How To Spread Word About My FOSS Project?

An anonymous reader writes "I'm in a bit of a bind with an open source web software project of mine. It's a very small project that I've been developing for over three years. By now it's got a promising feature set, but very few users and virtually no community around it. The problem is that people I have asked to try it refuse to do so because it doesn't have a thriving community. It's an infinite loop: without users, we won't have a community, and without a community, users aren't coming. So, Slashdot, my question is: how can I build a community and help get the word out about a project led by 2 people and with only 5-6 regulars on our forum and IRC?"

Comments

Tell us what it's called...

[hhappy]

some of us might be interested in it. You've just missed your best PR opportunity yet!

Re:Tell us what it's called...

[natehoy]

I disagree. I think he's doing it perfectly.

He's asked a generic question, without shilling in the article section. That means it's less likely he's just out spamming, because he hasn't identified who he is or what the project is. So he's largely avoided the shitstorm of angry slashdotters accusing him of spamming.

But in doing so, he's piqued the curiosity of a few of us, and we've ASKED him to post details of his project now. If he does so, that means he's actually spent a few minutes here reading the responses. This marks him as someone who at least isn't doing a drive-by spamming.

Either very good and sophisticated marketing, or an honest question from a manager of a small project. I can't decide which. But either way, it works, and I'm curious about the project.

Re:Tell us what it's called...

[Anonymous Coward]

(I'm the anon who submitted the question)

You're correct. I avoided revealing my identity here because my goal is to learn, not to spam Slashdot.

I'm sorry to those whose curiosity is ebbing. I'm dying to post a link to the project, but am afraid it would be in bad taste, and I doubt our VPS could handle the traffic.

Re:Tell us what it's called...

[Random Destruction]

By googling his name, the project appears to be. Enano CMS

Re:Tell us what it's called...

[dandaman32]

I was betting on my ability to remember to hit "post anonymously" every time I commented on this thread.
Note to self: in the future, hit "log out." x_x

Re:Tell us what it's called...

[kainewynd2]

I for one am glad you screwed up and didn't log out...

Seriously... I spent two days last month looking for a wiki with a usable WYSIWYG editor that didn't require stupid hacks...

Lo and behold, here it is... this is slick. Just installed it in MAMP and I'll be checking this out a little more in-depth tomorrow. Failing major security holes or browser incompatibilities, I may start using Enano relatively soon.

And no, I'm not affiliated in any way... just really impressed at first glance.

freshmeat

[mrflash818]

Try posting to freshmeat?

http://freshmeat.net/about

Re:freshmeat

[Anonymous Coward]

ohloh is another good place to have your project linked. Shows the development activity, which counts to some people when choosing between multiple projects in the same niche.

Re:Talk to your users

[timmarhy]

spot on. no one wants to commit to using software that will disappear if you get hit by a bus.

Re:Post to Slashdot!

[QRDeNameland]

"I sure wish someone had an open sourced lolcats generator"

cat cat | sed 's/Meow/I can haz cheezburger?/g'

Reduce the barriers

[plcurechax]

Make it as easy as possible for users to try your software.

Take the time to create and maintain packaging for major Linux and BSD distributions. Or at least make it as easy as possible for someone to maintain a distribution package of the current stable version.

Make it easy to migrate to, and if possible, back out of again, from the popular alternative(s). Such as Import / Export functionality from popular commercial software (if there is any). In other words, as easy as possible for people to try your software.

Improve documentation. Write basic tutorials for with specific instructions for more distributions. Ensure you have a good wiki / FAQ / knowledgebase dealing with installation and usage issues that have been already reported, and keep it up to date with new issues that arise in newer releases. I hate seeing a FAQ for project X that hasn't been updated since the original 0.9 release 3 years ago.

Of course it has to be useful. Preferably better than the other free (either gratis or open-source / libre) alternatives.

Does the usefulness of the web software itself increase with an increased userbase? Look at marketing that deals with the network effect. In general, look at IT marketing, consider what would work with your target userbase, and try to go with that. How much do you know about your userbase? Market research is vital, even on FLOSS projects.

Its called marketing.

[jellomizer]

The fact the product is Open Source or free will not get any thing out...

Lets figure out some things...
The 5C's
Customer or for your case you end users what is you app targeted for Corporate users or end users.
Company or your OSS group that has developed the software what are your values why do you want the product to grow what makes your group better then most
Context what itch are you trying to scratch. Does it solve a problem
Collaborators who do you need to work with to make your program run. Is it linux only or does it work on windows... Do you need 3rd party tools to run it. Do you have any people who are willing to push your product.
Competitors Sure you may have some cool new features but are they better then what the other Open Source tools have... Are there closed source application that do the same thing you do. If so how do you defend against any advantages.

Next is the STP
Segmentation What is the product the best fit for.
Targeting Really push to the people the product is the best fit for. If they prefer a closed source solution or a big name you will be wasting your time. However there are other people who want you app in the open source form.
Positioning make sure you make your product to really show off what it needs to do for your targeted group of people

The 4P
Product what is your product what does it do
Price Sure it is open source and it is free are you going to offer consulting or support services if so how much are you going to charge.
Place What will be your range you want the product to first go out
Promotions Well if you are going to do consulting for your product you might as well add some Linux support too.

These is Marketing 101 in a nutshell.
Basic marketing isn't trying to trick people into getting your product but finding where people would like your product.

Sure your product may not have a big following that is ok there are a lot of small software companies to make software to a lot of big players. I myself when I worked as a consultant myself made software for many large companies that was custom for them even if there was Open Source alternatives I created code and documentation for them so the code is theirs and with No strings attached.

For Open Source tools the trick is to make sure that you are willing to back it up and if fail it is possible for others to pick it up.

Open Source Projects do die sometimes so do closed source product. However there are people making closed source products and selling them. The fact that it is open source and has a small comunity isn't an excuse. You just need to market the product