promoting and positioning very early stage web apps?
kickstand: The "private beta" approach seems like a great idea for sites that require or encourage a form of registration. I'm glad it's working out for you Travis.  My problem is that my app is more casual than that--registration is maybe a phase 2 or 3 feature for me, the site is more of an information resource and I don't want to ask visitors to register for that up front.I like the idea of a "sneak peek" splash page, as vyrotek suggests. It's a good alternative to "private beta" for registration-free sites. But I'm expecting visitors not to enter the site via the homepage but by one of the informational pages (discovered via Google, etc.), which means most visitors won't be coming through the front door.  Still, I think this might be a good approach if I can figure out how to present it.