Your launch, step by step: a playbook from New Product Launches
Nothing here costs anything unless you choose an extra. The steps are what New Product Launches would do in your place.
Before you launch
Fill in every part of the page
Fill the gaps before launch day: description, features, FAQs and your founder profile, with a photo and at least one personal link. Your founder profile
Line up screenshots
Prepare a square logo and screenshots of real screens, not mock-ups. A quick demo video is a good extra for people who prefer to watch.
Plan the date
Avoid a week when you are away. The first days matter most, and you want to be there to answer people. See the launch calendar
Line up your announcement
Write the messages you will send on the day now: a post for each place you share and a note for your mailing list.
Launch day
Find the right forums
Share in Reddit, Slack and Discord groups where self-promotion is allowed, and read each group's rules first. Use Show HN only for something people can try.
Announce it
Write one honest post about what you built and why, with the listing link. Pin it, and put the link in your bio while launch week runs.
Join the conversation
Treat each question as a chance to explain the product better. Reply the same day and keep the tone friendly. Your listings
Let your subscribers know
A personal email to your users on launch day works well. Keep it short, include the link and add it to your welcome email for the week.
Votes come from people, one each. They can never be bought, so never use extra accounts or vote swaps to add to them.
While the week runs
Share what you learnt
Do not just repeat yourself. A follow-up LinkedIn post with what you learnt on launch day gives people a reason to look again.
Use more launch directories
Add your product to other launch directories that fit it. Write each listing properly instead of pasting the same text. Where else to launch
Keep the page current
Keep editing through the week. A new FAQ for each repeated question and up-to-date screenshots keep the page useful. Edit your listing
Display your launch badge
Embed the badge code on your site. It points to your listing, where people can read about the product and leave a comment.
The weeks that follow
Maintain your page
Your listing stays up after the week. Keep the pricing, screenshots and description current so it stays accurate.
Launch the next version
Each new version is a chance to launch again. Save your relaunch for an update people will notice. Relaunch from your account
Learn from the launch
Check your own analytics for each place you shared, and note what worked for next time. Tag your links before you post them. See the launch receipts
Where else to launch
To choose where else to list, Best Launch Directories sets out launch and startup directories side by side: Domain Rating, price and link type for each.
Extras for your launch
None of these are needed to follow the playbook. They are optional extras New Product Launches sells, each at the price set out here.
- Featured launch $19
From your launch week, 7 days in the Featured spot on the homepage, clearly labelled Featured; no vote comes with it.
- Multi-site bundle $99
You write it once; we put it live for you on 49 other launch and discovery sites, each in its own wording, and every later edit you make is carried to all of them automatically.
- Done-for-you listing $149.99
Hand it to us: your listing goes onto 49 other launch and discovery sites, each with its own description, and one email brings you every link.
- Home page sponsor $49
Take the homepage's Sponsored slot for 7 days with your company name, logo, tagline and a website link.
- Category page sponsor $19
7 days at the top of your category page, marked Sponsored.
- Newsletter sponsor $29
One issue of the weekly newsletter carries your company in its Sponsored block.
- Billboard from $5
A paid board where the company that has contributed the most sits at the top. Ranked by money only, and it never touches a vote.
- Product review $19
A structured review built from your listing and your public website, shown in its own block on your listing and marked as commissioned by the maker; it adds no vote or rating.
- Editorial founder feature $29
An article about the founder from the facts you gave, edited by one of our editors. Nothing in it is made up.
Prices are in US dollars; VAT is added where it is due.
Questions
- What timing works for sharing a launch?
- On launch day, as soon as the listing is live, and once more later in the week with an update or a lesson learnt.
- Do other launch directories help?
- Pick directories that match what you have built, compare their price and link type, and give each listing its own description.
- Is it all right to ask friends to vote?
- Tell people about it, yes. But one person has one vote, votes cannot be bought, and asking for votes from extra accounts is not allowed.
- Is there anything to do after launch week?
- Review what worked, keep your page accurate, and relaunch when you have a new version or a milestone.
That is the playbook. Questions about launching on New Product Launches are answered in the help centre. Open the help centre