This post is part of a series on growth hacking (How our startup is growth hacking its way to success… and how you can copy us!)

If you are looking for a way to boost your initial user base, “beta sites” promoting new products and services are a great way to get a first cohort of users. These users are okay with your offering not being fully polished and it is therefore a great way to test your product before going to market with potentially getting some read long term customers.

In this post you’ll learn:

– the reasons why you should use this source of traffic
– The Beta websites we recommend
– and the lessons we’ve learnt submitting Keeping.com to these sites.

The reasons why you should use this source of traffic

So, you are done creating your app or product and now all you need is some real users. Before you start spending money acquiring real customers get your product tested by a group of willing users. This will help you:

•  Stress test your product: when real people start using what you’ve created you’ll quickly notice any bottle neck your current architecture has.
• Validate your user experience: Make sure you observe how these beta users are using your product. A great way is to record each session by using a usability tool such as Inspectlet.com or Luckyorange.com and watch them. You’ll be surprised where people end up clicking.
• And get some real customers: Most beta testers tend not to stick but with a bit of chance, you may acquire a few real paying customers.

The Beta websites we recommend

There are literally hundreds of websites out there that all pretend to have a horde of Beta Users ready to signup to your product. In my opinion this is not the case and you should really focus your effort on these top 3 site:

• Betalist.com
• Startupli.st
• Killerstartups.com

(and a special mention to ProductHunt, which is not quite a beta site but would still qualify. Read our detailed post here)

Here is a more comprehensive list is of beta site

• MoMB (http://momb.socio-kybernetics.net/) by Saurier Duval
• BetaCandy.com by Eric Ingram
• wikindu.com by Buntu Redempter
• inspiredBeta.com by Mark Collins
• Go2web20 (http://www.go2web20.net/) by Orli Yakuel
• KillerStartups (http://www.killerstartups.com/) by Gonzo Arzuaga
• BetaPunch (http://www.betapunch.com) by Ross Nochumowitz

http://www.quora.com/Where-could-I-find-a-complete-list-of-early-beta-sites

Lessons we’ve learnt submitting Keeping.com to these sites.

Having submitted Keeping™ to as many site as possible, only the top 3 sites we mentioned actually brought any real traffic.

The winner is by far Betalist.com.Having previously had a positive experience with it, we decided to pay for express submission and obtained over 300 beta users in less than 24h. The others top twosites (Startupli.st & Killerstartups.com)  have brought between them about 100 users. The remaining beta sites only a few clicks and it’s not worth mentioning it.

What’s your experience? Please comment and let others know.

Want more? See the rest of The Growth Hacking Experiment