HowTheyGotUsersHowTheyGotUsers

Trade Free Sites or Maps for Ad Placement With Local Hosts

Trade Free Sites or Maps for Ad Placement With Local Hosts is a partnerships & affiliates tactic for getting your first users: A guerrilla travel-tech move: offer adjacent local businesses a free website or branded map served from your domain, and in exchange place your branding/display ads in front of their customers.

It's a strong fit for teams of almost any kind, and works especially well for travel tech, location-based products. As a partnerships & affiliates play, plan for high effort and expect results to build gradually over time, all grounded in 1 linked primary source.

Partnerships & affiliatesHigh effortSlow

Why does partnerships & affiliates work for this?

You ride existing local foot traffic for free distribution while the host gets a genuinely useful tool.

The exact steps (5)

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

Works for
Any / universal

Frequently asked

How is the "Trade Free Sites or Maps for Ad Placement With Local Hosts" 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 high 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

Partnerships & affiliatesMedium effort· Medium

Fund Prizes and Distribution Through Partners, Not Budget

Cover the cost and reach of an event entirely through partners so a tiny budget isn't a blocker.

Read the steps →
Partnerships & affiliatesMedium effort· Fast

Land a Lifetime Deal Through a Community Partnership

Partner with an existing community to run a one-off lifetime-deal promotion to its members for a fast cash injection.

Read the steps →
Partnerships & affiliatesMedium effort· Medium

Insert Your Brand Into Realtors' Automated MLS Alert Emails

Realtors using automated MLS systems blast clients up to ~100 property emails a day; partner to get your logo or link into those high-frequency notifications.

Read the steps →
Partnerships & affiliatesLow effort· Medium

Run a 50% Lifetime Affiliate Cut Through Gumroad

Sell through a reseller that ships native affiliate tooling, then set an aggressive 50% commission so fans become motivated salespeople; the author says affiliates drive ~30% of total sales.

Read the steps →
Partnerships & affiliatesHigh effort· Slow

Build Their Product For Them, Then Pitch

Use your own software to create a finished version of the product for big-audience targets without asking first, then show them the ready-to-go result to win them over.

Read the steps →
Partnerships & affiliatesLow effort· Fast

Buy Onto an Exchange's News Feed via a PR Distributor

Instead of cold-pitching crypto exchange contacts, the founder paid a PR service that already has an accepted publishing pipeline into MEXC, so the announcement actually got published in days instead of being ignored for months.

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.

Unlock for $29 onceBrowse by channel