I was Product Hunt maker of the year with 21 products

1/ Inbound upvotes There are 2 ways to get upvotes. Inbound upvotes are given by Product Hunt users who casually browse the site. Your listing should be on point: - Your startup name should be crystal clear. I wrote about making names people remember: marclou.beehiiv.com/p/how-to-name-…

- Your tagline should be short, straight to the point, and possibly trigger an emotional reaction. You can use trendy tech words like GPT-4 but don’t go too deep. Designers, product managers, and marketers must understand your tagline.

- Animate your logo as a GIF, it’s such an easy way to get attention because few are doing it - Images in the gallery should be extremely concise, like a YouTube thumbnail. One feature per image. Zoom on the feature until you can’t before taking the screenshot.

When your listing is scheduled, write the first comment. You’re a solopreneur, not a VC startup — this is inspiring, so write about it. The comment section supports markdown. Add a link to your product name to maximize traffic. And plug your Twitter to build an audience.

Finally, if you learned anything valuable when building your startup, create a Product Hunt conversation on the day of the launch. Plug your launch link at the end. People are already browsing the site, it’s an easy upvote.

2/ Outbound upvotes You’ll compete against VC startups, so you need help from outside Product Hunt — outbound upvotes.

- Twitter is how you get the most upvotes. Announce your launch with a tweet including the PH link. The tweet needs to stand out. Each of my launch videos got 300+ likes and my startup got a PH badge — even when I had 1,000 followers. I made LaunchVir.al for that.

Retweet the launch tweet a few hours later. I also schedule 2 or 3 tweets later in the day — not related to the launch — so that hopefully one goes viral and newcomers discover my profile (don’t forget to pin your launch tweet).

- Add a badge to your landing page which links to your PH launch page. Share your launch on other sites like: - Indie Hackers - Reddit — marclou.beehiiv.com/p/how-to-launc… - Hacker News — marclou.beehiiv.com/p/how-to-launc… If one of your posts goes well, you’ll upvotes from your landing page badge.

When should you launch? Monday to Friday are busier. More traffic, but more competition. - If you’re chasing for the badge, launch on Sunday. - If you want traffic, launch on Monday (VC startups don’t work on Monday 0:01 AM)

Is it time to launch? Get social proof first. Ask a few customers/users and add their testimonials to your landing page. Then, launch as soon as possible, especially if you’re getting started,

The first PH launch is unlikely to be a big hit. And that’s OK. It’s a learning process. You can re-launch a few months later with new features. Or launch free tools promoting your product (marclou.beehiiv.com/p/marketing-fo…) Meanwhile, you build an audience, and launching will be easier.

I share everything I learn as a solopreneur every Saturday morning: How to find startup ideas, launch fast, and get profitable ↓ marclou.beehiiv.com