Ran Google Search ads targeting screenshot-API keywords to generate early traffic and test sign-up behavior.

“I started with paid ads to get at least some traffic and see how users will use my product if they sign up or not.”

Concluded paid ads only pay off once a product already has strong positioning and a converting landing page; a fresh, unproven product just burns budget.

“It is better to have a polished (tested) product with good positioning if you are low on budget.”

Introduced the project with a genuine post, not a link-drop, on r/SideProject, the most promotion-tolerant subreddit he could find.

“I quickly wrote a post about my screenshot API”

Framing the post around sharing his journey rather than pitching the product drove strong engagement.

“The results beat my expectations”

Used Indie Hackers as one of several community channels for launch-period marketing, per a third-party interview quoting him directly.

Published a long tutorial on taking screenshots with Puppeteer in January 2022, months before ScreenshotOne launched, to see if there was organic demand.

“I already published the first article on how to take a screenshot with Puppeteer”

Writes a passion-led post on the niche first, waits for Google to index it, then mines Search Console for the keywords it actually ranks for and optimizes toward those.

“I write a post related to my niche with all my passion and without researching any keywords.”

Once organic rankings took hold, traffic kept compounding without further spend.

“Once SEO kicks off, it is impossible to stop.”

Shared the day-to-day journey and lessons on Twitter rather than promoting the product directly.

“On Twitter, I #BuildInPublic and tell everything that happens in my journey.”

Visitors, and eventually the first paying customer, came from that Twitter presence, which surprised him given how niche the product was.

“I was super surprised that it might work”

Directly messaged 4 people running screenshot image-editor products who could plausibly integrate the API.

“I reached out to 4 people who I knew could benefit from my project.”

Recipients agreed the idea was good but none of them followed through with an integration.

“They answered, yes, it is an excellent idea to integrate, but nothing then happened.”

Submitted the product to BetaList and later to AlternativeTo and SideProjectors for a trickle of ongoing referral traffic.

“The results are not that good, but I am happy even for 2 or 3 unique visits per day.”

A third paying customer showed up with no active marketing push that month.

“I did nothing in August to attract the customer.”

Launched without heavy preparation, then spent the day replying to every comment and asking friends for support.

“80+ sign-ups”

Credits the support of friends, competitors, and the community more than the product itself.

“People matter the most. They are your friends, your supporters, and your customers.”