📌 From Pinterest to Reddit: What I’ve learned while promoting my fitness SaaS
Quick update on my solo SaaS journey — I'm building MyFitTrainingPlan.com, a website that generates personalized workout plans using AI just for $5.
✅ I discovered Pinterest — not just for decor hacks
To be honest, I used Pinterest years ago when I was into laser-cut woodcrafts — it was great for finding design inspiration and adapting templates for my local market.
But I never imagined it as a source of traffic.
This month I added an RSS feed to my blog and connected it to Pinterest.
Every time I publish a post, it now automatically becomes a Pin.
➡️ Right now I get 2–10 views per pin.
No, it’s not thousands yet — but I now get how Pinterest works.
It’s a slow-burn channel that rewards consistency, branding, and repinning.
I'm planning to grow my profile and test how far it can go.
❌ Reddit, however, was a disappointment
I had a Reddit account for 4 years — mostly passive.
I thought it could be a great channel to share my project. I was wrong.
First post? Blocked by mods.
Thought: maybe my account is “cold”? So I started commenting, upvoting...
Eventually, a friend told me: "Your account is shadowbanned."
Wait, what?
I wasn’t notified. No email. Nothing.
Logged out, visited my own profile, and boom — big red banner: "This account is banned."
Even support didn’t respond. Brutal.
🤖 Lesson:
Platforms like Pinterest, RSS, IndieHackers, and even Threads offer buildable, compounding traffic — while Reddit feels like a roll of the dice.
Anyway, I’m still going.
Great insights on using Pinterest as a traffic source for your fitness SaaS! I've been building in a similar space and never considered Pinterest as a viable channel. Your approach of connecting your RSS feed for automatic pins is brilliant - low effort with consistent results. I'd be curious to know if you've noticed any patterns in which types of content perform best there. Also, your value proposition of making fitness simple and affordable for $5 resonates strongly. Looking forward to following your journey with MyFitTrainingPlan!
Thank you!
The best as I see there is vertical image with text. Actually ChatGpt can make super nice image for Pin-posts on Pinterest. It become much more quicker than creating your own in Canva.
And popularity will depend from your niche. I am on fitness, there millions of Pin post like this ^_^ but anyway I am getting my 30-50 viewers (slowly it grow up).
And another thing: I found Ad on Pinterest is cheaper and you can set up really low price like 1 usd a day.
Love this breakdown—super relatable as someone also bootstrapping solo and trying to make the most of lean launch tactics. The transparency about what worked (and what didn’t) is gold, especially when time and resources are limited.
I had a similar experience promoting my own project, which showcases local food favorites, menus, and promos across the Philippines. I tried a mix of Reddit, Facebook groups, and smaller food directories. What really made a difference for me was engaging directly in niche communities instead of broad traffic dumps—people responded better when I told the story behind the site and how it solves something simple but useful.
Appreciate you sharing this—it’s always helpful to see honest, tactical insights from other indie builders!
Yes, your way is good too. Maybe I have to talk with trainers and gyms to co-work with them.
This is such a valuable breakdown, Vladimir — thanks for sharing your journey so transparently. I love how you’re treating each platform like an experiment and really leaning into what works.
If you ever decide to improve the visual flow or UX to boost engagement or trust (especially now that you're growing channels like Pinterest), I specialize in clean, high-conversion web design for SaaS founders. Would love to chat and see if we can make the site work even harder for your goals — feel free to DM me or check out my portfolio!
Thank you so much for the kind words and thoughtful offer! I really appreciate you taking the time to check out my journey and share your expertise. Improving UX is definitely on my radar, so I may reach out when I'm ready to take that next step.
Looking forward sir
Thank you so much.
Maybe this project i will follow by myself, but next... I have some idea. I will contact you
Looking forward sir
Hi! How about offering a product priced higher than $5 and using platforms like Affistash or PartnerStack and similar to promote it and attract new customers?
What is different between ProductHunt?
