Promoting a Browser Game?

Question

I have a new browser based game that I've worked on for a few months. Obviously all that effort goes to waste if no one sees it.

I know there's topics to do with games promotion, but browser games are a different field entirely.

How can I promote my browser game?

Answer 1

Have a look at some similar questions under the marketing tag.

Here are some things to do:

1. Make the game worth playing (see comment)
2. Get friends, family, colleagues, anyone to play it and tell people about it. This kicks off your initial word of mouth campaign.
3. Social media. Facebook site, twitter account, blog, there are loads now. This will increase the visibility of your game and start organic growth.
4. Incentivise playing if possible. Do you offer in-game credit/coins/points etc.? Give your first set of users a bonus for playing.
5. Incentivise word-of-mouth. Give your players an in-game (or other) bonus for bringing people to your game.
6. Targeted Adwords. If you have a budget, great! Target google and facebook users with keywords, etc.
7. Link-sharing. Forums and game blogs will have link-sharing schemes. You promote someone else's site, someone else promotes yours.
8. Tell people about it. You can do this without spamming. For example, you could add a comment under your question with a link to the game. I'd have a look and who knows - I might like it and tell people about it. Be wary though - you need to be considerate of how much you "push" your game in this way.
9. Submit your game to review sites. You get good feedback and linked traffic.
10. Create a community for your game. Not only will these guys tell you about bugs and suggest features, they'll also become evangelists for your game. (added May 15)
11. Read and apply lessons from The Zero Budget Indie Marketing Guide. (added May 19)

I'll add more when I think of some but hopefully this should be some good initial food for thought.

Answer 2

Several FB games use Applifier - might be worth of checking.