Ask HN: My web app is better than my competitor´s, how do I pull traffic?
I own the site rainychat.com, basically a website that pairs you to chat with another random user. However, while you can talk about anything you want, it also allows the feature to choose to be a "listener" or a "venter", so if you had a rough day, or feel lonely, or just have a problem you´d like to talk about, you can be paired with someone who is willing to be the counterpart - a listener.
In any case, there are variations of this idea around the web, most notably blahtherapy or 7cupsoftea. They certainly have tons of users, but I´m confident my alternative is far better. No ads, good reconnection, minimalist design, backspace doesn´t exit the chat (it´s a line of js, I can´t believe they haven´t fixed that), just the little things that add up over time.
I´m having trouble finding a way to pull new users or those from other sites to my product. I don´t have a prior project from where to get users from, no email lists, no facebook followers. I put a lot of work into this site, I´m honestly kinda lost. Any advice?
Comments
Hey, I really like the design of the site!
Have you tried any targeted ad campaigns on FB/G?
I'm not really a marketing guy so sorry if that's not as helpful or original as you're looking for but it's something.
Appreciated!
I haven´t, honestly I don´t know how effective they are. Have you tried them before?
TL;DR: I didn't set it up but it's worked well for physical products my clients sell.
I haven't gotten my hands dirty with it but I freelance all types of web stuff so I have (and work closely with) a few people that handle the SEO/Ad stuff. Usually we are promoting physical products (think event tickets, used computers, ect..) with FB and have had a pretty good success rate. FB lets you target with a level of specificity that is kind of creepy IMO but useful.
I'd say it's worth a shot. It's not too expensive and you can run a short campaign to see if it makes a dent. Maybe start with a wider scope and narrow that as you see what's hitting.
I guess the tricky part would be having users on it to talk to when the first timers click through. Also a lot of FB traffic is mobile so that's something to consider. Maybe you can exclude them from your target? Idk.
Hope this helps!