I post there and got 6 upvotes: https://www.producthunt.com/products/myfittrainingplan
Thought will be better, but that's okay.
What about Affistash and PrtnerStack? is it similar to PH?
I mean maybe it makes sense to consider raising the price a bit and building an affiliate network to help promote the product. With platforms like PartnerStack or Affistash or similar, you could set it up so partners only get rewarded when they actually bring in a sale. That way, you get more exposure without paying upfront for ads — and affiliates are motivated to help you grow.
Also when you tried Reddit, were you posting in general startup/product subs like r/Entrepreneur, r/SaaS, r/Startups, or more niche fitness-related ones like r/Fitness, r/bodyweightfitness, or r/WorkoutRoutines?
I’ve seen some makers have more success in niche subs without dropping direct links — instead they casually mention their tool among 2–3 others and let people Google it if they’re curious (e.g. “I’ve tried this, this and this”). Mods seem more lenient that way, and you still spark interest.
I tried in /startups and they do not let me post there. And yes, with link. I was young and stupid (2 weeks ago) aaahaha
I am also struggling on Reddit to even create one post and even comments few posts quickly. Their algorithm always thinks it’s bot even I am trying to create simple post for casual conversation. I just created a post on IH and it’s giving 20-30 hits since 2 days. I think IH is far better. I have not used Pinterest. So you are saying we can use Pinterest also to get organic leads ?
Yes! It is! I was excited as well. You create a pin (image), fill title, description and link on your website. For my website i make one image (in style of my website) and for Pinteres another, that looks more to attract people. And thats it. Post continuously and you'll get your trafic. Yes, this is not super quick way. It works like Blog posting. Slowly but growing. I think by next month my blog (as part of website) will get a lot of organic trafic from google.
Thanks for sharing
Really cool to see solo creators sharing this kind of product. Just launched my first book too — lots to learn.
Share your link here. I can look as well.
Rylehalston.gumroad.
com/l/cpsve
Thanks!
I have had a similar experience with Reddit. You hear lots about being a helpful member will allow you to slip your application url into conversation which just on a whole sounds like an ulterior motive; which I don't care for. I would like people to check our my app because it's interesting, not because they got tricked into it. There is also a HEAVY amount of trolling on Reddit.
I'm still struggling to find users, not because I think the product is too niche; but because no one knows it exists. We offer a free service that can give people a reliable and way to connect with intent and blocks pretty much all spam and trolling.
Glad you found some success with Pinterest.
Great content Vladimir , also we should keep in mind the NIche and the sector of the Saas Product has a lot to do with how successful it can be on each platforms.
Every group on Reddit has rules, you should have read them before posting.
yes, i was wrong. But as i am new on the site, why i don't get any warnings?
Because those are the rules. If you run a red light and tell the cop that you didn't know that law, you'll still pay a fine without a warning.
Sorry? You got it wrong bro. Reddit is a very big group of communities. Besides, they're ways to market without being banned by mods. Just make sure you're proposing value, maybe include links in the comments, etc. A lot of the mods follow hard rules, which can be bypassed. But don't you dare think you'll market stuff without reddit
That’s a good point. I agree
I'm struggling to think of a way to "bypass" those rules, I am building a product that would benefit of Reddit post, cause I could reach my target audience. My product is a calendar that automatically calculate your schedule, based on the things you need to do and the things you want to do through your week. I think my target audience would be busy people, like business people, students or people that have difficulties creating a schedule. I would really like to post in some Reddit's related to productivity. Do you have any tips?
Go to any subreddit related to AI, agents, startups, entrepreneurs, etc. Look in the comments, and you'll definitely see marketers. The trick is to follow the subreddit rules on the surface, 'maybe put I'll not promote', then you promote in the comments. Or you can act like a third party and act like you're asking for help or something. Just look well and you'll understand what I'm saying.
Seems a good idea, I will search for examples like the ones you said. Thank you!
from my side i have only option to "buy" post on reddit.