{"id":426,"date":"2020-08-14T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/?p=426"},"modified":"2021-04-07T13:51:31","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T05:51:31","slug":"from-0-to-0-1-the-journey-of-bootstrapping-a-small-e-commerce-plugin-to-a-scalable-business-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/14\/from-0-to-0-1-the-journey-of-bootstrapping-a-small-e-commerce-plugin-to-a-scalable-business-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"From 0 to 0.1: the Journey of Bootstrapping a Small E-commerce Plugin to a Scalable Business (Part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fierce Competition &amp; Commodization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, it&#8217;s been 3 and a half years after I published <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/2017\/02\/08\/from-0-to-0-1-the-journey-of-bootstrapping-a-small-ecommerce-plugin-to-a-scalable-business-part-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"rank-math-link\">part 2<\/a> of the series. Since I was busy working on different projects, I didn&#8217;t have the time to update the series for a while. Time flies. My app has changed a lot and the Shopify ecosystem is very different from the early days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For my Shopify app, <a aria-label=\"SPO (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/seo-product-optimizer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"rank-math-link\">SEO Product Optimizer (SPO)<\/a> is slowly growing with more than 1,000 merchants joining on board. The first version of SPO was published in Dec 2016. After 4 years of bootstrapping, I don&#8217;t make a big-money but I feel very proud of myself to keep everything going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>During the time, I didn&#8217;t ever stop customer support work for one single day and I had consistently deployed fixes to SPO. Now the app becomes more stable in terms of performance. However, the Shopify apps market is more competitive. As a maker, I am too focused on the making process. Distribution is more important to up the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s make a quick recap!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What I&#8217;ve done: ?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Launched an URL shortener called SocialPort.io<\/strong><br>In 2017, I tried to separate a core social sharing function of SPO into a separate project. It could help users to set up a custom link preview in a minute for any URL. Unfortunately, there were too many spammers abusing the service. <br><br>Though I&#8217;ve enforced more measures like porn detection, whitelist, I couldn&#8217;t stop new spammers trying to game the service. My server was shut down by the service provider <a aria-label=\"Digital Ocean (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/m.do.co\/c\/7cccc6d25a49\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"rank-math-link\">Digital Ocean<\/a> several times. So I had to close down the service.<\/li><li><strong>User Growth<\/strong><br>The user number was slowly growing. But now the organic growth is stagnated. There&#8217;re simply too many <a aria-label=\"SEO apps on the AppStore (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/apps.shopify.com\/browse\/marketing-seo\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"rank-math-link\">SEO apps on the AppStore<\/a>. I need to find a way to reignite the growth engine.<\/li><li><strong>Revenue<\/strong><br>Pass through $1000 MRR and the total revenue passes through $20,000. It&#8217;s not a big money but I believe a small success will lead to more lucks.<\/li><li><strong>Side projects<\/strong><ul><li>Launched the fastest Startup \/ SaaS Product Name Generator called <a aria-label=\"3sName.com (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/3sname.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"rank-math-link\">3sName.com<\/a>. <\/li><li>Launched a SaaS affiliate programs collection site called <a aria-label=\"AffTable.com (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/afftable.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"rank-math-link\">AffTable.com<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Clone app<\/strong><ul><li>Ironically, there is a new SEO app trying to copy my app name by adding a &#8216;s&#8217;. It&#8217;s probably because my previous post is revealing my marketing tactics: <a aria-label=\"SHOPIFY APP MARKETING: THE ULTIMATE PLAYBOOK BY AN INDEPENDENT SHOPIFY PARTNER (UPDATED IN APRIL 2020) (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/07\/shopify-app-marketing-ultimate-cookbook-independent-shopify-partner\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"rank-math-link\">SHOPIFY APP MARKETING: THE ULTIMATE PLAYBOOK BY AN INDEPENDENT SHOPIFY PARTNER (UPDATED IN APRIL 2020)<\/a> <br><br>I don&#8217;t feel happy for sure but I can do nothing except continue improving my service. <\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What I&#8217;ve mastered: ?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Technical: I am good in web development with Django \/ Python, Vue, server setup with Docker<\/li><li>Business: How to deal with Shopify merchants. How to get them onboard. The upcoming trend of the Shopify platform.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is Shopify AppStore still a profitable market for bootstrapping? ?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes and No. In 2020, the competition is at an unprecedented high level. You can find at least 10 apps in any category. For SEO, it&#8217;s even worst. There are more than 50 apps in this single category. Many companies try to commoditize the market by providing free apps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I believe these companies are trying to use their apps as a lead magnet to upsell other services like themes, custom development services, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">My Strategy:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Focus on solving real SEO problems<\/strong> ?<br>While other free SEO apps are providing a basic version, I will focus on solving real SEO problems, which merchants are eager to solve them. Listen and focus.<\/li><li><strong>Make SPO as an Investment<\/strong> ?<br>Under the COVID-19 pandemic, most merchants are trying to lower the cost due to dropped revenue. I definitely feel the pressure from merchants to perform cost-cutting. When the market strains, merchants can only keep the necessity to stay afloat. My app costs $15.99 \/ month, which is very cheap. However, I definitely have to change my marketing preposition to be at the top of the mind. In other words, SEO =&gt; more organic =&gt; more revenue <\/li><li><strong>Share precious resources to my users<\/strong> \u2728<br>How can a paid app win a free app? What&#8217;s better than free? A paid app can share a precious resource to its paid users while free apps can&#8217;t do the same. There are simply too many free users to drastically increase recurring costs.  <\/li><li><strong>Develop a new app with synergy<\/strong> ?<br>While I won&#8217;t spread myself thin to develop many apps, I will consider investing in a new app if it&#8217;s possible to upsell to my existing users. Though I will take the move cautiously. If it&#8217;s possible, I hope I can launch a free app as a lead magnet.