7 Fantastic Websites To Promote Your Startup or New Website

One of the biggest issues facing startups today is being able to cut through the waves of new startups starting each day, in order to generate exposure and buzz about their brand. As both technology and awareness of the ability to start an entrepreneurial venture have increased, so has competition for eyeballs and attention.

Indeed, there’s no substitute for building relationships in advance and leveraging those relationships when the time comes. But what if you’re a new startup without a ton of warm relationships to call upon for help exposing your brand? If that’s you, there is no substitute for hard work, which from a promotion perspective, essentially means a relentless outreach campaign to garner the attention of prominent startup and entrepreneurship bloggers, investors and journalists.

Along with your PR and outreach campaign, there are a number of websites dedicated to introducing new startups to the world. Some offer this as a free service, others will promote you to their audience for a small fee, som offer the choice of either. Let’s take a look.

DIY Submissions

Reddit:

Reddit presents a fantastic no-cost opportunity to get some eyeballs on your startup. Reddit users have a history of being incredibly blunt, some would say brutal, in their appraisals and in submitting to one of the various subreddits dedicated to startups, you’ve got the potential for some great feedback (positive and constructive), likely get in front of hundreds or thousands of people and can often score some good exposure. Here are 4subreddits to get you started:

BetaList:

BetaList offers startups that have not yet launched the opportunity to promote and get initial email subscribers and beta testers. They have a free option and an expedited paid option listing, currently priced at $129.

KillerStartups:

Their claim to fame is having been the catalyst for Uber’s rise to success, having featured them back in 2010. Simply fill out their submission form and you’ll be placed (subject to approval) on their site and in front of over 125,000 monthly visitors.

New-Startups:

I’m being a little cheeky here, because well, I own this website but that also means I know the exact exposure offered to startups as a result of submitting a startup review. We receive dozens of startup submissions for our free review service per month for review so there can be a wait on exposure to our audience of around 30,000 eyeballs per month, but for a fairly insignificant fee of $19 you can jump the queue and be featured within 48 hours. We’ve also just featured a new website review service, for brand new websites that otherwise fall out of the typical definition of a startup and are looking to kick off with a little extra exposure.

Tech Greet:

This is a new submission service specifically for tech startups. With a combined glob and social media audience, the free review service is a no brainer, as is the $17 premium submission option, simply fill out the form on their site and expect some nice exposure for your brand.

Done For You Services:

As with most things, there are companies that offer done-for-you services where you pay a fee and they submit a publicity release on your behalf, many at very reasonable prices. Three notable examples that have good user reviews are:

PitchMantra:

For what seems like a very reasonable $49 once-off, PitchMantra will submit your startup to 25 startup directories and 100+ blogs and journos. Maxium 7 day turnaround, with good user reviews. Certainly worth a look.

PromoteHour:

For as little as $59, PromoteHour will get you in front of 5000+ influencers and early adopters and exposure on 50 startup communities. As with PitchMantra, this is a huge time saver and present really good value.

Summing Up

These are just a handful of the dozens of options available, but they are options with pretty much guaranteed results. If you’re looking for a more extensive list of options here is a fantastic list of 50+.