How to get up to 3500+ GitHub stars in one week — and why that’s important.

We recently launched a new product called Froala Design Blocks. A few days later we were listed on GitHub trending repositories. After one week we had over 3500 stars, and two weeks later we were still getting 500 stars daily.

Unlike Twitter or Facebook — where you can get new followers or likes by advertising — on GitHub, you get stars only if your project impresses someone. GitHub stars are more than just a number. They’re a reliable insight that engender trust and influence people when they decide to use your product or not.

The Froala Design Blocks is not our first product. We’ve been using Github for years. But I just started to realize why Github stars matter, and what you should or shouldn’t do to keep them coming.

Whether you’re a newbie or an oldie to GitHub, I believe my article will shed some light on the full potential of GitHub stars and how they can be used to showcase and improve your project.

Write a beautiful README

On GitHub, the README file is like the landing page of your website. It is the first thing visitors see, and you want to make a good impression. It is possible that some visitors will hit the star button only because they liked the images you used and because the project sounds interesting.

A good README needs to contain all the essential information so that developers understand what the project is about, why they should use it, and how to use it. There are lots of templates to pick from, but I would recommend this one created by Billie Thompson.

Despite the fact that the README is usually written in Markup, it has to be beautiful. Good is not enough. Besides useful information, this means it needs a design. The human brain is very good at visual processing, but reading text requires more cognitive effort. I would say that the look of the README is even more important than the text itself.

How can you make a beautiful README? We researched several awesome READMEs from a great list created by Matias Singers. But if you’re short on time, here’s a shortlist to help you:

• Use badges — they inspire trust and summarize the most significant information a…