Visual Website Optimizer: Bootstrapped, Profitable, and over 4,000 users

http://thestartupfoundry.com/2011/02/07/visual-website-optimizer-bootstrapped-profitable-and-over-4000-users/

by g0atbutt • 15 years ago

50 18 15 years ago

Datasta2• 15 years ago

I've used Visual Website Optimizer for a few weeks now, and I'm loving it. It's no wonder they're doing so well. Software is easy-to-use, for coders and non-coders, and it sheds some light on A/B testing. Personally, I think their product may help make A/B testing more main stream.

paraschopra6• 15 years ago

Thanks for your kind words!

g0atbutt2• 15 years ago

I talked with several startups about Visual Website Optimizer and I heard this same sentiment repeatedly. Their app is really great to work with. I will be using it on all projects going forward.

Datasta2• 15 years ago

I can't say I'm surprised. I mainly use it on blogs, and e-commerce stuff and it has been great!

paraschopra6• 15 years ago

I'm (founder of Visual Website Optimizer) on HN. In case any one has any questions, comments, or suggestions please shoot!

(BTW: the number of users figure is closer to 5000 now!)

rumpelstiltskin2• 15 years ago

Congrats on the growth!

Can you elaborate a bit on the numbers? Specifically revenues, margins etc

paraschopra6• 15 years ago

I knew this question was coming :)

I can't tell you exact revenues but I can talk a little about margins. Since we are handling about 900 million page views, our major cost is CDN (Amazon CloudFront) and Hosting (with Linode). Haven't been doing a lot of paid marketing so only expense we have is people and infrastructure. Actually tried various forms of paid marketing but none really worked so far.

nhebb2• 15 years ago

@paras: I was surprised when I saw your ad running on Drudge Report. What does it cost to run an ad on a very high traffic site like that, and more importantly, did it covert well?

paraschopra6• 15 years ago

We are using re-targeting using Adroll (though other providers are also there). If you are on http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/ they drop a cookie and then identify you as you travel on different sites on web. They bid across ad networks to show you the ad of VWO.

It costs approximately $1 per click and is perhaps the best investment you can make. But you have to be careful not to spook your users. Have a cap on how many times a person can see that ad in a day.

It converts OK but is great from branding point of view. People tend to remember VWO because they have been on site before.

il• 15 years ago

Congratulations on your success Paras! It's really inspirational. You entered a competitive niche where most customers don't even know they need your product, took on huge players like Omniture and Google, and gained market share by building a superior product and excellent execution.

I get the sense this is only the beginning of VWO's growth :)

paraschopra6• 15 years ago

Thanks. Yes, every month I sort of worry if we have reached the the inflexion point (after all, A/B testing is B2B and even by standards of B2B not that large). But thankfully number of users and customers keep growing every month. I, now, think that all the top 100k sites from Alexa could be potential customers, so yes this is just the beginning!

citricsquid• 15 years ago

I know of this company because of the great articles they publish about A/B testing, I guess this proves that when you produce good content it can help drive business! Congratulations, keep up the good work :D

aresant• 15 years ago

Loving VWO - worth nothing that they're doing a webinar with Conversion Voodoo and GazeHawk this Thursday ->

http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/landing...

retube• 15 years ago

No diss to VWO, but that article just reads like an advert.

g0atbutt2• 15 years ago

Hi retube,

I tried to just present the facts in my article, and then give my take in the closing paragraph. I truly believe it's a great tool so perhaps that's what you're picking up. If you have any suggestions to improve my writing style I would be happy for you to share your thoughts with me.

All the best, Paul

Visual Website Optimizer: Bootstrapped, Profitable, and over 4,000 users

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