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AUTHORS’NOTE

We’llusethewordsweorIthroughoutthebook,withoutobviousreferencetowhoiswritingeachsection.We(AustenAllredandVinClancy)areboththeauthors,andwe’dliketokeepitsimple.

ToFeleicia,forstandingwithmenomatterwhat’sonthehorizon.

—Austen

Forallthoseatthestartoftheirjourney.Usethisandfreeyourself.

—Vin

W

INTRODUCTION

e’regoingtoletyouinonalittlesecret:mostmarketingandgrowthhackingbooksareworthless.They’refulloffluffandmarketing-speakandawholelotofuselessadvicethat, ifheeded,will

leaveyoutwistinginthewindindefinitely,wonderingwhatyou’redoingwrong.Itwon’tactuallybeyourfault;itwillbeyourteacher’s.Don’twasteyourtime.Thetruth is thatmarketing isprettyeasyoncesomeonetellsyouwhatyoushouldbedoing.Theonly

problemisthatnoonewantsdothat.There’stoomuchmoneyinsellingbooksabouttheveneerwithoutevergivinguptheactualsecretsauce.Thisbookisnotlikethosebooks,anditwillprobablybeverydifferentfromwhatyou’reusedto.This

isn’t amarketing book. It’s a tutorial. It’s a step-by-step, systematic dismantling and dissection of everychannelandpractice thatactuallyworks.Almosteverythingyou’ll read in thisbook is somethinganyonecandowithalittlebitofeffortandwithoutasignificantmarketingbudget.Whensomeonecomestoyouandsays,“Ihaveanewapp,butIdon’tknowhowtogetusers,”youwillnotonlyhaveadozendifferentstrategiesthatcouldwork,butyou’llalsoknowexactlywhatittakestoimplementeachoneofthem.That’sourgoalwiththisbook:in-the-weeds,ultra-practical,andactionablestepsandprocesses.Afteryoureadthisbookyouwillbeabletosellunitsofandgetuserssignedupforjustaboutanything.

AWORDOFWARNINGWhatyouwillreadinthecomingchapterscanbeusedforgoodorevil.Theconstantdilemmaofmost

marketers isdeterminingatwhatpoint somethingbecomes“spam”ordetracts fromtheuser experience.This is an important conversation to have with yourself and the people you work with. Most goodmarketing tactics changed one degree become spammy and abusive, even when they deliver short-termresults.Wedon’tliketotalkorthinkaboutthatrealitymuch,becauseitmakesallmarketingfeelslimyanddirty.Ourresponsibilityinthisbookwillbeonlytotellyouwhatworks.Butwewillcontinuallyrecommend

doingthingsthatworklong-term,becausewewantyoutobuildequityintheInternet,notchurnandburnthe feelings of thosewhomattermost to your company. You decidewhere you draw the line for yourparticularproduct,andyouareresponsibleforbeingtheprotectorofyourownuserexperience.

GrowthHackingWon’tFixAllYourProblemsWithgreatpowercomesgreatresponsibility.Growthhackingisasteroid.Usedattherighttimeandin

therightway,itcanbeextremelypowerful.However,relyingsolelyongrowthhackingcanbedangerous.Youneedtounderstandthateventhebestgrowthhackingteamintheworldwillnotsaveyouifyouhaveaproductthatpeopledon’tactuallywant.Youmightbesuccessfulinthebeginning,butiftheproductisn’tthere,growthhackswillonlytakeyousofar.Otherwise,you’llscaleupgrowthasaBand-Aidtocoverallofthe“warts”onyourproduct,onlytofindthatthewartsarenowinfected.Yourproductisthebasenumber,andgrowthhackingisthemultiplier.Therearetimeswhenfixingthe

productmattersmore thanall thegrowthhacking in theworld.Andthereare timeswhenyouneed themultiplier.Carefullyconsidereach.Butwhenyou’rereadytogrow,you’llfindthatthisbookincludestacticsandstrategiesyoucandevelop

with,iteratefrom,andimproveuponevenasfuturetechnologiesandsocialmediaplatformschange.Intheprocessofimplementingtheseideas,youwillbecomeatrulysuperbmarketer.

ITWORKSWhatyou’reabouttoreadworks.We’veseenittakecompaniesfromthebrinkofdeathtosuccess,and

we’ve watched it take companies that are doing OK and make them explode.We’ve watched twenty-somethingkidsturnthesemethodsintothousandsofdollarspermonthinaffiliatemarketingrevenue,andwe’vewatchedpeoplewhothoughttheworlddidn’tcareabouttheirproductfindtheirtribe.In this book, you’ll find only themethodswe’ve seenwork firsthand.We’ve done it ourselves,we’ve

watched others do it, andwe have results that show it.We are driven by data and cold-hard facts, notfantasiesordreamsofhypotheticalgrowth.

ItRequiresWorkInourmarketingexperience,ninetypercentoftheworkisfiguringoutwhatwillstick.Wecreatedthis

guidetosaveyoufromtheguesswork.Butthereisstillalevelofworkrequired.Noonecanavoidthat,andif you function under the delusion that goodmarketing is effortless, you’re reading thewrong book. Ittakesalotofhard,sometimesslow,andsometimesmonotonouswork.Butifitbringssuccess,weuseit.Ifitdoesn’t,wedon’twasteour(oryour)time.

PICKACHANNELANDNAILITThisbookwillpresentandbreakdownseveraldifferentchannels,goingthroughthestrategiesthatmake

themwork.Werecommendthatyoupickonechannelfirst,andgetthatchannelworking.Thenaturaltendencyformostpeoplewhowillpickupthisbookistotrytodofivedifferentthingsat

onceandtodothemallhalfway.Thesemethodsdon’tworkwellifthey’redoneonlypartoftheway.Youhave to be all in.Youhave to be thorough.Theremaybe timeswhen things becomemonotonous andboring.Thatgenerallymeansyou’reontherightpath.Don’tgiveuportrytooutsourceorautomatetooearly.Eventhebestmarketersspendanabsurdamountoftimedoingrepetitiveandboringthingstogetwhat they’re doing off the ground. It just comeswith the territory.Do thework, and youwill see theresults.There’ssimplynowayaroundit.

BEFOREYOUSCALEIt’s the tendency of everyonewhowants to growthhack to start at a very large scale.Before they do

anything,theyspinuptwohundredaccountsandfortyproxiesandgetreadytospameveryonefromtheirbarbertoWarrenBuffett.Marketersaretheworstculpritsfordivinginbeforetheyknowifthereareanyalligatorscamouflagedinthedeependofthepool.Theywanttoscale,scale,scalebeforetheyevenknowifwhatthey’rescalingworks.Stop.Slowdown.Doeverythingmanually.Evenif it’sbrutally“make-you-want-to-stick-meat-skewers-

in-your-eyes”boring.Youhavetowatcheveryprocessintenselyinthebeginningtoknowwhatisworkingandwhat isn’t.Youneedtohaveyoureartothegroundtounderstandwhatthefeedbackis.Doasmallexperiment,makeitworkonasmallscale,anditeratequickly.Onceyou’vereallynailedit(andonlythen),starttoscale.Andscalebig.

OnAutomationIfyou’regoingtoautomateaprocess,makesureyouknowexactlywhatneedstobeautomated.Oneof

themostcommonmistakesweseeisthatpeopletrytoautomateor“bot”themarketingprocessfromtheverybeginning,butthetechniquetheychooseis justa littlebitoff.Growthhackingis likewritingcode.Whenitworks,it’spowerful,butevenonewrongthingcancauseyourprogramtonotcompileortocrash.Here’sanothermetaphorforthosewhodon’twritecode:Choosingthewrongtechniqueisalittlebitlike

choosingthewrongdeparturegateattheairport.You’llbethrilledwiththeride,onlytofindyougotonthewrongplaneandendedupinPhoenixwhenyouintendedtogotoPittsburgh.Makesureyourprocessisrunningwellbeforeyoupushittoofar.Inthisbookwedonotrecommendusingbotsorautomationorothermanipulationthatbreakstermsof

service.Thoseabsolutelydoworkanddoeliminatelaborshort-term.Theyevenworkinthelong-termifyourprocessisjustright.However,wecouldn’tingoodconsciencerecommendthem,knowingthatsomepeoplewouldtakeittoofarintotherealmofspam.When considering the long-term work you’re doing, remember that you’re building equity in the

Internet.Everyfolloweryougainandeverye-mailsignupyouearndoesn’tautomaticallygoaway.Ifyoumanagetheserelationshipscorrectly,itwillbeworthit.Andwiththat,we’llmoveontoourfirstchannelandmethod,hopefullycreatingaframeworkthatwill

helpyouthinkaboutallfuturemarketingefforts—eventheonesthataren’tspelledoutinthisbook.

I

[1]

THETHOUGHTPROCESS

maginethisscenario:Afriendhasjustcomeoutwithalineofcustomneckties.Hesewedthembyhandusing fabrics he imported, scavenged from vintage couches, and unburied at the bottom of fabricremnantracks.It’sallveryhipster,andsinceheplanstosellthesetiesforeightydollarsapiece,heneeds

marketingadvice.Wheredoyoustart?Howdoyougainanaudienceofpeoplewhowanttobuyeighty-dollar,hand-sewn

neckties?(Spoileralert:Heopenedhisonlinestoretwoweekslaterandsold$4,000worthoftiesthefirstday,withzeromarketingbudget.Ithasbeenhisfull-timejobeversince.)Theanswermaysurpriseyou:weusedInstagram.We’lltakeyouthroughexactlywhathappenedwithinthatchannel,butbeforewegetthere,let’sexamine

the process of identifying a channel and a strategy. We need to focus on the thought process andmethodologyofknowingwhatnetworkandstrategytouse.

BEATINGTHESYSTEMManypeopleviewgrowthhackingasbeatingsomesortofsystem.Theyfigureouthowtobeatonesystem

orfindsomethingthatworksononechannel,andthen,holdingthathammer,starttolookateverythingasif it’s a nail. You’ve probably noticed this if you’ve ever talked to a search engine optimization (SEO)agency.“You’reahotdogstand?WhatyouneedisSEO!”That’stheworstwaytogoaboutit.Itworkswellenoughtogetresultsbutnotwellenoughtolearnwhat

willgetgreatones.Italsoworkspoorlyenoughthatyourcostofuseracquisitionwillbetoohightojustifypayingforit.Insteadoflistingthenetworksyouknowhowtobeat,breakeverymarketingeffortdownintothesethree

steps:

1. Understandwhoyourcustomeris.

2. Findoutwherepeoplelikeyourcustomertendtocongregate.

3. Figureouthowtomakecontactwiththemwheretheyare.

Eventhoughweendedupselling$4,000ofahighlynichedproductondayonebecauseofInstagram,wedidn’tstartoffknowingwewoulduseInstagram.Thatcameasweexploredthegrowthmindset.

THEGROWTHMINDSETUseracquisitionis,aboveallelse,amindset.Thetacticswillalwaysvaryaccordingtothecircumstancesof

thenetworkoraudienceyou’retargeting,butthethoughtprocess isalwayssimilar.Wewanttotakeyouthroughthatprocessfromthebeginning.Bytheend,you’llbeabletopickitapartandreverseengineerit.Doingsowillmakeitworkonanyothernetworkandwithanyotherproductorservice.(Thisisprobably

themostimportantchapterinthisbook,sopayattention.)

UserAcquisitionAtthehighestlevel,useracquisition(paidorunpaid)consistsoftwosteps:

1. Creatingsomethingdesirableenoughthatsomesubsetofthehumanpopulationwantsit

2. Gettinginfrontofthosepeopleintherightway

PreparationWe approach every user acquisition problem the same way you should break down any complex

problem.The first step is to stop and slow down.Do not go nuts creating accounts, posting, and optimizing.

Instead,grabapieceofpaperandapencilandstartbreakingthingsdownintosmallerpiecesuntilyouhaveaclearroadmap.Asyou’rethinkingthroughthis,donotinhibitorsuppressyourthoughtprocess.You’llwanteveryidea

onpapertosortoutlater,andyourmindistheconveyorbeltbringingthosethingstothetable.Streamofconsciousnessisgreathere;justletthoughtsflowwherevertheymaygo.We’reactuallygoingtotakeyouthroughourthoughtprocessforthecasestudyatthebeginningofthis

chapter,andyou’ll seehowselling$4,000ofcustom-sewnnecktieswasn’ta surprise tous. Itmadesensethatithappenedthatway.

LEARNINGTOTHINKLIKEJOHNNYP.OK,sowehaveabunchofnecktiesthatarealittlebitcrazy.They’renotreallymystyle.Whowantstoweara

necktiethat’sbeenmadeoutoffabricsomeonepulledoffausedcouch?JohnnyP.wouldwear this—that’swho.He’s alwayswearingweird crap like that.Vestsmade from a

waterbuffalohide,clothessomegrandmotherhand-knitinVenezuela,colorcombinationsthatshouldn’tlook good together, but somehow do . . . Johnny is kind of a weirdo. But he also dresses really well.Sometimesit’soverthetop,butthatkidmustputatonoftimeandeffortintothewayhelooks.Probablydropsatonofcashtoo.Yeah,he’stheperfectpersonforsomethinglikethis.WhatisJohnny’sdaylike?Whodoeshehangoutwith?Whatwebsitesdoeshevisit?I know he’s really into the international film scene. He’s kind of a “design-y hipster”—big beard,

cardigan,teardrophatsandall.Andmostofhisfriendsarethesameway.Iassumetheyalllikesimilarstuff.HowwouldIdescribewhatJohnnyisinto?Johnny is really into creating things—things being “authentic” and “real,” almost anticorporate.

Craftsmanship.Artisan.ThosearethewordsIwouldchoosetodescribeJohnny’sinterests.Tohimthingsaren’t justmeanttobeused;objectshaveaheartandsoul.Everythingisart.Indiemusic,TVshowsthatmostpeoplewouldn’tcaretowatch,andsoon.WhenIthink“Johnny,”Ithinkofwoodgrainandthickwool.IthinkofrestoredapartmentsinSoho.

VeryThoreau,yet inaweirdwayvery inner-city.NewYorkorSanFrancisco.Urban-Rustic.He’swhatwouldhappenifyoumixedIntotheWildandGQ.IsAmericanaawordforthat?Ihatethisword,butIguessyoucouldcallhimahipster.Idon’tknowmuchabouthipsters.Johnnymay

beoffendedbythatlabel.Ishouldaskhimaboutit.ButOK,backtoJohnny.WhatdoesJohnnydo?What’shisdailyroutine?Whatwebsitesdoesheuse?

He’snotreallyabigFacebookfan.Well,atleasthetalksabouthowhehatesit.Whoknowshowmuchhereallyusesit.He’salwaysmakingfunofPinteresttoo,whichisinteresting.Youwouldthinkhe’dbethePinterest type.Definitelyan iPhoneguy—almost toa“make funofAndroid”extent.He lovesdesign. Iwonderifhestudieddesignincollegeorifhe’sjustintothatstuff?Didhegotocollege?Oh yeah, I know that Johnny is on Instagram—all. the. time. That’s probably because he’s into

photography. Most of the art and design types are, to some extent. I wonder if that was the originalaudienceofInstagram—reallyartsypeoplewhogotintousingthephotographicfilters?ItwaskindoflikeHipstamatic,Iguess.DidInstagramcomebeforeorafterHipstamatic?Instagram—thatcouldbeinteresting.SoassumingthatJohnnyisonInstagram,heprobablyhasabunchof

friendsthataretoo.Afterall,Johnnyisn’teveryone,it’sjusthistypewe’relookingfor.HowcouldIfindthem?Afteratleastthirtyminutesofthiskindofbrainstorming,wecanstart“digging.”

TheDiggingAllright,let’sfindJohnny’saccount.Whodoeshefollow?Itlookslikehefollowsonlyfriendsandfamily.Oratleast,thesecontactsseemtobefriendsandfamily.

I’mnotsurewhethertheyallareornot;hehasalotoffriendsthatlookandactjustlikehim.ThesecouldbecelebritiesinhisworldforallIknow.I’llcheckifthereareanybigaccountslater.Whatwordsdoesheuseandwhatkindofphotosdoeshepost?HowcanIfindallthesepeople?IcouldjustlookatthepeopleJohnnyfollows.Iknowhefollowsme,butI’mnotthetargetaudience.

Whoelsedoeshefollow?WhoarethebighipsterInstagramaccounts?Not like“HumansofNewYork”hipster;that’stoomainstream.Here’sapictureofa lake.Hashtags#lake.Veryunderstated.Notmuchgoingthere,andnotmuchto

workwith.Here’sonewithhiminit.Ohwow,he’scobblinghisownshoes.Usesthe#artisanhashtag.Let’scheck

thatout.Eh,thislooksmediocreatbest.Thefirstfewphotosaresomeonemakingchainmail,remodelingtheirhouse,andsoon.NotastargetedasIwouldhavethought.BacktoJohnny.Familyphoto.Next.Oh,veryinteresting.He’sgotonasuitfromGoodwillIndustries—whichfitshimreallywell.#Dapper—

that’sveryinteresting.That’sveryGQ.Notasartisan-y,butlet’scheckitout.Wow. These guys are all obsessed with clothes. Weird clothes. This dude made a coat out of hair

extensions.ThatmightbetoocrazyforJohnny,butoddlyenough,itseemstofitourniche.Whoa,howdoesthisphotohavethirteenthousandlikes?Let’scheckthisguyout.Yeah,thisoneisthetype.HeandJohnnywouldhangoutandtalkaboutclothes.Thisisthepersonwe

want.Ifwelookathisposts,thehashtagIseeagainandagainis#dapper.AndtherearemillionsofJohnnysusingthatkeyword.Heretheyare—theperfectmarketofpeoplewewanttoreach.Perhaps it is a littlebit tedious,but if you take it apart and lookatwhere the streamof consciousness

started,you’lldiscoverafewthings.

ALWAYSSTARTWITHTHETARGETMARKETOneofthebiggestmistakesweseepeoplemakeistheystartwithfiguringouthowtheycangetalarge

reach.That’sbadnews.Startbyfiguringoutthetypeofpersonyouwanttoreachandwherethattypeofpersoncongregates.Fromthatpointwecanfigureouthowtotargetandgetourmessageinfrontofthem.You’llfindthatthisisoftentheeasypart.Wehavetoknowwhotheyareandwhattheylike.Sendingane-mailto15millionrandompeoplewillprobablybelesseffectivethanengaginginarealconversationwitha

dozenofthesefolks.Wejustavoidedalotofwastedtime.

1. Getinthemindsetofthepeopleyouwanttoreach.Makingassumptionsandplayingaroundcangetyoualongway,especiallyintheinitialstages.We

candosometestingtofigureoutwherewewentwronglater.Themostenlighteningthingtodoistalkwithsomeonewhofallsinyourtargetmarket.(Ideally,youarethatperson.Butfornowwe’lljuststereotypeandtrynottobetoobroadwhendoingso.)

2. Findwherethepeopleyouwanttoreachcongregate.You’llwantaslargeagroupofyourtargetmarketasyoucanget.You’llalsowantthattargetmarket

tobeasspecificasyoucan.Youcan’talwaysdothatintraditionalways,likecheckingouttheaccountstheyfolloworfindingabigintentionalgroupofthem.One of our favoriteways to track groups is by focusing on a keyword or hashtag that a specific

demographichasunintentionallyadopted.

3. You’llrealizeyoualreadyknowhowtoreachthem.

The interesting thingabout following thisprocess is that indoing so,you incidentally figureoutwhatyour marketing should look like. In this example, the words that stick out are artisan, dapper, andcraftsmanship.Nowwecango intocreationmodewithagreaterunderstandingofhowtobuildaworldthatourtargetaudiencewantstobeapartof.

CREATIONMODEOurendgoalwillbe toget in frontof themarketwe’vediscovered.Butmore important,wehave to

createahomewheretheycanlandoncewefindthem.Lookingbackattheprocess,youfoundthelookandfeelweweregoingfor—wordslikeartisan,dapper,

andcraftsmanship.Oncewehadthatforguidance,actuallycreatingthecontentcamenaturally.Notsurprisingly,thesephotosweresomeofthosethatgotthemostlikesandfollowers.Youcanseethey

allwentforthatartisan,handcraftedfeel.

AndnowweknowthatmanyoftheJohnnysoftheworldcongregateonInstagram—justreadyforustopickthemup.You’lllearnmoreabouthowwemarketedtothis“tribe”inthenextchapter.

N

[2]

INSTAGRAM

owthatwe’veidentifiedJohnnyP.andhisfriends,let’sfigureouthowtogetinfrontofthem.Indoingso,we’llworkourwaythroughsomeofthefundamentalsofthisnetworkandlearnhowtobreakdownachannelasagrowthhacker.

SETUPThisiswherethefunstuffreallystarts.Let’s getback to Johnny,ourhipster-type artisan andhisquirkyneckties.We foundamillionpeople

whowethinkmaywantwhatwe’reoffering,andwecreatedafewgreatphotosthatwillresonatewiththatvery specific audience. We spent a lot of time doing this—taking unique photos, tastefully posed andcrafted.Nothingmakesupforalackofauthenticity.Nowweneedtooptimizethefunneltohelppeoplegettoapointofpurchase.

CONVERSIONBACKWARDOnceyourmarketisidentified,thenextthingyoushoulddoisfindthepointofconversion—thepoint

whereyouknowyou’vewonor“converted”awebsitevisitor.(Itmayseemlikewe’remissinganimportantstep—thetactics—buttrustmefornow.)What is your point of conversion? Is it a sale? Is it a newuser?Maybe you know you’ve converted a

websitevisitorwhenheorshedownloadsafreee-bookorclicksonavideotowatch.Onceyouidentifythepointofconversion,youcanworkbackward.Let’sdothatwithJohnnyP.andourneckties:

FinalStep:Inthiscase,it’sfairlyobvious—theconversionisasale.Someoneputsatieintheirshoppingcartandchecksout.Simpleenough.

OneStepBack:Walkingbackfromthere,wehavetogetsomeonetothepointwherethey’rebrowsingtheselectionofties.

TwoStepsBack:Backupmore,andwe’reatthepointwheretheylearnwhoweare.

That’s a fairly straightforward conversion funnel, and working backward was relatively easy. As ourmarketingfunnelgrowsandbranches,thelevelofcomplexityofourmarketingeffortwillincrease.Therewillbemoresupportingworkthatdoesn’talwayscontributetotheendresult.Butinthebeginning,we’regoingtobelikeamosquito—builttoscoreandnothingelse.Nowthatwe’veidentifiedthepointofconversion,wehavetohelppeopleknowwhoweare,getthemto

thepointwheretheycancheckoutourstuff,andmakeiteasyforthemtobuy.Itdoesn’tgetanysimplerthanthat,butourchosenchannel—Instagram—doesprovideafewchallenges.

CHANNELIDIOSYNCRASIESInstagramisalittletrickybecausenolinksareallowedinthepoststhemselves.Ifyoureallywanttosend

peopletoaspecificlink,it’scommonpracticetoaddthecomment“linkinbio”toaphotoandchangethelinkinyourInstagramprofile.Sowe’llputalinkinthebio.Butlookingatthis,we’restillalittleskepticalthatpeoplewillautomatically

clickthroughandbuy.That’sabigsteptotakeforafirst-timeuser.Wemayhavetowarmsomeoneupandaddalittleurgency.InsteadofgoingforastraightInstagram-to-

storeconversion,let’saddaninterstitialstep.Itnowlookslikethis:

Finalstep:Someonevisitsthewebsite,putsatieintheirshoppingcart,andchecksout.

Onestepback:Theygetane-mailthatthestoreisopenandtheyhaveaone-day,10percentoffcoupon.

Twostepsback:Someoneseesouraccount,looksatsomeofthecoolstuffwehave,andnoticesourlink.Whentheyclickonit,apop-upscreenappears,offering10percentoffwhenthestoreopensiftheydropintheire-mail.

ThreeStepsBack:WeneedtofigureouthowtogetsomeonetocheckoutourInstagramaccount.

FINDINGANONINTRUSIVETOUCHPOINTSo we now have our customer identified, a point of conversion found, and a funnel to conversion

created.Allthat’smissingisourcustomers.Weneedtofindatouchpointwherewecanreachouttonewpeople, make them feel welcome, and smoothly tip them into our conversion funnel. Generally, thesetouchpointsarealreadyavailableonthenetworkyou’vestartedexploring,evenifthey’relessobvious.Solet’sthinkaboutthefunctionalitycontainedwithinthenetworkwe’reusingandreallydissectit.TherearefiveobviouswaysIcangetintouchwithaJohnnyusingInstagram:

1. Taghiminaphoto.

2. Commentononeofhisphotos.

3. Likehisphotos.

4. Sendhimadirectmessage.

5. Followhim.

Itseemsprettysimple,butthisisactuallyenoughofaframeworktoworkfrom.WejusthavetoutilizeasmanyoftheseaswecantoreachalloftheJohnnysoftheworldaseffectivelyaswecan.Let’swalkthroughthemonebyonetoidentifythepromisingones.

TagginginaPhotoThisoneseemsspammytome,andyouhavetobefollowingthepersonfirstinmostcases.Next.

CommentingonPhotosVerypromising.Couldbepulledoffbutwoulddefinitelytakealotoftimeandeffort.Idon’tknowifI

haveenoughtimetowriteathousanduniquecomments,althoughthatwouldwork.Let’skeepthisinourbackpocketandlookforsomethingalittlemoresimple.

LikingPhotosLikingphotos is easy, andnoonehates itwhenothers like their photos. It’s possible the likeswill be

buriedamongstdozensofotherlikes,butIknowthatInoticewhenpeoplelikemyphotos,andI’lloftengochecktheirsoutinreturn.Thisisn’tabadstrategytogetsomeone’sattention.

SendingaDirectMessageSendingadirectmessagewouldwork,butitwouldtakeareallylongtimetopersonalizemessages.We

wantthistobeaquickaction,sincewe’regoingtotakeitthousandsoftimes.

FollowingThemostobvious and easiestway to grab attention is following.You showup independently to your

target audience for a few minutes, and they’ll most likely check you out. If it were me, having morefollowerswouldbeagreatthing,soI’dalmostfeellikeIowedyousomethingforfollowingme.Let’stakethesethingsanddevelopastrategywiththem.

Follow,Like,Like,LikeAtthispoint,you’llwanttopulloutyourphone,logintoyouraccount,andstartplaying.Takehalfa

day—awholeday—itdoesn’treallymatter.Thisisallpartofthelearningprocess.That’sexactlywhatwedidwithourfirstInstagramexperiment.Startplayingwiththechannelanddiscoveritsboundaries.Reachout topeople,makecontact,and find touchpoints.Doso ina sincereandmeaningfulway,even if theprocessisarduousandtimeconsuming.Thedifferencebetweenspamandinitiatingaconversationisthethoughtandeffortyouputintoit.After about a day of experimentation and testing, we found the method that works best for us. It’s

somethingwe call “follow, like, like, like.”Theprocess is simple:Go to themost recent section for thehashtagyouchoosetotarget,andselectthetoppicture.Followthataccount,gotoitsphotos,andlikethemost recent threephotos.This shows theuser thatnotonlydid someonewho is similar to them followthem,butthatpersonalsodugalittlebitandreallylikedwhattheyfound.Here’sthecrazypart:Whenwedidthis,thefollow-backrateapproached25percent.Meaning,forevery

four people we followed, one would follow us back. Why? Because it was authentic engagement. Weactuallycaredaboutthepeoplewewerefollowing,andtheycouldseethatweactuallycaredaboutthem.Theyweren’tbotheredtobecontacted;theywerehonoredandgrateful.Interestingly, fromagrowthperspective,wecouldseeadecentamountoftrafficgoingthroughtothe

prelaunchlandingpagewehadsetup,andwesawthee-mailsfillingupourlist.

