Writing9

I Built a $12K/Month Tool to Help English Language Learners

February 16th, 2025

saved!

About
Business

Serhii Baraniuk

Founder, Writing9

$12K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Writing9

writing9.com

from Barcelona

started July 2018

$12,000

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Discover what tools recommends to grow your business!

Discover what books Serhii recommends to grow your business!

Want more updates on Writing9? Check out these stories:

Who are you and what business did you start?

Hey, I’m Serhii, a solo founder from Ukraine, and I built Writing9 to help people improve their IELTS Writing skills. Back when I was learning English, I struggled with writing and wished there was a tool that could give real feedback - so I made one.

Writing9 checks essays, points out mistakes, and gives an estimated IELTS band score. It’s like having a personal tutor, but way faster and more affordable. Thousands of people use it every day to get better at writing, whether for study, work, or moving abroad.

It started as a small project, but now it’s helping learners worldwide. Today, we bring in around $12K/month, and it’s growing. I’m proud of that.

My image

How do you come up with the idea for Writing9?

The idea for Writing9 came from my own experience. I was preparing for the IELTS exam, but I failed to get the required writing score several times. The problem was that I didn’t have clear feedback—I didn’t know exactly what mistakes I was making or how to improve. So, I decided to build a small program that could check my writing.

Using the algorithms I wrote, I was able to pass the exam on my first attempt. After that, I shared the website in a chat, and after three days, the first person bought a yearly subscription. The interesting thing is that this subscription is still active after five years! That was the moment I realized I wanted to develop this project further.

At first, I worked on Writing9 on the side while having a full-time job as a programmer. Later, I involved my English teacher, who helped improve the platform. Since the project was unique, it grew quickly and, at its peak, reached 2 million users per month.

How did you build the initial version of Writing9?

Starting the project didn’t cost me anything—I was already an experienced programmer, so I could build everything myself without hiring developers or spending money on outsourcing.

In the first version of the site, I set the price at $5 per year with a three-day trial. My logic was simple: keep it cheap so anyone could afford it. But after running A/B tests, I realized that this model wasn’t working well. People who needed serious IELTS preparation were willing to pay more, so I switched to $10 per month with no trial. That single change made sales take off and turned Writing9 into a profitable business.

Since I had always been a JavaScript developer, I built Writing9 using what I knew best: React + Node.js. This helped me move fast and keep improving the platform without relying on others.

I created the first version of the site while living in Thailand, and it took me about a month. The design was simple and inspired by other text editor websites.

I loved working on this project because, at first, it was something that helped me personally. I was solving my own problem, and only later did I realize that millions of other people had the same struggle!

My image

How did you launch Writing9 and get initial traction?

To launch the business, I first shared the website link with my friends who were also preparing for the IELTS exam. I also found a few online groups related to the exam and posted about the site there.

Since this was something completely new - at the time, writing correction services didn’t exist - people were really excited about the service. Students started sharing it with each other, and word-of-mouth quickly spread. Every day, more and more people were using Writing9.

I received some great feedback from my friends, which gave me even more motivation to keep improving the project.

The moment I saw the first purchase notification, I felt like I had won the lottery. I will never forget that feeling - it was pure excitement and validation that I had built something valuable.

After seeing the success of this project, I truly understood how important it is to solve real problems for people. When you help people with their struggles, they will happily pay for a solution.

What was the growth strategy for Writing9 and how did you scale?

My business is built entirely on SEO and ranking for high-value keywords in search engines. After seeing success with Writing9, SEO became my number one strategy for all my future projects.

What made this approach so effective was that my long-tail keywords were very specific and unique, making it easy to rank #1. These keywords were questions from the IELTS exam—real topics that students needed help with. When people prepare for IELTS, they often struggle to come up with ideas for their essays. So, they Google the topic, looking for sample answers or inspiration. That’s when they find my website, where they can see examples and improve their writing.

Since there are hundreds of IELTS writing questions, this allowed me to create a lot of pages, each targeting different search queries.

I focused on covering every possible keyword related to IELTS writing - recent topics, essay samples, category-based content, and more. Finding the best keywords took a lot of time and effort, but it was worth it.

This SEO-first approach helped Writing9 grow organically and remains my most valuable growth strategy.

My image

What were the biggest lessons learned from building Writing9?

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that solving a real problem is the key to building a successful business. Writing9 started because I had a personal struggle with IELTS writing. Since many others had the same problem, it naturally attracted users.

Another important takeaway is that SEO is incredibly powerful. I didn’t spend money on ads—I focused on ranking for long-tail keywords, and that’s how Writing9 grew. If you can find an underserved niche and dominate search results, organic traffic will drive your business forward.

I also learned that pricing matters a lot. My initial pricing was too low, but after experimenting with different models, I found a sweet spot that worked. Many founders are afraid to charge more, but if your product solves a real pain point, people will pay for it.

The final lesson: you don’t need a big team to build something great. I started Writing9 alone while working a full-time job, and it still reached millions of users. Consistency, problem-solving, and adaptability are more important than having a huge budget.

Discover Similar Business Ideas Like Writing9

	Idea	Revenue
Teacher Jade's ...	Online academy offering writing courses for youth.	$12K monthly
Alex Albarran &...	"1-on-1 coaching to skyrocket entrepreneurs' marketing and growth."	$541K monthly
EF Specialists	"Online executive function coaching for students with ADHD."	$57.3K monthly
Dropship Unlocked	E-commerce coaching for aspiring dropship entrepreneurs.	$290K monthly
Natasha Zoryk	Business mentorship powerhouse for scaling online brands.	$112K monthly
Taro	"Taro: Career growth insights for software engineers."	$50K monthly
Menking Tutoring	"Elite tutoring and test prep for finance students."	$41.7K monthly