Ask HN: How to monetize the one-off service?

3 points

2 years ago

I have built and launched an automated broken links service in January (https://bernard.app). The goal was to scratch my own itch: I do not want any broken links on my website, now or ever. A quixotic fight against digital entropy you can call it.

I had a lot of free and enthusiastic users during the beta that I have been completely unable to convert to paying a monthly fee. I have made a lot of strategic mistakes along the way, sure, but now I find myself with a good piece of tech that I don't know how to sell to people that might actually need it.

The problem is that most people see link checking as a one-off problem. They want to scan their website once, and be done with it. They might later be convinced that they should stay on top of the problem with an automated service, but until then, people come, scan, and move on.

The other issue is that it is clear now that free tiers kill one-off services. There is a limited demo scan accessible from the home page, and a lot of users don't go past this stage. There is a 7-day trial, which takes care of the few that sign up. After the trial is over, basically 0% needs nor wants to pay.

So, how do you monetize the one-off service?

I see two potential avenues:

1. Focus on the "free scan" demo, make it even more limited, and ask people to pay $X to see the full-report. i.e. the WP-Scan approach. Feels slimy, but it's probably the most profitable.

2. Try to expand the scope of the project to entice people to keep paying month after month. Basically "create a problem, then sell the solution". Requires a ton of time and effort with unknown potential.

I originally wanted Bernard to be a one-stop shop for website owners, that takes care of uptime monitoring, broken links, vulnerability scanning, etc. But it's a big ask of me to spend a lot more time on something that might be a financial dead-end.