GOINGTOWORKWefollowedthisprocessforaweekbeforesettingtheproductlive,andbytheendoftheweekwehad

ten thousand followers. In one week, with one simple process, all accomplished manually—and it’ssomethingeverybody reading this coulddo.Eachphotowepostedwasgettingover threehundred likes,andotherpeoplewerebeingtaggedineachofthephotosbytheirfriends.Thecontentwasgreat,andpeoplereallycaredaboutwhatthecompanywasdoing.Theyjoinedourtribe

andstartedfightingforus.And,perhapsbestofall,itwasalldonelegitimately,without(wehope)annoying

toomanypeople.ItdidgettiringspendingliterallyalldaylikingphotosonInstagram,butitwasallworthitcomelaunch

day.Aswithmost socialmedia platforms, you need to bewise or risk being banned for using spammytechniques,sodon’tstopreadingbeforeyou’vefinishedthischapter,andberesponsibleaboutinvestigatingInstagram’srulesyourselfbeforeyoulaunchyourfirstcampaign.

TargetedFollowingIfyou’re followinga lotofpeople, there’sareallygoodwaytocheck ifyouaretargetingyouractions

well enough: See if you actually enjoy your feed. If following certain accounts completely ruins theInstagramexperience foryouby fillingyour feedupwith thingsyoudon’twant to see,you’reprobablydoingsomethingwrong.Bevery,very selectiveaboutwhomyou follow.Make ita tightnetworkandasdirectly targetedasyou

can.

Fool’sGoldAnotherbigmistakeweseepeoplemakeonsocialnetworksisusingthenumberoffollowersasthemost

importantmetric.There areplentyof accounts thatwill followback justbecause you’re there. If you’relookingtopumpnumbers,youcouldevengothroughthe#followbackhashtagandgetabunchoffollowsfrompeoplewhowon’tcareaboutyouandwillneverseeyourposts.Congratulations?We’renot looking for thosekindsof followers.Wewant togenerate interestandcreateacommunity

aroundourphotos,notgetanegoboostthatwon’thelpusatall.

LAUNCHDAYLaunchdaycame, and, as statedbefore, thecompany soldover$4,000of inventory.Thishadbeena

side-project upuntil that point, but the creatorwas able to quit his job and go full-timedoingwhat heloved.Hehasn’tgoneback since.He’sbeenable tocontrolgrowthat a level thatworks forhim.Asanartisanwhoinsistsonhandcraftedproducts,he’sbeenabletobuildtrafficandrevenueatapacethatallowshimtomaintainhisgoalofproducingqualityproductwithoutforcinghimtoabandonhisownprinciplesofcreatingtrulyhandmadesoftgoods(asopposedtobulk-manufactureditems).Asamarketer,there’snothingmorerewardingthanlettingthemakerssupportthemselvesbydoingwhat

theydobest. Inaddition,wemade theprocesseasyandrepeatable sohecanmanagehisownInstagramaccount rather than paying a consultant to do it for him. That’s another indication that this processgeneratedlegitimateresults.Whatwedidseemsobviousinretrospect,butIoftenwonderhowmanymakersthereareintheworld

thathaveagreatproductandnowaytogettheworldtoseeit.Myguessisthenumberisveryhigh.ThereareothermethodstogrowyourInstagramaccountthatworkinadditiontothe“follow,like,like,

like”methodmentionedabove.Sinceyoualreadyhavetherightfoundationinplace,we’llgothroughthesemethods(andothers)muchmorequickly.

INFLUENCERSPerhapsthefastestwaytogrowanInstagramaccountistousealready-existingnetworksofinfluencersin

yourspace.TherearemarketplaceswhereyoucancontractInstagraminfluencersbythehourorbythedaytoput

outpromotionalposts foryou.Twoof thebiggest examples areShoutcart and Instafluence.Theseworkwellifyouknowhowmuchrevenueyou’regoingtobringinandarealittlefartheralongintheprocess,but theycanbeexpensive, especially in thebeginning. Insteadofusing thesenetworks specifically,we’regoingtoreverseengineerthatmethodandbuildoutourownadhocinfluencernetworktodrivedownthecosts.

RollingOurOwnInfluencerNetworkOneofthewayswe’regoingtobeatthissystemisbyfindingpeoplewithlargeyetuntappedaudiences.Ifyouhave1millionfollowers,you’reprobablyapproachedforshout-outsseveraltimesperday.Ifyou

haveonehundredthousandfollowers,you’reprobablyapproachedseveraltimesaweek(andmoreifyou’reon a shout-out sellingnetwork). If you are approached that often, you canpiece together somemarket-basedpricing and fees (usingwhat people arewilling to pay) for your shout-out service.What the priceshouldbeisexpensive.Wewant to find thepeoplewhodon’tknowyet that it shouldbeexpensive. Inmyexperience, those

accountswithbetweenfiftythousandandonehundredthousandfollowersarevirtuallynever approachedforshout-outs.Becauseofthis,theyhavenopricesetforashout-out,andwecanoftenbuyshout-outsfromthemforcheap.I’veworkedwith peoplewho have paid asmuch as $20,000 for a shout-out from an accountwith 1

millionfollowers.YetI’vepurchaseddozensofshout-outsfromaccountswithfiftythousandfollowersforfivetotendollars.Let’sassume,foramoment,weputinthelegworktofindtwentyaccountswithfiftythousandfollowers

andpaideachofthem$10forashout-out.Wepay$200toreachthesamenumberoffollowersothersarepaying$20,000toreach.A$19,800savingsbyputtinginalittlemoreworkandcreativity—that’sexactlywhatgrowthhackingis.Yournumbersmaybeslightlydifferent,but$10pershout-outservesasagoodstartingpoint.

AudienseInordertodothis,thefirsttoolwe’llusetofindinfluencersisAudiense(formerlyknownasSocialBro).

AudiensehasafreetrialthatwillhelpusfindandtargetInstagramusersbyniche,sortingthembynumberoffollowers.InthiscasewewouldcreateanAudienseaccount,enterourniche(we’llsay“fashion”),andseethatthereare490,492peoplewecantarget(atthetimeofwriting).Nowwewanttofilterthisforinfluentialpeople—thosewithlotsoffollowers—butstillnotsoinfluential

that theyhave ahighprice set for shout-outs.Let’s saywewant to target ten thousand to fifty thousandfollowersforthistest.Oncewedothis,we’llhaveaneatlycuratedlistofpeopletoapproachforshout-outs,andwecansortorfiltertheminanywayweseefit.(Wemay,forexample,choosetotargetonlymales,aswe’resellingnecktiesformen.)It’s time to start wheeling and dealing. This is the manual part where you’ll have to find a way to

approachpeopleandseewhatworks.Don’tbeafraidofit.It’sthelastmileofthemarathon.

AffiliateDealsPerhapsthebest(anddefinitelythecheapest)waytostructurethesetypesofdealsistoshootforsomesort

ofaffiliate structure. Ifmyproductioncostona tie is twentydollars,andI sell it foreightydollars, let’sagreetosplitthesixty-dollarprofitwiththeinfluencers.Thatmeanswemakethirtydollarsforeachsale.Thisismoredifficulttosetupandmanage,butitalignstheincentivesofallpartiesinvolved.Ifyouhaveaninfluencerwhosells five tieswithonepost,youcanbet they’llbedoingeverythingtheycantopromote

yourproductinthefuture.Inalaterchapterwe’llshowyouhowtocreateauniqueuniformresourcelocator(URL)foreachaffiliate

that they can place in their bio. It will look like something like this: http://www.someurl.com/?utm_source=aff&utm_medium=instagram&utm_campaign=usernamehere.Using this kind of aURL,wecan tracke-commerce conversionsby source andmediumandknowhowmany sales come throughouraffiliates.In theAdmin section ofGoogle Analytics, we can also grant read-only access to our account for the

affiliatestosee.Justclick“Admin,”“UserManagement,”and“AddPermissions”forane-mailto“ReadandAnalyze.”

PassingLikesAfairnumberofbiginfluencersmaynotwanttojeopardizetheauthenticityoftheiraccountbyposting

blatantshout-outphotos.Forthose,thereisanotherinterestingsolution.WhenlookingatthenotificationssectionofInstagram,thereistheoptiontoselect“Following”andsee

alltheactivityofalltheaccountsyoufollow.Ifabigaccountdoesn’twanttosellshout-outsandgenerallydoesn’t like anyphotos, youmay be able to convince them tooccasionally like yourphotos for amuchlowerpremiumthanyouwouldhavetopaythemtopostonyourbehalf.InitiallyIwasshockedathowmanypeoplewillnoticethisbylookingattheactionsofthepeoplethey

follow in their notifications. I’ve seen accounts pass asmany as one hundred thousand followers in onemonth.Peopledousethatsection—alot.

RegrammingAnother method of growing your Instagram account is a little more experimental, but it’s free. It’s

knownasregramming.Simplyput,we’regoingtofindpeoplewhopostphotosinournichethatgetalotoflikes,sharetheirphotos(withpermission),andhopetheydrawattentiontoouraccountbecause itshowshowawesometheyare.Wemightreachouttoabigaccountandsaysomethinglike,“Hey,Iloveyourphotos.I’mtryingtostart

ahashtagofsurfingshotscalled#youcanthandthissurftho.CanIregramyourpictomyaccount?I’llgiveyour@handleashout-out.”Almosteveryonewillsayyes.Afterall,you’reofferingtogrowtheirexposurefor free by tapping your audience.The interestingpart is thatmanyof these accountswill regramyourphotosinreturn.What they don’t realize is that by regramming your photo, they’ve also allowed you to inject your

accountintotheirfeed.I’veseenregramsfromoneaccountalonepassoverfifteenthousandfollowers!Italsocarrieswithitthesidebenefitofgettingclosertotheinfluencerswhodrivetrafficandconversionsinahashtag,butforourpurposesthisissecondary.

MAKINGTHEMOSTOFYOURINSTAGRAMPOSTSThere are a lot of blog articles out there about how to create a great Instagram post. Most of it is

commonsense,sowewon’tdelvetoofarintothat.Whatwewilltalkaboutisthestuffthataccompaniesapost—thecommentsandhashtags.What surprisingly fewpeopleunderstand ishowhashtagsreally work.Therearealotofpeople(andImeanalot)whoconstantlygothroughhashtagsastheirwayoffindingnewposts to see and new people to follow. The goal, given that such is the case, is simply to use the righthashtags sowe get in front of those people. In essence, themorewe postwith a hashtag and themorehashtagsweuse,themorewe’llbeseen.Solet’sfindthebestones.

AreallygreatwaytofindpopularhashtagsisusingTagsForLikes.ItmonitorsInstagramandgivesyoualistofthemost-likedhashtagswithinagivencategory(injectingitsownhashtags,whichisalittleannoying,butwhatcanyoudo?).There’sevenaTagsForLikes iPhoneappifyouwanttohavethesehashtagseasilyaccessible.

Whatfewpeoplerealizeisthatyourpostsdon’tshowupbasedonlyonthehashtagsinyouroriginalpost,but theyalso showup for thehashtags inyour comments.Thatmeans that if you reallywanted to, youcould sit there and drop in five different comments full of hashtags and push your photo to the top ofhundredsofhashtags.Thetimestampforyourphoto,however,remainsthesame,soifyoureallywanttobeseenyouhavetodoitquick.Youwillgetthemajorityofthelikesfrompeoplewhodon’talreadyfollowyouinthefirsttentofifteenminutesyoupostaphoto,sooptimizeforthat.

CHEATERPOSTSTherearetwopoststhatworkendlesslyonInstagram,andtheyworkbetterthanyouwouldeverbelieve.

1. “DoubletapifyouX!”(i.e.,“Doubletapifyouneedpizzamorethanarelationshipinyourlife.”)AdoubletaponInstagramshowsyoulikeaphoto.

2. “TagsomeonewhoY!”(i.e.,“Tagsomeonewhoneedsthisintheirlife”or“Tagsomeonewhoisa

greatartist.”)

Itdoesn’tmakemuchsense,butpeoplewilllikeandtagthosepostsallday.Yes,thisworks.

CREATINGANDSCHEDULINGPOSTSIfyou’renotadesigner,youcanuseCanva.comtocreatebeautifulimagesthatareexactlytherightsize

foryoursocialmediachannels.IfyouwanttoreallybeabletostepawayfromInstagram,youcouldcreateone hundred posts inCanva and then use something likeHootsuite or Buffergram to schedule postingthem.Bothsolutionsareprettycheap,andthey’llletuslineuppostslonginadvance.Instagramseemstonotbeahugefanofappsthatallowscheduling,sotheseappsaresometimescutoff

fromtheapplicationprogramminginterface(API).ButI’veneverseenthemputauser’saccountindangersolongasthey’reaboveboard.AppslikeFollowLiker(bots)alsoworkforschedulingbutaremorecomplexand appear to be operating against the ways Instagram would like to see them be used, so we won’trecommendthemhere,eventhoughtheydowork.Nowthatwe’vestrengthenedourInstagramgame,let’smakesurewehavesomewhereforpeopletogo

thatconvertstosalesorleads.

T

[3]

THEPERFECTLANDINGPAGE:STARTINGALIST

alk to anyexcellentmarketer about theirbestperformingchannel, and theywill invariably remindyou of one important thing: the money’s in the list. Generally what they mean is that the mostvaluabletoolinamarketer’stoolkitisthee-maillist.There’sareasonforthat.E-mailisalmostlike

cheating.(Asgrowthhackers,wetendtolikethingsthatfeellikecheating.)

Virtuallyeveryonecheckstheire-mail.

Mostpeoplegettheire-maildeliveredchronologically.

Themarginalcostofsendinge-mailispracticallyzero.

Allyouhavetodoissendamessage.Itseemsincrediblysimplebecauseitis.Sendinge-mailsthatactuallylandininboxeswillgrowincomplexityasthesizeofyourlistgrows,butthankfullythepotentialatthatpointgrowstoo.

E-MAILVERSUSFACEBOOKLet’scompareane-maillisttosomethinglikeFacebook.

FacebookYou might work for years, pushing content and eventually getting up to 1 million likes for your

Facebook page—an admirable achievement. However, every time you post you’re doing battle withFacebook’s algorithm. Facebook will analyze how well your post is doing, and if it seems to be goodenough,itwilldisplayyourmessagetoafractionofthepeoplewholikedyourpage.

E-mailOntheotherhand,whatifyougeneratedalistof1millione-mailopt-ins?Yousendane-mailtoall1

millionofthem.Somemayunsubscribe,butevenifasmallpercentageusessomesortofe-mailbucketing,you’redroppingamessagedirectlyintotheplacetheyworkoutofeveryday.

THEMONEY’SINTHELISTThe secret of the e-mail list is one thatmanyof the bestmarketersmake a living from.You can run

practicallyyourentirecompanyasalossleadersolongasyoucancapitalizeon(andmonetize)youre-maillist.Toshowyouhowvaluablee-mailis,let’swalkyouthroughthecostandrevenuestructureofacompany

thatdoesverywell.Thisisarealcompany,butwe’veleftitnamelesssoastonotshareanyinformationtheownerswouldn’twantshared.CompanyA sells amonthly recurring subscription forwidgets that costs fifty dollars permonth.The

averagelifetimevalueofauserisaroundonehundreddollars.(That’salotofchurn,butwewon’tfocuson

thatrightnow.)TheownerofCompanyAhasateamofaffiliatesthatworkforhimwhowillbringhimmorecustomersforasetcost.Theygetpaidasimpledollaramountperinitialfifty-dollarpurchase.Whatdoyouthinkhiscost-per-acquisitioniswiththeaffiliates?It’sonehundreddollarspernewuser.Thatseemspatentlyinsane.Whypayonehundreddollarstomake

onehundreddollars?Hisaffiliatesarethrilled.Theydriveloadsoftraffictohislandingpages,completelydisregardoffersfrom

hiscompetitors,andCompanyAwinsalotofthemarketasaresult.Whattheaffiliatesdon’trealizeisthatasthey’redrivingasmanysalesastheypossiblycantoCompanyA,

(despitethefactthattheownerisn’tmakinganyprofitfromthesales),heisquietlybuildinganenormouse-maillist.Everybuyer,everyalmost-buyerthatdropsoffaftertheinitiallandingpage(wherethatpotentialbuyerisaskedforane-mailaddress),andeveryinterestedpersonwhorequestsmoreinformationbecomesane-mailaddressonthathugelist.CompanyAmakesmoneyononething:thee-maillist.Hise-maillistinthefirstyeargrewbyoverfive

millionpeople.Nowlet’susesomeindustrystandardsandbreakdownsomemath.(Note:Thesenumbersvarywildlybyindustry.)

E-mailMathInthis industryanaverageopenrate isgenerallyaround30percent.Moreimportanttoourpurposes,

theclickthroughrateshoveraround1percentofthatinitiale-mailburst.About15percentofthosewhoclickthroughfromhise-mailwillendupconverting.Soononee-mailblast, ifhee-mailshisentire list,fiftythousandpeopleclickthrough,seventhousandfivehundredpeoplebuy,andusinghisvalue-per-userof$100,hemakesacool$750,000withzeromarginaluseracquisitioncost.Andhestillhasane-maillistoffivemillionpeoplehecane-mailathiswill.Hecane-mailthemagain

tomorrowifhewantsto.There’sareasontheysaythemoney’sinthelist.

STARTTODAYThedifficultthingisthatmanyofyoumaynothavealist.That’sOK,butyouhavetogetstartedtoday.

Wearegoingtospendafewhoursputtingtogethertheperfectlandingpageandthenspendafewchaptersdrivingtraffictoitinawaythatyoucanstarttoday.Seriously,wewanttoseethosee-mailscominginbytheendoftheday.Buildingane-maillistislikeinvesting.Evenifyoustartwithoutmuch,watchingitgrowandcompound

overtimebecomesincrediblyvaluable.Traditionalmarketerswouldtellyoutoputanexperimenttogether,test,anditerateoverthecourseofa

fewmonths. That’s fantastic advice if you’re Nike and have an $80million marketing budget, lots ofvisitors, and tonsofdata.But chances areyouhavenoneof those things, sowe’re justgoing togetyoustartedwith the type of landingpage thatwe’ve seen convert thebest over time.We call it “theperfectlandingpage.’’

THEPERFECTLANDINGPAGEThislandingpageisbasedonthousandsofexperimentswithalltypesofcompanies.Yourproductmaybe

different—amobileapp,ane-commerceservice,awebdesignagency—itdoesn’treallymatter.Startwithsolidfundamentalsandgofromthere,andyouwillsaveyourselfanincredibleamountoftimeandmoney.Youcancreatethispageinafewhours,evenifyou’reonlymarginallytechsavvy.Youcanbuilditon

yourownifyouwant,butifyou’dratherputupaWordPresssitewiththispageinacoupleofhours,itwillperformjustaswell.

LAYOUTThegenerallayoutforafantasticlandingpageisassimpleasitisgood.We’renotgoingtoshowittoyou

yet,becausewewantyoutogettheelementsdownonpaperfirst.The difficult part is getting out of your ownmind and figuring out what is compelling about your

product.You’reprobablysoinvolvedinyourproductthatyoucandescribeitamilliondifferentways.Youcouldrantforhoursorwriteresearchpapersaboutwhyit’sthebest,butweneedtotakethatandturnitintosomethingthatpeopleunderstandwhentheyknownothingaboutyou.Todothis,we’regoingtousetheremarkablyeffectivetechniqueofexplainingwhatwedotoafive-year-

oldchild.Thefive-year-olddoesn’tcareaboutyourjargonanddoesn’thaveanypreviousunderstandingofconceptsyouhopepeoplealreadyhave.Ifyouwanttogobackandaddinjargonandcommonknowledgelater,youcan.Butfirstbreakitdownintosomethinganychildcouldunderstand.Yourexplanationwillneedtheseelements:

1. AreallystrongheadlineThisisyoursinglesentencethatdescribeswhatyourproductis.Imagineafive-year-oldyou’venever

metwalkinguptoyouonthestreet.Seeingyouusingyourproduct,thechildasks,“Whatisthat?”Letyouranswerinformyourheadline.Ifthisdoesn’tcomenaturally,workonituntilitdoes.

2. AcomplementaryandsupplementalsubheadlineYoujusttoldthechildyouranswer,andtheynowask,“Whatdoesthatmean?”Yourexplanation

shouldn’tbefarfromyoursubheadline.

3. Astatementaboutthemajorbenefityourproductprovides(whatproblemdoyousolve?)Anotherfive-year-oldwalksuptoyouandchallengesthejustificationforyourproduct.“Youdon’t

reallyneedthat.Whywouldsomeoneneedyourproduct?”Gooffonarantandtellthemthemainreasonwhyyourproductbenefitsthem.Takeyourstrongestandbroadestreasonandmakethatyourmainbenefitstatement.

4. BenefitbulletpointsTakethenextseveralthingsyoutoldthestrangerandturnthemintobulletpoints.

5. AconversionbuttonImagine hosting your most excited user on a radio show about your landing page, and the

announcerasks,“Nowwhatareyougoingtodo?!”Theuser screams the response: “Download the e-book!”That’s your call to action.Take out the

fillerwordsandlabelyourbutton,“DownloadE-book.”

6. TestimonialsanddataThisiswhatIliketocallthe“skepticalzone.”Thisareaisforpeoplewhoareintriguedbywhatyou

have to saybut aren’t entirely sure andaren’t ready topull the trigger.Load thisupwithdata andtestimonialsabouthowincredibleyourproductis.Primethemtobereadytoconvert.

7. Thelongconversion

Thisiswhereyouconverttheskeptics.Usethesamebuttonasyoudidabove,butthistimeuseitatthebottom of the page. Arrange your landing page like this, and it will convert 99 percent as well as thelandingpagesI’veseenpeopleputmillionsofdollarsintotesting.

Formobile device users, just stack the elements on top of each other in the same order.Thatwasn’t

difficult,wasit?

THELISTIfthereisaplaceonyourpagewherepeopleentertheirpersonalinformation,theyshouldbeaddedtoan

e-mail list.Whether they’re downloading a free giveaway, signing up for a product, or signing up for ademo,makesuretoaddthemtothelist.Remember—themoney’sinthelist.Thislistgrowsovertime.Eventhesmalleststartupswillbegintorackuptensofthousandsofe-mails.In

thenext chapterswe’ll startdriving some early traffic to thesepages (if youdon’thave any already); getthemrankingonGoogle,Yahoo,andBing;breakopenTwitter,Facebook,Pinterest,andsocialnewssites;figureouthowtogetanincrediblecostperacquisition(CPA)forpaidsearch;andstartane-maildrip.

O

[4]

SEOINONEDAY

fallthechannelswe’llbediscussing,SEOistheonewiththemostmisinformationoutthere.Someof this misinformation is subtle, but some of it is widely spread and believed by so-called SEOconsultantswhoactuallydon’tknowwhatthey’redoing.

SEOisverysimple,andunlessyou’realargecompany,it’sprobablynotworthhiringsomebodyelsetodoitforyou.

HOWGOOGLEWORKSInordertounderstandwhatweneedtodoforourSEO,let’slookbackathowGooglestarted,howit’s

evolvingtoday,andhowtodevelopagroundworkfromwhichwecangetrankedonit.

TheEarlyDaysofGoogleThe idea for PageRank, Google’s early ranking algorithm, stemmed from Einstein. Larry Page and

Sergey Brinwere students at Stanford, and they noticed how often scientific studies referred to famouspapers,suchasthetheoryofrelativity.Thesereferencesactedalmostlikeavote—themoreyourworkwasreferenced, themore important itmust be. If they downloaded every scientific paper and looked at thereferences,theycouldtheoreticallydecidewhichpaperswerethemostimportantandrankthem.Theyrealizedthatbecauseof links,theInternetcouldbeanalyzedandrankedinasimilarway,except

insteadofusingreferences,theycoulduselinks.Sotheysetaboutattemptingto“download”(or“crawl”)theentireInternet,figuringoutwhichsiteswerelinkedtomostoften.Thesiteswiththemostlinkswere—theoretically—thebestsites.Andifyoudidasearchforuniversity,theycouldlookatthepagesthattalkedaboutuniversityandrankthem.

GoogleTodayGoogle works largely the sameway today, althoughwithmuchmore sophistication and nuance. For

example,notalllinkscarrythesameweight.Ahitfromanauthoritativesite(asseenbyhowmanylinksasitehaspointingatit)ismuchmorevaluablethanalinkfromanon-authoritativesite.Alinkfromatop-ten, “dofollow” link is probably worth about ten thousand links from sites that don’t have as muchauthority.Attheendoftheday,thepurposeofGoogleistofindthebest(ormostpopular)webpageforthewordsyoutypeintothesearchbar.AllthismeansisweneedtomakeitcleartoGooglewhatourpageisabout,andthenmakeitclearthat

we’repopular. Ifwedo that,wewin. Inorder todo that,we’ll followa simpleprocess thatworks everysingletimewithlesseffortthanyouprobablythinkisrequired.

GamingtheSystemGoogleisavery smartcompany.Thesophisticationof thealgorithms theywrite is incredible. (Bear in

mind that there are currently cars driving themselves around Silicon Valley powered by Google’salgorithms.)

IfyougettoofarintotheSEOrabbithole,you’llstartstumblinguponspammywaystoattempttospeedupthisprocess(automatedsoftwarelikeRankerX,GSASER,andScrapeBox;linkwheels;PBNs;hackingdomains;instructionstocreatespamorspincontent;etc.).Some of that stuff works short-term, but Google is getting smarter. It shuts down more and more

spammysiteseveryday.Mostofthesesitesdon’tevenlastaweekbeforeeverythingyou’vedonedisappearsandyourworkevaporates.That’snotthewayyoushoulddothings.InsteadofInternet-basedchurnandburn,we’llbefocusingonbuildingequityintheInternet.Soifyou

see somehighlypaidSEOconsultant telling you touse software and spun content to generate links, orwhenyouseesomeblackhatterbeatingthesystem,justknowthat it’snotworthit.We’regoingtobuildauthorityandgettrafficfast,butwe’regoingtodoitinawaythatdoesn’tcrippleyoursiteinthefuture.

ON-PAGESEOThefirststepingettingoursitereadytorankismakingitcleartoGooglewhatoursiteisabout.Fornow

we’regoingtofocusourhomepage(ourlandingpage)onrankingforonekeywordthatisn’tourbrandorcompanyname.Oncewegetthatranking,wecanbranchoutintootherkeywordsandstarttodominatethesearchlandscape.Butfornowwe’llstaylaserfocused.

KeywordResearchThefirstthingweneedtodoistofigureoutwhatourkeywordis.Dependingonhowpopularoursiteis

andhowlongit’sbeenaround,theleveloftrafficanddifficultywe’llgetfromthiseffortmayvary.

TheLongTailThere’saconceptweneedtobecomefamiliarwith,knownasthe“longtail.”Ifweweretographpopularityofkeywords,withpopularitybeingthey-axisandtherankorderbeingthe

x-axis,we’dgetsomethinglikeapowerlawgraph.

Therearesomebighitsthatgetthemajorityofattention,andafterthatthegraphfallssharply.Thelong-tail theory says that as we becomemore diverse as a society, the right end of the graphwill stretch onforever.Think of Amazon. They probably have a few best-selling products, but the majority of their retail

revenuecomesfromawidevarietyofthingsthataren’tboughtnearlyasoftenastheirbest-sellingproducts.Similarly,ifweweretorankthepopularityofthesongsplayedinthelasttenyears,therewouldbeafewhits thatwould garner a highnumber of plays and an enormousnumber of songs that have only a fewplays.Thoselesspopularproductsandsongsarewhatwecallthelongtail.InSEOthismattersbecause,atleastinthebeginning,we’regoingtogoafterlongtailkeywords—very

exact,intention-drivenkeywordswithlowercompetitionthatweknowcanwin.Thengraduallywe’llworkourwaytotheleft.Oursiteisn’tgoingtooutrankultra-competitivekeywordsinthebeginning,butbybeingmorespecific,

wecanstartwinningtargetedtrafficwithmuchlesseffort.Wewillrefertothekeywordswewanttouseas“long-tailkeywords.”

