
How I got my first thousand users - rickhaasteren
https://www.indiehackers.com/@RickVanHaasteren/how-i-got-my-first-1000-users-47d06edc3d
======
apo
It strikes me as odd how many of these growth hacking stories describe a web
analytics tool (as in the linked article), an email subscriber system, or a
CMS extensions/hosting solution. Throw a rock in any direction and you'll hit
20 of these accounts.

Watching some Microconf presentations I was struck by the same thing. The
talks were dominated by people who had created Wordpress plugins, created an
SEO tool, or built an email autoresponder. There's a strange circularity to it
- almost like a pyramid scheme.

Maybe this reflects a coincidence of interests: people who like growth hacking
enough to write about it tend to create SEO tools and email drip systems.

OTOH, maybe the lessons these stories teach are too specific to be useful for
other kinds of businesses.

~~~
mlevental
the way i think about this is mcdonald's employees getting their oil changes
from jiffy lube across the street and the jiffy lube employees eating lunch at
the mcdonald's - there's no external investment in the local economy (yes this
basically a microcosm for all economics).

~~~
maged
That can't be true when so many of these small businesses have such massive
margins. They're not spending the earnings on other small online businesses.

~~~
mlevental
these people don't pay themselves as FTE so of course their margins are good.

~~~
maged
That's irrelevant to above point. That they could pay themselves a salary out
of earnings means there is more money going in that just what is cycling
around between these sites.

~~~
mlevental
no you're missing my point: they don't pay themselves at all so their margins
are inflated.

------
gravity_123
> I started emailing bloggers in the SEO space, inviting them to try Siteguru
> and write about it. At the same time, I hired a linkbuilder to reach out to
> relevant sites that could feature my tool.

> The result? Zero. Nothing.

Ha! The number of spam emails I get, sometimes I wonder if there is actually a
good product like this which might be useful but gets lost in the sea.

Edit : really nice and to the point product, found a bunch of issues with my
website. Now all my broken links are fixed and the website has a favicon!

~~~
tonyedgecombe
Even if I spot something interesting the fact that they spammed me creates a
barrier they won't get past. It's unfortunate but it is the reality. Sending
unsolicited email is a black mark now.

------
cscotti
Really nice blog post. Regarding the free page-check without login vs
requiring login; I’m not so sure it’s as clear cut as put there. Signing up
for a service with significant community backing is a lot less scary/annoying
than signing up for something that no one ever heard of.

------
cyberferret
Congrats to the OP, but I am assuming that these are 1000 users who are on a
'free' account? If so, I'd be interested in hearing about strategies to
convert these free accounts into paid subscriptions in the future, or
monetising them in some other way. I assume that is the end goal of SiteGuru?
To be profitable in some way?

~~~
rickhaasteren
About 90% are on a free account, most others on a paid account through
StackCommerce or similar tools.

Monetization is my next goal - and probably should have been much earlier. I'm
thinking about 1 month free trials automatically converting people to a paid
account after that. I would ask for their creditcard details during sign up.
I'm still trying to figure out what would be the best approach.

More on that in my next post, How I Make $50 Million A Day Without Working.

------
nthdesign
This was a great post, and I learned several things. Thank you for sharing.
Just a brief note that it should be “lots” not “lot’s.”

~~~
rickhaasteren
My bad, it's fixed now. Thanks!

~~~
ethbro
Agreed on the sentiment though. Refreshing to read something with "just the
interesting stuff" and less window dressing.

------
dvfjsdhgfv
Rick, it would be nice to post an update tomorrow to see how many signups you
got after being featured on HN.

~~~
rickhaasteren
122 now. I'm a happy man!

~~~
dvfjsdhgfv
Is the registered to paid ratio still 10:1?

------
codewritinfool
Nice! In the sentence, "If you have any suggestions about howI can futher
increase", you could put a space between how and I.

~~~
rickhaasteren
Done, thanks!

