How to get to the top of Product Hunt

Before telling you how to get to the top of the Product Hunt rating, I’ll probably show you what the MAJORITY is trying to do - while failing and condemning itself to deaf sobs in the pillow.

How losers go to Product Hunt

1. Googling "How to get to the top Product Hunt".
   
2. They read 2–3 articles, each with 5–10 tips.
   
3. Use the 5 most simple tips.
   
4. Are waiting…
   
5. Fail (i.e. do not even get on the first page).
   
6. Crying
   
7. They have no idea what they did wrong.
   

100% maximally completely absolutely reliable way to get into the top Product Hunt (and get a chance to dance the victory dance)

Let's face it: Product Hunt is a zero-sum game. There are only two options here: you either get to the first page and reap the benefits, or you don’t, and you fall off. Therefore, be sure to get to the first page - at least - and preferably in the top 3.
')
ATTENTION! If the product sucks, nothing will help it. But if he is not bad in some places, then my hints may work .

Transferred to Alconost

Keep in mind: some of the information presented here was relevant a year and a half ago, however, it must still be fairly accurate today. You will have to check everything yourself and look for new loopholes.

1. Examine the length and breadth of all the articles on the Internet about what Product Hunt takes into account in the ranking, and list in the table the list of “ranking factors” found.
   
2. For two weeks, watch how others enter Product Hunt, and note what is common between those who get to the top and those who weave at the end (and put this in the table too).
   
3. Contact your friends who went out on Product Hunt, and ask how they acted (do not hesitate and those who did not manage to "shoot": failures are also useful knowledge, I guarantee) and complete your table.
   
4. Contact the founders of companies whose products are in the top 3, talk about the same with them - and add the results to the table.
   
5. Contact the best "hunters" and ask them for advice on how to raise the rating (and also make a relationship with them: then it becomes clear that "hunters" are the main success factor, therefore it is very important to enlist the support of one of them) - and enter the information in the table.
   
6. Add two columns to the table: “Potential Impact” and “Ease of Implementation,” which will be ranked from one to ten. Multiplying the score in one column by the score in the second, you can find the most tasty pie from the bottom shelf .
   

Patty method from the bottom shelf

So now we have a table with at least 10–20 (maybe 50) factors affecting how Product Hunt ranks. And by the way, voices are far from the only factor; everything is much more complicated: after looking closely at the site, you will notice that the place in the list is determined not only by votes.

Potential impact

Each factor has its own significance: one has more, another has less. Yes, of course, voices are important, but “hunter” is also important, and a lot more. Today, I am in a good mood, so I will list the factors with which to start, but I'm not going to give everything that I personally found - because there should be those who put real effort in the top , and not those who beat one fucking article ... However, I still tell quite a lot.

(Cruel love, yeah.)

Potential impact is assessed by three indicators:

1. Reliability - as far as we are sure that the factor really matters. Reliability can be assessed by how often this factor was mentioned (in articles, in conversations with acquaintances and other interlocutors) and how often its implementation can be observed.

2. Impact - how highly we assess the impact of a factor on the rating. If this factor were the ONLY (suppose we got 10 thousand votes), would it have been enough to get the desired rating? If yes, then put 10 points. If this is just a trifle that can shift the scales in our direction by 1%, then set 1.

3. Influencing other factors. Many completely overlook the mutual influence of factors. Let me give you an example: one of the best tricks is publishing at the right time of day (when Product Hunt starts counting a new day). This gives an advantage over competitors and allows you to collect votes in advance and, consequently, to rise in the ranking on the first page higher - and get through this more votes. Thus, a seemingly insignificant factor influences others, therefore, he will have a higher impact rating.

Ease of implementation

It is easier to understand here: this indicator determines how much force you have to apply to make the factor work. If you need a whole week (and this is more than 80 hours, if you are serious about success in the world of startups) - set 1. If not more than 10 minutes, set 10.

You also need to consider whether you can do it yourself - or have to rely on others. If something requires me to distribute tasks to others or communicate - I flush it down the toilet (in the sense of evaluation: I do not get along well with people).

Multiply and record the result in the column "Total Score"
Multiply both scores and get a total score: the higher it is, the higher the priority of the factor.

I will give a couple of examples for clarity.

Factor: use GIF instead of a still image: gifs better attracts the eye, gives more clicks - and this affects the algorithm.

Impact: 2 .
We put 2, not 1, because a higher CTR and the truth slightly affects the algorithm of Product Hunt.

Ease of implementation: 7 .
This is not 10, because the gif should look good, you still need to squeeze it and all that. If you don’t have much to do with drawing, you may need a designer who will know how to work with video or animation. However, the work here is not very much.