FindingtheLongTailInorder to findourperfect long-tailkeywords,we’lluseacombinationof four tools,allofwhichare

free.Theprocesslookslikethis:

1. UseÜberSuggest,KeywordShitter,andalittlebitofbrainstormingtocomeupwithsomekeywords.

2. ExportthosekeywordstotheGoogleKeywordPlannertoestimatetrafficlevel.

3. SearchforthosekeywordswiththeSEOquakebrowserplug-ininstalledtoanalyzethetruekeyworddifficulty.

Don’tbe intimidated. It’s actually very simple!For this example,we’ll pretend likewewere finding akeywordforthisbook.

Step1:BrainstormingandKeywordGeneratingIn this step we’re simply going to identify a few keywords that seem like they might work. Don’t

concentrate toomuchon culling the list at this point, becausemost badkeywordswill automatically beeliminatedasapartoftheprocess.Sincethisisabookaboutgrowthhacking,we’lllistafewkeywordsthatwouldbeagoodfitforus:

growthhacking

growthmarketing

Internetmarketing

growthhackingguide

growthhackingbook

bookaboutgrowthhacking

whatisgrowthhacking

growthhackinginstructions

That’sagoodenoughlisttostart.Ifyourunoutofideas,goaheadandcheckoutKeywordshitter.com.Ifyoupluginonekeyword,itwillstartspittingoutthousandsofvariations.Trytogetasolidlistoffivetotenkeywordstostartwith.Nowwe’llplugeachkeywordintoÜberSuggest.WhenIpluginthefirstone(“growthhacking”),Iget

246results.Clicking“ViewasText”will letuscopyandpasteallofourkeywords intoatexteditorandcreateanenormouslist.Gothroughthatprocesswitheachkeywordyoucameupwith.

We’ll assume you now have at least five hundred keywords. If you don’t, start with somethingmoregeneric and broad as a keyword. Ideally, you’ll have over fifteen hundred options to work with aftercompletingthisprocess.

Step2:TrafficEstimatingNowthatwehaveaprettygoodlistofkeywords,ournextstepistofigureoutiftheyhaveenoughsearch

volumetobeworthourwhile.You’lllikelynoticethatsomearesofardownthelongtailtheywouldn’tdomuchforus.Forexample,mygrowthhackinglistcameupwith“fiveInternetmarketingtechniques.”Weprobablywon’tgoafterthatone,butinsteadofguessingaboutkeywordeffectiveness,wecanletGoogledotheworkforus.Thiswillbeourweeding-outstep.

GoogleKeywordPlannerThe Google Keyword Planner (https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner) is a tool meant for

advertisers,butitdoesgiveusaroughideaoftrafficlevels.Googledoesn’tmakeanypromiseofaccuracy,sothesenumbersarelikelyonlydirectionallycorrect,butthey’reenoughtogetusontherighttrack.You’llhavetohaveanAdWordsaccounttobeabletousethetool,butyoucancreateoneforfree.Once you’ve logged in, select “GetSearchVolumeData andTrends.”Paste in your enormous list of

keywords, and click “Get SearchVolume.”Once you’ve done this, you’ll see a lot of graphs and data.Unfortunately,theKeywordPlannerinterfaceisabitofanightmaretoworkwithin,soinsteadwe’regoingtoexportourdatatoExcelwiththe“Download”buttonandplaywithitthere.

Nowwe’lldecidewhattrafficwewanttogoafter.Thisvariesbasedonhowmuchauthorityyoursitehas.Solet’strytodeterminehoweasyitwillbeforyoutorank.GotoSEMrush.comandenteryourURL,lookingatthetotalbacklinksinthethirdcolumn.

Asageneralrule,themaximumlevelof“difficulty”or“competition”(Googlesometimesusesthewordssynonymously)you shouldgoafterwillbedeterminedby thenumberof linksyouhave.Thismayvaryaccordingtohowoldyoursiteis,whothelinksarefrom,andsoon.Unfortunately,thekeyworddifficultythatGooglegivesusisbasedonpaidsearchtrafficratherthannaturalsearchtraffic.

NumberofBacklinks MaximumDifficulty

<30 40

<100 40–50

<1000 50–70

1000+ 70+

Goaheadandsortthedatabydifficultyorcompetition,andeliminateallofthestuffthatistoohighforyoursite.(Don’tworry,we’llgetthosekeywordslater.)Fornow,youcansimplydeletethoserows.

ExactMatchOneimportantthingtonoteisthatGooglegivesusthisvolumeasan“exactmatch.”Thismeansthatif

thereisaslightvariationofakeyword,we’llseeitifthewordsaresynonymsbutnotiftheyareusedina

phrase.Sothetrafficwillbeunderestimatedfromwhatyouwouldexpectoverall.Withthatdisclaimer,sortthetrafficvolumehighesttolowest,andfromthisdatapickfivekeywordsthat

seemlikeagoodfit.Herearemine:

growthhackingstrategies

growthhackingtechniques

growthhacking101

growthhackinginstagram

growthhackingtwitter

Theseexamplesareallsimilar,butthatmaynotnecessarilybethecaseforyours.

KeywordTrendsFirst,let’suseGoogleTrendstoviewthekeywordvolumeandtrajectorysimultaneously.Youcanenter

allofthekeywordsatthesametimeandseethemgraphedagainsteachother.Mykeywordslooklikethis:

TheonesI’mmostexcitedaboutare“growthhackingtechniques”and“growthhackingTwitter.”Nowwe’lltakeadeeperlookatwhatthecompetitionislikeforthosetwokeywords.

ManualKeywordDifficultyAnalysisInordertoanalyzehowdifficultitwillbetorankforacertainkeyword,we’regoingtohavetolookat

the keywords manually, one by one. That’s why we started by finding some long-tail keywords andnarrowingthelist.ThisprocessgetsaloteasierifyoudownloadtheSEOquakeplug-in.Onceyou’vedonethat,doaGooglesearchandyou’llnoticeafewchanges.WithSEOquaketurnedon,therelevantSEOdataofeachsiteisdisplayedbeloweachsearchresult.We’regoingtoalterwhatisdisplayed.Intheleft-handsidebar,click“Parameters,”andsetthemtothe

following:

Nowwhenyousearch,you’llseesomethinglikethis:

SEOquakeaddsarankingnumber,andthefollowingatthebottom:

TheGoogleIndex:howmanypagesfromthisbaseURLGooglehasindexed

PageLinks:thenumberofpageslinkingtotheexactdomainthatisrankingaccordingtoSEMrush’sindex(usuallyverylowcomparedtoreality,butsincewe’llbeusingthisnumbertocompare,itwillbesomewhatapplestoapples)

URLLinks:thenumberofpagespointingtoanypageonthebaseURL

Age:whenthepagewasfirstindexedbytheInternetArchive

Traffic:averyroughmonthlytrafficnumberforthebaseURL

Lookingatthesewecantrytodetermineapproximatelywhatweneedtodotoovertakethesitesinthesepositions.You’llnotice that theweightsof the indicators change.Not all links are from thebest sources(directpage linksmattermuchmore thanURL links), but if you experimentwith this tool for awhile,you’llgetaprettygoodideaofwhatitwouldtake.Ifyouhaveabrandnewsite,itwilltakeamonthortwotostartgeneratingthenumberoflinkstogettopageone.Ifyouhaveanoldersitewithmorelinks,itmay

justbeamatterofgettingyouron-pageSEOinplace.Generally,itwillbeamixtureofboth.We’regoingtooptimizeourpageforthisexactkeyword,sowehaveabitofanadvantage.Thatbeing

said,ifyoustarttoseepagesfromsiteslikeWikipedia,youwillknowit’sanuphillbattle.Herearea fewexamples tohelpyou seehowyou should think through these things, startingwith the

keywordgrowthhackingtechniques.

Entrepreneur.comisdefinitelyabigname,andgrowthhackingtechniques is in the titleexplicitly.Thiswillbedifficulttobeat,buttherearenolinksintheSEMrushindexthatpointdirecttothepage.(Bytheway, you might look into writing an article for Entrepreneur.com. If you were to do that, you couldprobablybuildafewlinkstothateasily,evenlinkingtoyoursiteinthearticle.)

Yongfook.com.Neverheardofit.With206totallinksandnotmuchtraffic,Icouldpassthisoneup.Itdoeshavequiteabitofage,andgrowthhackingtacticsinthetitleexplicitly,sothatwouldmakeittoughtobeat,butit’spassable.

All right, soQuickSprout is relativelypopular,hasa lotof links, is agoodage, receivesquiteabitoftraffic,andhasafewlinksdirecttothepage(butnotaton).Butthewordtacticsdoesn’tevenappearhere.Thispageisn’toptimizedforthiskeyword,soIcouldprobablyknockitoutbybeingoptimizedspecificallyforgrowthhackingtactics.Let’sjumpdowntoseehowharditwouldbetogetonthefrontpage.

Seventeentotalpagesindexed?Createdin2014?Nolinksintheindex,eventotherootURL?Thisone’smine.Ishouldbeabletofront-pageeasily.Thislookslikeagoodkeyword.Nowwejusthavetogettheon-pageSEOinplaceandstartbuildingafewlinks.

ON-PAGESEONowthatwehaveourkeywordselected,weneedtomakesureGoogleknowswhatoursiteisabout.This

isassimpleasmakingsuretherightkeywordsareintherightplaces.MostofthishastodowithHTMLtags,whichmakeupthestructureofawebpage.Ifyoudon’tknowHTMLorunderstandhowitworks,justpassthislisttoadeveloper,andtheyshouldbeabletohelpyou.

On-PageSEOChecklistHereisasimplechecklistyoucanfollowtoseeifyourcontentisoptimized.

Yourkeywordisinthe<title>tag,ideallyatthefront(orclosetothefront)ofthetag.

Yourkeywordisclosetothebeginningofthe<title>tag(ideallythefirstwords).

Thetitletagcontainsfewerthantheviewablelimitofsixty-fivecharacters(optionalbutrecommended).

Yourkeywordisinthefirst<h1>tag(andyourpagehasan<h1>tag).

Ifyourpagecontainsadditionalheadertags(<h2>,<h3>,etc.),yourkeywordorsynonymsareinmostofthem.

Anyimagesonthepagehavean<alt>tagthatcontainsyourchosenkeyword.

Yourkeywordisinthemetadescription(andthereisametadescription).

Thereareatleastthreehundredwordsoftextonthepage.

YourkeywordappearsintheURL(ifnotthehomepage).

Yourkeywordappearsinthefirstparagraphofthecopy.

Yourkeyword(orsynonyms—Googlerecognizesthemnow)isusedothertimesthroughoutthepage.

Yourkeyworddensityisbetween.5percentand2.5percent.

Thepagecontains“dofollow”linkstootherpages.(Thisjustmeansyou’renotusing“nofollow”linkstoeveryotherpage.)

Thepagehasoriginalcontentnottakenfromanotherpageandisdissimilarfromotherpageson

yoursite.

Ifyouhaveallofthatinplace,youshouldbeprettywellsetfromanon-pageperspective.You’lllikelybethebest-optimizedpageforyourchosenkeywordunlessyou’reinaverycompetitivespace.Allwehaveleftnowisoff-pageoptimization.

OFF-PAGESEOOff-pageSEOisjustafancywaytosaylinks.(Sometimeswecallthembacklinks,butit’sreallythesame

thing.)Google looksateachlinkonthewebasaweightedvote.Ifyoulinktosomething,you’retellingGoogle,“Thisisworthcheckingout.”Themorelegitimateyouare,themoreweightyourvotecarries.

LinkJuiceSEOshaveaweirdwaytodescribethisvotingprocess.Theycallit“linkjuice.”Ifanauthoritativesite,

we’llsayForbesforexample,linkstoyou,they’repassingyoulinkjuice.Butlinkjuicedoesn’tonlyworksitetosite.Ifyourhomepageisauthoritativeanditlinkstootherpagesonyoursite,itpasseslinkjuiceaswell.Forthisreason,ourlinkstructurebecomesveryimportant.

CheckingLinkJuiceThereareanumberoftoolsthatcheckhowmanylinksarepointingtoasiteandwhatauthoritythose

pageshave.Unfortunately,noneof themareperfect.Theonlyway toknowwhat links arepointing toyoursiteistohavecrawledthosepages.Googlecrawlspopularpagesseveraltimesperday,butitdoesn’twantyoumanipulatingit,soitupdates

itsindexprettyslowly.Thatsaid,youcancheckatleastasampleofGoogle’sindexintheGoogleSearchConsole(formerlyknownasWebmasterTools).Onceyounavigatetoyoursite,ontheleft-handsideselect“SearchTraffic”andthen“LinkstoYourSite.”There’sadebateragingoverwhetherthisactuallyshowsyouall the links Google knows about (I’m 99 percent convinced it’s only a sample), but it’s at least arepresentativesample.Toseeallofyourlinks,clickon“More”under“WhoLinkstoYoutheMost,”andthen“DownloadThis

Table.”This, again, seems todownloadonly a sampleofwhatGoogleknows about.Youcan also select“DownloadLatestLinks,”whichprovidesmorerecentlinksthantheotheroption.Unfortunately,thisdoesn’tletusseemuchofthevalueofthelinks,nordoesitshowuslinksthathave

droppedorwherethoselinksarefrom.Toseethis,thereisawidevarietyoftoolswecanuse.Ifyouhaveabudget,we’d suggestAhrefs.com, as they have the biggest index, followedbyMoz’sOpenSiteExplorer(youcangetmostofthedatawithafreeaccount;ifnot,thenit’sslightlycheaperthanAhrefs),andfinallySEMrush,whichisfreeformostofourpurposes.Majesticusesacombinationof“trustflow”and“citationflow,”whichalsoworksfairlywelltogiveyouanideaastotheoverallhealthandnumberoflinkspointingtoyoursite.Alloftheseuseinternalmetricstodeterminetheauthorityofalink,butusingthemtocompareapplesto

applescanalsobebeneficial.

LinkStructureHTML links look something like this: <a href=“http://www.somesite.com” title=“keyword”>Anchor

text</a>,wherehttp://www.somesite.comistheplacethelinkdirectsyouto,thetitleislargelyaremnantoftimegoneby,andthelinkedtext(thinkthebluewordsyouclick)iscalledtheanchortext.

Inadditiontotheamountof linkjuiceapagehas, therelevanceoftheanchortextmatters.Generallyspeaking, youwant touse yourkeyword as the anchor text for your internal linkingwheneverpossible.External linking (fromother sites) shouldn’tbeheavilyoptimized foranchor text. If90percentofyourlinksallhavethesameanchortext,Googlecanthrowaredflagandassumethatyou’redoingsomethingfishy.Ifyou’reevercreatinglinks(likewe’llshowyouinlaterchapters),youshouldusesomethinggeneric,like

thesitenameorthefullURL.

InternalStructureGenerallyspeaking,youdon’twantorphanpages(thosethataren’tlinkedtobyotherpages),nordoyou

wantanoverlymessylinkstructure.Somesaytheideallinkstructureforasiteissomethinglikethis:

That’s close, but it gets a few thingswrong.First, you’ll almostneverhave a structure thatorganized.Second,inanidealworld,everypagewouldlinktoeveryotherpageonitssamelevel.Thiscaneasilybedonewithafooterthatfeelslikeasitemapor“recommended”pages.Thatallowsyoutospecifyanchortextandpasslinkjuicefreelyfrompagetopage.Unfortunately, it’s impossible to draw such a webwithout it becoming amess, so you’ll just have to

imaginewhatthatactuallylookslike.Wehavejustonemorethingtogooverbeforewestartgettingthosefirstlinkspointingtooursite.

Robots.txt,Disavow,“Nofollow,”andOtherMinutiaeMostofSEOismanagingstuffthatcangowrong.Thereisalotofthat,butwe’llcover99percentof

needs,andyoucanuseaGooglesearchifthere’ssomethingreallycrazywedon’tgoover.

Robots.txt

Almosteverysitehasapageaturl.com/robots.txt.EvenGooglehasone.Thisisjustaplaintextfilethatlets you tell search engine crawlers what to crawl and what to not crawl. Most are pretty good aboutlistening,excepttheBingbot,whichprettymuchdoeswhateveritwants,nomatterwhatyoutell it.(I’mmostlykidding.)Ifyoudon’twantGoogletocrawlapage(maybeit’salog-inpageyoudon’twantindexedoralanding

page)youcanjustdisallowitinyourrobots.txtbysaying“disallow:/somepage.”Ifyoudon’taddatrailing/toit(e.g.,“disallow:/somepage/”),itwillalsodisallowallchildpages.Technicallyyoucanspecifydifferentrulesfordifferentbots(oruseragents),butit’seasiesttostartyour

filewith“User-agent:*”ifyoudon’thaveaneedforseparatecrawlingrules.

DisavowGooglewillpenalizespammysites,andunfortunatelythiscausessomebadbehaviorfrombadactors.Say,

forexample,youwantedtotakeoutacompetitor.Youcouldsendabunchofobviouslyspammylinkstotheir site andget thempenalized.This is callednegativeSEO, and is something thathappensoftenwithhighly contestedkeywords.Googlegenerally tries topretend like itdoesn’thappen. In the case that thisdoes happen to you, however, you can disavow links in the SearchConsole,which says, “Hey,Google,don’tcountthisone.”Ihopeyou’llneverhavetouseit,butifyouhire(orhavehired)abadSEOcompanyorarebeingattackedbyacompetitor,thatishowyoucombatit.

“Nofollow”Ifyouwanttolinktosomebodybutyoudon’twantittocountasavote(youdon’twanttopasslink

juice),oryousupportuser-generatedcontentandwanttodeterspammers,youcanusea“nofollow”link.Googlesaysitdiscountsthevalueofthoselinks.I’mnotconvincedtheydiscountthemheavily,especiallyaftertheRankBrainrollout,butotherSEOsareconvincedtheycountfornothing,sotheyseemtodeterspammersifnothingelse.A link can be given the property “nofollow” like this: <a href=“http://www.somesite.com”

title=“keyword”rel=“nofollow”>Anchortext</a>.

RedirectsIf you’re going to change a URL but you don’t want its link juice to disappear, you can use a 301

Redirect.A301willpassamajorityofthelinkjuice.

CanonicalURLsWith two pages that are virtually the same, you can add something like <link rel=“canonical”

href=“https://www.someurl.com/somepage”>tosay,“Hey,treatthispageasifitwerethatpageinstead,butIdon’twantto301it.”Andwiththat,we’rereadytobuildourfirstlinks.

LinkBuildingLinkbuildingiswhereSEOreallystartstomatterandwherealotofpeopleendupinaworldofhurt.

Thebestwaytobuildlinksistonotbuildlinks.I’veworkedforcompaniesinthepastthatdon’thavetoaskforlinks;thelinksjustflowinfrompress,customerblogs,theirawesomeblogposts,andsoon.Ifthisisanoption(andwe’llgooveracoupleofwaystomakeitmorelikely),you’reinagreatplace.Ifnot,oratleastnotinthebeginning,we’regoingtomanuallycreateafew.We’regoingtocreatethem

in legitimate ways and not hire someone overseas for fifty cents an hour to do so. That is a recipe fordisaster,andIcan’tevencountthenumberoftimesI’veseenthattakedownasite.

Web2.0sTheeasiestwaytobuildhigh-qualitylinksarewhatSEOscallWeb2.0s.That’sjustawaytosay“social

sites,”or sites that letyoupost stuff.Tweetinga link into theabysswon’tdoyouanything,butprofiles,statuspages,etc.,docarrysomeweight.Andiftheycomefromapopulardomain,thatcountsasalink.Someoftheeasiesttousearethesesites:

Twitter(inyourbio)

GitHub(thereadmeofacoderepository)

YouTube(thedescriptionofavideo—ithastoactuallygetviews)

WordPress(yes,you’llhavetoactuallycreateablog)

Blogger(samehere)

Tumblr

Upvote-basedsites(HackerNews,GrowthHackers,Inbound.org,etc.)

Andhereareafewthatyoucaneasilygetafterthat(ingettingtheselinksalone,you’llbeaheadofabouthalfofthesitesonline):

http://facebook.com

http://twitter.com

http://amazon.com(productpages)

http://moonfruit.com

http://about.me

http://www.rebelmouse.com

http://soup.io

http://buzzfeed.com

http://sportsblog.com

http://digitaljournal.com

http://imgur.com

http://tripod.com

http://sites.google.com

http://pearltrees.com

http://answers.yahoo.com

http://wix.com

http://www.purevolume.com

http://www.savorthesuccess.com

http://tribalpages.com

http://topix.com

http://gravatar.com

http://www.dailymotion.com

http://bleacherreport.com

Ifnothingelse,youcanstartthereandgetafewlinks.TherearealwaysbiglistsofWeb2.0syoucanfindonline,butkeepinmindifyou’regoingtobuildsomethingoutonabloggingplatform,you’regoingtohavetoreallybuildsomethingout.That’salotofcontentandtime,butyouhavetodoittherightway.WegenerallykeepalistofWeb2.0sinthisfile.Somemaybeoutofdate,butyoushouldprobablyonly

buildahalfdozentoadozenWeb2.0sanyway.

LinkIntersectionAnotherwaytofindplacesyoucanbuildlinksisbyusingalinkintersectiontool.Thesefindsitesthat

link to Competitor A and Competitor B but not to you. Theoretically, if they link to both of yourcompetitors, they should be willing to link to you. Moz, Ahrefs, LunaMetrics and others have linkintersectiontoolsthatworkquitewell.Now that we have a few basic links flowing, we’re going to work on some strategies that will send

continuallinksandpress,eventuallygettingtoapointwherewedon’thavetobuildanymorelinks.

A

[5]

YOURFIRSTDRIPOFTRAFFIC:BECOMINGANAUTHORITYSITE

wesome—youhaveasitethatconvertswellandyourSEOisinplace,readyforyoutodrivetraffic.Now what? As you’ve probably learned by this point, a site that converts well but has no trafficflowingtoitstillconvertszerotraffic.We’regoingtofixthat.

This section takes a lot of time and effort, and in the beginning you’ll likelywonder if you’re doinganythingatall.Remembertheclassincollegethatwassodifficultmostpeoplegaveup,whicheffectivelyweeded out anyone whowasn’t ready tomajor in that subject?Well this is the weeding-out chapter ofgrowthhacking.

TAKEALONG-TERMVIEWThereasonsomanypeoplestumbleonthisstepisthesamereasonpeoplestumbleonsomanystepsthat

takeanyeffortovertime,suchaslosingweight,investingina401(k),andsoon.Inthebeginningyou’regoing to have a little seedling of traffic, and you’ll be looking up to those who have giant oak trees,thinking,Imustbedoingsomethingwrong.You’renotdoinganythingwrong.Thetrafficstartsasatricklebeforeitbecomesaflood.Butdon’tworryifyou’reastartup.Ourgoalistogetenoughtrafficthatcontinuingtodothiswillbe

sustainable(meaningwewon’tdiebeforewestarttoseetherewards),butatthesametimewe’rebuildingequity intheInternet.Thetypeoftrafficwewanttobuild is thetypethatwillcompoundandnevergoaway.Wewanttocreatetraffictodaythatwillstillgiveusalittletrickleoftrafficinfiveyears.Combininghundreds(orthousands)oflittletrickleswithasitethatconvertsandagreatproduct,wewillcreateagiantriver.Otherchapterswillgointodepthonthenetworksweneedtodrivetrafficfrom,sointhischapterwe’re

goingtofocusontrafficthat’snetwork-agnostic—trafficthatwecan’tgetbytappinganyspecificnetwork.Just togiveyousome ideaof scale, I’ve seenthisprocessdriveover fivehundredthousandvisitsperday,thoughthebuilduptothat level tookalmosta fullyear.Whatcouldyoudowith fivehundredthousandvisitsperday?

MONITORINGALERTSTostartwe’regoingtousethekeywordswefoundbackinthe“SEOinOneDay”chapterand inject

ourselves (and our company) into the conversationwherever it’s taking place.We can do this by usingsoftwarecalledBuzzBundle.

BuzzBundleThissoftwareletsusdoafewthings:

1. Constantlymonitorallmentionsofaspecifictopic,competitor,orkeywordacrossmultiplelocationsontheInternet(Facebookgroups,Quoraquestions,blogposts,etc.)wherecommentsareavailable.

2. Allowustoleaveaconstructivecommentthatreferencesourproductorcompany.

Disclaimer:thisisnottheSEOcommentspamyou’veseenbefore.Thissteptakesthought,effort,andareal human who understands what they’re typing. I don’t often say this, but you cannot effectivelyautomate this stepwithout it becoming spammy. If you’re trying to replicate the automated SEO spamyou’veseenonvariousblogsandsites,itwillprobablyworkbutyou’llgetbanned,andyourclickthroughratewillbeafractionofwhatitcouldbe.

ProductiveCommentingWe’renotgoingtofireupsomeawfulsoftwaretodropspunmentionsofgarbageontovariouscomment

sectionsonline,hopingthatbringsusSEOtraffic.Ourcommentsmustdotwothings:

1. Becontextual.Wearegoingtotalkonlyaboutthetopicpresentedinanarticleortweetandmentionourcompanyonlywhenitnaturallyfitsin.

2. Contributetotheconversation.Ishouldlearnsomethingorhavevalueaddedtomylifebyreadingyourcomment.

Ifyoudothese twothings,a fewchangeswill takeplace:First,you’llnotice thatpeopleclickonyourlinksbecause you’re a thoughtful personwho likes to contribute. Second,peoplewill respect your companybecauseyou’reathoughtfulpersonwholikestocontribute.Andwiththatdisclaimer,we’llmoveontothenitty-grittyofhowthisisdone.Let’sfireupBuzzBundle

andgettowork.

ACCOUNTSANDPERSONASThefirstthingyou’llwanttodoinBuzzBundleisgoto“Accounts”andthen“AddNewAccounts.”This

isthestartingpointforeverythingwe’lldobecauseweneedaccountstocomment.Onethingyou’llnoticeaboutBuzzBundleisthatitletsyouusemultipleaccounts.Ifinditbeneficialto

think frommultiple perspectives and thereforemultiple points of view, but I don’t want to go too faroverboardandbespammy.I’drecommenddoingsomethingsimple.Createtwotothreepersonas,eachofwhomyouidentifywith(orareyou),andenterthemintoyourBuzzBundleaccounts.Personally,Idon’tevenchangemyname.Ijustuseadifferentone(AustenJ.AllredversusAustenAllred)

oruseafewphotosjustsoitisn’tliterallythesamenameandsamephotoblanketingtheInternet.

DisqusDisqusisacommentsystemusedallovertheplace,anditcarriessomecaveats.Disquswillbanyouifyou

usethesamelinkineverypost,sotherearetwowork-arounds:

1. Usealotofdifferentaccounts,rotatingIPsorusingaproxyeverytwodaysorso.

2. UseyoursiteURLasyourdisplayname.

Bothofthesework,butthesecondoneismucheasier,inmyview.

UTMParametersUsinglinkswithourUrchinTrackingMonitor(UTM)parametersherewillbeverybeneficial.We’llbe

abletotracktrafficbacktoeachindividualblogorsite,andifnecessary,doubledownontheonesthataredrivingtraffic.

LinkShortenersIfyoueverstarttorunintoproblemswithgettingyourlinkposted,itmaybeusefultouseafewlink

shortenersorsome301redirects.Tokeepitsimpleyoucanusealinkshortenerthat301s,suchasBitly.Orifyouwanttospendalittlemoretime,youcansetupyourownsiteand301thetrafficfromacertainpagetoyourmoneysite.

