Paying customer in the first week after launch

Launching your business without any marketing budget is hard but possible.
This is how my business - Hop2 URL Shortener - got its first paying customer a few days after launch.

0$ Marketing

You finish your project - now what? If you are an indie hacker without a budget your best chance is Reddit and similar public forums. I posted about Hop2 on subreddits like webdev, marketing, onlinemarketing, and more. This was a great way to gain traffic, feedback, and even some users.

Next, I posted about my URL shortener on capterra, hackernews, saashub, and similar software pages. Some of these did bring traffic and some did not but they all give you free SEO backlinks that are worth it.

Getting the first customer

Suddenly an email came and I was filled with disbelief, confusion, and happiness. My online business landed its first paying customer!

I imagined this situation and expected to be incredibly happy (and I was) but then I realized all of the responsibilities too. Someone paid for your service, it is very real and you have to make sure everything works great.

Is he still there?

The Stripe dashboard was my addiction for a few days. I had to make sure that he is still using the service and does not want a refund. After a while, the enormous stress passed and now I can focus again on improving the service rather than worrying about canceled subscriptions. My first customer is still paying for the service and using it every day to shorten his links and track customers.

Conclusion

Getting your first paying customer is a rollercoaster but it is phenomenal.
When sharing your project do not underestimate free marketing like Reddit, Facebook, and project-sharing sites.

Hopefully, you will hear from me again soon, when I reach my next milestone - 100 paying customers.

PS: If you need a URL shortener that has detailed analytics about link visitors and allows features like QR codes, custom domains, and more try Hop2 URL Shortener.