Overall score: 14 (7 × 2 = 14, quick count).

Factor: find a good "hunter" (they have a high rating, and it certainly matters).

Impact: 10 .
This is the second most important factor after the votes, and for many reasons they correlate with each other (more on this later).

Ease of implementation: 6 .
Six points is for me. It's not enough just to send a letter to a couple of people - you may have to establish some kind of relationship. We gave access to closed beta testing, and of a couple of other goodies. In addition, it will be necessary to conduct an ANALYSIS: to find the one whose “foundlings” regularly appear on the first page, and he should be interested in the topic you are engaged in - and only after that you can get in touch. It is, frankly, not so easy .

Overall score: 60 (BOOM!).

So, we see that if you have to choose one of the two, it is better to look for a suitable "hunter", rather than messing with a funny gif. Understandably, it is better to use as many factors as possible - top down in the list.

But Jared, that's the hell out of work!

The first thing that comes to mind: "Man, it's a damn lot of work!" - right? Well yes. Only here the Product Hunt is worth it.

Going to the top helped us get on TechCrunch (where my article hung for the first four days in a row - if you're interested in how I did it, go to my website www.newhackeveryweek.com , but the membership is paid, yeah) to attract investments of several million and get a score of times more business valuation - so it will pay off a hundredfold. Product Hunt is an integral part of the strategy of many of my campaigns. So go ahead and harness oneself.

Just a minute. Does it work in other cases?

Yes.

The patty method from the bottom shelf works everywhere, starting with media manipulation and ending with Facebook and SEO.

This is the REAL way to get through - but you will have to work and thoroughly study the platform to which you are going to go.

If at all points it is better to do than the competitors (i.e., to be ahead in each individual factor), the gain will not be obtained. (I often deliberately choose bad words, because I couldn’t tolerate an English teacher at school, but now I’m a sought-after author - although I write sloppyly, distorting the grammar and writing, so throw the hell out of Ann Rose from Callahan College, your time has passed .)

Jared, come on, just give me a list of those very factors?

This is what life has taught me (having stuffed cones to me), so this is the fact that I cannot make someone successful . I help a huge number of people and I can not deal with each - so everyone makes his own way. BUT! I can well push forward.

Now I'm literally torn: on the one hand, I know that if I just tell everything, 99.947% of those who read will not do anything - or, even worse, they will do it stupidly, and the result will turn out to be nasty - but even you will have to spend time on it.

And do not care.

Top ranking factors for Product Hunt

Find a good "hunter"

Impact - 10, lightness - 6, total score - 60.

Yes, I have already touched on this, but I would like to clarify in more detail.

Search for the best "hunters" need here: http://500hunters.com/ .

The right "hunter":

1. He knows well the algorithms of Product Hunt.
   
2. If you have guessed the choice, he can even make the newsletter to his friends or tell about you on social networks - so look for a good one!
   
3. He can help attract investment (our “hunter” helped - indirectly: he introduced us well, which ultimately attracted our main investor - I know that this does not affect Product Hunt, but it's still cool).
   
4. MOST IMPORTANT: Product Hunt will advertise you to subscribers of this “hunter” in the daily newsletter.
   
5. Product Hunt can tweet about you - if you have found the right “hunter” (there are other reasons for tweeting, but after analyzing we came to the conclusion that this is an important factor).
   

Want to find the right hunter? Have to roll up your sleeves. And no empty letters: “hunters” are busy people, so try to be kind and unobtrusive.

An example of a letter can be found below. Send your proposal should be about two weeks before the moment when you are going to publish. If your “hunter” is in the top, it means that he is quite successful (in other words, he is very busy), so give time to think and answer you - so that in case of refusal you also have time to implement a backup plan. If you are refused - do not be an asshole, and in any case, thank you for your time: the startup community is small, rumors scatter instantly.

Hi, XYZ!
That's why I am writing to you: we are coming out soon on Product Hunt, and it would be great if you became our “hunter”.
I noticed that you recently “zahantili” startup “ABC” - we have a lot in common with them, but we differ in that ... (advertise yourself, confining yourself to one sentence).
If you want, I can give you early access (and everything you might need to “woo” us).
If you are interested, let me know: we want to publish at a certain date and time, and if you are not against it, we will take you to the details.
P. S. I see you are a fan of the XYZ team. They play on April 1st - I hope you have time? Because I have two tickets in your name;)

Note. I did not give any tickets - this is for the case when it is absolutely unbearable without this “hunter” anywhere. We had a choice of three, and we got ours for free.

Run at the right time

Impact - 10, lightness - 9, total score - 90.

