How I got my first thousand users • Hacker News Board

Re: How I got my first thousand users

#11

Post by maged » Sun, May 06, 2018, 9:41 PM UTC

mlevental wrote: post #10

apo wrote: post #9

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 bui…

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).

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.

Re: How I got my first thousand users

#12

Post by cyberferret » Sun, May 06, 2018, 10:25 PM UTC

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?

Re: How I got my first thousand users

#13

Post by gravity_123 » Sun, May 06, 2018, 10:34 PM UTC

> 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!

Re: How I got my first thousand users

#14

Post by [deleted] » Sun, May 06, 2018, 10:43 PM UTC

mlevental wrote: post #10

apo wrote: post #9

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 bui…

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).

[deleted]

Re: How I got my first thousand users

#15

Post by mlevental » Sun, May 06, 2018, 10:43 PM UTC

maged wrote: post #11

mlevental wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

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.

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

Re: How I got my first thousand users

#16

Post by mattbierner » Sun, May 06, 2018, 11:53 PM UTC

apo wrote: post #9

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 bui…

Just one data point: when I recently launched a site selling custom physical products, in the first day I got 2 orders but like 10 emails from people wanting me to join various growth hacking/starup communities or list my product on their product listing sites (presumably paying to get featured). Super scuzzy.

Re: How I got my first thousand users

#17

Post by ethbro » Sun, May 06, 2018, 11:57 PM UTC

rickhaasteren wrote: post #8

nthdesign wrote: post #7

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.”

My bad, it's fixed now. Thanks!

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

Re: How I got my first thousand users

#18

Post by meesterdude » Mon, May 07, 2018, 12:48 AM UTC

apo wrote: post #9

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 bui…

I've seen this as well. Every growth hack article is to promote a growth-hack company. It's never been simply the means to an end for a regular company - it always ends up being part of their offering.

Re: How I got my first thousand users

#19

Post by badcede » Mon, May 07, 2018, 2:57 AM UTC

apo wrote: post #9

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 bui…

You're right, it all feels samey, in an uneasy way. Maybe the "How I..." ecosystem is mostly self-referential.

Re: How I got my first thousand users

#20

Post by maged » Mon, May 07, 2018, 3:04 AM UTC

mlevental wrote: post #15

maged wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

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.