USINGBUZZBUNDLELet’sgetstartedwithBuzzBundle.First,it’sgoingtoaskyouforakeyword.WealreadyhaveakeywordfromtheSEOsection,butwemay

wanttousesomethingevenmoregeneric.ForthisoneI’mgoingtogowithgrowthhacking.Simplyhit“Go,”andletBuzzBundlegetstarted.Itwill load different content types into different columns, but generallywe are going to be scrolling

throughuntilwefindsomethingthatlookscompellingandthatwecanactuallycontributeto.ThefirstthingIclickedonwasthis:

It’sareviewofanotherbookaboutgrowthhacking.AllIhadtodowascomment,tagtheauthor,askhimifhewouldbewillingtoreviewourbook,andoffertosendhimoneforfree.

Myassumptionisthispersonwillfindtheconversationtobecompletelyauthentic,becauseitis.Thefactthat there’snowa linkonhisvideo thatpeoplewhoare searching for somethingelsewill find is just anaddedbonus. (As an aside, Imuchprefer to open a link inmynormal browser if I’m just going to be

commentingasmyself.)The next one I found was a roundup of great growth hacking blog posts from the week. I left the

followingcomment:

NotehowIfollowedhimonTwittersoit’sobviouslypersonalandnotanautomatedspamcomment.Ievenwentalittlebitoverboardandtweetedathim,justforkicks.

Thatishowyougetpeopleonyourteam.Asyougetfurtheralongandhaveanideaofhowtogetagoodresponse,I’drecommendstartingtosort

byreach,rampingupthenumberofkeywordsyou’researchingfor,andpossiblyeven—gasp—upgradingtothepaidversionofBuzzBundle.Onceyouhavethatballrolling,let’smoveontoTwitterandgettingpress.

T

[6]

GETTINGPRESS

here’snothing a startup (or any company)needsquite asmuchaspress.Wecanpretend likepressdoesn’t matter after we have it, but until then, it brings in traffic, users, social validation, andlegitimacy.Thosearethingsthatarehardtogetenoughof.

It’s taken me years of trial and error, the help of a lot of really smart marketers, and tons of timetweakinglanguageandstrategytofigureoutarepeatableprocessthatworksacrosstheboard.Usingthesemethods, I’ve been successful gettingmy company and others publishedwith some of the heavy-hittingcontentsites.Thesehaveincluded

Timemagazine

BBC

TheGuardian

TechCrunch

PandoDaily

Slate

Gizmodo

Andhundredsofsmallerblogsandwebsites

Thisprocess,iffollowedthewayIspellitoutbelow,shouldworkwellforyou.Withgreatcontentoracompellingstory,you’llhavethepotentialtogetpublishedinmajorpublications.

OVERVIEWOnthesurface,theprocessofgettingpressseemsreasonablysimple.Allyouneedtodoisfindareporter

orbloggerwhomightliketowriteaboutyou,ande-mailthemyourpitch.Butdoingthatwellandmakingitscalecanbecomeverycomplexveryquickly.We’lltakeyouthroughstepbystep,andbytheendofthisguide,itshouldtakeyoulessthanadaytoe-

mailup toa thousandrelevantpresscontactswithall the right information tomake themwant towriteaboutyou.Evenmarginally interestingcompaniesandproducts shouldgetahalfdozenmentions in thepresswhendoingso.We’llcoverthefollowing:

1. Managingoverallstrategyandapproach

2. Findingthepublicationsthatwouldlikelywriteaboutyou(andprogrammaticallybreakthemdownintomanageablelists)

3. Findinganangletopitch

4. Creatingapresskit

5. Writingtheperfect,personalizede-mail(atscale)

6. Sendinglargeamountsofe-mail,prepopulatingfields,andallowingforpersonalization

Now,let’sgogetyousomepress!

STRATEGYANDAPPROACHCustomerProfilingWheneverIbeginamarketingeffort,IliketoreallytryandgetintothemindofthepersonI’mselling

to,regardlessofwhatitisImaybeselling.Inthiscase,we’resellingtothereporter,andwhatwe’resellingisthatwe’relegitimateandinterestingenoughthattheiraudiencewillwanttohearaboutus.There’salsoapeckingorderamongreporters.Thehigh-profilebloggersandreporterscanspendmostof

their timecovering their favoritecompaniesandonanalysis,while someof the lower-profileoryoungerreportershavealargequotatheyhavetomeetandcanbarelyrephrasepressreleasesbeforetheythrowthemontheirblog.Ittakesauniquestrategytoreachthedifferentlevelsonthetotempole.Thoughtheremaybesomeexceptionsduetoreporters’petinterests,itrarelymakessensetopitchtothehighesttierfirstwhenwe’re looking for press coverage.They’re big enough that ifwhat you’re doing isn’t shaking up SiliconValley,theyprobablydon’tcare.Ourstrategywillactuallybequitethereverse.Oneofthefirstthingsreportersdowhenyourpitchlandsintheirinboxisseewhatotherreportersare

sayingaboutyou(orifanyonehaswrittenaboutyouatall).Naturally,reportersliketoseesomelevelofsocialproofbeforetheymakeamove.Ifotherpeoplearewritingaboutyou, it signals thatyou’reworthwritingabout.We’regoingtousethattoouradvantage.(Thisdoesn’tapplyifyouknowpeoplewillwriteaboutyouandyou’regivinganexclusive.Ifyou’realreadythattypeofcompany,youprobablywon’tbereadingthisanyway!)

ThePressPyramidTo solve the “What do people find if they google you?” problem, we will build a pyramid of press

mentionsstartingwithblogsandsitesthataresmallandhungryforcontent,andthenwe’llworkourwayuptotheeight-hundred-poundgorillas.

Sowewant to startat thebottomrung: thehobbyistwithadecent following, the small techblog justgettingstarted,thesmallcompaniesdoingwhattheycantopaythebillswithalittletrafficandsomewell-placedGoogleAdSenseads,etc.Butmostofthemareblogsyoudon’treadoftenandmaynothaveevenheardof,sohowdowefindthem?(Thisiswhereitgetsfun.)

LISTBUILDINGThe first thingweneed todobeforewe can sort thewebsites into their separate tiers is to generate a

mammothlistofblogsthatwecaneasilyimportintotoolswe’lluselater.Allwe’llneedinthebeginningareURLsofpublicationsthatwriteaboutcompanieslikeours.Wehavetoolstofindcontactinformationwithinthoseblogs,butthetoolshavetoknowwheretostart.Awordofcaution:Blogsthatareonlyvaguelyrelatedandreporterswhowriteaboutthingsthatareonly

kindoflikeyourcompanywillnotwriteaboutyou.Forexample,ifwemakeiPadcases,ablogthatwritesaboutiPadappsisn’tevenworthapproaching.Sowhenwebuildthelist,let’snarrowouroptionsascloselyaswecan.

List-BuildingMethod1:BlogRankingsWe’regoingtouseacoupleofsites thatrankblogswithintheircategoriesandscrapefortheURLsof

blogsinthecategoriesthatapplytous.First,downloadtheScraperChromeExtension(oritsequivalentinthebrowserofyourchoice).Nowwe

gotoourblog-rankingwebsite.Let’sstartwithAlltop.GotoAlltopandfindyourcategory,rememberingtobeasnarrowaspossiblewhenchoosing.We’llagainusemyformerstartup,Grasswire,asanexample.GrasswireisanewsroomfortheInternet.It

letseverydaypeoplecometogethertogeekoutaboutandwritethenews—usuallybyfindingandverifyingsocialmediaposts.Sowe’regoingtosearchforalltheblogsrelatedtosocialmediaandjournalism.TheAlltopsocialmediapagelookslikethis:

We see the classic suspects: TechCrunch andMashable. But we also see some sites youmight not befamiliarwith:SmartBriefonSocialMediaandSocialMediaExaminer.Weneedtoaddthemtoourlist.Right-clickononeofthesitesinred,andclickontheScrapertool.

Thenclick“ExporttoGoogleDocs.”NowwehaveafairlydecentlistofsiteswiththeirURLsthatmightwriteaboutus.Repeattheprocessinasmanycategoriesasexactlymatchyourcompany(checkjournalismaswell),andthenswitchovertoBlogRank.BlogRankisabitmorecomplicatedtoscrapefrom.First,searchforyourcategoryusingthesearchbar.It

willaskyoutoselectaview,butitdoesn’tmatterwhichviewyouchoose,sincewe’llbescrapingthemall.Again,we’regoingtoright-clickonthenameofablog,andclick“Scrape.”You’llseetheScrapertool

popupjustasitdidwithAlltop,butthistimeitappearstopullinonlyoneblog.It’snotscrapingallofthecontentwewantitto,becauseBlogRankissetupinHTMLtables.WeneedtomodifywhattheScraperislookingfor.

WiththeScraperwindowstillopen,we’lledittheXPathreference,whichislocatedatthetopleftofthetool.TheXPathprobablysayssomethinglike//div[3]/table[2]/tbody/tr[2]/td/a.Allwehavetodotomake

itscrapeeverythingischangethefinalnumberintr[2](whichstandsfortablerow2)totr[*],whichtellstheScraper to gather every row. With that change, the XPath reference should now read//div[3]/table[2]/tbody/tr[*]/td/a.Click“Scrape”atthebottomofthetool,andtheresultsontherightsideshouldlookliketheydidforAlltop.Nowwe’rereadytoexporttoGoogleDocs.

RepeattheprocessforanyothercategoriesinBlogRank.Weshouldnowhavealistofhundredsofblogsrelevant towhatwewant to target.We’ll expand the listwith onemore hack later, butwe’ll treat thatseparately,sojustworkwiththisfornow.Therearesomeduplicates,andscrapingBlogRankbroughtintheURLsfortherichsitesummary(RSS)feedsaswell(whichwedon’twant),sowe’llneedtocleanthislistupbeforewecanmanipulateandimportit.

ScrubbingtheListIfwetaketheBlogRankGoogleDocswejustcreated,wecanseethattheoddrowsfromrowthreeon

onlycontaintheRSSURLswedon’twant.Let’sgetridofthose.Thisisabithack-y,andI’msurethere’sabetterway, but itworks forme. In cellC1, enter the following=MOD(ROW(),2), and then copy thatformuladown(onceyourcursorturns intothecrosswhenhoveringoverthebottomrightcornerofthecell)totherestofthespreadsheet.TheresultshouldbeeveryoddCcell(C1,C3,C5,etc.)containinga1andeveryevenCcell(C2,C4,C6)containinga0.NowselecttheentireCcolumn,clickon“Data,”andselect“SortsheetbycolumnCA->Z”ThenumbersincolumnCwon’tchange,buttherestofyoursheetwillbenicelyseparatedoutforeasy

deletion.Findanythingthat’semptyincolumnAanddeleteitsrow.Onceyou’vedonethis,youshouldhaveacolumnthatisstrictlyblogURLsthatwecanimportintothetoolswe’lluselater.DothisforeachGoogleDocspreadsheetyoucreated,andthencombinethemintoonegiantlist.Hopefullyitcontainsoversevenhundredtotalsitesatthispoint.Wewillinevitablyhavesomeduplicates,sooncewehaveeverythingcombined,let’sgetridofthem.In

the new cellC1,write =UNIQUE(A:B) and hit “Enter.”This should create a listwith only the uniqueentriesincolumnsCandD.Youcan’tyetdeletecolumnsAandBsincethey’relinkedtocolumnsCandDusingaformula,socopythevaluesfromcolumnsCandDandpastetheminafreshGoogleDoc.WhatyoujustcreatedisanenormouslistofallofthetopblogURLsinthecategoriesandindustriesthat

wouldbemostlikelytowriteaboutyou.Giveyourselfapatontheback;that’sprettyawesome!Butwe’reonlygettingstarted.Beforewestartbuildingapresskitandsendingoute-mails,there’syetanotherwaytogeneratealist.Thislisttakesalotlesstimetocreate.

List-BuildingMethod2:GoogleNewsGettingalistofblogsinourcategoriesmaynotcoverallthebases.Thenextmethodtobuildourlistwill

bescrapingtheresultsfromtheGoogleNewsAPI.This canbedifficult because some scrapers start and stopworking at different times.Thebest scraper

currently requires Firefox and a Firefox plug-in, but it works quite well. Once you have the extensioninstalled,

1. Gotodigitalmethods.net/Dmi/ToolGoogleNewsScraper.

2. Ignorethetopinputthatsays“EnterSources.”

3. Putyourkeywordsinthesecondinput(“Keywords”).

4. Click“Run.”Oncethescraperruns,youcandownloadtheURLsofsitesthatmentionyourkeywordbyclicking“Output.”ItwilldownloadaseitheraTXTorasimpleCSVfile.

Thisis,ofcourse,mucheasiertouseandmanipulatethanourotherlist.Ihaven’tfoundanythingofaparticularregiontobeofanyvalue,soIwoulddeletethose(unlessyou’refromthatregionoryourproductis specifically relevant there). Other than that, I would leave the CSV file as is or copy and paste theinformationintoyourGoogleDoc.Theentireprocesscanbeabitannoying,butifyoucombinedthetwomethods,youmaynowhaveover

athousandURLs,anditshouldhavetakenyouonlyafewminutes.ItwillbeeasytogofromURLtoe-mailaddresslater(Ipromise),solet’sputtogethersomethingtosendthereporters.

CREATINGYOURANGLENews isn’t worthy of publishing just because it exists. Part of the job of any journalist or reporter is

curation—decidingwhat isworthy of beingpublished in their publication,whether that publication is ablogortheNewYorkTimes.Yourjobassomeonelookingforpress istoshowthemhowyoumeettheirstandardsandwouldbeinterestingtotheiraudience.We could go into all sorts of journalistic principles that determine why something makes it into a

publicationandwhatprinciplestheyuse,butreallyit’sjustcommonsense.Isittimely?Isitrelevant?Isitinteresting?Whywouldsomeonelikeyoubeinterestedinreadingthis?Again, we’ll take my startup, Grasswire, for example. Grasswire is an Internet newsroom that lets

everyonefact-checkandsortsocialmediacontentinrealtime.Butwhatdoesthatmean?In the firstPiratesof theCaribbean film, JackSparrowdefined thedifferencebetweenneedand is this

way:“That’swhatashipis,youknow.It’snotjustakeelandahullandadeckandsails.That’swhatashipneeds.Butwhatashipis—whattheBlackPearlreallyis—isfreedom.”WhatGrasswireneedsisanInternetnewsroom.ButwhatGrasswireis isdemocratizationof journalismandinformation.It’sturningoverthepower of governments and corporations to everyday people. It’s letting ordinary people control theinformation that determines how they see theworld.Notmany peoplewant to read about yet anothersocialmediatool,butpeoplelovetoreadaboutfreedom.Sointheinitialpitch,wewon’tgointodetailabouthowthetechnologyworks,whatAPIswepullfrom,

why the user interface/user design (UI/UX) look like they do, and so on.We’ll talk about the story ofGrasswire:whatwe’redoing,whywe’redoingit,andwhyitneedstobedone.Reportersdon’toftenlikeproducts,buttheyusuallylovemissions.Grasswirealsohasthebenefitofauniqueangle—IlivedinmycarforthreemonthstogetGrasswireoff

theground.That’sinterestingtomostreporters,ifonlytounderstandhowIlivedinacar,whereIslept,whereIshowered,andsoon.Thatalsogoesinthearsenalandshouldbementionedwhenwe’resendingourpresskite-mail.

THEPRESSKITNowwehaveanevenbigger listof sites thatwouldpotentiallywrite aboutour startup. (Iusually start

workingwithalistofaboutathousandURLs.)We’llcreateasemi-automatedwayofsendingthee-mailssoon.Whatwehavetodonext,though,iscreatesomethingtosendthem.ThepresskitisbasicallyaZIPfileofallofthecontentthereportermayneedaccessto,andthiswillvary

fromstartuptostartup.Grasswire’soriginalpresskitwas,honestly,mediocre.Butthatpresskitcombinedwithafewe-mailsgotusourfirstpress(BBC,TheGuardian,Slate,YahooFinance,etc.)beforeweevenhadaproduct.Let’slookoverthebasicstructureofapresskit.Apresskitshouldincludethefollowing:

1. Companyoverview

2. Founderphotos

3. Logos

4. Pressmentions

5. Productscreenshots,videos,orphotographs

TheGrasswirepresskitincludedanotherdocumentwecalledthe“GrasswireStory,”becausethestoryofmelivinginmycarforafewmonthstogetthestartupoffthegroundwasquitecompelling.Ifyoucanthinkofanythingelsespecific toyourcompanythatwouldmakeforan interestingstory, include it inaseparatedocument.

CompanyOverviewThecompanyoverviewisasimpledocumentthatexplainswhoyouareandwhatyoudo.Thinkofitas

anelevatorpitchfornewspapers.ForGrasswireweincludedatagline,aone-sentencedescription,three“howitworks”paragraphs,anda

calltoaction.Anexamplemightlooksomethinglikethis.(Note:Thisisapresskitforarealcompanywedidworkfor,anditgotthemmorethanalittlepress,fromAllThingsDtotheWallStreetJournal).

UnderwaterAudioOverview

Tagline:WaterproofiPodsandheadphonesforswimmers

Description:UnderwaterAudiohasdevelopedtechnologythatallowsustowaterproofiPods,headphones,andotherelectronicdevicesforswimmers.

Howitworks:UnderwaterAudiomusicplayerscomewaterproofedfromtheinsideout.Theylook,feel,andsmelllikeanyother2GBiPodShuffle—buttheyworkunderwater.

UnderwaterAudiosealstheiPodfromtheinsideoutusingaproprietaryprocess,andwehavetesteditatadepthoftwo

hundredfeet(thoughwedon’trecommendUnderwaterAudiofordiving).Dunkitinwater,leaveitthere,anditstillworks.

TheUnderwaterAudioplayerwillworkwithanyheadphones—thoughunderthewater,you’llneedwaterproofheadphonestocreateawatertightsealwithyoureartohavegoodaudio.OurrecommendedpicksareavailablealongwithyouriPodonUnderwaterAudio.com

UnderwaterAudioiPodsandbundlesareavailableatUnderwaterAudio.comstartingat$149.

Ofcourse,UnderwaterAudioisfairlyeasytodescribe—theysellwaterproofiPods.Yourcompanymightbealittlemorenebulous,butyoushouldbeabletonailitdowntobothaone-sentencedescriptionandashort explanation, not more than a couple paragraphs. I like to start by pretending I’m explaining acompany to a five-year-old and then make my explanation more technical and detailed from there, ifnecessary.

FounderPhotosYes,thismightseemweird,butsomepublicationsreallylikephotographs.Sendheadshotsifyouhaveto,

but really if there’s an interesting angle to your story, you can tell the reporters through your founderphotos as well. Most of the Grasswire team photos were published because my cofounder and I werestanding in front of the car where I lived while we got Grasswire off the ground. Underwater Audio’sfounder photos might be something underwater with a waterproof iPod, demoing the product. Thesephotosarerarelyused,soyoucangooutonalimb.

LogosI’vehadsomereportersaskforAIorPSDfoldersthatwillscalebetter,whilemostprefersimplePNG

logos.It’snotdifficulttothrowthemallinafolder,sendthemoff,andletthereportersdecidewhichonestouse.

PressMentionsThisisbasicallytoshowsomesocialproof.It’sjustadocumentwithlinkstootherarticlesthathavebeen

writtenaboutyou.

ProductScreenshots,Videos,orPhotographsThemostimportantofthesethreearescreenshots.It’sdifficulttoexplainhowaproductworkswithouta

visual.Includeanyotherproductdemovideosorphotographsareportermaywanttouse.Rememberthestrategyhereistogivethemeverypieceofcontenttheycouldpossiblywant,andthenletthemdecidewhatisrelevantfortheirtypeofmedia.

THEE-MAILWe’realmostreadytostartsystematicallygatheringreporters’e-mailsandsendingthemourpresskit,but

firstweneedsometexttopopulatethee-mail.Asktenreporterswhattheywouldliketoseeinpresspitches,andalltenofthemwillsay,“Keepitshort.”

Andwhentheysayshort,theymeanit.Lookingthroughourpresspitches,anythingthatwaslongerthantwoshortparagraphscutourresponseratesinhalf.SoIliketoboilmypitchesdowntothreeeasyparts:

1. Introduction

2. One-sentencepitch

3. Offerorask(sampleorpresskit)

Here’sthegeneralframeworkforane-mailthatworkswell:

Hey[name],

MynameisAusten,fromUnderwaterAudio.WedevelopedaprocessthatmakesiPodscompletelywaterproof.It’ssomeprettycooltechnologyyouandyourreadersmightbeinterestedin.We’reatUnderwaterAudio.com,andIhavea[presskit/sample/demo]I’dliketosendyourwayto[review/checkout]ifyou’dbeinterested.Letmeknow!

Thanks,

AustenAllred[contactinformation]

Themostimportantpartofthate-mail,towaxSteveJobs–like,iswhatisn’tthere.Nolongintroductions,nolinks,novideos,nodemos—just,“We’rehere.Areyouinterested?”I’vealsogonebackandforthwithvaryinglevelsofpersonalization,ala“IreadyourarticleaboutX,andIreallylikedY”or“I’mahugefanofyourwork”enoughtomakeitclearthatthee-mailisuniquetothem,butthedifferenceinresultsseemstobenegligible,especially ifyoudon’tput intheresearchtounderstandthewriterorhispublication.(IaccidentallytoldaTechCrunchwriterIlikedhisworkinPandoDailyonce.ThatistheonlyangryresponseI’veeverreceived.)It’sreallyeasyforareportertoreplywith,“Yeah,sendmewhatyou’vegot.”Andnowyou’reintroduced

andtalking!Itcanbetemptingtosendoutathousandpresskitsortonsoflinksontheinitiale-mail,buttrustme: theofferapproachgetsmuchbetterresults.Alsonote thatyou’llwanttoavoid links,especiallysinceyou’llbesendinge-mailsinbulk.Athousandsimilare-mailswiththesamelinkwilllooksuspicioustoe-mailproviders,andyouwillprobablystarthittingspamfolders.

SENDINGTHEE-MAILSNowwehaveapresskitready,somee-mailtexttosend,andalistofsitestosendthemto.It’stimeto

startgatheringe-mailaddressesandsendinge-mails.(Thisis,surprisinglyenough,thesamestep.)To save us hours of time, we’re going to use BuzzStream. BuzzStream helps you navigate to sites,

automaticallypullcontactinformation,sendprepopulatedbutpersonalizede-mails,andfollow-uponthosee-mails.Thestarterpack,whichwillbeenoughtomeetourneeds,istwenty-ninedollarspermonth(withafourteen-dayfreetrial!),soit’swellworthourtimetonothavetodoallofthismanually.OpenupyourBuzzStreamaccount,andyou’llseethispage:

Hit“PasteURLs”andpastetheURLsfromyourGoogleDocs.(Youstillhavethem,right?)Click“Addwebsites,” and wait a minute for BuzzStream to do its job. It usually takes between fifteen and thirtyminutesforittoprocessathousandwebsites.

Whatyouhavenowisagiantlistofwebsiteswithe-mailaddresses,Twitterhandles,etc.

Iusedomainauthorityasthebestsortmethodtodecidehowlegitimateablogorwebsiteis.Generally,thebiggest sites (TechCrunch,Wired,etc.)willhaveaBuzzStreamrankof90+; really, reallygoodblogswillbe80+.Anythinginthe40–70rangeisusuallyanamateurblog.Ifyou’relookingtogostraighttothetop,lookat80–100.Ifyouwanttostartatthebottomandbuild

yourwayupinlegitimacy,goforthe40–70.Idon’tevenbotherwithanythingthathasadomainauthoritylowerthan30.Nowwehaveourlist.Let’sgotowork!

ReachingOutThetemptationhereistosendamasse-mailblast.Fightthattemptation!Evenifittakesusafewdaysto

porethroughandsendoutfivehundredreallygoode-mails,itwillbeworthit.Ipromise.BuzzStreammakesiteasyforyoutotakeane-mailtemplateandfillitinwithvariables.(Forexample:

“[firstname]”or“[sitename].”)Onceitfindstherightcontactinformation,itwillautomaticallyplugitin,soyoucouldbeprettyclosetosimplyhitting“Send”foreverye-mailyoucreate.It’salsopossibletoreachoutonTwitter,butthisdoesn’tscaleverywell.First,findoutifthereareoneor

twoblogs thatwouldbe your ideal publications.Find the ideal person there, and reachout to themonTwitter.Trysendingamessagelikethis:@usernameHeyIhavesomethingtosendyouabout[yourangle].What’sagoode-mail?Thiscreatesamore

personalrelationship,andifyou’revagueenoughandyourangleis interestingenough,fewwillrefusetogiveyoutheire-mailaddress.Iliketosendtweetstotwopeople,butrefrainfromtweetingatfiftypeople.Firstbecausethat’sannoying,secondbecausetheotherreporterswillseeyoublindlyreachingout,andthirdbecauseyou’llbesuspendedfromTwitterforspamming.Somereporters’contactinformationwon’tbebroughtupaswellassomeothers.Makesuretofindthe

right person to contact. If you’reGrasswire, don’t e-mail the personwhowrites about The Internet ofThings.It’sworthspendingtwiceasmuchtimetofindtherightperson.

Nowwe’regoingtoopenuptheBuzzBar,whichwillletusgothroughourlistofwebsites,openthemup, and pull and send information to contacts. It will track the e-mails we’ve sent, remind us to sendfollow-ups,andletusgetridofthesiteswedon’tlike.Itrytosendfivehundrede-mailsperdayifI’mworkingafullday.Yes,it’safullday’sworktosendfive

hundred e-mails.That’s because you should try tounderstandwho theperson receiving thepitch is andspeak specifically to them. If you’re copyingandpastingand justhitting“Send”onevery e-mail, you’redoingitwrong.

FollowUpIf you don’t receive a response after a few days, you can use BuzzStream to follow up. But don’t be

annoyingaboutit.Rememberthatrunningacompanyisamarathon,notasprint.(Astartupismorelikeasprintandthenamarathon.)Youmaywanttogetcoveragefromthesereportersagain.Sobecordial,don’tburnanybridges,andbegratefulifanyonewritesaboutyou.

T

[7]

TWITTER

witterisprobablythecoolestmarketingtoolofourgeneration.AfewthingstoponderaboutthegreatthingsyoucandowithTwitter—

Seewhatpeopleareinterestedinandtalkingaboutrightnow.

Searchuserprofilestofindwhattribespeoplealignthemselveswith.

Findlistsofpeoplewhofollowyourcompetitors.

Interactwithallofthosepeople.

Whenweactuallyputthosefactstogether,itwasoneofthose“holysmokes,we’resittingonagoldmine”moments thatmarketers live for. It took a couple of years to figure out the right strategy, butnow if aproductwe’remarketingdoesn’tget50sign-ups(nottomention150new,activeTwitterfollowers)everyday,IknowI’vedonesomethingwrong.

AUTO-FAVORITINGANDRETWEETING(THECRAPPYWAY)Haveyouevernoticedthoseaccountsthatseemkindofspammy—alwaysfavoritingandretweetingyour

tweets? That’s because it works. For example, there was a time when tweeting anything that containedHackerNewswasfavoritedby@HackerNewsOnion.MyfirsttweetthatcontainedHackerNewswassomethingabitcondescendingabouthowaHackerNews

threadhaddescended intoa flamewar.When@HackerNewsOnion favoritedmy tweet, I thought,Hey,theseguysarelaughingalong.That’scool.Icheckedouttheirprofile,andtheirtweetswereprettyfunny,soIfollowed them. Then a coupleminutes later, I tweeted something else that containedHackerNews to afriend.Again,itwasfavorited.Butthistimeitdidn’tmakesense;therewasnoreason@HackerNewsOnionshouldhavefavoritedthatone.Iopeneduptheirprofileandlookedatthethingstheyhadfavorited—itwasjustalistofeverytweetthat

saidHackerNewsinanycontext.AsIwatchedtheaccountoverthenextfewweeks,IrealizedIwasn’ttheonlyonebeingdupedbyastupid little“favorite”bot.Dozenswerefollowing@HackerNewsOnioneachday.