To leave the platform at midnight Pacific Time (11 am Moscow time), you will have time to jump into a boat in the USA and collect votes from the EU. This will get a higher rating, which, of course, means more views and more votes. If you run under this scheme, it will be almost impossible for latecomers to catch up with you.

Create a mailing list with “your” people (and let the voices be shed by the grace of rain

Impact - 10, lightness - 4, total score - 40.

In any case, this must be done!

Usually, if there are, say, a thousand people on the mailing list before launching, and two hundred of them will vote for you (especially if you ask to do this at the beginning of the day), you will have a huge handicap.

You can use something like viral-loops.com (we had our own similar tool).

ADVANCED COUNCIL. We’ve found that the CTR value (number of clicks / number of impressions) on the main page of Product Hunt. It is necessary that your users go to the main page, look through to you, click on your product - and have already voted on the page that opens. IN NO EVENT do not send them directly to your page - it will affect less.

Reply to comments (and quickly)

Impact - 3, lightness - 10, total score - 30.

Well listen. Not responding to comments is generally fu. In addition, it really affects the algorithm of Product Hunt. Rapid response to comments has users to your product and increases the chances that they will tell about you.

ADVANCED COUNCIL. Do not respond carelessly - make an effort: you can’t freeze here, because commentators can become your dedicated fans (some of our commentators helped us a lot later).

SUPERPROVED COUNCIL. Collect information about the commentator before responding. If he has enough subscribers (more than a thousand), write to him and ask him to tell about you in social networks. Do not push - let it be pleasant to communicate with you (this can work VERY well).

Write the first comment

Impact - 2, lightness - 10, total score - 20.

In the first comment we gave a more detailed description and attached an article on the Medium and press materials there. Why? Because so many of the top did so - and it is very easy.

So you show your interest and willingness to answer any questions that users have in the comments section - encouraging comments, you will rise higher in the ranking.

Run on Thursday or Friday

Impact - 2, lightness - 10, total score - 20.

After analyzing, we came to the conclusion that this gives the best coverage (these days people are voting more actively), which means more competition - but also more return (that is, traffic).

Attract "hunters" in the comments

Impact - 5, lightness - 7, total score - 45.

Know who uses Product Hunt the most? Popular "hunters".

Do not write them with a request to vote - offer to look and give feedback. Many of them, of course, vote.

The higher the rank of “hunter,” the more his comments affect the algorithm — so make it clear that you need feedback through a comment so that you can interact publicly.

And if the “hunter” likes your product, he can even share it on social networks.

Involve the families of the whole team.

Impact - 4, lightness - 6, total score - 24.

Let everyone in the team write to everyone they know on social networks and ask them to vote for you. But remember that sending people to the first page (and not to the page of your product) is very important.

Viral bot campaign (creating a mailing list via Facebook Messenger)

Impact - 10, lightness - 6, total score - 60.

I came up with a method of viral competition using bots, and this is a bomb. In general, organize a contest and create a mailing list via Messenger, and when you go to Product Hunt, write to everyone asking to go to the main page, scroll through the list and click on your product, and then vote (yes, that's all : they say, direct traffic to the page is considered to be zero votes - I think they are struggling so much with cheating, stupid, but what can you do).

Other factors:

1. Shorten the description to one line (the limit is 60 characters) and add emoji to stand out.
   
2. For screenshots, use gifs - they are much more attractive.
   
3. Add a video - if you can, make a video.
   
4. Put a gif on a “avatar” of a product - so it will stand out MUCH MORE.
   
5. Correctly fit the size of the images - and check how they look on Retina displays. See how the guys do from the top, and repeat.
   

On this I will finish. Learn everything else yourself, analyze. If you are reluctant to do this, then you are a lazy dupe and do not want to follow my advice.

NEVER go to the dark side

I am a grow hacker, and I am constantly looking for loopholes through which I can make my way up. Therefore, when I first saw Product Hunt, I thought: “Damn me! Yes, I just throw a bunch of fake voices and shut everyone up for a belt - swallow the dust, losers! ”

Then I conducted my own analysis and found out:

1. They have good protection against fraud - they will almost certainly be caught.
   
2. And there will be no second chance. If we are already caught - Product Hunt will say goodbye to you and put it on the list of assholes.
   
3. Fake voices are NOT NECESSARY: if you do everything about which I wrote above and have a normal product, rather than a smelly something, you will find yourself in queens.
   

About the translator

The article is translated in Alconost.

Alconost is engaged in the localization of games , applications and sites in 68 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any formats of string resources.

We also make advertising and training videos - for websites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.

Read more: https://alconost.com