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Ask HN: How do you promote your open-source project?
I have an open source project I've been working on and I'd love to have people using it and getting feedback from them. I'm not sure how to go about this, though. It's 100% free OSS so I'm not looking to make money.
Other than a Show HN post, how do you get people to actually try and use your project?
- zachlatta 12y agoI posted Postman (https://github.com/zachlatta/postman https://github.com/zachlatta/postman) on HN, /r/programming, and /r/golang. I also sent it to a few friends I knew who were interested in email. I got about 15 thousand hits and coverage on a few small sites in addition to a couple pull requests.
- jattardi 12y agoI haven't posted on /r/programming yet. How well received was your post there? I don't want to be seen as spamming. I posted a link there once that had some advertising in it and I got slammed.
- moron4hire 12y agoI've had similar experiences. HN mostly ignores my work and Reddit actively engages in berating and belittling. Most of the stuff I've read points towards getting to know bloggers in the industry for which your software covers and submitting to them for review. Don't ask me how to avoid appearing spammy there, either. The articles I've read just say "do it" not "how". You could also try paying for advertising. The bounce rate is much higher, but it's proven to be a much more reliable stream than social media for my project.
- jattardi 12y agoBTW, Postman is really cool.
- bluerail 12y agoSame here.. But it's not an software or something, I just created an Github repo for OSS creators to get contributors and for contributors to get an apt open source project for them.. But, it is not a single worth if no one contributes and there it lies in dust.. https://github.com/avinoth/OpenSourceForBeginners https://github.com/avinoth/OpenSourceForBeginners the real problem here is I am new too, and that is my first Repo, hence, need some absolute guidance which I could never get irrespective of my requests... :(
- taprun 12y agoDo this the same way you'd get more people to buy it, if you were selling it. * Reduce barriers to entry - make sure that your product is easy to find, easy to install (or to setup an account), easy to use, easy to see its value * Figure out who your ideal user is. Who will get the absolute most value out of your product? * Document exactly how easy it is for your ideal user to get some specific "quick wins" with it. Pick one as your "primary pitch". * Figure out where your ideal user hangs out and describe the "quick wins" from above. Find people who are actively complaining about problems and say "Oh by the way, this easy-to-use free software will fix that for you". * When those users are happy, ask them to tell their friends.