Auto-favoriteTweetsContainingPertinentKeywordsIf you’re ever up for a laugh, try tweeting “#SEO#social #socialmediamarketing #SEM#socialmedia

SEOsocialmediamarketing.”YourtweetwillbeinundatedwithTwitterfavoritesandretweetsfrombots.Itwasalittlecheapandabitspammy,butfor@HackerNewsOnion,itworked.Itmightforyoutoo.Just

makesuretonottickpeopleoffalongtheway.(Iunfollowedthem.)Despitethefactthatitworks,Idon’trecommendit.Therearebetterways.

SELECTIVEFOLLOWING(THEMEDIOCREWAY)Iffavoritingatweetshowssolidarity,followinganaccountshowsrespect.Usingamethodsimilartothe

one@HackerNewsOnionusedtofavoritehashtaggedposts,wecanfollowpeopletogainthosefewsecondsofattentionneededtoattractsomeone’sinterest.Twitterallowsaccountswithfewerthantwothousandfollowersfollowuptofivethousandpeople.Those

withovertwothousandcanfollowathousandpeopleperday(solongasthenumberofpeopleyoufollowisn’tmorethan110percentofthenumberofyourfollowers).Inotherwords,youcan,bybruteforce,getasplitsecondofattentionfromuptoathousandTwitteraccountsdaily.Setupyourprofileright,andthattrafficdrivesthroughtoyourproductorlandingpage,andinterestedpartiescansignupfromthere.Let’s say you have a 10 percent follow-back rate (though in my experience, you will get a higher

percentage of follow-back than that). That’s one hundred new followers per day, three thousand newfollowerspermonth, and thirty-six thousand fivehundrednew followersper year. It’snotpretty,but itworks.Whatcouldyour startupdowith three thousand interestedTwitter followers?Howquicklycouldyouturnthosethreethousandfollowersintousers?

MANUALFOLLOWING(THEBESTBUTSLOWWAY)Manualfollowingisn’tideal;ittakesalongtime,andit’stedious.Yourfingerswill“feeltheburn”from

thefatigueofhittingbuttons.ButasyoubegintheprocessofusingTwitterasamarketingtool,it’sbesttoreallygetyourhandsdirty.

TheManualFollowingStrategySo let’s say, just as an example, you make iPhone screen protectors. How would you find potential

customers?YoucouldlookattheuserswhofollowZagg.Zagg(thelargestiPhonescreenprotectorcompany)hasthe

Twitterhandle@zaggdaily,withalmostforty-twothousandTwitterfollowers—allofwhomarepresumablyat least somewhat interested in iPhone screenprotectors.Youcouldopenupa listof their followersandfollowthemallinsuccession.Thiswouldwork,butyou’dendupwithatonofspammyandotherbusinessaccounts.Justlookatthenextscreenshot,andyou’llseewhatImean.

Whatweneedtodoiscreateasearchsyntaxthatfindstherightpeople.Let’sgotoTwitterandsearchscreenprotector.Makesuretoclick“All”togetthemostrecentresults insteadofthetopresultsofpeoplewhohavethemostfollowers.

That’s much better. Everyone is talking about screen protectors. There aren’t as many business orspammyaccounts,andeachpersonthereisapotentialcustomer.Butwhatifthereweresomethingevenbetter?IfIwereapersonwhowasnotonlytalkingaboutscreen

protectors but who was also looking to buy, what would I be tweeting about? Let’s search need screenprotectorinstead.

Bingo. There they are: our targetmarket, ready and looking to buy, and perhapsmost important—tweetingaboutitrightnow.Wecouldfollowthem,andtheywouldseeourprofileandhopefullyheadtoourlandingpageorstore.Wemightincludeadiscountcodeandalinktoourstore.Saleswouldcomein.“Butthat’seasy,”youmightsay.“Screenprotectorshaveahugemarketofpeoplereadytobuy.Noone

hasevenheardofmyprojectyet!”Ifthat’sthecase,wemightgoabitmoreabstract.Agoodruleofthumbistolookatthelastthingyoutweeted.Whatwasitabout?Findpeopletweetingaboutthesamestuff.Whatifyou’reHeroku?Yourtargetmarketishackers.Soenterthemindofahacker:whatwouldtheybe

tweeting?You could plug in the name of a competitor (DigitalOcean or AWS). You could plug in hosting or

scale/scaling.MaybeyouwouldpluginthetoplinkfromHackerNewsorr/programming.Youcouldeventryyourownnameifyou’rethatbigorperhapstheURLofanarticleyou’vebeenmentionedin.Thisworked formy former startup,Grasswire (a sortof Internetnewsroom),many times indifferent

forms. Grasswire lets everyday people create collaborative news reports from real-time social mediaaggregation, sowemight find thepeople tweeting about breakingnews—perhaps something todowithEgypt,Syria,or#navyyardshooting(dependingonthenewsthatday).Whenpeoplecanseeourreal-timenewsfeedofretweetedfirsthandcontentatthesametimethey’retweetingaboutit,ourfollow-backratesapproach40percent.That’s fourhundred followersperday.NowGrasswire’sTwitteraccounthasmorethanonehundredeightythousandfollowers.Perhapsmoreinterestingthanthat,though,iswatchingthetrafficflowtoourlandingpage.Inthecourse

of fiveminutes, we can follow people, watch them flow through to our landing page (the link on ourTwitter profile), and track sign-ups. Using this method, we can typically get fifty sign-ups a day fromTwitteralone.Buttheapplicationdoesn’tstopthere.Here’swhereFollowLikercomesintoplay.

SEMI-MANUALLYFOLLOWINGFollowLiker isbasicallyapieceofsoftwarethatmakes iteasytoscrapeTwitterandfollowpeople.You

simplyputinallthedetailsofyouraccountandthekeywordsandtimesyouwantittofollow,anditwillfollowthepeopleyouwantitto.Doingso,youcouldexpecttoseeat leastahundrednewfollowersperday,andatleastfiftyclickthroughstoalandingpageinabio.WithFollowLikerIcannotonlysearchandfollow inreal time(sortingtweetsbymost recent first to

ensurereal-timerelevance),butIcanalsosearchprofiledata.

SoifI’mlookingforpress,Icansearch+technology+journalist,or+tech+journalistandfollowfrommypersonalTwitterprofile(whichhasabiotoemphasizethefactthatIlivedinacartogetastartupofftheground).This, aswell as someotherpress-hacking, gotus in ahalf dozenmajorpublications.Warning:UsingFollowLikeronapersonalprofilewillprettymuchdestroytheenjoymentofusingTwitter.

MANUALINTERACTIONWhenallissaidanddone,thispalesincomparisontotrue,authenticcommunicationwithpeoplewho

areinterestedinwhatyouhavetooffer.Followingisgreatifyou’relookingforaquickbumpinnumbers,butifyouactuallyreplytopeopleusingthesamesearchsyntaxes,peoplecareaboutwhatyouhavetosay.Thereareacoupleofoptionsforthis.IprefertouseTweetDeck(afreedownload).

TweetDeckInteractionWe’regoingtodownloadTweetDeckandcreateanewstreamforthetermswewantto interactwith.

Forexample,hereisalistofeveryonetweetingaboutmeormyblog.Asyoucansee,itpullsineverytweetthatmentionsmynameorlinkstoAustenallred.com(includingshortlinks).

UsingTweetDeckIcanclickonanytweetandrespondinstantly,withoutopeninganewinterface.

Don’tletthisbecomearotecopy-pastescript—notonlybecauseTwitterwillbanyou,butalsobecausethis is anunparalleled opportunity to engage in an authentic, one-on-one conversationwith awould-beuser. And there are lists and lists of them. Think about it: lists and lists of people who are probablyinterestedinwhatyouhavetooffer.Doingthiswehavefoundnotonlythepeoplewhoareinterestedbutalsothepeoplewhoareadvocatesandalittlebitobsessedaboutthelittlecompanywe’rebuilding.(HaveyoueverhadsomeonetellyoutheyencouragedtheirmosquetoprayforyourTwitterstream?)

Conversion:TwitterCards

Sowenowhavelistsofpeopleinteractingwithuswhoareinterestedinwhatwe’redoing.Wecantakethatdataandturnthemintousers,subscribers,etc.,byusingTwitterCards.TwitterCardsareaneasywaytoallowaTwitterusertoperformanactionwithoutactuallyleavingthe

Twitterinterface.Userscanevencreateaccountsonyoursystemwithoneclick.Ortheycanjoinane-maillist.Earlier, I recommended tweeting #SEO #social #socialmediamarketing #SEM #socialmedia SEO social

mediamarketing.IcouldhypotheticallyrespondtoeveryonewhotweetsthatparticulartweetandgivethemaTwitterCardforadiscounttothebook.OrIcouldpushthemtoAmazontobuythefullbook.OrIcouldjustfollowthem,favoritethetweet,andhaveacoolnewwaytoknowwhoisactuallyreadingwhatIwrite.I’mnotdoinganythingwithityet,butyoushould!

TwitterProfileSearchesandReachoutWecanagainuseAudienseforTwitterthesamewayweuseditforInstagram,evenusingittocreateour

owninfluencernetwork.Wecandownload listsandsetsofTwitterusersbasedontheirbio,gender, jobtitle,whatthey’vetweeted,whetherthey’reacompanyorperson,andsoon.Wecanalsoenablereachingoutenmasse,solongasweavoiddoingitinaspammyway.Whenyouaresendingoutalotoftweets,itcanbedifficulttowriteuniquecontentthatyouruserswill

connectwithandrespondto.OnemethodIliketouseistopullthedataI’vecollectedfromAudienseandcreateaspreadsheet.ThatwayIcanmassagethecontentofthetweetsI’msendingandtheneditandreviewtheminbulk.

1. PullthedatayouhavegatheredfromAudiense.

2. CreateanExceldocument.LeaveColumnAblank(You’llbeputtingthe@characterinthiscolumnlater),andpastethehandlesintoColumnB.

3. InColumnC,createthefirstphraseofatweet:“Hey,wewroteabouttheperilousstateofBitcoin.”Continuedownthiscolumntocreateotherinterestingphrasesthatmightenticeareadertopayattentiontoyourtweet,butmakethemallunique.Forexample,“Hey!Seeyou’vebeentweetingaboutBitcoin.”Continueuntilyou’vedevelopedatleastfiftyintroductoryphrases.

4. InColumnD,createalistofclosingphrases:“Wouldloveyourthoughts:http://bit.ly/yourlinkhere”or“Doyouthinkblockchainisamajorstepforward?”

5. Nowsimplydraganddropthe@characterthefulllengthofColumnA,andusetheCONCATENATEfunctioninExceltocombinethephrasesfromColumnsAthroughDtocreateacompletetweet.

6. Youcanrepeattheprocessbymatchingupdifferentrowsfromyour“firstphrase”and“secondphrase”columnstocreatedozensorevenhundredsoftweets,eachwithunique,user-friendlycontent.

7. SendoutyourtweetsusingHootsuiteBulkUploaderorBulkBuffer.Asyouautomateposttimesandhowmanypostsyou’dliketosendperday,you’llincreaseyourreachtomanyadditionalTwitterusers.

YetAnotherWordofWarningWhen you are doing this, be very, very careful. If your rates are too frequent, you’re not using your

account in an authentic way, or you’re targeting the wrong people, you will make people angry.

Furthermore,ifyoudothisinaspammyway,peoplewillreportyouraccountsandthoseaccountswillbebanned.Thisisoneofthosesectionsthatissopowerfulwehesitatedtoputitin.Butifusedwell,itprovidessuch

aboostthatwecouldn’tleaveitouteither.Sowe’lljustleaveitwiththeobviousdisclaimer.

TaggingforRetweetsOneofthethingsyou’llnoticeinhackingsocialnetworksisthatvanitymatters.Ifyoutellpeoplethey’re

awesome, they’ll want to share that with their followers to make it clear to everyone else that they’reawesome.Here’sanexampleofsomebodyusingthistotheiradvantage:

Thisguywrotearoundupblogpostforhisgrowthhackingdigestthatincludedarticlesfrom(andlinksto)nineblogsfromgrowthhackersthathavebigfollowings.Hethentweeteditwiththepreviousphotoandtaggedallofus.Thatmeansnotonlydoallofusgeta

notificationthathetaggedus(andcertainlywe’llcheckitout),butalotofusalsoretweeteditbecauseit

showsthatwewerelegitimateenoughtobeincludedinsuchalist.We’veseenpeopledothesamethingwithaffiliatereviews,rankingsofinfluentialpeople,“here’swhatI

learnedfromPersonX”articles,etc.Evenmoderatelysuccessfulpeoplelovetohavetheiregosrubbedandtobetoldhowawesometheyare.Ifthere’saninfluencerinyourindustryyouwanttogetat,thisisamongthebestwaystodoit.

P

[8]

PINTEREST

interestisunliketheothernetworkswe’veseen.It’snotnecessarilyasocialnetworklikeFacebookorTwitter,yet it’salsonotpurelyadiscoveryplatform likeReddit. It’skindofacombinationof thetwo.

The average Pinterest usermay use the platform to save a collage of things they like—planningwhatclothes to buy when shopping, deciding whatmeals to cook, daydreaming, planning weddings (real orimagined),settinggoals—aswellasamethodofdiscoverynotunlikeasearchengine.Forexample,ifyouwanttofindpicturesofwhitesneakersthatlookgoodwithjeans,there’snobetter“searchengine”outthereforthistypeofcontent.That’salottowrapourmindsaroundfromagrowthperspective,butallowustomakeonesuggestion

thatwillhelpdeterminehowPinterestshouldbeused:thinkofitasadiscoveryengine.

PINTEREST—THEULTIMATEDISCOVERYENGINEThismethodof searchingmaynotbe true for100percentofusers—certainly thereare some thatare

going out, finding, and pinning original content—but controlling that process is muchmore difficult.There’sonlysomuchwecandoaboutgettinginfluencerstopinourstuffasopposedtopinningothers’things.(That’snotentirelytrue,butwe’llgetintothenuanceofthatlater.)Whatwecancontrol,tosomedegree,iswhathappensoncepinsandusersareactuallyontheplatform.Notethataswegothroughthisexercise,wehopetoseethewheelsturninginyourheadsinsteadofjust

passive reading. You should start to be able to look at situations and networks and dissect them foryourselvesatthispoint.

TWOTHINGSAsyou’llrememberfromthe“Instagram”chapter,afterwehaveourtargetaudiencecarefullyselected,we

wanttodeterminetwothings:

1. Whereourtargetaudiencegoes

2. Howtointeractwiththeminanon-intrusiveway

Becausewe’realreadylookingatthisnetwork,we’lljustassumethatyouraudienceisonethat’sactiveonPinterest,andwe’llfocusmainlyonpointnumbertwo.Aswedo,let’slistallpossibleinteractionswecanhaveonthePinterestplatformtocomeincontactwithanotheruser.

Wecanrepinwhatothershavepinned.(Couldbeinteresting,butwe’renotsurehowyet.)

Wecanfollowotheraccountsorboards.(Thinkbacktothe“Twitter”chapterandyoushouldinstantlyseehowwecanusethis—followingtomakeatouchpoint.)

Wecan“like”pins.

Wecancomment.

Withthosetouchpointswecanputtogetheraprettystraightforwardstrategyforgettingpeopletofindourpins,justlikewedidonTwitterandInstagram.Maybewe’regoingtofollowalotofpeopleandlikesomeoftheirpinstomakethemnoticeus.Maybewe’regoingtocreateboardsfullofbeautifulpinsandencourageotherstofollowourboardsbypinningtheircontent.Thosestrategiesdefinitelywork,butwecanalsolookatPinterestjustalittlebitdifferentlybecauseitisa

discoveryengineinadditiontoitssocialproperties.

PINTERESTDISCOVERYIntheinterestoflearningmoreaboutPinterest,gotothesearchbarandenterthephrasewhitesneakers.

You’ll see something like this—though Pinterest gets redesigned so frequently the screenshot could beoutdatedbythetimeIfinishthissentence.

You’llnoticeafewthings:Thetopresultstendtobethosewithalotofrepinsinashortamountoftime.This makes sense, as Pinterest wants to bring its best results to the top. Also of note, however, is thatPinterest is already determining things likemen’s sneakers forme based onmy profile history and pastbehavior.Pinterestissmart,anditdoesaphenomenaljobofguessingwhatyoumightlike.Ifyouwantproofof

that,trycreatingafreshPinterestaccount,pinningafewtopicsthatyou’reinterestedin,andnotfollowinganyotherusersorboards.You’llnoticethatafteracoupleofdays,Pintereststartstofillyourfeedwithpinsthatyouarereallyinterestedinandpinsthatyoudolike,evenifthey’refromoutsideyournetwork.Thatisthegamewewanttowin,anddoingsoisshockinglysimple.

STEPONE:MAKINGOURPINSREPINNABLEThe first step tomaking the pins of your product is almost stupid because of how simple it is, but it

works,sowewon’tcomplain.Whenyoupinsomethingforthefirsttime,youcanattachacomment,andthatcommentgenerallyremainswiththepin.Forexample,oneofthefirstresultsIseewhenIsearchforchickendinneristhis:

You can see the description pulled from the website (“Skillet Chicken with Creamy Cilantro LimeSauce”),thenumberofpins(377.7k!), thepinner,thesource,andsomeother information.Butwhatwereallywanttofocusoninthisinstanceis“Seriouslysimpledinner!Crispyskilletchickeninthemost...”That’s a comment that the first or last person to pin this pin gave it. Now note the almost tacitendorsementthatthispincarries:“Seriouslysimple!”Thisdinner,indeed,looksdelicious.Butyou’llnoticethatalmosteverytoppincontainsanendorsement

likethispindoes.Ifit’sarecipe,thecommentwillsaysomethinglike,“Wemakethisallthetime,andit’samazing!”Ifit’sanoutfit,itwillsay,“Socute!”Thiscommentaryservesasanendorsementofthecontentitselfandremainsattachedtothecontent.Sohowdowemanipulatethatinourfavor?It’ssimple:

1. Lookthroughthetoppinsinyourcategoryorofyourtopictoseewhatcommentsseemtotriggermorerepins.

2. Whenyou’repinning,includesimilarendorsementsinthecommentportionofthepin.

“Wellthat’sjustfine,”youmaysay.“Buthowdoesthathelpmemakemypinspopular?Idon’thaveabigfollowing,andIcan’tforcethousandsofpins.”First,makesureyouareinteracting,following,andotherwiserubbingPinterestshoulderswithasmany

peopleasyoupossiblycan.Second,we’regoingtocheat.

STEPTWO:NAVIGATINGPINTERESTGROUPBOARDSPinterest group boards were originally designed to let a few family members or friends pin a board

together.WhenIgotmarried,forexample,mywifeandIsharedaboardaboutweddingideas,andwhenoneofmywife’s sistersbecame involvedwithplanning, shewasalso invited topinon theboard.Whenyou’reinvitedtopinonaboard,thepinsfromthatboardflowintoyourfeed.When group boards first rolled out, a few enterprising individuals realized that Pinterest had

inadvertently created a loophole—you could invite anyone to pin on your board, even if you weren’tfriendsanddidn’tfolloweachother.Andhere’sthekicker—whenyoubootedthepeoplethathadacceptedtheinvitationtopin,thosepeoplestillfollowedthegroupboard.Inotherwords,Icouldinviteyoutopinonmyboard,kickyouoff,andvirtuallyforcemypinsdirectlyintoyourfeed.Afterawhile,Pinterestclosedthisloophole,makingitsothatyoucouldinviteonlypeoplewhofollow

youtopin.Butinthemeantimethegroupboardsexplodedinpopularity.Theyarestillaroundtodayandcanbeusedwithincredibleefficiencyforthefewpeoplewhoknowaboutthem.

GroupBoardEtiquetteEach group board is a little different, but in general there are a lot of people who have been given

permissiontopin,amuchlargernumberwhoarefollowing,andvariousrulesabouthowtoaddorremovepinnerstotheboard.Inordertobeaddedtoaboard,wehavetomakeouraccount looklegitimate—themoretasteful, the

better.Thenfollowtheinstructionsontheboarditself.Usuallyifyouhaveagood-lookingaccountandasktheboardownertoinviteyou,youwillreceiveaninvitation.Additionally,onsomeboards,anyonewhohasbeen invited topin can invite anyone else.For thoseboards you canusually find someonewhohasaccessandnegotiatea tradeof somesort,especially ifyouhaveaccess topinonagroupboardthat theywant.

Onceyouare invited topinon thoseboards,as longasyoudon’tbecomeoverly spammy(becarefulthere—manywillensurethatyou’renot justpinningproducts fromonecompany),youcanpinonthatboardindefinitely—attimesshowingyourpinstoasmanyashundredsofthousandsofpeople.Someofthebiggerboardswillmovequickly,soyou’llhavetobemoreactive,butthere’snodoubtthatthosepinsareseen.Andwhen they’re seenandpinned, theycandrive trafficandsales fora long, long time.Pinterestcontenthasalongshelflife.

FindingGroupBoardsFindinggroupboardsusedtobeahugepain.Therewasnowayotherthantostumbleuponthemby

jumpingaroundfrompopularpintopopularpin.That’sstillnotabadwaytofindthem(it’sprettylikelythat popular pins have been on a group board at one time or another), but recently someone startedcollectingallofthemandturningthemintoasearchable,indexeddirectorycalledPinGroupie.Thereyoucansortthegroupsofpinsanywayyouwant.

Ifitweremyfirsttimelookingforagroupboard,Iwouldfirstnavigatetomycategoryofchoiceandthensortby“Repinsp.1,”whichmeansrepinsonthefirstpage.Generallyspeaking,themorerepinsthereareonthefirstpage,themoreactivetheaudienceofaboardis.And there you have it, the dead simple, incredibly effective way to make your product explode on

Pinterest.

Createalegitimateandactiveaccount,constantlyinteractingwithothersinyourspace.

Creategreatpinswithatacitendorsementcomment.

Joingroupboards(byinvitationorboardswap),andleveragethoseaudiencesasbestasyoucan.

Y

[9]

YOUTUBE

ouTubeisalsoabitunique;it’sactuallythesecondlargestsearchengineintheworld.That’sright—YouTubehandlesmore searchesmonthly thanBingorYahoo!But it’salsoadiscoveryengine.TheaverageamountoftimespentonYouTubepervisitisfifteenminutes.That’sanincredibleamountof

time,andthatdoesn’thappenwhenyoucome,findonevideo,andleave.YouTubeisdesignedtokeepyoufinding, clicking, andwatching for as long as is possible.We’ll use all of these things to our advantage,despitethefactthatYouTubeSEOisabitmoredifficulttounderstandthantraditionalSEO.

PICKKEYWORDSThefirstthingwe’regoingtodoispickkeywords.Usingourtraditionalkeyword-findingmethod,aswe

did with organic search, will get us a long way. (Check out the “SEO inOneDay” chapter if you’veforgotten.)Buttothatprocesswe’regoingtoaddafewcaveats.

GoogleDisplayPlannerInsteadofrelyingsolelyonGoogleSearchConsole,we’regoingtousealittletoolcalledGoogleDisplay

Planner. This is largely the same tool. It will even feel familiar to those of you used to usingGoogle’sorganic keyword planner, but it is specific to AdSense—Google’s display arm.We can use this to getapproximate-viewdataforspecifickeywords.First,setthebiddingto“vCP,”setthefilterto“Video,”select“Placements,”andmakesure“Video”is

selected.GoogleandYouTubewillsuggestafewadditionalkeywordsthatarevideo-specific,andwecanseewhereourotherkeywordsstackupinaYouTubeworld.

YouTubeAutosuggestThe lastmethodwe’regoing touse to find somegoodkeywords isYouTubeautosuggest.Simply start

typinginyourkeyword(orkeywords),andseewhatYouTuberecommendsyousearchfor.Thesearelikelygoing tobe themost popular keywords, and (assuming it’s not a popular branded term)we’re going toutilizethatinlaterYouTubeSEO.

MAKINGYOURVIDEOSIt’simportanttonotethatinthischapter,we’releavingoutwhatisarguablythemostimportantstep:the

actualcreationofvideos.There’sonlysomuchwecansaythatwillapplytoallaudiences.Simplyknowthat thequalityofyourvideos ismuchmore important thananythingelse.Yourgoal is togetpeople towatchasfarintoyourvideoaswecangetthem.We’lloptimizeforthat,butnomarketingcansavepoorlymadeorunwatchablevideos.Andwiththatdisclaimer,we’llgetbacktooptimizingthischannel.

USINGOURKEYWORDSVideoDescriptionYouTubedoesn’thavemuchroomforwrittencontent,whichiswhatGoogleisthekingofoptimizing.

We’re going to help YouTube out as best as we can. You’ll notice that there’s an area for a videodescription.Insideofthatwe’regoingtowanttolayinthreehundredtofivehundredwordsoftextwithatwo-to-five percent keyword density. You can test for keyword density athttp://smallseotools.com/keyword-density-checker/,butit’sonlytheapproximationthatwe’relookingfor.

ClosedCaptionsInaddition,we’regoingtomakesuretoincludeclosedcaptions.NotonlydoesYouTubegiveusalittle

boost for caring about the hearing and vision impaired, but studies have shown it uses those words todeterminewhichvideosaremostlikelytorank.

TheVideoFileBeforeyouuploadavideo,makesuretonametheactualfilewithyourkeywords.Soifyourkeywordis

howtogetabs,youwouldnamethefile“how-to-get-abs.wmv”(orsomethinglikethat)beforeyouuploadit.

THUMBNAILThenextmostimportantelementofyourvideoisathumbnail.Spendalotoftimemakingthisreally

good,asmostofaperson’smindlessYouTube–surfingtimecanbedescribedaslookingforinterestingtitlesandthumbnailstoclickon.You’veprobablyexperiencedatimewhenyouclickedonavideo,lookingforthemomentinathumbnail,anditeitherbarelycomesoritcomesinaremarkablyunexcitingtime.Youcan’thelpbut think to yourself,Wow, they gotme! Find amoment in the video that’s so outrageous orinterestingpeoplewillfeelliketheyhavetoclickonit.Agoodthumbnailgoesalongway.

DRIVINGCLICKTHROUGHRATEThenext thingYouTube looks for, afterhow long someonewatches a video initially, iswhere they go

afterward.Inotherwords,YouTubewillgiveaboosttovideosiftheviewerofthevideoclicksthroughtoanothervideo.We’re again going to optimize for that bymaking sure there’s plenty of clickable contentwithin our

video,leadingYouTubeusersfurtherdowntheinescapablepathofeternalYouTubewatching.

ANNOTATIONSTOOTHERVIDEOSIf you’ve ever noticed a videowhere annotations (those little on-videonotes) popuppart of theway

through,directingyoutoothervideos, that’snot justbecausethey’re tryingtodrive traffic tosomethingelse;that’sbecausetheywantthecredibilityofsendingpeoplefurtherdowntheYouTuberabbithole.Iftheanalyticsshowthatthere’satimeinyourvideowherepeoplestarttoleave,insteadoflettingthem

exitandgoontootherpublishers’videos,enticetheminsomewaytostayonyours.Thiscouldbewithanannotation that prompts them to checkout another oneof your videos, or something thatmakes themwanttowaitjustafewsecondslonger.Asyoudothis,you’llnoticethetotalviewsofyourvideosrising,andthe number of views YouTube sends you will also increase. This is because clickthrough rate is one of

YouTube’smostpowerfulrankingmetrics.

AFTERROLLAnother stepyou’ve almostdefinitelynoticed is thevideoafter avideo, encouragingyou to subscribe,

like,seeanothervideo,etc.Whatyouwanttodoforthisisrecordwhatwe’llcall“AfterRoll.”Thisincludesbasicallythesamepeoplewhowereinthevideo(orthesametheme)withsomeafter-the-videobeggingtocheck out other stuff. The best ones we’ve seen have people pointing to different buttons that lead tobehind-the-scenescontentorothervideos.As far asYouTube is concerned, this is (again)peoplenavigating toother videos afterhavingwatched

yours,evenifthevideoisover.

