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Is 6 months to early?
workingcanuck
subscriber Posts: 2
Hello,
My question is simply this, I am about 6 months from actual launch is it to early to start talking about your business? I`ve already created a blog for it, but now I find myself nervous about promoting it as I`m concerned about competitors increasing their offerings if they find out about a new site. Granted even after launch they could always do this anyways, I just don`t want to get benched before I even have a chance to play in the game.
However I need to have traffic to the site pretty much right off the bat when it launches otherwise it will be a dead duck probably within 3 months. As well another question I`ve been dealing with at what point do you make friends and acquaintances know about your company?
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and any insight you might be able to provide,
Rich
My question is simply this, I am about 6 months from actual launch is it to early to start talking about your business? I`ve already created a blog for it, but now I find myself nervous about promoting it as I`m concerned about competitors increasing their offerings if they find out about a new site. Granted even after launch they could always do this anyways, I just don`t want to get benched before I even have a chance to play in the game.
However I need to have traffic to the site pretty much right off the bat when it launches otherwise it will be a dead duck probably within 3 months. As well another question I`ve been dealing with at what point do you make friends and acquaintances know about your company?
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and any insight you might be able to provide,
Rich
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Comments
There is a typo in your Blog URL...it`s not `blogger.com`. Even though the platform is Blogger, the web addy is `blogSPOT.com`
For example, my Blog is www.ShopForTheGood.Blogspot.com
Ok, now back to your question: Theorhetically, it`s not too early to start to talk up your ideas and create buzz....IF you can :
1) keep people interested for 6 months and
2) give them something different, interesting and valuable while they are waiting.
What can your blog...which is relying on your ideas, insight and expertise...offer people to make them want to stay around for 6 months waiting for your Big Release?
Well...you can start a Forum on a free chatboard and let the Early Adopters feel like they are a part of the creation....
...you can offer a free give away of some kind every few weeks....
...you can talk about a similar subject...allowing an ongoing discussion to take place and build up your readership...
So the short answer is this, methinks: it`s not a matter of is`x` too soon to start...it`s a matter of `how can I keep people interested for `x` period of time?`
DefMall8/11/2008 5:00 PM
On the timing question, the hardest part is if you don`t know exactly *when* you will launch, keeping the tempo up all that time. I have experience of this and it is difficult not to peak too early.
The only way around that is to keep people informed of all the things that go wrong and right along the way. The only realy alternative is to only start yourr pre-launch process when your site/product is 99% ready.
Def you definitely gave me some things to think about I was also wondering how I would hold potential viewer and advertisers interested over the 6 months or as Duncan replied chance peaking to early. I like the idea of starting the forum earlier than the remainder of the site as hopefully that will make people stick. My actual goal is to get the site up and running prior to Christmas I just gave an extended time-line of 6 months just in case of hitting any bumps in the road.
Duncan what if I just removed the right adsense bar would you find this less distracting?
Camp seeing how you as well did a pre-launch site have you found this beneficial in terms of interest and traffic?
Thank you again for your replies and if anyone else has any ideas as to this I`m more than welcome to all discussion,
Rich
I would question putting AdSense there at all. The purpose of the pre-launch blog is ultiately to tub-thump and build interest, rather than earn a few pennies with AdSense.
I have experience of successful launches (did a very good launch last year) and also with peaking too early. I did the latter this year, telling people about the upcoming software we will soon release. What happened was that people eventually tired of asking when it will be released. So it is then more of a task for me to keep the energy up, keep people interested and informed. The only way to do that is be as honest and clear as possible. I put up a blog post yesterday for exactly this purpose at http://www.instantautopilot.com/update/ so you can see the tone I am taking there (we are a UK-based mobile phones and telecoms company and the blog is for our affiliate resellers who already know us).
Perhaps eveyr 6-8 weeks you can offer a free White Paper that is related to your areas of expertise. Sharing free and valuable information is a great way to get traffic and flex your knowledge base a little. End each white paper with "Don`t forget...we are preparing to launch www.ThriftyPockets.com Very Soon! Check back with here to get more details!"
- Def / Jeff