You don't need a clever trick to grow on Reddit. You need to do the boring things a little better than other people. Here are ten of those.
1. Post on Tuesday or Wednesday morning
The mods of most subreddits sleep in. The mods of most other founders sleep more. Tuesday and Wednesday between 8 and 10am ET is when good posts get seen and bad posts get caught. Pick that window.
2. Reply to your own first comment within ten minutes
A post with zero comments looks dead. The first comment is the one that decides whether more come. So leave it yourself, on your own post, with one extra detail you didn't put in the body. Then reply to it as if it were a stranger's. The thread looks alive and the algorithm agrees.
3. Put the link in a comment, not the post
Posts with links get filtered. Comments with links don't. Put the post up, let it breathe, then drop the link in a top comment after a few replies show up.
4. Read the wiki before you write a single word
Every real subreddit has a wiki. Most of them say what gets removed and why. Spending three minutes there saves you from posting things that get nuked at zero upvotes.
5. Comment three times before you post once
If you comment in a sub a few times before you post, mods recognize the name and Reddit's filter trusts you more. Three to one is a fine ratio. Five to one is better.
6. Write the title last
The title is the whole post for most readers. Write the body, then sit with the title for two minutes. If it sounds like a tweet, it's good. If it sounds like a press release, start over.
7. Match the sub's vibe
Look at the top posts of the past week before you post. Are people writing in lowercase? Are they cracking jokes? Are they being earnest? Match it. Reddit punishes outsiders the way a small town does.
8. Don't edit your post unless you have to
Edits show up with a timestamp. People notice. If you must edit, add an "Edit:" line at the bottom and say what you changed. It reads honest.
9. Reply to every comment in the first hour
Comments answered fast become threads. Threads keep your post on the front page. An hour of attention up front is worth a day of refreshing later.
10. Save the good comments
When a comment of yours pops off, paste it into a doc. Most of your future Reddit traffic will come from rewording the same five paragraphs you've already written. Reuse beats invention here.