There is a new golden rule on Product Hunt that no one talks about.
It changes drastically how you should launch.
Without knowing it, no chance of becoming product of the day.
Most launches on Product Hunt don't reach the podium.
Not because the products aren't great.
Or because their visuals aren't exciting.
But because of new rules the community isn't aware of.
To become product of the day you need two things:
1. Get featured
2. Get the best average of upvotes per hour across the day
1. A staff member from Product Hunt needs to pick up your product
You can't be on the podium if you don’t get picked up.
Every morning the Product Hunt staff checks the new products launched.
They will manually pick the products that will be featured on the home page.
If your product launches later during the day, it will go through the same curation.
How products get pick up is a little obscure, but here is what I know.
You need to launch a product, or an important feature. Product Hunt does not feature "collection" or "guides" anymore. Avoid these keywords in the description of the product you launch.
A product that doesn't get featured won't show on the search either.
This is why some products have hundreds of upvotes but won’t show on Product Hunt home and search.
Make sure your landing page looks and feels like an actual product.
2. Get the best average of upvotes per hour across the day
This is the new golden rule on Product Hunt that no ones talk about.
A few years ago the number of upvotes and comments were the key to success. Also the number of points of the people who upvote.
These are still important but secondary.
To become product of the day now you need the best average of upvotes per hour across the day.
Ex: Let's say your product has 40 upvotes per hour across the day, and 500 upvotes total. You could win against a product with 600 upvotes total but that had an average of 30 upvotes per hour.
This happens all the time.
This rule explains why, every day, you see winning products with less upvotes total.
Have you also noticed these rules applying in your recent launches? =)