ENCOURAGINGTHETHUMBS-UPMyfavoriteexampleofsomeoneencouragingthethumbs-upisdevinsupertramp.Hemakesvideosthat

makeyourlifefeellame.They’reallaboutpeopledoingawesomestufflikejumpingbikesintolakesorropeswingingoffnaturalarches.Buthesneaksinlittleinvitationstolikethevideosatthemostopportunetimes.You’ll bewatching a cute girl jumpoff a tall building, andyou’ll see an annotationpopup that says,

“Thumbsupforcutegirlsjumpingoffthings;)!”Iknowexactlywhathe’sdoing,andI’mhappilymarried,butIcan’thelpbutclickthethumbs-upwhenIseethat.

YOUTUBEPLAYLISTHACKYou’veprobablynoticedthatwhenyousearchonYouTube,youoftenseealready-createdplaylistsonthe

topicyou’re searching for. IfYouTube lovesvideos, itadoresplaylists. Itknows that ifyouwatchoneofthose,you’llendupwatchingmanymorevideos.Sowhatarewegoingtodo?Simple:createourownkeyword-basedplaylists.Wecancreatethethingthat

YouTubeloves,injectourvideosinit,anddrivetraffictothatplaylist—whichjustsohappenstocontainourvideo,whichjusthappenstoincludeandlinktoallofourcontent.And that’s prettymuch all there is to gaining popularity on YouTube. The hard part is creating the

content!

T

[10]

APPSTOREOPTIMIZATION

hisisgoingtobeoneoftheshortestchapters,butluckily,that’sbecauseappstoreoptimizationisoneoftheeasiestgrowthhackingmethods.We’regoingtotalkspecificallyabouttheAppleAppStore,butalmostallofthemethodscarryovertoGoogle,despitethefactthatGoogle’srankingalgorithmsare

justalittlebitsmarterthanApple’s.

UNDERSTANDINGAPPLE’SALGORITHMApple’srankingalgorithmisamongthesimplestthereis.Itlooksforkeywordsinthetitle,keywordsin

thedescription,andratings.That’sreallyallthereistoit.Tomanipulatethisalgorithm,allwehavetodoisputourkeywordsinthetitleanddescription.Andthereareafewinterestingthingsthatwillopenupforus.

RATINGMANIPULATIONTheonlyothervariablewehavetoplaywithistherank.Wedon’tfullyunderstandwhyApplemakesit

soeasytomanipulateanAppStoreRanking.Allyouhavetodoisaskpeopleiftheyenjoytheapp.Iftheydo,askthemtorateit.Iftheydonot,askthemforfeedback.Anystatisticianwouldcringeatseeingthismethod,butourgoalisn’ttobestatisticallyaccurate;ourgoal

istoboostourrankings.Youcangetmoresophisticatedandaskforfeedbackattherighttimesandintherightplaces(in-linetendstoworkbetterthanpop-up),butwe’llkeepitsimplefornow.

KEYWORDRESEARCHYetagain,we’regoingtostartwithkeywordresearch.We’lltrytograbsomedataoutofApple’snewpaid

downloadsfeature,andthenwe’lluseourSEOkeywordresearchtofillinthegaps.

PaidAppDownloadsThebestpartofApple’snewappstoreadsfunctionalityisthatwecan(finally)seekeyword-leveldatafor

what’shappeningintheappstore.It’snotexact,butitgivesussomeindicationofwhichwordsaremostpopular.They’regoingbackandforthonhowexacttomakeit,butyouwillgetalongwaybyjustdoingthefollowing:

1. Lookingforakeyword

2. SeeingwhatotherkeywordsApplesuggests

3. Findinghowmanypeoplearesearchingforthatkeyword

4. Seeingwhatotherappscomeupwhenyousearchforthatkeyword

Allwe’rereallylookingforarekeywordswecanown.Specifically,you’relookingforappslikelytohave

fewerdownloads,fewerreviews,andtobelessoptimizedthanyourswhenyousearchforakeyterm.

COMPETITORSHACKInaddition toallofour top searchkeywords, there’s somethingvery simplewecando todrivemore

downloads(formostapps)thanevenkeywordoptimization.

1. Createalistofcompetitors.

2. Findthenamesofthosethatdon’thaveanapp.

3. Listthemsubtlyinourapp’sdescription.

Let’ssayyouhaveanappforaclothingcompany.Makealistofthetopclothingcompaniesintheworld,andthengothroughthemonebyoneuntilyoufindafewthatdon’thaveanappontheappstore.Whenyou find one, slip a subtle mention of that company into the description—maybe something like“Comparable to Company A” or “The best app alternative to Company B.” People will search forCompany A or B, find your app, and download it, thinking it is the closest thing available to yourcompetitorontheappstore.

PUMPINGLAUNCHAnothertacticthatworksquitewellisbuyingalotofdownloadsonthedayyoulaunchyourapp.You

canusesomethinglikeTapjoy,payforthedownload,andorder,say,athousandappdownloadsfromadsonthedayyoulaunch.Thejuryisstillout,butitappearsthatAppledoesn’treallycountpaiddownloadstowarditsrankingswhenthey’repaidfromwithintheappstore,whichmakessense.Remarkably,theappstores don’t do a great job of determiningwhere an appdownload came from, and those are viewed asorganic.Thatwillboostyourrankings,potentiallygettingyoutothetopofyourcategory.We’veevenseenithelpappsbubbleuptotheeditors,causingtheappstobefeaturedasthetopappsofthedayorweek.Youcandothiswitheachsubsequentlaunchofanewversion,thoughitdoesn’tworkquiteaswell.How

manyyouhave tobuy andhowmanyadditionaldownloads thosenet youwilldependonhowmuchadownloadisworthandwhatcategoryyou’rein.And there you have it, everything you need to know about app store optimization in a fewminutes!

Maybe this will get more interesting as app stores become more complex, but for now it’s so easy tomanipulate,there’snotmuchtosay.

P

[11]

HOWTOWINATPAIDSEARCHMARKETING

aidsearchisamongthemost interestingacquisitionmethodsbecauseyoudon’treallyevenhavetobeatthesystem.Thesystemisdesignedtorewardthepeoplewhoarewillingtoputinextraeffort.That’sgoingtobeus,andwe’regoingtoseehowcheapwecangetourclicks.Theprincipleschange

fromnetworktonetwork,buttheywillbesimilar.

GOOGLEGoogleisdefinitelythemarketleaderwhenitcomestopay-per-click(PPC)networks,becausethetraffic

is intent-based.With other networks, you can target behaviors or demographics. But withGoogle, youknowthatsomeoneislookingforwhatyou’reselling.That’svaluable.For this,we’regoingtobe focusingonadsonGoogle.comthatareavailable throughaproductcalled

AdWords,andwe’regoing to ignoreGoogle’sotheradnetworks.We’ll showyouhowto turn thoseofflater,butmediabuyingisadifferentgamethansearchadvertising,sowe’renotgoingtoplaytwogamesatonce.InordertogetthebestpricingonGoogle,we’lldosomeresearchonhowGoogledeterminespricing,

reverseengineerit,andgetcheapbutqualityclicks.

HowAdWordsWorksFirst,Googleoffersafewbiddingmethods:payperclick,payperimpression,andpayperlead(whichis

beingremovedsoon).Payingonaper-impressionbasisissomethingyoucantryoutonceyouknowexactlyhowmuchyoumakeperimpression,butinstartingoutwe’regoingtofocussolelyonPPC.Thepriceyoupayisbasedontwothings:thekeywordyou’rebiddingonandthequalityscore.

GOOGLE’SQUALITYSCORELet’ssaywe’rebiddingonthekeywordbestwidgets.Therearequiteafewsearchesforthismonthly,and

assuch,therearealotofpeoplewhowanttobidonit.Googlecouldbaseplacementsolelyonprice,butthenitsusersmightendupwithabadexperience.Itmightbeanadforanirrelevantorbadsite,andthenfrustratedusersmaysaytothemselves,“Idon’tlikeGoogle.I’mgoingtotryoutthatBingthing.”Toensurethatusersdon’tfleetocompetitivesearchengines,Googlefactorstheuserexperienceintothe

advertisingformula.Googlesetsupamini-auctiontodeterminewhogetstobeplacedwhereonthepage,and it calls the system it uses to rank those ads “AdRank.”The basic formula forAdRank is as follows:QualityScore×MaximumBid=AdRank.Youradrankendsupasarawnumber,andthoseadvertiserswiththehighestAdRankaredisplayedatthetopofthepage.Ifwewanttostartwinningbiddingcontestscheaply,weneedtofocusonqualityscorefirst.We’llget

backtokeywordselectionlater.

HowisQualityScoreCalculated?

Recently Google rereleased an application programming interface (API), and within the API itunwittingly showed exactly how quality scorewas calculated at the time. Someone namedBradGeddeswent in, reverse engineered theAPI, andwas able toproduce somepretty solidnumbers as toGoogle’sformula.Hefounditcomesdowntothesethings:

22percentadrelevance(howrelevantyouradistothekeyword)

39percentlandingpage(howrelevantyourlandingpageistothekeyword,aswellashowlongvisitorsstayonyoursite)

39percentexpectedclickthroughrate(CTR)(whenyouradappearsonGoogle,howmanypeopleclickonitcomparedtotheotherresults)

Let’sgothrougheachoftheseonebyoneandcheatasmuchaswecantocreatetheperfectad.

ExpectedCTRYourexpectedCTRisGoogle’sestimateofhowmanypeoplewillclickonyouradwhenusersseeitnext

tocompetitors.Generallyspeaking—andthistotallydependsontheindustry—aroundan8percentCTRisgood,a3percentisbad,anda15percentisgreat.Thosearetheguidelineswe’reworkingwithin.Weprovidetheseasroughparametersonlybecausetherearesomanypeoplewhodon’tknowwhethertoshootfor0.8or80percent,butpleasetakethiswithanenormousgrainofsalt.Forexample,onbrandterms,yourCTRcouldgetashighas50percent.Sohowdowegetahigherclickthroughrate?It’sprettysimple:wecreateclickableads.

ClickbaitAtermthatstartedout(sofaraswecanfind)referringtopaidsearchcampaignsbutwaslaterco-optedby

thenewsandmediaspaceisclickbait.Thinkabouttheheadline,“HilaryDuff’sBikiniFallsOff—You’llNeverBelieveWhatHappenedNext.”

Thatheadlinehadoneofthehighestclickthroughratesofanynewsstoryever,andit’sprettyobviouswhythat’sthecase.There’ssuspense,curiosity,acelebrity,and—inthiscase—theallureofsex.Nowthat’snottosaythatweshouldtrytousethefalseallureofnudecelebritiestosellpapershredders,butyougettheidea.Someofyouwillbebotheredbythis.Shouldn’tpeoplebelookingforfacts,logic,goodbuyingmaterial,

andsoon?Theyprobablyshouldbe,butthosethingsdon’tgetgoodclickthroughrates.Don’tblameme;blamethefollyofthehumancondition.Wedidn’tmakepeoplethisway.We’rejustadvertisingtopeoplewhoarethisway.Buthowdoyoumakepapershreddersmoreappealingandclickbait-y?That’ssomethingyou’llhaveto

figureoutonyourown,butwewillsaythis:Mostsearchenginemarketersarebarelyscratchingthesurfaceofwhat is possible.Blendtec’s “Will it blend?” campaigns are amongmy favorite ever onYouTube, butrumorhasittheyalsoperformedshockinglywellonGoogle.Turnsoutifyou’regooglingblender,peoplewillclickonanadthatsays,“Thisblender issopowerful, itgrindsaniPhoneintopowder.”Becreative,andyoucangethigherCTRs.

TestingOncewehaveafewhypothesesofwhatwillwork,we’regoingtodowhatwecall,“Thefifty-dollartest.”

Forthefifty-dollartestwe’regoingtocreatetwelveadswithdifferenttitles,differentheadlines,andlargelysimilarkeywordsandlandingpages.(Unfortunately,it’shardtomakethisexperimenttrulyscientific,sowe

can’thaveatruetargetandcontrolpopulation.)Trylimitingyouruseofspecifickeywords,asthiscouldswaytheresults.We’retryingtoisolatethetextofouradtothegreatestextentpossible.Give each ad group a budget of three dollars per day and let it run for a couple of days. Generally

speaking,threedollarsisenoughofabudgettoparseoutsomesemblanceofwhattheCTRis.Lookingatthedata,you’ll start tonotice similaritiesbetweentheads thatareperformingwellandthose thataren’t.Remember, for thiswe’re looking just atCTR.Double down on and try variations of the ads that areworkingasmanytimesasyou’dlike.Doingthiswillsaveyouthousandsinfutureadvertisingexpenses.Ifyouhaveabudgetof$110fortesting,youshouldbeabletotestaboutthirty-sixadvariations.Dayone

willhavetwelve,daytwowillhavetwelvethataremoreoptimizedthantheonesondayone,anddaythreewillhave twelve thatreally letusdrilldownonexactlywhatcopyweshouldbeusing inourads.At thispointourCTRshouldbeveryhigh.There are enough factors affecting the CTR that we shouldn’t go purely on the numbers, but some

combinationofthenumbersandalittlebitofintuitionshouldtelluseverythingweneedtoknow.

ADRELEVANCEAdrelevanceissimplyameasurebyGoogleabouthowcloselytheadsyou’rerunningmatchthekeyword

you’re running on. In this instance it’s only talking about the text of the ad itself and not about yourlandingpage.This,luckily,isveryeasyforustocontrol.We’redecidingwhatkeywordstotarget,andwe’redeciding

whatadstotargetthemwith.Anenormousamountoftime,money,andresearchhasgoneintodeducinghowGooglederivesitsadrelevancescore,andthegeneralconsensuscomesdowntothis:areyouusingthekeyword(orrelatedwords)thatyou’readvertisinginyourad?Theonlypotentiallycomplicatingaspectofadrelevanceisthatyourbestadswithregardtoclickthrough

ratemaynothavethehighestadrelevance.Thismayrequireyoutodomoretestingdependingonyourkeyword,butgenerallyacombinationofyourhigh-CTRadswithakeywordinterjectedhereandtherewillallowyoutobidonadsformuchcheaperpricesthancompetitorscan.

LANDINGPAGEPERFORMANCEThelastelementofGoogle’squalityscoreistheperformanceofourlandingpage.Specifically,Google

likestoseehowlongpeoplestayonyourpageandhowquicklythey’rehittingthe“Back”button.Luckily,we alreadyhave all the tools inourbag thatweneed for this element.Todesign theperfect

landingpage,takeaglanceat“ThePerfectLandingPage:StartingaList”chapter.We’llneedtocreatenewlandingpagesthatareoptimizedforeachkeywordwe’rebiddingon.Tooptimizebykeyword,followthedirectionslistedinthe“SEOinOneDay”chapter.Somepeopleliketousesomethingcalleddynamickeywordinsertion,butIfindthattobemoreworkthan

reward.Instead,unlessyou’reusingsomecrazyplatform,it’sprobablyeasiertojustcreateseveralpagesthatmatchkeywordsexactly.

KEYWORDSELECTIONEvenafterallthis,thesinglemostimportantaspectofadvertisingonAdWordsiskeywordselection.If

youcanfindkeywordsnooneelseisbiddingon,itdoesn’tmatterwhatthecompetitionisdoingorpaying;you’llbeplayingthegameinadifferentarena.Ifwedoourjob,it’sentirelylikelythatnooneelsewillbe

playingthere.Andlikesomeoneplayingbasketballaloneinanemptygym,it’seasytoscore.Inshort,we’relookingfortwothings:keywordsthatnooneelseistargetingandkeywordsthatpeople

whobuyaresearching.

BuyerIntentGiven that we’re looking for these two things (untargeted keywords and buying intent), we have an

incredibleopportunitytokilltwobirdswithonestone.Forexample,ifIgobackintotheGoogleKeywordTool(likewepreviouslylearnedhowtodointhe“SEOinOneDay”chapter)andsearchforiPhone,Icanseethatthesuggestedbidiscurrentlyaboutfourdollars.If,however,IlookatthekeywordbuyiPhone,thebiddropsto$1.96.Presumably,thepeoplesearching

for buy iPhone aremore active buyers than those who are just searching for iPhone, but the price of akeywordhere isdeterminedby supply anddemand.A lotofpeoplewant tobidon iPhone. Sowe’ll letthemandgoafterthebetterkeywords.Ideally,wecanfindalistofkeywordsthatapplytoourproductornicheyetaresospecificnooneelse

has touched them. I’ve seencompaniesmakea livingoffof thisalone,evenwhenpeopleare inbrutallycompetitivemarkets.Tohelpyouout,Ihavealistofkeywordsthatsignalcommercialintenthere:https://github.com/growth-

austen/intent-keywords.Andthesearegreat,butyoushouldgoonestepfurther.

MixandMatchWe’vealreadyseenseveraltoolsthatcantakeakeywordandspitoutmorebasedonthatkeyword.For

example,KeywordShitterandÜberSuggest.Usingthesesametoolsforsomethinglikethekeywordgrowthhacking,wecanfindevenmoreinterestingresults.Forreference,ifwepluggrowthhackingintoGoogle’sKeywordPlannertoday,wegetasuggestedbidof$4.68.Prettypricey.Nowlet’spluganintent-basedkeywordintoKeywordShitter.Let’sgowithhowcanIgrowthhack.Igetthefollowing:

Someofthesearen’tverycompelling.Idon’twanthowtointerviewagrowthhacker.Butothers?IfI’msellingabookthatteachesyoutobeagrowthhacker,whatabouthowtolearngrowthhacking?Learngrowthhackinghasasuggestedbidof$3.95.Wejustsaved$0.70perclick!Nowlet’stryafewmore,keeptesting,andkeepdrilling.Trytheprocessadozenmoretimes.Learn to growth hack has a suggested bid of $0.05 per click. Probably notmuch traffic, but that’s an

amazing price.Growth hack Twitter has quite a few searches but no competition. Google doesn’t even

knowhowtopriceit.Ifwecanbetheonlyadvertiseronthatkeyword,wecangethighlytargetedtrafficfordirtcheap.Igetthesensethatgrowthhack isgoingtoendupcheaperthangrowthhacking, so let’splug that into

KeywordShitterandputalloftheresultsintheKeywordPlanner.Sortingbyprice,weseealotofcheapkeywords.Growthhackbookhasadecentnumberofsearchesandis$0.72perclick.Notbad.Butlet’sgotothestuffwithzeroclicks.Wecangothroughthepagesuntilwefindsomethatareinteresting.Ifyoudothisfor a few hours (a tedious process), you will likely find keywords that have hundreds of exact-matchmonthlysearchesandnobids.Thosearedirt-cheapkeywords.Ourdirt-cheapkeywords.Enjoythedirt-cheap,high-convertingtraffic.

NegativeKeywordsWithinanylistofgreat,cheapkeywords,however,you’relikelytofindafewthataren’tjustdudsbutare

sobadthatwedon’twantpeoplesearchingforthemtofindourads.It’snotbecausewedon’tlikethosepeoplebutratherbecausewedon’twanttopayfortheclicksofsomeonewhoisn’tgoingtoconvert.Forexample,ifI’msellinganiPhoneIprobablydon’twanttopayforclicksfromiPhonereturns.Youcan finda listofnegativekeywords to startwithhere:https://github.com/growth-austen/negative-

keywords/blob/master/README.txt.

UTMPARAMETERSAsalways,weneedtomakesurewehaveexcellenttrackingwhenitcomestoPPCads.Beforeyouset

yourcampaign live,makesureyouareusingURLswiththeproperUTMparameters. Ifyoucan’t trackwheretheclicksandconversionsarecomingfrom,youreffortswillbeinvain.Makesuretojumptothatchapterandlearnhowtosetupyourtrackingbeforepushinganythinglive.

T

[12]

HOWTOTRACKALMOSTANYTHING

hebestmarketersI’veevermetareasmuch“MathMen”as“MadMen.”Thisisn’tbecausetheyaren’tcreative—somearetrulybrilliant—butratherit’sbecauseeverymarketercarriesassumptionsthatareincorrect into his or hermarketing efforts. If there is one ability thatmakes somemarketersmore

powerful,it’sthattheytesteveryassumption.Often, your gut and intuition will be right. You can think logically about how people will react to

something,andyou’llprobablybecorrectaboutthat.Alotofthetime.Themostimportanttimesinyourlifeasamarketerarewhenyouarewrong.Whenyouthoughtpeople

wantedX,buttheyactuallywantedY.Ifyoudon’tcourse-correct,you’llspendyourdaystryingtomakeargumentsthatdon’tresonateandtoenticewithsomethingthatisun-enticing.There’saframeworkwe’regoing touse in thisguide that I refer toas“marketeras scientist.” Ididn’tcoin thephrase,but itmakessenseonmultiplelevels.Thisconceptwillhelpusmakethemostofthosetimeswhenyouarewrong.

MARKETERASSCIENTISTWhen we say “marketer as scientist,” what we really mean is that we follow something akin to the

scientificformulainourmarketing.

HypothesisGoodmarketersrecognizethateveryideatheyhave—everythingtheywanttotryout—isnothingbut

anassumption.We’llcallitahypothesis.Inordertofindtheperfectmix,you’regoingtobewrong.Alot.Recognizethatyourfirstideaofwhattodoisjustthat:Ahypothesis.Aneducatedguess.Thatdoesn’tmeanit’swrong,butitdoesmeanthatweshouldtestitasmuchaswecan.

AnalysisAnalyzing whether we are right or wrong is the difficult part. Oftentimes, small startups don’t have

enoughdata todetermine if ablip in thedata is statistically significant.According tomost rigorousdatascientists,theamountoftrafficyouwouldneedtoscientificallyanalyzewhetherabuttonshouldberedorblue,orwhetheritshouldsay“BuyNow”or“GetItNow”wouldlikelyrequiremonths.Forthatreason,we’renotgoingtogointothegorydetailsofhowtomakeourtestsrunina100-percent

scientificmanner.Ifyou’reAmazonorGoogle,youcanthrowthingsouttothewildforadayandcomebackwithcompletelystatisticallysignificantresults.Myguess is thatyoudon’tworkasadataanalyst forGoogleorAmazon.(IfI’mwrong,feelfreetotweetatmeandcorrectmyfaultyassumption.)Soinsteadwe’regoingtodothebestwecanwithwhatwe’vegot,anditwilljusthavetobegoodenough.Youmayhavetomakecriticaldecisionsbasedonathousandor(heavenforbid)ahundredvisitstoapage.We’rejustgoing to do the bestwe canwith the datawe have and hope that the data is rightmore often than it’swrong.That’sthebeautifulandterriblethingaboutbeingasmallercompany:youcan’t(ordon’thaveto)makedecisionsinthesameframeworkasacorporatecompetitor.

THEIMPORTANCEOFDATAInorder toanalyze, there’sone thingweneedandone thingwecanneverget enoughof:data.Data

rules everythingwedo. Itwill exposeourweakest flaws, findourgreatest strengths, and showus exactlywhatisandisn’tworking.

DARKUIPATTERNSANDDATA-DRIVENFLAWSBeforewejumpin,bearinmindthatthestatisticaldatamaynotholdalloftheinformationweneed.I

haveseenseveralinstanceswherethingsworkstatisticallybutdrivepeopleaway,killingauserexperienceorbrand.IhaveyettofindatrulyscientificwaytomeasureUX,butifyourmethodsexasperateyouraudienceratherthanengagethem,itwillcomebacktobiteyou.(Evenifitseemstoworkintheshort-run.)LinkedIn,forexample,hasstatsthatareunlikeanyotherstartupI’veeverseen.Oncetheygetyouinthe

door,theyhaveamasterfulwayofsuckingdataoutofyou,trickingyouintoinvitingyourfriends,makingitborderlineimpossibletounsubscribe,andoveralldoingterriblysuccessfulthingsthatmakepeopleangry.Intheshort-termitworks.Theirgrowthnumbersareabsurd.YetnowsomeofthesmartestpeopleIknowaredeletingtheiraccountsasaresult.LinkedIn probably looked at this and decided that the harm to the UX was worth it. Is that a wise

decisioninthelongrun?Itremainstobeseen.I’msuretheyareworthalot;theirstock,despiteitsdips,seemstobedoingfine,andtheyseemlikethey’reanenormousacquisitiontarget.Buttheresentmentthatsome users feel toward the platform is palpable. (Edit: Since writing this, LinkedIn was acquired byMicrosoft,soyourmileagemayvary.)Withthatinmind,let’smoveforwardandstartgettingasmuchofthatpreciousdataaswecan.

GOOGLEANALYTICSAsourfoundation,we’regoingtouseGoogleAnalytics.Therearealotofgreatanalyticsplatformsout

there,andIthinkI’vetriedthemall.GoogleAnalyticsremainsmygoldstandard,despiteitsflaws,forafewreasons:

1. It’sfree.

2. It’susedwidelyenoughthatotherpeoplehavecreatedsimplewaystobuilditin.

3. ItallowsustoA/Btestnatively.(Don’tworry,we’llteachyouhowtodoallthesethings.)

4. ItmonitorsUTMparametersverywell.

5. Ittracksconversionswell.

6. Iteliminatesbasicbottraffic.

7. Ithaseventmonitoringbuiltin.

Any analytics platform thatmeetsmost of these standards should be fine, but we’ll be usingGoogleAnalyticsbecauseit’ssimple,familiar,and—bestofall—free.

Note:NoTwoAnalyticsPlatformsAretheSameWhencreatingananalyticsplatform,therearehundredsofwaystomeasurethings.Forthatreason,not

allanalyticsplatformswillshowexactlythesamedata.YourFacebookadsmayshowmoreclickstoyouradthanGoogleAnalyticsdoes.That’sOK.There’snothingbrokenwiththewayyou’remeasuringorwithintheanalyticsplatformsthemselves.Noneoftheseplatformsprovideperfectmeasures,buttheyaredirectionallycorrect,andthat’smorethan

enoughtotestourbasicassumptions.Solet’sgetintoit.

SettingUpGoogleAnalyticsGoogle Analytics allows you to monitor user behavior on your site. You can track things like the

keywordsuserstypedintotheirbrowsertofindyou,howlongtheystayedonyoursite,whethertheymadeapurchase,and if they“bounced” fromthe site immediately.Essentially, this toolallowsyou to seehowusers interactwithyoursite,andthat’spowerful.Asyoubegintounderstanduserbehavior,youcanalsostarttoconsiderhowyouwanttochangeordirectthatbehavior.AddingGoogleAnalyticstoyoursiteisrelativelysimple,anddependingontheplatformyouuse,theremaybeaneasywaytoadditalreadybuiltin.(Forexample,WordPresshasdozensofGoogleAnalyticsplug-insthatwillworkjustfine.)You can follow the Google Analytics setup guide here:

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1008015?hl=en.Theonlythingworthmentioningis thattheJavaScriptsnippetneedstobeoneverypage,onewayor

another.Ifyourproductissplitintodifferentappsorifyouareusinganexternalapporproductforsomeelementofyourproduct,makesureyouaddthesamesnippettothoseexternalpagesaswellorthedatawillgetmessedup.

E-COMMERCE,CONVERSION,ANDCROSS-DOMAINTRACKINGThereasonmostpeopledon’tgetasmuchvalueoutoftheiranalyticsplatformastheyshouldisthatthey

don’thaveitsetupcorrectly.Probably95percentoftheGoogleAnalyticssetupsIseearemissingthemostvaluableaspects.GoogleAnalyticswon’thelpyoure-commercestoremuchifyou’renotseeinghowmuchrevenueyou’rebringingin.

