15 Common-sense tips for Tech Startups

1. On the web homepage, you should always explain the purpose of the product in a simple way without using words like revolutionary or cutting-edge. Just let people know why they should use your product and what problems does it solve?
2. Important thing what developer forget about in writing a detailed FAQ that clearly answers so many common queries that a newbie may have. e.g What database used for data? How to export data in case someone decides to delete profile account. Are there any restrictions?
3. Always provide details about the people running the show. Link to their LinkedIn profile pages and Twitter accounts as that will make your company look more credible in the eyes of people who don’t know you.
4. There’s no such thing as “free.” Set the expectations right and let people know how you plan to monetize your app in future. It is better to say “we will introduce PRO accounts in the coming weeks” than saying “we haven’t yet thought of a business model.”
5. Don’t add Google AdSense to your website on the first day of launch. I know it is important to monetize your web app but try building a user base first.
6. If you think you have built a great product that will gain lot of traction, open the gates only in batches – you can either create an email-based waiting list or distribute invite codes through other blogs (like 10000 invites for TechCrunch readers).
7. Invitation codes are often provided on a first-come first-served basis but there’s a drawback with that approach. The Tech blogs in U.S. will most likely publish news about your start-up in their own time-zone and thus when the rest of the world wakes up, those codes will be exhausted. Plan for a global distribution.
8. A picture is worth a thousand words. It would help if you can showcase photographs of your office space, the founding team, that whiteboard in the meeting room, and even that of your prominent employees.
9. It goes without saying that you should maintain a frequently-updated blog where people can get updates about the product and your company. The blog posts should have the names and possibly a short-bio of the people who are writing them. The author name should never read as “admin” or “staff.”
10. The first impression matters – your website should look good but don’t use any of the common template designs. Avoid while graphic designing using stock photographs on the homepage. Use Xenu to ensure that there are no orphans or dead pages on your website before you open it to the public. And it will definitely help if your site is also mobile-friendly.
11. You don’t really need a press release to announce your product. A tweet from @Scobleizer will probably bring much more visibility (and users) than any Press Release.
12. Your product is a business and all businesses, whether online or offline, should have contact information. Therefore always mention your email address, phone number and even your postal address on the site. Also try listing yourself in Google Places.
13. People on the Internet are always well-aware and even 10x smarter than you. When you launch a product, they’ll instantly compare it with other similar products that may have been around for a while. Instead of letting them doing the hard work, create a “how we compare” page to convince them why you are better than the competition.
14. If an influential tweeter or well-known blogger has said something good about your product, pull that quote into a separate testimonials page – that will help convince new people into trying your product.
15. Unless your product is enterprise-focused, it is OK to add a bit of humor – use the 404 pages of your site as your creative playground and people won’t mind it at all.

Conclusion: