2 builders who never spoke to each other

Cover every variant, then point gently at the paid thing

The tool earns its keep by having a page per version of the query rather than one page for the whole idea, so hundreds of near-identical questions each land somewhere. Hand the visitor a finished answer they can copy rather than an explanation they must act on, and promote the paid product quietly instead of gating it. Two days off an existing boilerplate is a realistic build.

The method

1. 01

   Give the free tool one page for each variant of the query so it covers hundreds of search terms rather than one.

2. 02

   Hand the visitor a finished answer they can copy straight out, rather than an explanation they have to act on.

3. 03

   Promote the paid product gently on the free tool instead of gating or hard-selling it.

4. 04

   Build a small free tool in a couple of days off your own boilerplate, ship a landing page with it, submit it to the relevant store and launch it on Product Hunt.

What it returned

• Hundreds of possible time intervals means hundreds of keywords, and the side project publishes a page for every one; it draws 120k organic visits a month.

• The tool returns the exact snippet to paste.

• A timezone checker built in a couple of days reached third place on Product Hunt.

Sources

• Cronitor's Little Side-ProjectHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Cronitor's Little Side-Project · undated
• Going back to a 9-5 job. Why it's the right thing to do.Luca Restagno · solopreneurtofreedom.com · Free tools for marketing · 2024-04-14