E-commerceTrackingGoogleprovidesuswiththefollowinginstructionstoturnone-commercetracking:

1. IntheAdminsection,navigatetothedesiredaccount,property,andview.

2. IntheViewcolumn,select“EcommerceSettings.”

3. Clickthe“EnableEcommerce”toggleon.

4. Click“NextStep.”

5. Click“Submit.”

Goode-commerceproviders(whetherit’sShopify,BigCommerce,orKickstarter)haveGoogleAnalyticse-commercebuiltin.Ifyouhavebuiltsomethingoutyourself,you’llwanttofollowGoogle’sinstructionstopasstheinformationbacktoGoogleusingthee-commerceAPI.(Veryfewpeopleshouldhavetoworryaboutthis.)Theinstructionscanbefoundhere:https://support.google.com/tagmanager/answer/6107169.Pleasesetupgoode-commercetracking—ittakesonlyafewminutesandwillbeincrediblyvaluablelater

on.

Cross-DomainTrackingIfyouusemultipledomains,Googlewillwantyoutoaddcross-domaintracking.ThisenablesGoogleto

readthedatafromdomain1.comandlumpittogetherwithdomain2.com.It’snotdifficulttosetup,andit’s nice to have all that data in one place. Instructions to do this can be found here:https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1034342.

GOOGLEANALYTICSOUTOFTHEBOXJustbyaddingthatsnippet,wehavesomeprettypowerfuldataflowingin.Almosttoomuch.ThebeautyofGoogleAnalytics isthatyoucanseeallsortsofthings.Thedifficultyisyoumaynotbe

surewhat to lookat.So let’swalkthroughthebasics thatweshouldbemonitoringfrequently,andthenwe’llcreateadashboardsoallthebasicsareinoneplace.

Follow along, create this dashboard, and you’ll have a really good overview every time you want tomonitorwhat’sgoingon.

GOOGLEANALYTICSDASHBOARDSIttookmeanembarrassinglylongtimetorealizethatthisfunctionalityofGoogleAnalyticsevenexisted.

MostmarketersItalkto,eventhegreatones,recognizeonlyafractionofhowpowerfulitactuallyis.ThereissomuchdataavailabletoyouviaGoogleAnalyticsthatthemostvaluableinformationtendstogetburieddeepintheapp.We’regoingtocreatesomesimpledashboardstobringitfrontandcenter.GoogleAnalyticsdoeshavetheuniqueabilitytoshareandimportdashboards,sowe’lllinktoacoupleof

dashboards at the end of this chapter, but it is really helpful to go through the process ofmaking oneyourself.You’ll likelywanttomakechangesfromthedefault,andwewantyoutoknowhowtodothat.We’regoingtocreateonewiththespecificgoalinmindofgettinganat-a-glanceviewofallofthehigh-level,actionabledatathatweneedinstantaneously.To see your dashboards, log in to Google Analytics, click on “Dashboards” on the left, and under

“Private”you’llfind“MyDashboard.”That’sgoingtobeourplayground.

You’llprobablywanttocustomizeyourdashboardtoyourparticularcircumstances.We’llcreateoneforarevenue-generatingsite,giveyouacoupletweakstomakeitworkforanon-revenue-optimizingsite,andyoucanfurthercustomizefromthere.

Bottom-LineUpTheimportantthingwewanttorememberisthatthisdatawillinformourdecisions.Ifyou’relikeme,

you’llprobablycheckthisdashboardmultipletimesaday,andhumanshavethetendencytooptimizeforwhatthey’remeasuring.Sotheorderandinformationweprovideourselvesherewillbevitallyimportant.Becauseofthat,makesureyouareworkingfromthemostimportantmetricyouhaveandthenbackwardtowhatdrivesthat.

CREATINGOURDASHBOARDGoogleAnalyticsdashboardsarecomposedofwhatwecallwidgets—littlesectionsthathelpbringthedata

wewanttoourmainscreen.Clickingthe“AddWidget”buttonbringsupamenulikethis:

Let’sstartwiththebigoneforarevenue-generatingsite:thedollarscomingin.Thefirstwidgetweneedtoaddwillbethe“Revenue”widget.Mostofthetimewe’lljustusethestandardmetric-stylewidget,butwidgetscanbeaddedtodisplaydata

inseveraldifferent formats, includingmetric, timeline, table,pie,andbar.Unlessotherwisenoted,select“Metric”fromthelistofStandardoptions.(Real-time-optionsarealsoavailable.)Typethenameofyourwidget (“Revenue”) into thewidget title box, select “2.1Metric,” and then choose “Revenue” from thedrop-downlistlabeled“ShowtheFollowingMetric.”Youcanalsosearchforthewidgetbytypingrevenueintothesearchbox.Itwillautocomplete,andtheremaybeseveraloptionsthatincludethewordrevenue.We’llwantjustplainrevenue.

We’ll be adding severalwidgets. You’ll see the name of eachwidgetwewill be adding listed in italicsbelow.

Revenue

We’re actually going to provide ourselves with two different revenue graphs. One will show us theamountofrevenuethathascomeintoday,andthenextwillshowusabrieftimelineoftherevenuecomingin.We’llstartworkingbackwardfromourrevenue.Whatarethethingsthatcreatebuyers?Peoplechecking

usout.Let’saddthefollowingwidgets:

Sessions(Select“StandardTimeline”insteadof“2.1Metric”)

NewUsers(“StandardTimeline”)

Sales

Nowwewant to figureoutwhere thosevisits are coming from. If something isworkingwell,we candoubledown.We’lladdwidgetsthatletusseewherepeoplearecomingfrom,beitreferraltrafficorSEO.

VisitsbyChannel

ReferralTraffic

TopNon-brandKeywords

TopBrandKeywords

TheSEOtrafficmaynotbeveryaccurate.Googlelikestoholdthatbackfromusalittlebit,butwe’llgooverhowtogetatthatlater.Nowlet’saddawidgetortwotoseewhichcontentpeoplelike:

TopLandingPages

Nowthatyou’vegonethroughsomeofthelegwork,youcantakealookatthesedashboardswecreatedfor you. Go ahead and copy over the dashboard if you want by visiting this site:https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=nblAnxQXTqCqtWbdZMtjJg. (Sorry we didn’tgiveittoyouinthebeginning,butitreallyisbeneficialtogothroughityourself.)Ifyouwanttousethesamedashboardforanon-revenuesite(agoal-orientedsiteinsteadofsales-oriented

site,andwe’llshowyouhowtocreateoneofthesegoalslaterinthechapter),youcangetthatdashboardhere:https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=jfJLs1wqQTOS8L2O-YGgiQ.Bothoftheseshouldbeexactlywhatyouwantforahigh-levelanalysis:thebasicinformationyouneed

andtheabilitytodrilldownintoanythingthatseemsinteresting.

UTMPARAMETERS—MEASURINGEVERYCLICKGoogleAnalyticsisnowreadytoacceptallthedatawecansendit,butweneedtomakesurethatwe’re

sendingitthecorrectdata.Amongthemostimportantsourcesofinformationisreferrals.Thattellsusnotonlywhichsitespeople

are coming from, but, more important, what sources our revenue is coming from. This is helpful forprioritization and for when we try something that works and we want to double down on it. If ourmarketingeffortsonInstagramarebringinguslotsofvisitorsbutnorevenue,andourmarketingeffortsonFacebookbringinfewvisitsbut15percentofthosevisitorsmakeapurchase,that’scriticalinformationthatinformswherewespendourmarketingdollarsandourtime.Unfortunately, a lot of referral information is very basic and doesn’t give you the information you

actuallyneed.Let’ssay,forexample,mostofyoursalestodaycamefromTwitter.Didtheycomefromthatmessageyoutweeted,ordidtheycomefrompeopleyoufollowedwhoreadyourbioanddecidedtocheckyouout?Ifyouseethatalotofrevenueiscominginfrome-mail,whiche-mailisitcomingfrom?UrchinTrackingModule(UTM)parametersunlocktheabilitytoaccessthatinformation.Mostofthe

timetheywillgiveustheexactinformationweneedtomakedecisions.Butfirstyouhavetoknowhowandwhytousethem.

TheAnatomyofaUTMParameterYou’veprobablyseenlinkslikethisbefore:https://www.austenallred.com?refid=e-mail.Whatisthislink

actuallydoing?Thefirstpartisfairlyobvious—theactuallinkishttps://www.austenallred.com.Butwhat’stherest?

QueryStringsMost browsers and apps are trained to ignore anything after a questionmark as far as navigation is

concerned, so we use those fields to pass information without affecting navigation. The part after thequestionmarkiscalledaqueryorquerystring.Querystringscanbeusedinmultipleways.SofarasIcanfind,theoriginalusewasforprepopulatingthecontentofawebform.IfIwanttoautofill

thee-mailforminafieldwithausten.allred@gmail.comandthenamefieldwithAustenAllred,IcoulduseaURLthatlookslikehttp://someurl.com?e-mail=austen.allred@gmail.com&name=Austen%20Allred,anditwillprefillthosefieldsforme.(Thisisusefulatothertimes,butwewon’tdwellonthisapplicationnow.)Asasidenote,after thequerystringyoumayseesomething like#something.That’scalleda fragment,

anditcansendyoutoaparticularportionofthepage.Allyouneedtoknowisthatit’snotapartofthequerystring.Nowadays,mostURLstringsareusedforpassingtrackinginformation.

TrackingwithQueryStringsIfyouopentheURLtoSlackonProductHunt,itsendsustohttps://www.slack.com/?ref=producthunt.

Product Hunt encodes all of its URLs with ?ref=producthunt, so when Slack’s webmasters review theiranalytics, they can see that that traffic definitely came from Product Hunt, even if Google Analyticswouldn’tnormallypickitupassuch.Forexample,let’slookatthetraffictomyblogonMarch30,2015.Ifwelookatthesourceinfo,we’ll

see1,513visitscomingfromProductHunt.That’sthelevelofinformationthatGoogleAnalyticsprovideswithoutmedoinganything.We’llalsosee627visitsfrom“direct.”IfIdigintothoseviews,Icanseethat627ofthemcomefromsomethingcalled“viewlist.”Idon’tknowwhatthatis,butforsomereasonGoogleAnalyticsbucketsthatas“direct”insteadofcomingfrom“viewlist.”IfProductHunthadn’ttaggeditsURLwiththerightquerystring,Imayhavemissedthattrafficsomehow.SinceProductHuntwantsyoutofeellikeit’sdrivingalotoftraffic,itautomaticallyappendsthe?ref=producthuntforyou.So let’s say I’m sendingout two e-mails, and Iwant to knowhowmany sales came from each.How

couldImeasuretheROI?We’regoingtogenerateaquerystringtoourURLsothatinformationispassedbacktoGoogleAnalytics.

CreatingQueryStringsHow canwe properly tag our strings to pass the informationwe need toGoogleAnalytics and track

where our traffic is coming from more precisely? Luckily there’s a tool for that so we don’t have tomemorizealloftheintricacies,anditworksvery,verywell.GoogleAnalyticshasaURLbuilderwecanuseathttps://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/.Beforewemoveon,let’sanalyzethatURLtoseewhatGooglewantstoknowaboutus.Wehavehttps://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867—that’stheactualpagewewanttogoto.IfI

removetherestoftheURL,thatstillworksjustfine.Googlethenappendsthequerystringhl=en.Homelanguage=english,I’dassume?I’mnotsurewhatGoogleisusingthatfor,butyou’llstartseeingthequerystrings everywhere. (This isn’t what we’re focusing on now, but you can see that they’re using the#url_builder_formfragmenttodirectustothatpartofthepage.)NowbacktowhatisactuallylocatedatthatURL.

GoogleURLBuilderUsingtheURLbuilderisreallysimple.Let’skeepusingourexampleofsendingonee-mailto50percent

ofourlistandanothere-mailtotheother50percenttomeasureconversions.Inonee-mailwe’llsendabuttonthatsays,“CheckItOut,”andinanotherwe’llhaveabuttonthatsays,“BuyItNow.”Wearegoing

tocreateanA/Btestthatwillhelpusdeterminewhetherourpotentialcustomersaremorelikelytoclickabuttonthatsays,“CheckItOut”orabuttonthatsays,“BuyItNow.”Goodmarketerstestdetailsasminuteas the color of the button to determine how consumers act and what methods are the most likely togenerateasaleoraconversion.SomeofthesefieldsonGoogle’sURLbuilderformmakemoresenseinadvancedcircumstancesrather

thanourbasic requirements,but ifyou’renot surewhata field shouldbe, justenteryourbestguess. It’sbettertohaveyourbestguessinyourURLthannodataatall.

1.WebsiteURL:That’sprettysimple.It’stheURLwewantpeopletogoto.Forthisexample,we’llsayhttp://austenallred.com.

2. CampaignSource:Let’sjustcallthis“E-mailTest.”It’snotimportantforourneeds.

3. CampaignMedium:Thisoneiseasy.E-mail.

4. CampaignTerm:Thisisgenerallyusedforpay-per-clickcampaigns,sowecanleaveitblank.

5. CampaignContent:Thisisalsoforpay-per-click,butlet’sjustusethetextfromthebuttonwe

wanttotest.Forthefirstonewe’llusecheckitoutinthefieldforCampaignContent.

6. CampaignName:Let’susecheckitoutagain.

We hit “Generate URL,” and we end up with this: http://austenallred.com/?utm_source=e-mail%20test&utm_medium=e-mail&utm_content=check-it-out&utm_campaign=check-it-out.All we have to do is draft an e-mail to our customers to let them know they can buy or download

something cool from ourwebsite and include a button that says, “Check ItOut.”When they click thebutton,itwilllinktoourpage,andwe’llbeabletotrackthenumberofclicks.InordertotestwhethercustomersaremorelikelytoclickabuttonifitincludesthephraseBuyItNow,

we’llsendoutthesamee-mailtotheother50percentofourcustomers.Theonlydifferencebetweenthetwoe-mailsisthetextonthebutton,andthepageonthewebsitetheylinkto.ForthesecondURL(“BuyItNow”) we’d use http://austenallred.com/?utm_source=e-mail%20test&utm_medium=e-mail&utm_content=buy-it-now&utm_campaign=buy-it-now.Google Analytics will now allow us tomeasure which e-mail campaignwasmore effective.With this

method,wecantrackexactlyhowmanypeoplevisitedeachpageonourwebsite.TheonlyotherparameterIwouldconsiderusingontopoftheoneGooglehasprovidedhereistheref=

parameterthatProductHuntuses(“TrackingwithQueryStrings”).

TrackingOurUTMParametersSeeingwhereourUTMparametersareisn’talwaysobviousinGoogleAnalytics,butgenerallyyoucan

make themappearon(almost)everypage.The firstplace to look is in“Acquisition”Ò “AllTraffic”Ò“Source/MediumorAcquisition”Ò“AllTraffic”Ò“Referral.”Thereyou’llseesomethinglikethis:

Wecanseeeachsourceandeachmediumlistedout.Ifwenavigatetothee-commercesectionofGoogleAnalytics,wecanseethesamethingforourrevenue;wecanseewhereeachpurchaseactuallycamefrom.DirectusuallyreferstowhenpeoplenavigatetoyoursitefromabookmarkorbytypingintheURL,but

inpractice itendsupbeingmuchmore thanthat. IfGooglecan’t tellwherea sourcecamefrom, it justbuckets itas“direct.”Thiseithermeanssomesiteorappisstrippingthereferrerbefore itgetstoyou(assomelinkshortenersandmobileappsdo)orthatyou’renotusingyourUTMparameterscorrectly.We’llhavethebestinformationwhenthenumberof“direct”visitsareaslowaspossible,andthebestwaytodothatistouseUTMparameters.

FORMOREADVANCEDUSERS:EVENTTRACKING—MEASURINGIN-PAGENAVIGATIONSometimes,page-basednavigationcapturesonlypartofthestory.Therearetimeswhenausercantake

anactiononapage(withouteverleavingthepage)thatwewanttorecord(downloads,mobileadclicks,videoviews,etc.).ForthesetimeswecanuseEventTracking.EventTracking is simple to add if you know some JavaScript. (Make sure to use the new analytics.js

library andnot the deprecated ga.js.)TheGoogleAnalytics tracking snippet already contains everythingyouneedtopassthedatabacktoGoogle,andwejusthavetosendamessageusingtheAnalyticsscript.Forexample, onClick=“ga(‘send’, ‘event’, { eventCategory: ‘category’, eventAction: ‘action’, eventLabel: ‘label’,eventValue:value});”wouldbethegenericformat.Ifwewanted to trackdownloadsofaPDF,wecoulduse something like<a href=“/downloads/example-

whitepaper.pdf”onClick=“ga(‘send’,‘event’,{eventCategory:‘download’,eventAction:‘whitepaper’,eventLabel:‘mywhitepaper.pdf’});”>DownloadPDF</a>.Youcanusethescriptbuilderhere:https://raventools.com/gaconfig/google-analytics-event-tracking/file-

download/ and follow more in-depth instructions here:https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/events.Ifyou’renotadeveloperandthisdoesn’tmakeanysensetoyou,don’tworryaboutit.Chancesareyou

don’treallyneedit.

GOALSETUPANDNON-E-COMMERCECONVERSIONTRACKINGTherearea lotof thingswewantauser todothataren’tgeneratingrevenue.Forexample, ifmyapp

allows people to apply for a mortgage, there may be several dropping off points along our conversionfunnel.Wemaywanttomakegettingtoeachofthosepagesagoal.Let’ssaythatourhomepage(somesite.com)isasalespageculminatinginan“ApplyNow”buttonthat

takes you to the first step of a three-step application process (somesite.com/apply1). The user navigatesthrough the pages apply2 and apply3, and the application is submitted when the user lands on apply4.We’regoingtocreateagoalforeachofthosepages.

CreatingGoalsTocreate agoal,we again start in the “Admin” sectionofGoogleAnalytics,navigating to the correct

viewandclickingon“Goals.”Therewe’llbegreetedwiththispage:

Tocreateanewgoal,click“NewGoal,”andwe’llfilloutourfirstgoal—startinganewapplication.

Weselect“Destination”becausethewayGoogleAnalyticscantellwhetherauserstartedtheapplicationisthattheyclicked“ApplyNow,”whichleadsthemtosomesite.com/apply.We’llfillthatoutonthenextpageandseethatGooglehasgivenusaconvenientwaytocompletethe

funnelwithoutleavingthepage.

Thenamescanbewhateverwelike,andwemarkthemas“Required”becausewedon’twantausertobeabletomovefromonesteptothenextwithoutfinishingthatstep.Wehit“Save,”andthatgoalgoeslive.

MonitoringGoalConversionsNowthatourgoals are created,wehaveanentire sectionofGoogleAnalyticsdedicated tomeasuring

them.Ontheleft-handsideofGoogleAnalytics,atthebottom,youwillsee“Conversions.”Clickthatandthen“Goals”and“Overview,”andyou’llbedirectedtoapagewithallofyourgoals.Wecanthenselectwhichgoalwewanttomeasure.Thissectionwillletusdoallsortsofhighlyvaluablethingsnow—measurewhichgoalscausedsubgoals,

start at the point of conversion and work backward (a backward funnel), visualize our funnel frombeginningtoend,andsoon.

GOOGLESEARCHCONSOLE:MEASURINGSEARCHTRAFFICOneof themost frustrating elements ofGoogleAnalytics is thatGoogle doesn’t provide exact search

trafficformostkeywordsanymore.Youusedtobeabletotellexactlyhowmanyuserscamefromwhich

keyword,butforsomereasonGoogleturnedthatabilityoff.Alotofmarketersjustassumethatthisdataislost and gone forever, but for the most part that’s not true. Google just moved that information intoanotherapp,whichnotasmanypeopleuse.TogetoursearchtrafficwehavetouseGoogleSearchConsole(formerlyknownasGoogleWebmasterTools).Youshouldn’thavetoaddyoursiteagainifyoualreadyhaveGoogleAnalyticsinstalled,butfromthat

pointyoucanseeyoursearchtrafficin“SearchTraffic”->“SearchAnalytics.”

A/BTESTINGAlittle-knownfactaboutGoogleAnalyticsisthatitactuallyhasthefunctionalitytoA/Btestpagesbuilt

right in. This is pretty remarkable and is something many marketers pay a lot of money for. The“Experiments”portionofGoogleAnalyticsletsuscreateanewlinkthatwillsplittrafficbetweentwopagesandmeasurethegoal-conversionratesofthosepages.

BuildinganA/BTestInordertoA/Btest,we’regoingtostartwithaconversion.Thatmaybesales,but ifwe’renarrowing

downonaparticularaspectofasite(maybewhetherared“Apply”buttonworksbetterthanablueone),thepointofconversionmaybegettingtosomesite.com/apply2.Nomatterwhat it is,makesuretohavethatdefinedexactlybeforeyoubegintheexperiment.Oncethat’sbeendecided,wejusthavetocreatethreepages:onethatauserwilllandonandthentwo

pagesthatGoogleAnalyticscanswapinandoutforus.We’llsaythey’resomesite.com/landing,andwe’lldirectGoogleAnalyticstousesomesite.com/alternativeAandsomesite.com/alternativeBasthepageswe’lltest.Tostart,we’regoingtogoto“Behavior,”then“Experiments,”andselect“CreateExperiment.”

Whenwedothat,we’llbegreetedwiththenewexperimentpage.Let’sselectourgoalandfillinsomebasicinformation.

We’llalsofillintherespectiveURLsforourvariants.

GoogleisgoingtogiveusanotherJavaScriptsnippetthatweneedtoincludeoneachpage.Thisscriptwillsendtraffictoeachpageandmeasuretheresultsforus.Wejusthavetodropthatinouroriginalpage,andwe’reallset!

Itwillverifythatyou’vesetitupright.Patyourselfontheback!Youjustsetupyour(potentially)firstand(definitely)cheapestA/Btest!

FULLSTORYTherearetimes,however,whenthisquantitativedatadoesn’ttellthewholestory.Maybetherearebugs,

maybethingsareactingdifferentlyondifferentbrowsers,ormaybeyou’remissingsomethingaltogetherinthewayyourusersarebehaving.Fortimeslikethese,wecanuseFullStory(orsomethingsimilar).FullStoryletsusrecordandplaybackasavideoeverysessionofusersvisitingoursite.In the 1980s,my grandmother worked as a technical writer, creating and editing computermanuals

(documentation) that would teach people how to use software. This was long before the Internet, sothrowingavideotutorialuponYouTubewasn’tanoption.Theonlywaytohelppeoplelearnhowtouseacomplicated database was to make a manual for them to read. In order to test whether people could

understandwhatsheandhercoworkershadwritten,shewouldsetupavideocameraandthenpullpeopleoffthestreettotrythesoftware.Theresultwasthatshecouldwatchwhereandwhypeopleweregettingstuckorfrustratedtryingtousetheinformationinthemanual.Untilthen,thewritershadalwaysassumedtheirwritingwasclearenough.Thevideodatashowedwhen

theywererightandwhentheywerewayoff.Eventually,herexperimentdevelopedintoausabilitytestingdepartmentwhosegoalwastoexposeweaknesses intheinstructionmanualsandfixthemsothemanualswereeasiertounderstandanduse.FullStorywill allow you to “usability test” your ownwebsite.There have been plenty of times I used

FullStorytodiscoverusersskippingoverthingsIassumedtheyhadreadorignoringbuttonsIthoughttheywouldclick.UsershavehelpedmeuncoverbugsthatIdidn’tknowexisted.I’veevenseenuserstrytoclickonlinksthatweren’tclickable,becauseIhadn’tthoughttoputthelinkinplace.BeingabletowatchtheactionsIdidn’tknowpeoplewantedtotakehashelpedmemakemysitemoreintuitiveandabetteruserexperience.Ifyou’veeverwantedtositbehindyourusersandwatchthemuseyourproduct,FullStorygivesyouthatchance.

READYTOTRACKNowthatyou’vegonethroughallofthat,you’vedonethehardpartandyou’resetupforsuccess.Ifyouskippedthischapter,please,Ibegyou,getthisallsetup.Youwillfindassumptionsthatarewrong,

opportunities you would have missed, and—generally speaking—things you need to know that youwouldn’t have known otherwise. I have found a strong correlation between the people who finish thischapterandthepeoplewhoendupascapablegrowthhackers.Sharpentheaxebeforeyoustarttoswingit.If you are a little overwhelmed, don’t give up. Startwith the easierGoogleAnalytics tasks, and add themoredifficultonesasyoubecomemoreexperienced.

M

[13]

LIVEPRESENTATIONS&SALES

ostbusinessesneednetworkingsales,andonegreatwaytocreatenetworkingopportunities is tolocateearlyadoptersandmavenswhowillpushyourproductviaword-of-mouth.Onewaytogetinfrontoftheseinfluencersiswithalivepresentation.It’saterrificnetworkingtoolthatwillallow

youtoformpartnerships,getpastcompanygatekeepers,meetinfluencers,makesales,anddoanythinginbetween.We’llfollowthetraditionalsalesfunnelofleadsÒprospectsÒsales/conversions.Somebroad-strokesadvice:Ifyou’rerunninganagencyoryou’reacontractor,afreelancer,oranearly-

stagefounderlookingforalotoffeedbackfromafewusers,publicspeakingisoneofthesinglebestusesofyourtimeever.It’sawin-win-win.

Awinforyou:Yougetanentireroomofprospectswho,dependingonyourabilitytopresentwell,willbesilentandpayingfullattentiontoyou.Andifyou’regood,youmightbeinvitedback.

Awinfortheaudience:Theygetvaluefromthecontentandlearnsomenewtricksandideas.

Awinfortheeventorganizers:Theygetaccesstogreatcontent,whilefillinguponeoftheirspeakerslots.

Sohowdoyoumakethishappen?Therearetwothingsyouneedtoperfect:

1. Agoodlivepresentation

2. Anabilitytobookpresentations

Creating a superb presentation is such a robust subject, it’s impossible to cover all of the particulars.That’sbeyondthescopeofthisbook.Instead,we’llassumeyouarealreadyagreatpresenter,andwe’llshowyousomeofthebasicsofpitchingopportunities.

MASTERTHEDETAILSTakealookatthesepresentationtitlesfromanactualbloggerconference:

“MastertheArtofProfessionalPeriscope”

“TheSecretsofBuildingBrandRelationships”

“WanttoDoubleorTripleYourPageviews?GetOrganized!”

“HowtoSellBooksbytheTruckloadonAmazon”

“GenerateandPitchIdeaslikeaBoss”

Whichofthefiveareyougoingtoattendifyouareanup-and-comingblogger?Whichofthefivedoyou

want to attend? If you said, “all of them,”you’ve just fallenvictim to the artof a great title.Youknownothingaboutthepresenterorthepresenter’scredentials.Allyouknowisthatthesepresentersarecredibleenoughtobespeakingataconference,andthey’veusedyouregoagainstyoubysuggestingtoyouthattheycan,insixtyminutesorless,teachyousomethingyoureallyneedtoknowtosucceed.Lookcloselyatthemessaging in these titles.Words likemaster, secrets, double or triple, truckload, and like a boss are usedpreciselybecausethefive-to-seven-wordtitlemustpique interest.These titlesaregreatexamplesof takingcontentandmaking it soundcompelling. It’s thedifferencebetween selling“Bagels” and selling“AsiagoCheese Bagels.” It won’t matter how good your content is if you can’t pitch it well enough to drawattendance. So work, work, work on those initial details, and be willing to be so well-prepared and soengaging,theorganizerswillbegyoutocomebacknextyeartoofferthekeynote!Let’ssayyourproductissomeformofe-mailautomationsoftwareservice,oryouhelppeopleusee-mail

more efficiently andbecomemoreproductive as consultants.Title yourpresentation something like this(andswitchouttheworde-mailwithwhateveryourindustryis):

“10WaysYouCanUse(E-mail)MoreEffectively”

“TheSecretsof(E-mail)Masters”

“HowtobeFantasticat(E-mail)in10EasySteps”

“5Trendsinthe(E-mail)SpaceThatWillChangetheIndustry”

“Hacking(E-mail)101:EverythingYouNeedtoKnow”

Start by compiling a presenter’s tool kit of information to use as you are submitting proposals toconferences.Keepadocumentwithanswerstothequestionsbelowasaplacetostart,andaddanswerstoquestionsyouencounteronothersiteswhereyousubmitanapplicationtopresent.Thiswillhelpspeeduptheprocesswhenyoustartsubmittingproposals,sinceyouwon’thavetocrafteachanswerfromscratch.Youdon’tnecessarilyneedtowriteyourpresentationandthengolookingforaplacetogiveit.Thisis

like a job search, and you’re qualified to fill several different jobs.Many conferences will allow you tosubmit several ideas for presentations, and once you are accepted, you’ll generally have severalweeks toprepare and polish. Prolific book authors often don’t submit a complete manuscript for consideration.Instead,theymightsendaquerytoapublisher,indicatingsomethingtheyarequalifiedtowriteabout,andthebookiswrittenafterthecontractissigned.