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fake reviews ?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Now many apps are filled with hundreds or even thousands of reviews. Newcomers can hardly win the incumbents without a strong market reach. The opportunity left for indie developers is obviously smaller. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some app developers like Booster, Avada, Hextom are trying to dominate a category with reviews. The strategy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Develop some free apps to accumulate a user base<\/li><li>When they find out a high potential category, they will become the predator. Just replicate the functions of the existing players and publish their own version. <\/li><li>Boost the app ranking with incentivized reviews in a short time. It&#8217;s a sure-win formula. Unless Shopify takes action, small players can hardly compete. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, Shopify took the Booster apps off selves as a publishment for malpractices. I hope Shopify will continue its effort to make the AppStore as a level-playing field for large companies and small developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, it&#8217;s getting hard to discover good apps for merchants. All apps are filled with hundreds of 5-star reviews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Shopify upcoming changes in August 2020:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Though the competition is keen, Shopify has improved the app ecosystem. After watching the <a href=\"https:\/\/meetups.shopify.com\/partnertownhall\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Shopify Partner Town Hall (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"rank-math-link\">Shopify Partner Town Hall<\/a>, I will share the highlights here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>You can charge annual billing for your app<\/li><li>The authentication flow has changed to JWT. The processing time is significantly reduced (not tested yet)<\/li><li>There&#8217;re more than 1M Shopify stores. Instead of selling physical goods, more users are using Shopify to sell digital services, subscription services, b2b \/ wholesales which means more opportunities to theme designers or app developers. <\/li><li>There will be more developer tools rolling out to empower Shopify partners like Shopify CLI tool<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Personally, I think Shopify support for Python is quite bad. The whole development system leads toward Node. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What&#8217;s next for me?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I am not sure yet. I&#8217;ve been trying hard to add new features to SPO. SPO is gradually pivoting to an <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">All-in-one SEO app<\/span> instead of focusing on solving a single problem. But the marketing work is not catching up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year, I am trying to research which niches are profitable and doable for me. I don&#8217;t limit myself to Shopify apps only. However, I don&#8217;t find any field suitable for me at the moment of writing. Finding an idea is easy. But it&#8217;s hard to find a profitable idea suitable for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may ask &#8220;<em>What are the profitable fields<\/em>?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> If you have a good understanding of the problem space, then it&#8217;s a good niche for you. A developer can easily copy the functions in your app. But he can hardly copy your domain knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Keep Grinding!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><script>(function() {\n\twindow.mc4wp = window.mc4wp || {\n\t\tlisteners: [],\n\t\tforms: {\n\t\t\ton: function(evt, cb) {\n\t\t\t\twindow.mc4wp.listeners.push(\n\t\t\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\t\tevent   : evt,\n\t\t\t\t\t\tcallback: cb\n\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t);\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t}\n\t}\n})();\n<\/script><!-- Mailchimp for WordPress v4.12.1 - https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/mailchimp-for-wp\/ --><form id=\"mc4wp-form-1\" class=\"mc4wp-form mc4wp-form-187 mc4wp-form-theme mc4wp-form-theme-light\" method=\"post\" data-id=\"187\" data-name=\"SPO Blog Subscription\" ><div class=\"mc4wp-form-fields\"><p>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<\/p>\r\n<h2 class=\"text-center\"><b>Let's Grow Our Business Together!<\/b><\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: normal\">\r\nStay with us to experience how we go through the ups and downs of a startup journey, just like your small business. <br\/><br\/>\r\n\r\nEnter your email address below to get notified whenever I write a new post, you'll receive one email every week or so, and no spam!<br\/><\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>\r\n    <label>First Name<\/label>\r\n    <input type=\"text\" name=\"FNAME\">\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n    <label>Last Name<\/label>\r\n    <input type=\"text\" name=\"LNAME\">\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n\t<label>Email address: <\/label>\r\n\t<input type=\"email\" name=\"EMAIL\" placeholder=\"Your email address\" required \/>\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>\r\n\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Sign up\" \/>\r\n<\/p><\/div><label style=\"display: none !important;\">Leave this field empty if you're human: <input type=\"text\" name=\"_mc4wp_honeypot\" value=\"\" tabindex=\"-1\" autocomplete=\"off\" \/><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_mc4wp_timestamp\" value=\"1776376068\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_mc4wp_form_id\" value=\"187\" \/><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_mc4wp_form_element_id\" value=\"mc4wp-form-1\" \/><div class=\"mc4wp-response\"><\/div><\/form><!-- \/ Mailchimp for WordPress Plugin --><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fierce Competition &amp; Commodization Well, it&#8217;s been 3 and a half years after I published part 2 of the series. Since I was busy working on different projects, I didn&#8217;t have the time to update the series for a while. Time flies. My app has changed a lot and the Shopify ecosystem is very different&hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"toivo-read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/14\/from-0-to-0-1-the-journey-of-bootstrapping-a-small-e-commerce-plugin-to-a-scalable-business-part-3\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">From 0 to 0.1: the Journey of Bootstrapping a Small E-commerce Plugin to a Scalable Business (Part 3)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[19,37,38,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-from-0-to-0-1","8":"tag-bootstrapping","9":"tag-shopify-app","10":"tag-shopify-app-marketing","11":"tag-startup","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.seo-product-optimizer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}