Your Link in Bio for a Product Hunt Launch

Most Product Hunt launch checklists cover the listing: tagline, gallery, first comment. They skip the place many visitors end up next: your profile, and the link in it. On launch day, people who like your product click through to see who made it. That click is an opportunity most makers waste.

Where launch day visitors go

A typical path: someone sees your product, likes it, opens your maker profile, then taps the website link on your X or Product Hunt profile. If that link goes to the product they just saw, they have nowhere new to go.

A better destination shows the launched product first, then everything else you make, then a way to follow along.

The day before

1. Update your link in bio. Put the launched product first and make it stand out. On makerhandle, mark it large or switch to the Spotlight template, which puts one project on stage like a launch page. See Spotlight.
2. Write a one-line description for every project. Visitors scan.
3. Set honest statuses. Your launch is Active. The next thing is Building.
4. Turn on email capture. Most visitors will not buy today. A subscribe box lets them hear about the next launch. See email subscribers.
5. Tag your links. Use UTM parameters on the link in each profile, like ?utm_source=producthunt&utm_medium=profile. See UTM tracking.
6. Add proof if you have it. If the product already earns through Stripe, verified MRR on your page is a strong signal on launch day.

On the day

• Keep the realtime view of your analytics open. It is encouraging, and it shows you which posts are working as they happen.
• Watch sources. If a newsletter or a Hacker News thread picks you up, you will see it.
• Do not redesign your page mid-launch. Fix typos, nothing more.

The week after

• Compare launch week with the previous period. Which sources sent visitors who clicked a project or subscribed, not just visited?
• Switch from Spotlight back to your usual template if you like. Content carries over.
• Send your new subscribers a short thank-you within a week, while they remember you.
• Update the product's status and description with what you learned.

The short version

Launch day traffic is short, and the people who click through to your profile are your warmest visitors. Make sure the link they find shows everything you make, captures their email and tells you where they came from. makerhandle is free for five projects and set up in two minutes. See makerhandle for Product Hunt launchers.

makerhandle is not affiliated with Product Hunt.