PRESENTER’STOOL-KITQUESTIONSTitle:Provideadescriptivetitlethattellsattendeeswhatyouwillbeteachingabout(50charactersorless).ClassTweet: In140charactersor less, tell attendeeswhatyour class is about.Thisneeds tobe just as

compelling as your title. If you’re not great at product or presentation messaging, search through thepresentationsgivenatotherconferencesformessagingyoucanimitateortweak.Youmightalsolistthreequestionsattendeeswillknowtheanswerstobythetimetheyleaveyourclass.SkillLevel:Indicatethepreferredskilllevelforyourattendee.Isthecontentsomethingyoucanadjust

dependingontheskilllevelofyourpotentialaudience?TechnologySkillLevel:Willyourattendeesneed tohaveanypriorexperiencewithacertain typeof

technologyinordertounderstandwhatyouwillbeteaching?TechnologyList: List every tool, software, app, platform, gadget, or device youwill be addressing or

demonstrating in your class. Do you have a plan B in the event that any of these fail while you are

presenting?ListofConferences:Keepalistofalltheconferencesyouhavepresentedat.Buildit likeyouwoulda

résumé.PresenterURL:Howwillattendeescontactyoueasily?IsyourTwitterhandleavailablesothattheycan

tweetwhileyouarespeaking?To find content for your presentation kit, spend a weekend on industry blogs and forums. Reddit

Subredditsrelatedtoyournichearegoodtoo.Nowyouhavethecontent.MakeaPowerPointpresentation.GoogleSlidesisgreatforthis,andit’seasytouse.Youcouldselectthe

blackbackgroundwiththewhitewritingtheme.(It’seasytoreadandlookswaycoolerthanthestandardwhitewithblackwords.)OnGoogleSheets,youcanalsodraganddropGIFs.UseReactiongifs.comandtypein“Iamhappy,”“Iamangry,”andsoontofindgoodones.Also,youcanturnanyYouTubevideointoaGIFbyputtingthewordGIFbeforeYouTube(www.gifyoutube.com).YoucanalsoembedYouTubevideoseasilyenough.Sonowyouhaveapresentationofgoodcontentthatlooksnice.Ifyouhaven’tgivenatalkbeforeand

you’renervous,theeasiestthingtodoistoputeverywordyouwanttosayontheslides,andthenjustreadthemoutfromalaptopinfrontofyou.Onceyou’reconfidentwithwhatyou’resaying,removethewords—tryingtokeepnomorethansixwordsperslide.Youwanttheaudiencetoreadthewords,absorbtheirmeaning (ideally with a picture), and then focus back on you. Try to replace the um’s with pauses. Itinstantlymakesyoulookmoreprofessionalandconfident.PutyourTwitterhandleoneveryslidetoensureasteadystreamoftweets,whichlookgreatonStorifypiecesonyourtalksorembeddedinarticles.Also,ifyouhavecontent-richslides,youcanputyoure-mailaddressonthe lastslidewiththetexte-mailme forslides.Bingo!Instante-mailleadmagnet!

BOOKINGPRESENTATIONSOneoftheeasiestwaystobookpresentationsisthroughMeetupandEventbrite.Followthesesteps:

1. TypeyournicheintothesearchboxesonMeetupandEventbrite.Youcouldalsomakealistoflocalcoworkingspacesandaccelerators—particularlyifyou’reinthesmallbusinessorstartupspace.Checkforanetworkinggroupinyourarea,asmall-businessdevelopmentcenter,oraprofessionalorganization.Anyplacewheregroupsofpeoplecongregateforconferencesisagoodplacetostart.

2. FindalloftheactiverelevantgroupsonMeetupandEventbrite.

3. Copyandpastethefollowingmessageasaprivatemessagetotheorganizers:“Hi,I’mabigfanofyourMeetup.Igiveatalkon‘10WaystoImproveX’(insertyourtitlehere,obviously)thatIthinkyouraudiencewouldlove.DoyouhaveanyupcomingeventswhereIcouldsharethispresentation?IhavealargenetworkthatIwouldbehappytoinvitetotheeventaswell.Letmeknow—I’dlovetobeinvolved!”

4. E-mailandtweetatthematthesametime:“Hey,justmessagedyouaboutgettinginvolvedwithyourgroup.Letmeknowwhatyouthink.Thanks!”

Typically,about25percentshouldgetbacktoyou,andyoucantakeitfromthere.Intermsofscalingthisup,onyourfirstslideputthewordsTweetmethroughoutmytalk,andonthelastslideLetmeknowwhatyouthoughtofmytalk!Here’smye-mailforslides.You’llgettwothingsyoucanuseinthefuture:

1. Tweetsyoucanembedonyourpersonalwebsite.Forexample,“Watching@speakergivinganinterestingtalkone-mail.Somanytools!”

2. Nicewordsfrompeoplewhentheyrequestslides:“Greattalk.Didn’trealizehalfthesetoolsexisted.”

Nowyoucanusetheseinablogpostoronyourpersonalwebsiteascollateraltohelpyoubookmoretalks.(Makesureyoursitehasascheduleofyourappearances.)Asurprisingnumberofbigconferenceshaveopencallsforspeakers.Onaverage,applicationsareduefor

theseaboutninemonthsinadvance,andtheytendtogetbookedquickly.Ideally,youwantaccelerators,meet-ups,andcoworkingspaceswhowillput inmostofthelegworkoffillingtheroomforyou.Alwayscheckexpectedattendanceandhowmuchpromotionthey’lldobeforeyouconfirm.Thistechniqueissopowerful;thesalesprocessbeginswithaface-to-faceinteraction(evenifit’swithtenpeoplewhospeaktoyouafter the talk)andcanoftenbecontinuedoverSkype.Becarefulabout turningdownanyspeakingopportunitybecausetheaudienceis“toosmall.”Theopportunitiesforgreatnetworkingareimmense,andyoumaymeetexactlytherightpersoninaclassonlysixpeopleattend.Now,outsideof that, let’sdig intosometools thatyoucanuse tohackyour leadgenerationandsales

flow.We’llpresumeyou’veidentifiedwhoyourtargetaudienceis.Herearesometoolsandstrategiesyoucanusetogetinfrontofthem.

SALESPHASE1:GETTINGPEOPLETOYOURSITEANDFINDINGLEADS

Import.io:Thekingdaddyofscrapingtools.Scrapeanywebsite—nocoderequired.Slightlearningcurve,butworthit.Incredibleforgrabbingdatafromwebsites.Thousandsofcompanieshavebeenpoweringtheiruseracquisitionthroughscrapingtechniques.

Hunter:Typeinanycompany’swebsiteandfindallthepublice-mailaddressesofpeoplewhoworkthere.

VoilaNorbert:Findanyone’se-mailaddressintheworld.Youjustneedtheirfirstandlastnameandtheircompanyname.Itcoststendollarsforoneday,sodoallyourleadprospectingforeachmonthatonce.

Spaceship.rocks:Downloadlistsofyourcompetitors’Twitterfollowersandconvertthemintoe-mails.Fromhereyoucanimportthee-mailaddressesintoFacebookandTwitterviathe“CustomAudiences”featuresoyoushowonlyadstothesepeople.Youcouldalsoe-mailthemdirectly,butwewouldexercisecautionpendingwhatthelawsareinyourcountryaboutthis.

SellHack:ConstantlyscansocialnetworkslikeLinkedIntocreatelistsofe-mailsandcontactsyoucanreachoutto.Greatresource.It’sabitpriceyforastartup,butit’sagreattool—particularlyifyou’redoinghigh-valuesalesandneedlotsofleads.

Mattermark:Thistooltracksandhelpsyouconnectwitheighthundredthousandhigh-growthInternetcompanies.Itprovidesamineofleadsthatwillneverrunout,butitisprettyexpensive($6,000peryear).Ifyou’relookingtoscalefastorhaveinvestment,itcouldbeworthit.

Mention:Thistoolenablesyoutotrackmentionsofyourbrand,yourcompetitors’brands,orkeyphrasesacrossmultipleplatforms(Instagram,Twitter,blogs,etc.)soyoucanjumpinrealtimeandconvertpotentialcustomers.It’saprettyessentialandusefultoolformostcompanies.It

canbealittleexpensiveifyouwantmultiplealertsthough.

FreshWebExplorer:ThisonebyMozdoessomethingsimilartoMention.

Gainful:CaptureleadsfromAngelList,Crunchbase,andLinkedIn.Itvalidatesalle-mailstopreventbounces.Moderatelypriced.

LeadFuze:Itgluestogetherafewofthefunctionslistedabove.Onanyone’sLinkedIn,itcanusuallyfindtheire-mailandsometimestheirphonenumbertoo.Attheclickofabutton,youcanthensendapreparede-mail,soitwillsaveyoutimeratherthanusingscrapersande-mailsoftware.Itcangetexpensiveifyouneedalotofleadsinyourfunnel.LeadFuzestartsat$125for350e-mailspermonth.Definitelyworthitifyouhavemoneytoinvest.Itsavessomeserioustime!

SALESPHASE2:MAXIMIZINGVISITORS’VALUEONCETHEY’REONTHESITEORHAVEGIVENYOUTHEIRDETAILS

HelloBar:Thiseye-catchingbarsitsatthetopofyoursiteandcapturese-mails.It’susedbythousandsofhigh-convertingsites.

SalesIQ:Seewho’sonyourwebsiteandinteractwiththemlivethroughlivesaleschat,sendingtargetedmessagesiftheytakecertainactions,andsoon.

Inboundgeo:Findthephysicaladdressofpeoplebrowsingyourwebsitefordirectmailopportunities.

Leadfeeder:Getanalyticsonthecompaniesthatvisityoursitesoyoucanconvertthemtosalesleads.

Intercom:Plugandplaylivechat(textorvoice),enablingpeopletospeaktoyourteaminrealtimeiftheyhaveanyquestions.It’sincrediblyusefulasacustomerserviceandsalestool.

E-MAILSALESTOOLS

Reply:Sendcolde-mailsthatfeelwarm,A/Btestdifferenttitles,increaseresponserates,etc.

Streak:Thisisabrilliantcustomerrelationshipmanagement(CRM)tool.Everytimeapotentialcustomere-mailsyou,clicktoaddthemtoasalesflowthatsitsneatlyinyourGmail.Havetheybeenpitched?Areyounegotiating?Movethemthroughthefunnel!

Sidekick:Seewhoopensyoure-mails.I’veknownsalesteamstowaitforpeopletoopentheire-mailsandthencallthemoneminutelater.

MailMatch:Broadenyourrelationshipwithyourconnections.Onceyouhavetheire-mailaddresses,importthemintoMailMatch,andthey’llscanmultiplesourcestofindyourconnections’othersocialchannels(Twitter,Facebook,etc.)andpersonalinformation,includingname,website,andanyothersitestheyexiston.

Discover.ly:Thisisafantastictool.Goonanyone’sLinkedInanditwillshowyoualltheFacebookfriendsyouhaveincommonsoyoucanaskviayourfriendforawarmintroduction.It

runsacrossTwitter,AngelList,andmore.ItalsohasaGmailplug-intodothesamewhensomeonee-mailsyou.

Boomerang:Sende-mailslater,“snooze”e-mailsyoudon’twanttoreadnow,andboomerange-mailsthatdon’tgetrepliedtobacktoyousoyoucanfollowup.

Nova:Sendpersonalizede-mailsatscale.

Crystal:Bitofawildcardthisone.Crystalresearchespeopleyou’ree-mailingandadvisesyouonhowtoe-mailthem—whichemotionalresponsestheymayrespondwellto,etc.Best-usecaseforthisonemightbeifyou’retargetingafew,high-dollar-valueclients.Itmaybeabittimeconsumingotherwise.

Conspire:Itlooksatthepeopleinyoure-mailnetworkandwhothey’reconnectedto,enablingyoutogetintroductionstopowerfulcontacts.

Y

[14]

CONTENTMARKETING

ou’veprobablyheardsomeonetalkaboutcontentmarketingorinboundmarketingrecently.Reallythese are just new words that describe the same thing that has been done by good marketers forhundredsofyears:providesomebodywithsomethingofenoughvaluethatthey’lllistentowhatyou

havetosay.Therearea fewways todo this.These range frombuilding toolsor recommendations thatpeopleuse

(which is the basis for most affiliate websites) to creating content that people want or need (moretraditionallycalled“contentmarketing”).Butforourpurposes,inthischapterwe’llrefertoanythingthatconsistsofwritinganarticleorblogpostandgettingitpublishedsomewhereascontentmarketing.Contentmarketing,inactuality,isverysimple.Therearetwosidestocontentmarketing:

1. Writinggreatcontent

2. Gettingitseen

Itseemssillytodwellonthefirstoptionfortoolong,butinrealitythatiswheremostpeoplemessup.Heavenknowshowmanyblogstherearewithsomesetquota—tryingtopublishfifteenarticlesperweekaboutuselessdrivel—withouteverprovidinganyrealvaluetotheirtargetaudience.Becauseofthat,wehavedevelopedasimplerubricthatwillhelpyouwritebettercontent.

WRITEFORREDDITWe call it “Write for Reddit,” but it doesn’t mean writing specifically for the website Reddit.More

generallythisparadigmmeansthatyouwritesomethinggoodenoughthatifitwereplacedonaReddit-likesite,wherepeopleheavilyscrutinizeyourworkandhavetheoptiontoupvoteordownvoteit,itwouldgotothetop.Welike totakethisadvice literallyat times.Someofourmostpopularblogpostseverwerepostedto

Reddit or HackerNews or GrowthHackers several times, incorporating the feedback before they wereassembledintheirfinalblogform(andviewedmillionsoftimes).Itsoundssimple,butitreallycannotbestressedenough.Ifyouwritesomethingthat’ssogoodpeoplewill

havetoshareit,itwillbringinsales,traffic,andrevenueforalongtime.We shared the “SEO inOneDay” chapter from this book on Reddit, tweaked it until it was good

enough,andthenpostedittoMedium,whereitwasviewednearlythirtythousandtimesoverthecourseofoneweek.Makethattypeoftrafficthegoalofyourcontentmarketing,andevenwhenyoumissthetarget,itwillbeahugewin.

GETTINGYOURCONTENTSEENThe problemwithmost content-marketing literature, blogs, and software, however, doesn’t lie in the

“write good content”bit.There are absurd amountsof literature thatwill tell you exactlyhow to create

goodcontent—withpeopleevencallingit10xcontent.We’regoingtoassumeyouhavewrittenthistypeof10xcontent.Nowweneedtoget it seen.Thetruth is,buildingamediacompany(yes,weareallmediacompanies

now)ismaybe20percentcontentand80percentdistribution.Whydid a tweet containing only thewordburger get over one hundred and fifty thousand retweets?

BecauseitwastweetedbyOneDirection’sHarryStyles.It’splaintoseethatsomeonewithalargenumberofTwitter followers can tweet content that’s not as good aswhat others are tweeting, and it goesmuchfurther.Thesameistruewhenitcomestocontentmarketing:Amediocrearticlewithgreatdistributionisfarbetterthanagreatarticlewithnoormediocredistribution.Alotofcontentmarketingistrickyandunpredictablebecauseitdealswithotherpeople.Aneasyplaceto

startistobuildoutthechannelsthatyoudohavecontrolover.Sowe’regoingtofocusnowonwhatexactlyyouneedtodotogethugedistributionandmoreeyeballsonwhatyou’rewriting.

THEMONEY’SINTHELISTThe simplest way to increase distribution is to use the e-mail list that we started to build in earlier

chapters.Heavenknowshowmany timeswe’vewrittenagreat article that justdidn’t seem togetmuchtractionuntilwerememberedtoe-mailourlist.Even if the resultsdon’t seemhuge,everyopenede-mailbrings recognitionandbringsyouruserbase

somepercentageclosertoactuallybuyingfromyou.

TheJamesAltucherMethodJamesAltucher,oneof thebiggerbloggersout there,haspioneeredamethodhecalls, “AFewSimple

Asks.”Init,herecommendsprovidingqualitycontentallyearlong,andspecificallyandexplicitlyaskinghiscustomerbasetodosomethingthreetofourtimesperyear.That’salotofworktooptimizeforafewevents,butdoingsomakestheeventsverypowerful.Whatever

Jamesdecidestosichisuserbaseoninevitablyblowsup.

BUILDINGSOCIALThenextmostobviouswaytodistributecontentistoalwaysbebuildingasocialfollowing.Remember

thatourgoalisn’tonlytogetourfollowerstoseewhatwe’resaying,butwearealsotryingtogetthemtoshare what we’re saying so other people see.We’ve watched companies drive hundreds of thousands ofdollarsfromonetweetinoneday,despitetheaccounthavingonlyafewthousandfollowers.Ifyoucanhittherightaudiencewiththerightsharablemessageattherighttime,youcanseeexplosiveresults.

ALWAYSCROSS-POSTAnotherthingwe’veconstantlybeensurprisedatishowoftensomeofourbiggestfanscompletelymiss

somethingwe’vewritten.Themostbasicexampleiscross-postingtoMediumandLinkedIn.Justcopyandpastethewholethingandputitoneverychannelyoueasilycan.This link will let you share an article with up to fifty LinkedIn groups at once:

https://www.LinkedIn.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http%3A%2F%2Fyourwebsitehere%2Ecom. Ifyouareina largenumberofapplicableLinkedIngroups,goaheadanddropthearticle inthere.(Ifnot,startjoiningalargenumberofapplicableLinkedIngroups.)

Additionally, look for socialnews sites youcancross-post to.There are almost always industry-specificnichesitesthatarehungryforcontent.Trygoogling[industry]socialnewsandseewhathappens.Youmaybesurprisedathowmanythereareoutthere.Onceyou’veexhaustedthebasicoptionsyouhavecontrolover,moveontothechannelswherethere’sa

littlemoreupintheair.

EXTERNALCHANNELSLet’sgooverafewmoremethodsthatmayworkforyou.There’ssomefinesseandalotofluckinvolved

whenitcomestousingthese,butwe’veneverseenanyonetryallofthemandhavenoneofthemdeliver.

TheSkyscraperTechniqueTheskyscrapertechnique,popularamongSEOs,consistsofbuildinganarticlethatincludesthebestbits

of other people’s articles. For example, “20DesignTips from theWorld’s BestDesigners.” (Don’t youwanttoclickthatlinkalready,evenifyou’renotadesigner?)Theendstrategyistogetthearticleinfrontoftheseinfluentialpeopleandletthemshareitoutofasenseofego.Youwouldbesurprisedhowoftenthisworkswitheveryoneexceptthemostfamous.Ifyouwanttoseeanexample,youcaneasilyfindthesetypesofarticlesbysearchingforyournicheor

industryinBuzzSumo.BuzzSumoisessentiallyscrapingtheweb,tryingtofindthecontentthatisdoingthebest.(ThefreeBuzzSumoplanshouldworkfineforthis,butyoumaywanttotrythepaidplanjusttocheckitout.)Withthatinformationinmind,we’llwriteanarticlethatincludesquotesorsectionsfromfamouspeople

inourniche,andwe’lluseafewtechniquestoautomatereachingouttothesepeopletoletthemknowitexists.Once you have the article written, with the name of the author in it, use ContentMarketer.io to

automaticallyscanyourarticleforthenamesofpeopleyou’vementioned,ande-mailandtweetthemfromwithintheContentMarketer.ioplatform.Sincewe’retargetinginfluentialpeople,ContentMarketer.iowillgenerallybeabletofindthem,andthere’sarelativelygoodchancethey’llretweet,share,ordropyourpostin theirweekly e-mailbecauseyou’re complimenting them.Thismethodcangiveyour traffic the initialtractionitneedstotakeoff.Fromhere,itshouldgetsharedandbegintheviralspiralifthecontent’sgoodenough.

ADDATRAFFIC-SHARINGWIDGETNative adwidgets,which sit at thebottomof an articleonyour site,normally sendyou twoor three

visitorsforeveryoneyousendawayfromyoursite.Taboola and Outbrain bring media companies tons of cheap traffic, but their widgets are usually

untargetedandcanmakeapagelookcheap.Insteadwe’regoingtouseSumoMe.SumoMeislikeTaboolaor Outbrain, but it is generally used by startups and small businesses. They have developed their ownwidget,anditworksremarkablywell(https://sumome.com/app/discover).Addittoyoursiteandstartreceivingfreetrafficfromothersites.Youare,ofcourse,goingtohaveto

sendpeopleandtrafficofftositesotherthanyoursinordertoutilizethis,somakesureyoursisasitethatdoesn’trelyonpeoplestayingonitforlong.Asyoucanprobablyimagine,there’salsoanundergroundgraymarketofsitesthatdonothingbutsend

traffictoandfromthesewidgetsallday.Someofthemstacksomeseriouscashdoingso,butinordertodo

that,you’regoingtohavetospendalargeamountoftimeoptimizingyourcontenttomakeitclickbait-y.

GUESTBLOGGINGSigh.Thisoneisn’tafavorite,becauseeveryone’sdoingit,it’sprettymanual,soonlysmallpartsofitcan

beautomated,andithasunpredictableresults.Don’tgopurelyoffofasite’spopularityhere.Onmanyofthemostpopularsites,you’llnevergetmuch

facetimewiththeusers.Forthatreason,amajorblogwithalotoftrafficmightdeliveronlyahandfulofvisitorstoyoursite,whileablognoonehasheardofcandelivertensofthousands.Itdependsasmuchonhowyourcontentontheblogisdoingasitdoesonwhattheblogis.Nevertheless,guestbloggingisasomewhatnecessaryevilforagrowthhacker.ItsmainbenefitsareSEO

bonuses(links fromlegit sitesareoneof thestrongestSEOsignals),extra traffic,andbrandawareness—impressive to stakeholders in your company (investors, online communities, competitors, potentialcustomersandemployees,etc.).Also,ondayone,nobodyisgoingtobereadingyourblog,soyouhavetogowherethetrafficis.Startby

writing on other people’s blogs. Use the tools in our PR section to find relevant small blogs for yourindustrytostartwithwhileyoubuildupbothyourwritingskillsandyourreputation.You’llusetheseasabitofarésumétoget into thebigger sites.Onceyou’re ready,youmightconsider someof thesebigger,influentialsitesthatregularlyacceptguestposts.We’llgooverhowtoguestpostforthemshortly.

TheHuffingtonPost

TechCrunch

LifeHack

Tech.co

TechnoFAQ

KnowTechie

TechNewsBeat

AptGadget

TheFutureTech

Business.com

SportsBlog

BlogHer

HubSpot

SocialMediaExaminer

MarketingProfs

AllBusiness.com

SEMrushBlog

SocialMediaToday

TechCityNews(UK-focused)

If youwant to find somethingmore specific toyourniche, youcan search for someof the footprintsusingGooglethatindicatetheymightbeacceptingguestposts.Youcanseeahugelistofthosefootprintshere:https://raw.githubusercontent.com/growth-austen/footprints/master/Footprints/community.md.TheHuffingtonPost andbasically everyothermajorblog runs to the samecontent-hungry system.All

youneed todo is e-mail, saying,“I likeyour [blog/site], andI’d like towrite for it. I’veattachedapostaboutX.”Aslongasthepostisfairlywellwritten,they’llusuallypublishit.Alotofpeopleput“WriteforTheHuffington Post” in their bio, but it reallymeans nothing.The Huffington Post currently publishesaroundathousandarticleseachday,andmostofthemaregarbage.MostoftheseblogsandsitesmaketheirmoneyfrombanneradsandAdWords,sothemoretrafficthey

get,themoremoneytheymake.Bydeliveringthemfreecontentandsharingitonyournetworks,you’reessentiallyworkingforthemforfree.Justasanexperiment,weworkedwithsomeonetosendane-mailtoTheHuffingtonPostthatsaidnothingotherthan,“Iwrotethis.Publishit.”Theydid.And if it’s that easy to get somethingpublishedonTheHuffingtonPost, imagine how easy it is to get

publishedonasmallerblogwithinyourniche,whereyourcustomerswillbereadingthecontent.Asever,thebeststrategyistoe-mailthecorrectcontactandtweetthematthesametimetoletthemknowyou’vejuste-mailedthem,increasingthechancetheywillreadyoure-mail.Makesureyouputagreattitleonit,ofcourse.

InfluencerOutreachReachingouttoinfluencerstoshareyourcontentissimple:UseNinjaoutreach.comtofindinfluencers

in your niche, reach out to them, and share your article. Some will post or share them or at least beintriguedbythem.You can also useOnalytica.OnOnalytica, you copy andpaste your article in, and they’ll scan it for

keywordsandthenfindinfluencerswhohaveusedthosekeywordsrecently.Soyoucanreachoutandsay,“Isawyou’vebeenwritingaboutBitcoinrecently.IjustwroteanarticleonhowIthinkitwilldevelopthisyear.Wouldloveyourthoughts!Pleaseshareitwithyourcommunityifyoulikeit.Thanks!”Asever,remember:targettherightpeople,trytoreachouttoalotofthematonce,andexpectasmall

percentagetoconvert.

T

CLOSINGTHOUGHTS

hisbookisonlyasgoodaswhatyouputintomakethingshappen.Someofyoumaybethinking—Itworksforotherpeople.Idon’tthinkit’llworkforourcompany.Whywouldit?Theonlywaytoknowisto try. Ask anyone whose company has been successful: there is always an innovative marketing

technique early on as part of their story.Using the tools and techniques from this book, you can get aseriouscompetitiveadvantage.We’re living ina timewhentheInternethasallowedahandfulofpeople todramaticallychange their

livesinafractionofthetimeitusedtotakecompaniestoscale.Ourintentionwithwritingthisbookistoempowerasmanypeopleaspossibletogrowtheircompanies,andthentohavethosepeoplegetintouchwithusandletusknowhowtheyusedwhat’sinthisboxtoboosttheircompany.Gettingthosee-mailswillbetheultimaterewardforthehoursspentwritingthisforyou.Thankyouforreading!Let’skeepintouch.

v@magnific.comausten.allred@gmail.com

S

ACKNOWLEDMENTS

pecial thanks to the following individuals,whobacked thisbookbefore itwaswrittenandmade itpossible:DanGillespie,AndranikOkroyan,TasnimMustafa,EndaCrowley,EvaCaletkova,KellySumner,

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typo-filledblogposts.

ABOUTTHEAUTHORS

AUSTENALLREDreceivedtheInternet inhishomeasapresent forhiseighthbirthday,andhehasbeenanInternet marketer ever since. Starting in the early days of manipulating the search results of Lycos,AltaVista,andeBay,hehassinceworkedatmanyagenciesandstartups.HeiscurrentlyaseniormanageronthegrowthteamatLendUpinSanFrancisco.

VIN CLANCY (formerly known as Vincent Dignan) is a growth hacker, public speaker, consultant, andentertainer.HebootstrappedhiswayoutofbeingonwelfareintheUKbyteachinghimselftogrowthhackbyreadingeverythinghecouldfindontheInternet—eventuallystartinghisownTechstars-backedgrowthhacking agency:Magnific.He currently coaches entrepreneursonhow to improve their growthhackingstrategies.You can findhim traveling theworld giving talks,wearing giant golden shoes and tie-dye furcoats, andgiving award-winningpresentationson everything fromgrowthhacking to sales andpersonalbranding.