// Cryptocurrency
Top 5 ICO Mistakes
// Cryptocurrency
Founders who are new to the crypto industry, fundraising or crowdfunding believe that ICO is one of the easy ways to raise funds for the product development. Indeed, if we look around, we see news about how companies are attracting millions of dollars, and some even billions on their projects. The same as Forbes and other media post about billionaires and their startup seems so easy. The year 2017 was successful in ICO launching. According to icodata.io, for 9 months of last year, there were raised more than 6 billion dollars. However, no one says, this amount fundraised in total only 873 companies. This is a big breakthrough in crowdfunding in blockchain technologies.
ICO machine launched its movement last year. In early 2018, the number of ICO projects began to grow rapidly. According to icodata.io in the first six months, the number of ICO projects reached 1,000. Many saw this as an opportunity to easily earn money and trick gullible users. It is a pity, but some managed to do it. Now the market is changing, and investors are more cautious about their investment object. Thus, in order to get worthy funding, you really need to be very interested in users and convince them of your sincerity. Let us look at the most basic ICO mistakes that prevent you from achieving the desired goal and may leave you at the curb.
You can check the interactive chart on coindesk.
The site is the face of your project. Of course, you can use the standard WordPress template, old design, free stock images. This will save you a couple hundred dollars. But your site will not have the first freshness. Do not be surprised if investors pass by and they do not have the desire to give you money for development. Bounce rate will be huge and the average time is low. Users primarily want to invest in professionals who can make a quality product and are not ready for compromises. For those, who value quality and, if users don't see quality on your website, how the hell they should know your product will be top-notch?
The second important point is grammar. If you talk about great things and want to go to the moon using blockchain, but your text sinks from grammatical errors. You can forget about major investments. Serious and big money will bypass you. In fact, this is a big problem. You need many languages, really. According to our recommendations, the optimal number is 8-12. In addition, you will need professional translators help and highly likely native speakers. Do not save money on this. Make your site literate and easy to read and use. How to hire the best developers?
The third important aspect is the content. If you do not tell us about your project about important details, no one will know about it. You need to provide as much as possible information about your future project and its development. Ideas, plan, researches etc. Plan your actions for several years ahead, goals, white paper and team. Do an analysis of successful ICOs and check their web pages. You will see a lot of valuable information. Copy their approach to the content posting.
In general, you need to understand, every element on the site should reflect your attitude to the product, which end-users are going to feel. Unique design, literate text, professional graphics, extended and detailed information requires money and time, high-quality videos. All of this are investments into a successful future.
Some people are sure, an ICO website and a couple of posts on Facebook, Twitter will drive you the investors. This is a huge misconception. Currently, there are over 2000 ICO. Everyone talks about a revolutionary idea, about a product that going to change the world. Let us be honest. Few of them will achieve the desired goal. But to try and get money for future development, you need to stand out, be unique, honest and sincere. It is necessary to do aggressive marketing. Use digital ads, forums, communities and groups, social channels, omni-channels. Complex work requires investments. Placing in some popular catalog will cost over $5,000 but it is worth it. The more amount you want to raise, the more aggressive marketing should be. Throughout times, it is going to be more challenging as this industry is already changing.
#3. A Plan and Strategy
As we were said earlier, you need to be contr-active in all possible directions, but do not forget about planning and strategy. If you post content on social networks, when you have a free minute or, when there is a will, your result will be zero. Before starting marketing, you need to draw up a detailed marketing plan for each channel and general detailed strategy. Hire an experienced team or company if you don't have enough experience. Everything should be done according to the rules and terms at the right time. Some stuff requires additional costs like video shooting, content, graphics, photos, etc. Be aware of this and plan everything, including ROI.
Users do not immediately become investors. There is a process behind it calling user nurturing or investor nurturing. They need time to make a right decision, a conscious decision. The first thing they see is your post on Reddit or the title in ICO calendar. The second step is to visit your site and get acquainted with your product/idea. After that is going in-depth analysis process. "I believe these guys or not" - an investor thinks. You need to feed rich useful content to such users. With each message, the trust will increase. Use all possible channels, and ways to reach out to users: social networks, messengers. Do not forget to give the right clear signals: call-to-action and encourage users to invest.
This is what the founders forget during the ICO. When you start fundraising, investors come and observe you. They want to see your cooking process. If you count money, fill out accounting documents, instead of cooking, many people have a question: What do these people do? Why they do not work on their product. They are focused only on money, not on ideas. This gives rise to many doubts, mistrust, and significantly reduces the motivation of investors.
I did not plan to write the 6th paragraph, but I thought and decided to voice this problem, which is not quite obvious to some of the founders. Your project should be closely related to blockchain technologies. Perhaps it will seem obvious to you, but based on our experience, some people believe that ICO can be carried out for any type of project from the sale of socks to the bakery opening. ICO is a collection of funds exclusively in the cryptocurrency. Only innovative solutions based on blockchain are well met by investors in the ICO. Otherwise, the crypto community will not understand you, and you will fail.
The listed mistakes are one of the main in the entire ICO process. However, they do not give a 100% guarantee on the reaching hard cap. Nevertheless, give a chance for success. The first thing to remember is a belief in your idea and product. Founders with burning eyes always cause trust and warm feelings among investors.
Startups fail in 2022