Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've built a tool for this. How can I DM you?
I would like to know as well. Can you please DM me?
Sure, but there's no contact info in your profile.
Ask HN: To those with successful browser extension(s), how did you grow it?
11–20 of 50 posts
Re: Ask HN: To those with successful browser extension(s), how did you grow it?
#12Re: Ask HN: To those with successful browser extension(s), how did you grow it?
#13I was lucky enough that video about my extension blew up on tiktok (it wasn't even my video lol), which bring around 34k users. After that extension started slowly getting more traction from here and there (tech sites, personal newsletters, etc), but that didn't bring any substantial audience, to this day (1.5 years passed) tiktok was the biggest success and provided most of current audience, partially because I stopped actively working on the extension about year or so ago
Re: Ask HN: To those with successful browser extension(s), how did you grow it?
#14> to increase the number of active weekly users?
what is the motivation to seek this goal? Is your extension paid?
Re: Ask HN: To those with successful browser extension(s), how did you grow it?
#15Do you have any creative ways to source traffic?
I run:
I've sourced data important to our users. I am leveraging it by making it useful for our users and to drive traffic and visibility to our services. My data will be discoverable on broad platforms.
Re: Ask HN: To those with successful browser extension(s), how did you grow it?
#16Since this is the right crowd, for those who make money with your extension, how do you do it? I'm contemplating building an API for license checking and a simple webapp for registration / subscription management, but if anybody's using the off-the-shelf options I'd be interested to hear about your experience.
I've heard good things about ExtensionPay[1]. It didn't have what I needed at the time so I hand rolled my own on Firebase using a Stripe integration component[2]. As you probably know the issue with extensions is that the whole codebase is exposed so you need some kind of back end if you're handling payments and associated secret stores.
[1] https://extensionpay.com/ [2] https://extensions.dev/extensions/invertase/firestore-stripe...
Re: Ask HN: To those with successful browser extension(s), how did you grow it?
#17> to increase the number of active weekly users? what is the motivation to seek this goal? Is your extension paid?
Yes, I have a monetization plan in mind.
Re: Ask HN: To those with successful browser extension(s), how did you grow it?
#18Since this is the right crowd, for those who make money with your extension, how do you do it? I'm contemplating building an API for license checking and a simple webapp for registration / subscription management, but if anybody's using the off-the-shelf options I'd be interested to hear about your experience.
I'm in the process of adding payments as well and I'm starting things off with Stripe. Specifically, their payment links and subscriptions features. Longer term, I may switch, and am building things in a way that migration will be easy.
Re: Ask HN: To those with successful browser extension(s), how did you grow it?
#19I think it's like marketing any other type of software or service online - SEO, find user communities, influencers, ads/paid promotions etc etc. In my case I got lucky and impressed a tech writer who gave BrainTool a write up on ZDNet and gave me a jumpstart on the first 2K+ downloads. I wrote about the experience here:
https://braintool.org/2021/01/14/First-Two-Thousand-BrainToo...
Re: Ask HN: To those with successful browser extension(s), how did you grow it?
#20I was lucky enough that video about my extension blew up on tiktok (it wasn't even my video lol), which bring around 34k users. After that extension started slowly getting more traction from here and there (tech sites, personal newsletters, etc), but that didn't bring any substantial audience, to this day (1.5 years passed) tiktok was the biggest success and provided most of current audience, partially because I stop…
It would be great to have a link to the TikTok video and your extension.