Feature People in Your Content, Then Ask Them to Backlink It

Feature People in Your Content, Then Ask Them to Backlink It is a product-led growth tactic for getting your first users: Interview or spotlight people in your newsletter, then leverage their pride in being featured to get them to link it from their own properties, driving referral traffic and SEO.

It's a strong fit for Newsletters / media teams, and works especially well for Newsletters, media, and content products. As a product-led growth play, plan for medium effort and expect results to build gradually over time, all grounded in 1 linked primary source.

Product-led growthMedium effortSlow

Why does product-led growth work for this?

People eagerly share content that flatters them, turning each feature into a motivated free distributor plus an SEO backlink.

The exact steps (4)

The full step-by-step this founder ran, what they posted, where, and in what order, plus the watch-outs, is part of the library.

Unlock the steps · $29 oncePlus all 3,000+ tactics and the new ones we add weekly.

Sources

Frequently asked

What kind of products does the "Feature People in Your Content, Then Ask Them to Backlink It" tactic work for?
It is a good fit for Newsletters / media — pick it when your product looks like that, since the play is shaped around how those users find new tools.
How is the "Feature People in Your Content, Then Ask Them to Backlink It" tactic verified?
It is drawn from 1 primary source — a real founder write-up or interview, not generic advice. It is linked in the Sources section above so you can read the original account yourself.
How much effort is it and how fast are results?
It is medium effort, and results tend to be slow.
Where can I see the exact step-by-step?
The full step-by-step a founder ran, documented via Source — IndieHackers, is in the paid library.

Related tactics

Product-led growthHigh effort· Medium

Build a Mention-Triggered Bot That Outputs Branded Content

Run a Twitter bot that watches for a specific trigger phrase mentioning your handle, then auto-generates a shareable branded asset from the requester's own post.

Read the steps →
Product-led growthMedium effort· Medium

Turn Users Into Your Content Engine With a Telegram Group and Shoutouts

To keep visitors returning, the founder built a small Telegram group for AI tips, added a showcase section where users submit their own projects, and gave Twitter shoutouts tagging creators who used his site.

Read the steps →
Product-led growthMedium effort· Medium

Embed a Referral Form Inside the Signup Confirmation Email

After someone joins, an interactive email asks them to name people who'd find the asset useful, and you send it to those referred people too, creating a viral loop.

Read the steps →
Product-led growthHigh effort· Medium

Tiered Points Referral Program Topped With a MacBook

To squeeze more growth from existing readers, they built an in-house referral system awarding a point per referred subscriber, redeemable for swag tiers from stickers up to a MacBook Pro.

Read the steps →
Product-led growthMedium effort· Medium

Make the User's Own Website the Instant Aha Moment

The tool scrapes a URL the user provides and uses that context to generate a highly tailored output, so newcomers see relevant, personalized results immediately.

Read the steps →
Product-led growthLow effort· Medium

Ask Every Happy User for a Web Store Review

Whenever a user says the product helped them, immediately ask them to leave a rating and comment on the Chrome Web Store.

Read the steps →

Get all 3,000+ tactics in one place

Filter by your product and channel, follow the exact steps, and get the new tactics we add every week. One payment, yours for good.