Launching a website is not a one-time event. You can’t just put a new website out there and then forget about it. A successful launch requires that you solicit feedback on the new site, make adjustments based on that feedback, launch a revised site and solicit feedback again.
Online communities like Hacker News are an awesome place to get feedback on your initial launch, but those same communities aren’t always open to critiquing subsequent versions of the same website. Launchly helps site owners publicize and solicit feedback for each new version of their website.
It’s really a cool concept-you launch your site initially, and Launchly presents it on their site along with your request for feedback. You can also share your Launchly launch via Twitter and social networking sites like Digg and Reddit to drum up more publicity, and hopefully more feedback. After you’ve made changes to your site, you can relaunch it on Launchly.
Launchly is also a great place to go to discover new sites. I know I’ll be checking back frequently for new apps and tools to review!
Launchly is definitely innovative-I can’t find anyone else offering a similar service. The user interface is attractive and generally easy to navigate for both site owners and reviewers. From the reviewer’s perspective, I especially like the site widget, a floating toolbar similar to the Digg bar that lets you vote on the site, offer feedback and share it on major social media sites without having to go back to Launchly.
From the site owner’s perspective, I had one small quibble-when you click on the “Your Dashboard” link at the top of the page, you are taken to a Dashboard page that just shows the sites you’ve launched and your launch performance statistics. More detailed statistics are available by clicking on the screenshot of your home page, but that’s not immediately clear.
That aside, Launchly is awesome-an innovative concept, great presentation and a truly useful service that will become increasingly valuable as the site’s community grows.
Our Rating of Launchly
Categories:web
Tool of the Day: Help your website achieve lift-off with Launchly: http://su.pr/2f019n
how about:
http://www.killerstartups.com/
or
http://projects.metafilter.com/
Hi Bryan,
I have looked at KillerStartups and I do not think it is really all that similar. IMO KillerStartups, if anything, is more like UsefulTools in that they review web startups. That is a very valuable thing and I personally enjoy reading both sites. Launchly, however, is NOT about reviews at all. We do not editorialize.
Launchly essentially has two audiences with some overlap. On the one hand, there are people that want to learn about new websites or applications. To that audience, Launchly has some similarities to KillerStartups (or go2web20 or UsefulTools). The difference, I think, is that the site owners on launchly are actively engaged with their launch. They come to us with the specific intention of getting feedback and fostering a conversation with our users. That is not the focus of the other sites. Their focus is on providing well written reviews of startups/websites. My goal with launchly is to create a venue where your opinion is heard and your voice really has an impact on the evolution of a website.
The second audience, the launchers themselves, is really not addressed much at all on sites like KillerStartups or go2web20. On those sites, you submit your information and then basically wait for approval and a review to be written up. There is really no more interaction on the launcher’s part. That is perfectly fine as they are really focusing on another issue (visibility/press for a launch and giving their audience an honest review of a site). At launchly you sign up for an account and create a launch. You, as the site owner, own that launch. It is your personal space to interact with people and weigh feedback. We track all aspects of each launch on the owner’s behalf and graph how they are performing on all sorts of metrics from traffic on launchly to daily vote stats to social media traffic (Twitter and Digg currently). You receive weekly summary emails on your launches. Launchers have a vested interest in returning to the site to “manage” their launch and see how things are going.
Sorry if I rambled. I hope that explained some of the differences for you.
Brian McManus
Launchly Founder
Launchly on UsefulTools – http://bit.ly/13cPsF
Launchly on UsefulTools – http://bit.ly/13cPsF
I also just wanted to mention that I have just pushed out an update to Launchly that addresses your quibble with the dashboard.
The dashboard was originally designed with multiple site launches in mind. I have updated this so if you only have one launch you are redirected right to that launch’s dashboard instead so you never see the dashboard index page.
I also fixed my negligence by providing helpful text that informs launchers that they should click their site thumbnail to access that launch’s dashboard for the case when a launcher does have multiple concurrent launches.
Launchly – Help your Site Achieve Lift-Off: http://bit.ly/xw5r6 [UsefulTools]
Brian- I agree with you-neither Killer Startups nor MeFi really address the same need for both publicity and feedback that Launchly does. And kudos for fixing the dashboard!