HN Explorer

How to promote a startup on the cheap?

3 points by adrusi ↗ HN
I'm on a team of 3 which has been developing a small startup on the cheap. By on the cheap I mean well under $200 for everything on the site.

We've had about 100 non-affiliate signups and have 11 active non-affiliate users (to clear up any confusion, when I say "non-affiliate" I mean users who were not in any way related to the site's creation. A few designers and illustrators that we talked with have accounts on the site)

Our growth has been steady ever since the initial surge came with our launch announcement. How would one go about promoting this site further while not exceeding our ridiculously small budget (the promotion should, if at all possible, cost less than $30/month)

And in case it matters, the site is: http://shutttr.com/

5 comments

[ 4.5 ms ] story [ 18.1 ms ] thread
fananta
Let me preface this by saying this is just my opinion and in no way expert (or even correct) advice.

You can always start from posting on reddit.com/r/startups thread, over facebook, twitter etc. Once you've exhausted those resources, making a very creative promo video might help you guys.

Best of luck!

GreenRebel
I would be willing to help you if you were willing to help me. I've recently booted up my own company, NGO, and designed two applications for a total of $0. I am a one man team that will soon be three. My philosophy is to be agile and dynamic, using my applications to benefit others.

I would be willing to promote you via my blog if you were willing to use my application, Merchant Words. It would be free for you but I would request some bounties (part of the application). If you are interested e-mail me at rockforhope250@gmail.com and I can explain my ideas, skype would work best for me.

Synergy, Dynamic, Agile.

JS_startup
The cheapest way will be with e-mail. Build a targeted list of photographers' email addresses and send to them a few times a month. If done correctly you can easily send around 300,000 emails a month for $30.
AznHisoka
Couple of things: 1) Your domain name has too many t's. Hard to remember. 2) Your site has a chicken and egg problem. This makes it doubly hard to get traction if you're not willing to spend money.
aorshan
tumblr, instagram, and pinterest. Build profiles on those sites. Put your best photos up. Become those guys with all the awesome photos. Interact with other people with awesome photos. Find the people that are known on these websites for having great photos (and a lot of followers) and get in contact with them and show them your site.