My marketing ideas are very limited

Discussions
#1

I have a website where I offer a handful of free business tools. These are free tools so user acquisition should have been a breeze. But I am having trouble coming up with a list of marketing things to do.

I am good at SEO and have managed to build links from some of the really high authority websites. I have taken part in a few related discussions on sites like Quora that has brought me a bit of traffic. But besides that, I am unsure what I should be doing.

I am curious about the kind of marketing activities you do for your businesses?

#2

There are lots of general advice throughout this forum and in places like Indie Hackers and others.

No point in repeating whats already been said but if you want some specific ideas then best to let us know your site and details about what your target market is.

#3

Thanks Rhino. My site is https://hubbion.com. It started off as a free project management app, but I am currently working on making this a hub for multiple business apps. I already have an email finder tool deployed with a ā€œmeeting room bookingā€ app launching later this week.

I have built a very good number of links from some really high authority sites (like Entrepreneur, Godaddy.com, etc.) through guest posting on these sites. I have also answered a few relevant questions on Quora and that has brought me a bit of traffic. But otherwise I am kind of unsure how else to promote my site.

I know the site is not the most sophisticated - I plan to redesign and redevelop the site more when I start making money off this, or find an investor. But this is a free app and I am hoping customer acquisition would be simpler than it would be for a paid app.

#4

One quick suggestion: make the ā€œGot a question?ā€ section an actual form where people can type in their question, not just an email address for you to contact them & ask what the question is.

Iā€™ve had some luck with having a form at the bottom of nearly every page on my website, and the questions will often help me find what my webpage is missing, things that the customer doesnā€™t understand, etc. Unfortunately you do also get a ton of spam this way (I had to write my own spam filter to block it), but it can be worth it for the insights you learn, and also as a first contact point with the customer.

(Your Contact Us page is currently a broken 404, you should definitely fix that.)

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#5

Oops, thanks for pointing that out to me. We recently moved a bunch of pages from a regular PHP folder to a Cakephp folder. I think the Contact page got caught in the middle. Will check with my developer to see whatā€™s wrong.

Having a contact form at the bottom of each page is a good idea. I have been toying with the idea of building a ā€˜smartā€™ contact form myself. Will definitely look into this. Thank you

#6

part of the problem is your motives for sharing these free tools are unknown - and therefore suspect. Share your motivation - and the link/pic for the book.

#7

Hi anand! One way to find new ā€œchannelsā€ is to look at whatā€™s already working without you putting in the work. Look at your Google Analytics Source/Medium report. Are there sites or channels driving good traffic to your website (low bounce rate / signups / high conversion rate)? Can you scale those?

Itā€™s one of the things weā€™re trying to ā€œautomateā€ for businesses with Highlights (our startup). Itā€™s a challenge we keep hearing from founders and solopreneurs.

#8

The siteā€™s design is fine but the screenshots of the mobile and collaboration UIs look like a prototype. Also Windows Phone is dead, better get iPhone frames from Apple.

Iā€™d recommend using some free UI kit for your product to get a professional look.

#9

Thanks IVM. You are right. I will look into this