervandijck 13y ago
Awesome. Make it a chrome plugin that shows in every new tab perhaps?
imdsm 13y ago
Thanks for this, it is amazing. I feel like I am on a ship, floating at sea, whilst coding. Something about it is very isolating, which is good for this open plan office. Thanks again!

brandonhsiao 13y ago

I have to say, that's probably partly because you actually have a good product. Added to my bookmarks. I've been looking for something like this for years. Thanks for making it!

gabemart 13y ago
Thanks very much for using it! I built it because I wanted it to exist. I got tired of jury rigging three instances of VLC together on my laptop every time I wanted some background noise.
- NicoJuicy 13y ago
  Ever tried http://coffitivity.com/ http://coffitivity.com/ ?
  - phoenix1887 13y ago
    SWEET!
  - NicoJuicy 13y ago
    And i see the op has added "humans", which is a sound of coffitivity ;-)

christiangenco 13y ago

Oh man, I love this. I've been using it since you've posted to HN. For the life of me, though, I haven't been able to remember the name the last couple time's I've wanted it (and my bookmarks are horrendously disorganized at the moment), and googling different iterations of "white noise generator sliders people birds rain" didn't yield success. I need to stash this away somewhere I won't lose it...

gabemart 13y ago
Hey, thanks! I have actually wondered about the name thing. It is a little whimsical, and I guess it would be easy to mix up with lots of similar descriptions like "a quiet buzz" or "a gentle burble". From that perspective, it might have been better to choose something more memorable. The site won't rank well in google for descriptive terms because it doesn't contain a lot of text. Even for terms it does contain, it doesn't do very well (e.g. it ranks at ~20 for "ambient noise" in google US). I haven't worried about that so far because the large majority of the traffic is direct, social or for the exact term "a soft murmur".
- hrayr 13y ago
  I've come across this site several times and promptly forgot where to find it.. perhaps a browser extension will make your user base more sticky instead of transient (I have no idea what i just said but it works).
- snayan 13y ago
  Perhaps the reason a large portion of the traffic is direct, social etc. is you're far better optimized in these areas. Based on your other comments it seems like you really know what you're doing in these spaces. I'm no expert, but based on all the positive feedback, capturing organic search traffic could help you kill it. Show them and they'll stick.
  - matznerd 13y ago
    Add a blog of other subpages with content...

basicallydan 13y ago

Oh, this is cool. There are lots of things like your app out there but this is the best implementation I've seen so far. Great work!

gabemart 13y ago
Thanks very much! It's still a big novelty and great pleasure for me to hear positive feedback. I really appreciate it.
- basicallydan 13y ago
  Of course. I hope that it remains a novelty and pleasure for a very long time :)

lauriswtf 13y ago

This is so good! Big fan!

gedrap 13y ago

>>> It depends entirely on what type of product or service you're offering. And the luck/chance involved :) basically, the votes a new link gets in first 30mins largely decides whether it will make to front page or not. More specifically, the first upvote because then social proof kicks in (hey it must be good if someone liked it). So while posting to HN/Reddit might help to kick in, I would take it more as 'good if it hits, fine if it doesn't'.

gabemart 13y ago
Sure. I didn't mean to suggest that if your product is a good fit it will definitely get a lot of traffic. Just that, if your product isn't a good fit, it definitely won't get a lot of traffic.

1757 13y ago

Your site is great! To add similar services I've been using for quite a while: http://www.noisli.com/ http://www.noisli.com/ (very nice UI with changing background colour, a distration free editor and so on) http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/ http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/ (quite professional)

97s 13y ago

This is fantastic. I am in love, I feel like I'm beside the ocean while I'm working. Thanks for this. Instantly bookmarked.

lmg643 13y ago
agreed - asoftmurmur rocks - listened to it all evening.
iterationx 13y ago
https://archive.org/details/Sounds_of_Nature_Collection https://archive.org/details/Sounds_of_Nature_Collection

patrickdavey 13y ago

Wow, that is absolutely great - also bookmarked. Very nice and many thanks!

JacobH 13y ago

Yeah, this is great.

d0m 13y ago

This is really useful and very well implemented gabemart, congrats. The "humans" is a big no-no for me but I see why some people might use it. That would be amazing if you had more stuff.. Maybe some relaxing instruments such as piano or acoustic guitar. Wind could be great too.

ChrisNorstrom 13y ago

Please add "Crickets" pleeeeeeease. And make sure it's the subtle crickets and not the really harsh sounding ones. Find crickets that sound like these: http://naturesoundspa.com/nature-sounds-for-sleep/relaxing-crickets-at-night http://naturesoundspa.com/nature-sounds-for-sleep/relaxing-c... and NOT these: http://naturesoundspa.com/nature-sounds-for-sleep/undisturbed-crickets-at-night http://naturesoundspa.com/nature-sounds-for-sleep/undisturbe...

gabemart 13y ago
It's funny, I was watching House of Cards last night and during one scene there are crickets in the background and I found it very relaxing so I was just thinking about adding this sound. I'll have a hunt for some appropriate samples. I have to do some back-end tweaks before I can add more sounds, though, because there's a practical limit to how many samples the browser can stream at once. Thanks very much for your suggestion!

Ind007 13y ago

I liked the simplicity of UI. Good work!!!

rukugu 13y ago

I have something like this that helps me sleep at night sometimes but this is much better!

petervandijck 13y ago

Awesome. Make it a chrome plugin that shows in every new tab perhaps?

imdsm 13y ago

Thanks for this, it is amazing. I feel like I am on a ship, floating at sea, whilst coding. Something about it is very isolating, which is good for this open plan office. Thanks again!