# How to write a great submission

Every featured listing on LaunchNest is meant to be read by a person. Use this guide alongside the [submission criteria](/criteria/).

## Product name

Just the name as it appears on the homepage — nothing else.

**Aim for:** The name customers already use.

**Common pitfalls:** Tacking a tagline or keywords onto the name. Adding .com or .io unless that is truly the brand. Emoji or decorative unicode.

## Pitch

One plain sentence that makes it obvious what the product does. The pitch sits next to the name, and a visitor decides in a moment.

**Aim for:** A single concrete sentence. A hint at what is different, if you can say it simply.

**Common pitfalls:** Two sentences smuggled in with a dash or a semicolon. Repeating the product name. A slogan. Empty words such as innovative or revolutionary. A pitch so abstract that a reader cannot tell what you made.

## Description

One or two short paragraphs of plain prose: what it is, who it is for, and why they should spend a minute on it. Write like a person.

**Aim for:** Short paragraphs. Starting with the product name is a good default, not a law.

**Common pitfalls:** Bullet lists. A stack of one-line paragraphs. A wall of text. Markdown or HTML. Extra URLs — only the website field should link out. Emoji or decorative unicode.

## Website URL

Link to your own home page. When the live site is wired, LaunchNest will send visitors through a redirect so you can see the referral, with credit still belonging to your domain.

**Aim for:** Your home page on a domain you control. Your own tracking parameters, if the URL still works.

**Common pitfalls:** Links that 404, wander off, or break when parameters are added. Direct links to an app store, a crowdfunding page, or a social profile as a substitute for a product site.

## Icon

A simple logomark, the sort of thing you would use as an avatar.

**Aim for:** A symbol or mark on a solid, circular, or rounded square background.

**Common pitfalls:** The full wordmark baked into a wide image. A fully transparent background that disappears in light or dark theme. A screenshot used as an icon.

## Gallery images

Pictures of the actual product.

**Aim for:** Roughly 4:3, sharp, landscape for most tools. Portrait is fine for a phone app.

**Common pitfalls:** Extremely tall or wide canvases. Tiny or blurry shots.

## Topics

Specific almost always beats generic. A narrow topic has fewer neighbors and is easier for the right visitor to find.

**Aim for:** Up to five topics, ordered by relevance, that a real user might search for.

**Common pitfalls:** Padding the list with loosely related topics, or only picking the largest category.

## Promotion (optional)

Only if you have a real offer — a code or a redeemable gift — not a vague promise of “benefits.”

**Aim for:** A short, honest offer a visitor can actually use.

**Common pitfalls:** Invented coupons, or packing the field with sales language.