Hey Indie Hackers 👋

It’s been 7 months since I started my SaaS SERPtag, and I just crossed \$12k in revenue.

It’s been a wild ride as a solo founder figuring things out on the fly, and I wanted to share what’s worked for me and what totally flopped. Hopefully it helps someone else avoid a few of my mistakes.

For context, SERPtag is a lightweight, fast keyword rank tracker I built because I was tired of bloated, overpriced SEO tools. It helps you quickly track your rankings and discover new keywords you’re showing up for.

What worked:

1. Blogging + SEO early
Coming from an SEO background, I knew content could be a big driver. I started writing blog posts targeting low-competition keywords in my niche and tracked their performance using SERPtag itself. As traffic grew, I doubled down on posts that were ranking and added new ones regularly.

2. Replying on Reddit and other communities
I spent time answering questions and dropping insights in places like Reddit, Indie Hackers, and niche Slack groups. I didn’t hard-sell—just tried to be helpful and shared SERPtag when it made sense. Some of my first paying users came directly from those replies.

3. Fast iteration on user feedback
Every bit of feedback I got (even critical stuff) went straight into updates. Over time I added features like tracking “hidden” keywords you’re ranking for—users loved that. Staying close to early users has been huge for retention.

What didn’t work:

1. Paid ads (Google/Facebook)
I thought ads would be a shortcut to growth, but I burned through a small budget with zero conversions. Turns out paid traffic is expensive for SEO tools unless you’re VC-backed.

2. Chasing big “competitive” keywords
Early on I wasted weeks trying to rank for high-volume SEO terms. Rookie mistake. Once I shifted to long-tail keywords with decent search volume, my traffic started growing steadily.

3. Building too much too soon
At first, I was cramming in features I thought were cool. But some didn’t get used at all. Now I only ship updates users actually request.

The numbers so far:

• \$12k revenue
• 2.8k clicks and 94.9k impressions in the last 28 days (all organic)
• 100% bootstrapped

Next steps:

I’m going to keep focusing on content + SEO and growing through communities. Also exploring collaborations with smaller content creators in the SEO niche.

If you’re building a SaaS, my advice is simple:

• Focus on a pain point you understand
• Start marketing before it feels ready
• Talk to your users constantly

P.S. If you’re tired of slow, clunky SEO tools, check out SERPtag—I use it daily to track rankings and find new opportunities.