How Do Some Sites Quickly Go From 1 To 100k Users?

Having a website, social media accounts, blogs, and other forms of online presence is important for a business in today’s world in order to gain customers and increase sales. And while some seem to be able to gain a foothold easily in the online world and gather thousands of users quickly, others seem to struggle to even get a few hundred. Is there some secret that some companies have stumbled across that has let them quickly gain? What are they doing that others aren’t? How can those companies that are struggling to build their user base, quickly gain users? How can a site go from 1 to 100,000 users quickly? 

That’s the million-dollar question. And there’s no real simple answer. Instead, there are a lot of different answers. But for those who are wondering, here are a few tips to help you gain users.

1. Good product

The first thing you need is a good product to sell. You won’t get very far if people aren’t interested in your product. You can market your product all you like, but no matter how great you market it if your product isn’t clear to understand and if it doesn’t fulfill a market’s need, your user network won’t grow. So make sure there’s a need for your product first.

2. Narrow focus to start

It’s better to do one thing really well than a few things only somewhat well or not so well. Don’t spread yourself thin or too wide. Have a simple product that does what it’s proposed to do and does it well. This way you can focus on a niche market at first instead of trying to go world-wide all at once. Once you know if it works well in a smaller, niche market, then you can work on expanding your reach.

3. Friends

Once you know you have a good product, invite all your friends and acquaintances to check it out. This  should get you your first few hundred or so visitors/users, as they will probably invite their own friends. It will also help you get some feedback on the sort of responses you’ll get for the product, how to improve your offering, and give you time to fix any bugs that are found. If even your friends don’t enter the site, you know you have a problem.

4. Word of mouth

People will tell their friends about a good site, even if the viral loop isn’t fully optimized yet. If you see that the viral loop isn’t there yet, check over your site to figure out why. Look for what can be changed or added to get the viral loop going. Does the product have enough social incentives with it to make it go viral? Are there enough features to make the landscape more competitive? Are all the sharing options there and working? This last is really important to let your visitors to spread the word about your product easily.

5. Blog and social media

Be where your early users are apt to hang out. This includes social media networks and industry blogs. If you decide to pitch to a blogger about your product, be sure you know what you’re doing or you can damage your brand. If you’re not sure you can do it yourself, hire a professional to pitch it for you. Use social media to engage with your followers and to share news and updates about your product. Have your own blog to also engage with your users and to share news and updates. This is also a great way to get backlinks to your website.

6. SEO

Optimize your blog and website for SEO. Use content that is optimized for search engines to pick up on. Have new content added regularly. Be sure to use keywords. Make use of backlinks on social media posts and shared blog posts. Use images and video content to not only attract users but also, search engines.