I’m trying to grow a mobile app without relying on paid ads. Here’s my experiment.

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

This is the exact stage I'm in right now, just a few weeks ahead. Same frustration with paid acquisition, same shift to trying to build an organic system from scratch.

One data point that might save you time: Reddit is a trap for new accounts. I tried posting my launch in r/SideProject and it got auto-removed by the spam filter within seconds — new accounts linking to a sales page get flagged automatically. The fix (which I learned the hard way) is to wait, comment genuinely on 10+ posts to build karma, then post again without any link in the body. Link goes in a comment, not the post.

The channel that actually worked for me was Dev.to. No spam filter, welcomes "how I built this" posts, and the article stays indexed on Google forever. It's a slow burn, not a spike, but it's the only channel so far where my content actually stayed online long enough to be found.

Two questions:

1. For the SEO landing pages — are you targeting specific resume queries like "best resume format for software engineers", or broader ones? Curious how niche you're going.
2. What's your plan for the first real signal? Weekly numbers here, or waiting until you have something more meaningful to report?

Following along. Post the ugly numbers—those are the useful ones.

Running a similar no-ads experiment right now, so here's one thing I wish I'd set up on day one: measure time on page and filter bots before trusting any channel. My first "visits" were mostly link-preview crawlers and scanners (0 seconds, no clicks), which made a couple of channels look better than they were.

Also: give every channel its own short link (?via=name). Otherwise TikTok, typed URLs and in-app browsers all show up as "direct" and you can't tell what worked.

What are you counting as a "real user" for the experiment, install or first action?

Looks like my first comment got mangled. What I meant was: for a resume app, I’d split channels by intent. Go first where people are actively stuck with a resume or job search, then use those conversations to choose specific SEO pages. “Resume builder” is probably too broad early; pages around career-change resumes, software engineer bullets, ATS formatting, etc. might teach you more.

around specific pains like career-change resumes, software engineer bullets, ATS formatting, etc. may teach you more.ware engineer bullets, ATS formatting, etc. m

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

am trying similar aproach. i just know i will get more positive results on this

Our first real users at SocialPost.ai came from founder communities like this one, not SEO or directories, someone actively looking for a solution today converts faster than someone finding you in six months once Google trusts the domain. Directories rarely move the needle before you have social proof. For a resume app specifically, I'd go where people are actively venting about job hunting right now, like r/jobs or LinkedIn comment sections, not app store directories.

This is an interesting experiment, especially because you’re tracking everything from zero rather than just trying a bunch of channels and guessing what worked.

I’m doing something related with my AI visibility tool, although from a slightly different angle. It lets you enter a brand and its competitors, generate prompts around them, and analyse the actual AI responses to see which brands are being surfaced, how often, and in what context.

What’s interesting to me is that organic discovery is no longer just about Google rankings or App Store search. If someone asks ChatGPT or another AI for “the best resume app” or “resume builders for X”, that response is another discovery surface — and brands can be completely invisible there even if their SEO/ASO is doing well.

Your experiment is basically measuring where users discover you. I’m looking at another piece of that puzzle: whether AI systems are discovering and mentioning you in the first place.

I'm running a similar zero-budget experiment for a different B2B product. The part I keep having to separate is 'submitted to a directory' from 'listed,' and 'listed' from 'a buyer actually arrived.' Your traffic-to-App-Store-click-to-install sequence is a good way to keep those apart. Are you planning to tag each channel's links separately so you can tell which one produces installs?

This is a really interesting experiment, especially because you’re tracking everything from day one. I think building an organic acquisition system alongside ASO makes a lot of sense when paid acquisition isn’t profitable yet.

Organic channels tend to compound, but they can be hard to compare early on. What’s your plan for deciding whether a directory or community is worth the time before installs show up?

This is a smart experiment. Paid acquisition can get expensive very quickly before product-market fit is clear, so building an organic loop around the product makes a lot of sense.

I’d be especially interested to see which channel brings the highest-quality users, not just the most traffic. Please share the results once you have enough data.

I agree with the social and the organic. GEO is also very important and is working well once you have your SEO sorted. What I learned it takes time and investment. Either in money or in a lot of your personal time. The internet isn't what it used to be and the big players are controlling the game in an unfair way. Depending on your business, worth of mouth is also very important. Engaging actively with your first customers may have them recommend it to their friends, family, coworkers, which in turn will give you more customers. Good luck!

Directory submissions + organic social have been the two channels actually giving us anything so far — no paid spend either, running two SaaS products through the same playbook right now. Directories are slow-burn (a trickle of backlink/domain-authority value, not a flood of signups), but organic social with real consistent posting has been the bigger driver early on. Reddit's tricky like you said — anywhere it works, it's because you're answering a real question, not pitching.

Honestly the first real signups took longer than expected either way. If it's working at all this early without ads, you're already ahead of where most people are at this stage.

We're running almost the same list for our app, so two things I wish I'd known earlier. On Reddit, some subreddits silently hide comments from new accounts, and from your own account it all looks normal: check your comments from a logged-out private window now and then, two of the six communities I used were hiding mine. And give the SEO pages time with Bing, it took only a small share of ours into its index even though every technical check passed.

I am in Organic marketing field for 4 years and currently working on Mindfuse app. So i think in current organic marketing space focusing on communities and SEO will be better choice, Directories are just for telling that "you know we are part of this app category" but in Communities you are answering and solving direct user problems so its more beneficial. Social media marketing is complete different space including influencer promo, UGC etc.

For a review site of mine, communities beat directories by a wide margin for real first users. Directories mostly bring backlinks and crawler traffic, not people who click through. What worked was answering existing questions on Q&A sites where someone already had the exact problem the app solves, no self-promotion, just a useful answer with the app mentioned where it fit. Slower than ads, but people who arrive that way convert better because they came in with intent.

