Boring Software in Competitive Niche: $500/Month After 2 Months
Vikash RatheeCreator of IDM URL Shortener $500 monthly recurring revenue Published April 22, 2024 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty 
Vikash Rathee recently posted on Reddit…
Apparently he built his shortener (IDM.in) mainly to test out some tech…
I keep testing new cloud infrastructures to see what’s new!
So the simplest I can think of is a URL shortener with analytics.
Just two months after launch…
it’s now making over $500 MRR via Stripe (subscription) + Google Ads.
That’s surprising, given that there are so many other URL shorteners out there, many of them well established and feature rich.
Vikash says…
Yes, there are 100s [of competitors]. But not very well maintained and run professionally with API, Team access, Reports and Analytics…
[My product has] Reports and API access in all plans. None of the other software provides plain click report access [IP address, device, location, etc.] for each click.
Three things he did to promote IDM 
1. Running one Google Ads campaign for targeting keywords
2. Launched on Product hunt (1 customer, 680 clicks on Launch day),
3. Submitted as Show HN on YC
For #1 Vikash targets keywords like…
URL shortener, Link shortener etc. with exact match and campaign goal as Conversion… [with a budget of] $8 to $10 per day.
That’s about $300/month spent on ads, which obviously cuts into profit.
But Vikash notes that the $500/month is recurring revenue. So his ROI should increase over time, so long as he can keep customers happy and paying their monthly subscriptions 
His advice for others building products…
Just ship something and start talking about it (marketing), someone in need will buy for sure.
Once you find your 1st customer, keep improving.
Here is a quick example to inspire you – Someone just subscribed to $7/m plan from this Reddit AMA as well
Vikash’s success goes to show that you can do well in competitive markets 
So don’t be discouraged if your business idea isn’t all that original.
There may still be plenty of opportunity there if your product or service does things just a little differently.
Another example of this is Tim Bennetto’s Pallyy…
From Locksmith to $74K/Month SaaS in 4 YearsPally is yet another social media post scheduler, but it stands out enough from competitors to provide Tim with a good income 
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