A tiny badge led to dozens of sales and hundreds of new followers

Have maker badges worked (or not) for anyone else reading that's tried it?

Similar, but floating newsletter sign-up buttons/widgets in the corner of pages have worked for me (they don't have to be in-your-face pop-ups!), making a big difference compared to a sign-up form inlined into the middle or end of posts.

The badge did help with discovery. However i think the exposure was most likely due to the shout out in the podcast. Too much credit is being given for the badge.

Maybe I'm a jerk for saying this, but "dozens of sales" and "hundreds of followers" doesn't seem particularly impressive.

it depends on your perspective. It may not be intended to be impressive, but merely representative. It may not be intended to be representative, but merely informative.

From the author's blog:

>>> But I’ve also no interest in participating in the “startup game”. I don’t want to write applications for accelerators and rely on the opinions of gatekeepers.

>>> My goal is not to become a billionaire.

The linked 12-month MBA is a very cool idea! Keep it up Jakob

That seems pretty cool!