For a resume tool, your first real users are usually in intent-rich pockets: niche career and resume subreddits, plus SEO pages targeting hyper-specific queries like resume examples for specific roles. Directories are a lottery ticket — cheap to list, but they rarely move the needle in week one. One thing worth adding to the experiment: answer-first content that AI search can surface, since more people now ask AI assistants instead of Googling. And track each channel to activation rather than clicks, because resume tools live or die on whether someone actually finishes a draft.

i also tried the same but this works littlr bit slow

For a resume app specifically, the first real users often come from intent-matched SEO pages rather than directories — but not generic "resume builder" pages. Long-tail pages like "resume format for [specific job] in [country]" have weak competition and match exactly what someone searches the moment before they need your app. Reddit works the same way: people post "roast my resume" threads constantly, and genuinely helping there, with the app mentioned only as the tool you used, tends to convert better than any listing. One caution from watching these experiments: ASO and SEO have compounding curves that look flat for the first 4-6 weeks, so when you share weekly numbers, don't let week two's zeros kill the channels that would have paid off in week eight.

Navigating growth without paid ads is such a universal challenge for solo founders. Tracking this from day 0 with zero index is going to yield super insightful data for the community!

I'll be following along closely to see what works best for you, and I’ll be sure to share my own learnings down the road as well. Rooting for you—looking forward to the next update!

Straight answer: communities, and replies more than posts. Directories and SEO showed up in our referral report long before they showed up in activations - for a while our "top channel" by UTM was one thread that produced a single real conversation. The fix wasn't a new channel, it was tagging every link per post and then reading source -> signup -> first meaningful action, instead of source -> sessions. If all you have so far is installs, pick one channel and instrument it end to end before adding the next one. Which one are you instrumenting first?

On Reddit we learned the hard way: one soft product link in a helpful comment got the comment removed. Since then we keep Reddit replies DIY-only with no product URL, and treat that channel as conversation, not a listing. Curious which of your UTM sources first produces an install that also creates a resume, not just a store click.

I too am close to releasing my App posting it on the Google Play Store first. I'm still trying to find my first 50 beta testers. This is a very different world for me. My past jobs have been working for companies that already had sales channels and a force of people who could do more on the ground work. I'm a solo guy trying to get into a world wide market starting ANYWHERE. Sorry to not be able to answer your question directly but any dialog is good dialog.
Kirk

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Good approach. With a new site, I’d separate the signals: track which channel produces a first useful action, not just traffic. The channel that gets people far enough to try the app is probably the one worth leaning into first. Curious to see the comparison.

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

For my stuff, communities beat SEO for the first real users every time. SEO is a slow compounder — great in month six, useless in week two when you need signal. If I were running your experiment I'd pick one community where resume pain actually gets discussed (career subs, not marketing subs), answer questions genuinely for two weeks, and measure landing page to install, not raw traffic. Directories gave me vanity traffic but almost zero installs. The real trap is spreading across six channels at once and learning nothing about any of them.

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Makes sense. Are you planning to charge for it, or keep it free for now?

Appreciate the honesty here, most people only share the wins.

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Tracking the experiment from zero is a smart way to separate channel anecdotes from actual conversion. I’d keep the landing pages narrowly aligned to the exact resume questions people search, then tag each page through install and first-use so directories and communities are comparable. Since you’re avoiding direct promotion on Reddit, observing which questions generate useful discussions could also reveal the content topics worth turning into SEO pages.

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

What made you pick this stack over the alternatives?

Really relatable. How much time do you put into this each week?

Interesting take. Would you still recommend this approach to someone starting today?

This is useful. How are you finding your first users so far?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Curious how long it took before you saw the first real results?

Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Went through this exact math a few days ago. Ran the numbers on paid (LinkedIn CAC benchmarks alone were north of $2k) against a $9.99/mo product and it just doesn't work yet, not without a validated conversion rate first. Only just wired up real analytics this week, before that I genuinely had no idea if clicks from IH/X were converting or not, just vibes. Directories, IH, and X replies (not cold posts) have been the only channels that felt worth the time so far. Curious to see your SEO landing page results, that's the one I haven't tried.

For a new organic system, I’d resist judging channels by traffic first. Give each channel one narrowly defined job, use a different landing-page message or onboarding question for each, and track the first meaningful action through to a retained user. Otherwise directories, search, and community activity all blur into one “zero” and you won’t know which small signal deserves another week of effort.

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.

Appreciate the honesty here, most people only share the wins.

Makes sense. Are you planning to charge for it, or keep it free for now?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Curious how long it took before you saw the first real results?

Curious how long it took before you saw the first real results?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

we're running almost the same experiment right now, and the first surprise was how little the directories did. most of them give you a backlink and zero people. what moved anything for us were places where someone actually reads every entry: monthly "what are you working on" threads, niche newsletters, small communities where the builder answers every reply. for a resume app i'd bet on the weekly threads in career subs over any listing. curious to see your numbers per channel in a few weeks

As the experiment runs, what result would make you shift resources decisively toward organic—lower cost per install, better purchase rates, or stronger retention than paid users?

Nice to see you treating this as an experiment rather than just adding more channels. I’d give each source its own landing page or deep link and track one funnel consistently: source → landing view → App Store click → install → first useful action → purchase. That makes a directory’s small but high-intent traffic comparable to a social post’s larger, noisier reach. I’d also separate assisted conversions and retention by channel; raw installs can make a channel look good even if the day-7 cohort is weak. SEO probably needs longer than a few weeks, so use indexing/impressions as its leading signal while judging communities and directories on activated users. If bandwidth is limited, test two channels deeply before spreading across all of them.

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

This is great work — reminds me of some of the calls I've had to make building Xstream4K. What would you do differently if you started over?