Launched and not a single user for 3 months, here is how I fixed it

Hi there 👋 - I recently stumbled onto IndieHackers, and I thought I would share my journey. I hope it is useful for some!

One year ago I started working on my first ever SaaS application.

It would be an API for developers that allows them to take screenshots of websites: screenshotapi.net

Creating it was quite brutal as I had a full-time job at the time. Most nights I would come home from work, and force myself to find my last bit of energy and work on the website for a couple of hours.

Fast-forward 3 months later and it was done, ready to launch.

I put the website online and waited for the users to come. I remember anxiously checking the website each night hoping that anyone had signed up.

At that point, I would have mailed a post-card with a personal "thank you" message to every user that signed up.

What went wrong

I had zero experience with online marketing. I have a twitter account with 0 followers, no Instagram, and I was very inactive in the online space.

So, launching the website for me meant simply buying the domain and hosting the website. I had some naïve ideas that the internet was a place where you would be found if you just created great stuff.

(Of course, a great website is still necessary. But users viewing your website is also crucial)

My first marketing steps

I started by submitting my website to tons of saas and startup directories such as saashub. To this day this generates almost no traffic, but it did get me a few do-follow backlinks.

My SaaS was targeted at developers, so I needed to find ways to reach them. I figured that anyone typing in "screenshot API" in Google would be a potential customer so I decided to give Google Ads a go.

I took $100 out of my paycheck each month and used it for Google Ads. This was the first time that people were looking at my website!

And a few days later the first paying user signed up! 💰

I remember how euphoric I felt when this happened. It meant I had built something people were willing to pay for!

With the first paying user, I had drilled into a new pool of motivation. I decided to up my marketing skills and work at it with 100% effort.

I found that the thing that worked best in this niche was writing technical "how-to" articles on reputable tech blogs linking back to my API.

Now, a few months later, there are 20 paying users.

Conclusion

I fell into the typical trap of a developer. I thought "if I build a great product the users will come."

After my experience, I would rephrase that into: "If you build a great product and you are a great marketer then you will succeed."

PS: if you want to connect on Twitter send me a message and I'll accept! twitter.com/Dirk1345