How to write a product listing for a launch directory

A launch listing has one job: let someone who has never heard of your product decide in under a minute whether to click. A common failure is describing the maker's ambition instead of the product. This guide goes field by field, with the limits What’s New Today uses. Other directories use different limits, so check each form.

Start with who it is for

Before you write a word, finish this sentence: "This is for ___ who need to ___." If you cannot fill both blanks in plain words, the listing will be vague no matter how well it is written.

Good: "For solo developers who need to see which API calls are failing in production."

Weak: "For teams who want to work smarter."

Everything below hangs off that sentence.

The tagline

The tagline is what people read on a busy board. On this directory it must be 10 to 90 characters, and claims such as "best", "#1" or "top" are rejected.

A good tagline names the thing and the outcome:

• "Error tracking for serverless functions, set up in one command"
• "Turn meeting recordings into searchable notes"

Avoid taglines that could describe any product: "The future of productivity", "Your all-in-one workspace". Avoid stacking adjectives. Readers skim taglines, so put the noun first.

The description

The description is where a curious visitor decides. Write 60 to 600 words, and aim for the lower middle unless the product genuinely needs more.

A structure that works:

1. What it is, in one or two sentences, repeating the who-and-what from above.
2. How it works, in a short list of the three or four things a user actually does.
3. What it connects to: platforms, integrations, file formats.
4. What it costs, in a sentence, even if there is a separate pricing field.

Write in the second person ("you connect your repo") rather than about your company ("we are passionate about"). Cut every sentence that a competitor could also put on their listing.

What is different

This field is 40 to 100 words, and it is the one most makers leave weak. Name the alternative people use today and say plainly how yours differs. Specific is better than flattering:

• "Unlike spreadsheet trackers, it reads your bank export directly, so there is nothing to type."
• "Most screen recorders upload to their cloud. This one saves to a folder you choose and never uploads."

If the honest difference is price or simplicity, say that. It is a real reason to choose a product.

Problem and solution

Two short fields, a few sentences each. The problem should describe a moment the reader recognises: "You find out a scheduled job failed when a customer emails you." The solution should describe what changes: "You get a message within a minute of the failure, with the log attached."

Keep both concrete. "Teams struggle with communication" is not a problem anyone recognises in their own week.

Why short listings stay out of search

On this directory a listing page is only offered to search engines once its text adds up to at least 150 words across the description, what is different, problem and solution. Pages under that stay out of search until they are filled in. Google says it has no preferred word count (helpful content guidance); the threshold exists so a page has something for a searcher to find.

Do not pad to reach a number. Answer the questions a buyer would ask, and the length follows.

Screenshots and video

Show the product doing its main job, not a marketing hero image. The first screenshot should be the screen a user sees most. Crop out empty browser chrome, use real-looking data, and make sure text is readable at the size a listing shows it.

A demo video under two minutes is worth adding if the product is easier to show than describe. Start with the product on screen, not a logo animation.

Tags and audiences

Tags help people browsing by topic find you; audience tags power "built for" pages. Pick the few that a buyer would actually browse. This directory allows five topic tags and three audiences, which is plenty. Choosing ten loose tags spreads you thin across pages where you will not be the right answer.

Pricing and platforms

Fill in the pricing model and starting price even if they feel obvious. Some visitors filter by "free" or "open source" before reading anything. List every platform the product runs on; a Mac-only app that does not say so wastes the time of every Windows user who clicks.

Before you submit

Read the listing as if you were a stranger:

• Can you tell what it does from the tagline alone?
• Does the description name who it is for in the first two sentences?
• Is there a sentence a competitor could not copy?
• Is the price there?
• Would the first screenshot make sense without a caption?

Then submit, and come back after a week to update the listing with what you learned from the first visitors (and which directories sent them). A listing that changes when the product changes stays useful, and on this directory a real content change also refreshes its place in category hubs. The ranking inputs are on How we rank. When you are ready, you can submit your product.