The key to Yelp was their content acquisition strategy. Yelp is of course the classic chicken and the egg type website, so they needed clever ways to get things rolling.
They incentivized them with things like private dinners, free dinners, and inside information that only the top Yelpers could see for a time.
Another trick was the founders of Yelp used their site extensively - if you want to get into the content game, be prepared to write some content - if just to demonstrate what your site should look like.
Putting aside Yelp's strategies, here's my number one launch idea for you - do a small launch before you do a big launch.
We've been working on www.trailbehind.com since April, and our first launch was May 1. By the time we have a big launch this summer, in time for the hiking season, we are hoping to avoid the flameout problems of big launches.
Remember, a Techcrunch hit comes and goes, but a Google search is forever.
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The key to Yelp was their content acquisition strategy. Yelp is of course the classic chicken and the egg type website, so they needed clever ways to get things rolling.
They incentivized them with things like private dinners, free dinners, and inside information that only the top Yelpers could see for a time.
Another trick was the founders of Yelp used their site extensively - if you want to get into the content game, be prepared to write some content - if just to demonstrate what your site should look like.
Putting aside Yelp's strategies, here's my number one launch idea for you - do a small launch before you do a big launch.
We've been working on www.trailbehind.com since April, and our first launch was May 1. By the time we have a big launch this summer, in time for the hiking season, we are hoping to avoid the flameout problems of big launches.
Remember, a Techcrunch hit comes and goes, but a Google search is forever.