Hi! I have had some trouble getting some of my projects (Jonah) popular. I have really stretched to make my projects high-quality with websites, repositories, and for Jonah, a discord server so people can get updates about it! However, I don't get any traffic, anybody interested, or anything showing signs that people use it! So I want to know:
- How have you gotten projects popular? I have been looking into things like "Product Hunt," but do these things help?
Thanks!
Top comments (1)
I recommend writing an article about it here on DEV, as well as launching on a site like Peerlist. The popularity won't increase much, but it's progress.
Now this is going to sound like a rant, but there are some other things I want to say:
Before you make a product, make a network!
By this I mean get to know people, online or in real life, who are interested in what you're interested in. I do not mean go around asking people “Do you want to be my friend and are you interested in XYZ?”. You should make friends with good people for the sake of having good friends (not for the sake of your product, which is rather cold-hearted). Doing so, you will naturally make friends with people who are interested in the same things as you, and when you do launch products, they can give a lot of genuine interest and support!
Quality ≠ Popularity
It's very important to understand that putting a lot of time and effort into making a product will not make it popular. You still have to put time and effort into actually making it popular! So don't expect good projects to be famous just because they are good.
Are you solving a real problem?
Before you start building something, consider: Who actually needs this? If the answer is “me,” that's a good start, but if it's only you, be aware that it might not gain traction. Try to find at least a few people who genuinely have the same problem and would benefit from your solution. Otherwise, you might end up spending a lot of time on something that nobody really wants.
Has it been built before?
Now, what if something similar to your project already exists, but you still want to make it? In that case, a good thing to do is ask other developers what they think. You can ask, “What features or changes would you make to XYZ if you could?” or “What is the most annoying thing about XYZ?”. This will help you learn things that people actually want.
Well, since you made it this far, here is some more specific advice I have for Jonah. I'm going to assume you have Jonah (the Discord bot) in a Discord server. Here is what I would do:
Oh, and before I go — shameless plug for my own Discord server! If you want to chat more about this, join here:
discord.gg/dKeuR9yfBs
Hope you have a blessed week.