It's been a whirlwind three months since we launched, and I want to give you a behind-the-scenes look at our progress, what we've learned, and where we're headed.
TL;DR: Key Metrics
Total Users: 215
Weekly Active Users (WAU): 26
Total Blog Posts: 778
Total Revenue: $98
Milestone Alert: Our First Paying Customer!
I'm beyond excited to announce that we've received our first revenue from wisp! What makes this even more special is that it came from an Indie Hacker Pass purchase by someone I've never met. This stranger stumbled upon wisp and loved how it fit her vision for her personal blog. It's moments like these that make the indie hacker journey so rewarding!
Reflecting on Our Growth
After reading Paul Graham's "Startup = Growth" post, I've been thinking hard about how to measure our progress. Here's what I've decided:
Primary Metric: Weekly Active Users (WAU)This tells us how many people are regularly using wisp, which is crucial for understanding our product's stickiness.
Secondary Metrics: Revenue, Total Users, Total Blog Posts While revenue is still too early to be our primary focus, it's definitely on our radar. The other metrics help us gauge our funnel's effectiveness.
Growth Target: 4% week-over-week This might seem modest, but it translates to about 17% monthly growth. Given my current circumstances, this feels like an ambitious yet achievable goal.
Experiment Results: What's Working and What's Not
1. YouTube Content
70 visitors in 5 days for my latest playlist on How to launch a Nextjs 14 Blog
60% of traffic comes from WISP, 26% from YouTube recommendations & 13% from YouTube search
Takeaway: YouTube has potential for growth and improving user retention
2. AI Email Outreach Blog Post
Blog post blew up on Hacker News (not in a good way)
2,000+ visitors to the site
Domain authority increased from 23 to 27
Takeaway: Controversial, but had some positive side effects with new backlinks to wisp
3. Targeted Outbound Emails
Facing deliverability issues
High engagement (2+ minutes per session) and click through (>20%) when emails are received
Takeaway: Promising strategy, need to improve deliverability
4. AI-Generated Glossary Page
Created the glossary page 1 month ago
6 clicks, 2000 impressions from Google Search
Takeaway: Low effort, potential for long-term SEO benefits
5. Comparison Page
Created the comparison page using programmatic SEO 3 months ago
63 clicks, 4.5K impressions in the last month
Drives 25% of organic search traffic
Takeaway: Effective for attracting users searching for competitors
6. Personal About Page
15% of all traffic visits my personal about page
Higher time spent compared to blog and pricing pages
Takeaway: Helps build personal connections with users
7. Related Content Feature
Added related content to blog posts on wisp a month ago
Too early to tell, but potential for improved internal linking and SEO
8. Expanded Documentation
Additional section on how to use our blog starter kit was added
Increased user retention and traffic
Helpful for non-native English speakers which are browsing with translation plugins
Takeaway: Complements YouTube content well
9. LinkedIn Posts
165 visits from Linkedin in the last month, mostly via profile click-throughs
Low-intent traffic with short session times
Takeaway: Needs more time to evaluate effectiveness
What worked for wisp?
Session analytics - allow me to find out where customers get stuck and fix them
Intentionally simple & delightful - allows developers and marketers to get started easily and not worry about the tool getting into the way. Helps me onboard user without sales calls, support emails and with simple documentation.
Blog template - huge driver of organic traffic to wisp
Traffic attribution - being able to tag almost all traffic allow me to know which experiments are working while running multiple in parallel
What needs validation?
Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) - how and where to find/reach the customers consistently and at scale?
Content Strategy - what are the strategies to reach the target ICPs?
Social Media - does posting on Twitter/LinkedIn drive growth (measured with key metrics)?
What's Next for wisp?
Improve email outreach and deliverability
Define clearer Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs)
Create targeted content for different ICPs
Start a content series on how startups leverage content for growth
Add in-app video guides for smoother onboarding
Increase consistency in social media posting (3 posts/week on LinkedIn)
Be more intentional on what I share in build-in-public post
I'm incredibly grateful for everyone who's been part of this journey so far. Your support and feedback have been invaluable. As we continue to grow and improve wisp, I'm excited to see where the next few months take us.
Have you tried wisp yet?
What would you like to see next?
Until next time, keep building and growing!
