How to use the checklist
Tick items as you go; progress saves in this browser. Each item says why it matters and links to the template, guide or free tool that gets it done. Skip what doesn’t apply: a developer tool may not need a press kit, a consumer app may skip Show HN.
Pre-launch: fix the things every visitor will hit
Launch traffic is a spike. Most of it lands on your home page once, so the basics have to work the first time: a clear one-line description, a working share preview, a favicon, fast pages, and no robots.txt rule accidentally blocking Google. These are also the things that decide whether you’re still found once the spike is over. Run the meta tag checker on your key pages and the AI crawler checker on your domain before you announce anything.
Launch day: be there
The most useful thing on launch day is answering people. Post, then stay around to reply to every comment and email. Ask for feedback, never for votes: HN says explicitly not to ask friends to upvote, and many communities remove posts that do. Test sign-up and payment once more on your phone the morning of the launch; it’s the path every new visitor takes.
Post-launch: turn a spike into a trend
A launch gives you a burst of visitors and a few links. What lasts is search traffic: pages that answer the questions your buyers type, published steadily. That’s how we grew our own product, Versely, after a long flat stretch. Our launch week checklist post goes deeper on the week itself, and launching on several platforms without burning out covers pacing. For templates, see the launch templates library.