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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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).
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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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://[email protected]&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:
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.
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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,“[email protected]!”
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.
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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.
[email protected]@gmail.com
S
ACKNOWLEDMENTS
pecial thanks to the following individuals,whobacked thisbookbefore itwaswrittenandmade itpossible:DanGillespie,AndranikOkroyan,TasnimMustafa,EndaCrowley,EvaCaletkova,KellySumner,
Lynnae,ErikWegener,Rishi,Elise,KaelynnAllredPriest,SpencerAllenGardner,Laura,JordanMirchev,Vladimir, Edmund Dantes Hamilton, Judah, Dallen Allred, Joshua Dance, Doug Hunter, Sophie-CharlotteMoatti,LuciaRusinakova,NickyGeorge,JesseRowe,BarneyGuiton,LouiseFarley,LeeHarris,Lisa LaMagna, ThomasMorrison, TiphaineGantner, JacobWright, Janmcginley,Onnix London, lisalane, Ryan, EspreeDevora, Chandreyi Saha, Sasha Serafimovski,Hatim Siywala, Kayleigh Bell, Victor,Malek Lemkecher, Emmanuel Farodoye - FILLFI N.E.W.S./MOMM,Mohamed Buni, Thomas Paris,Jade Brandais,Dīlee, Jonah Purinton, Robbie, JaieChien,Chaitra Ramarao, Raymond Fellers,Danny,Owen Baker, TravelMore.co, Cos, Elliott Adams, The Sidney Bechet Society, lauren chiarello,WarrenWilkinson,SabrinaMcEwen,AlexPollock,JonathanLea,GrantCleveland,NickWalter,GuillaumeAgis,HuwWalters,NeilRobertson,AnnaFraser,Michael,Gilles,Anusha,AbdulrahmanHariri,MarkAntonyCronin,NickWhitfield, AlecCampbell, ReaganWilliams,OliviaMartyn,Martin Forstner,@finnious,IlanaZacka,CyrilMarchand, james, JonathanNeumann,BeverleyJackman,manGoweb,MonicaPopa,WillBowersox,GarethKay,KhierstynRoss,KatrinSuess,JosephOurs,RyleyLyon,NathanRone,DanielLindén, Daniele Morisco, Kamil Burzynski, Natalia Kozyura, andy peppiatt, Olivia Ramona Monk,GeorgeRapley,JunHuh,OndrejBartos,DaneLuna,SergeyTikhonov,AndrewCollins,RandiNeville,Zaynab, Bob Otto Iskandar, Peter Rank Schrøder, Dee Saigal, Daniel Stevens, Aria Rajasa Masna,FrancescaNavarre, CarolynWensley, Vivien, Joshua Lenon, Amy Czyz, F.Manuel, EdwardHeywood,Trevor,Thenuka,BrettWillms,wovka,Holli-Mae Johnson,DougLynch,BrendanBernstein,ClarenceWooten, Olivia Lucas,Will Laurenson, Afton Jones, Gerben Boot, Al Flores,MuuseLabs, ChristopherHeille, JieWahyonoKusumo,NivenPrasetya,Nick Jones,WendyBriggs,Tony,ThomasGrenet, JackBuck,MariaEscubos,Alexandra,VytautasAlech,ChrisHamoen,KumaranVeluppillai, fascinated,Ben,CyrilTrosset,PaulWagner,DanielKirillov,SofiaZab,NicholasWhite,HayamShobeyri,EleanorGoold-Hiscox,PatricvanMaaren,logkr,Rizky,MichelleLeGoff,DanielGennaoui,DaveMartin,NickJ,LoralQuinn,MichaelSidon,Grub,Louis,JoshWard,MauroSicard,Tiana,KerriJean,EleanorYoung,kassim,RobWood, Dominic Monkhouse, Chris Hooker, Matt Ballek, M. Ian Graham, Patrick Obolgogiani,PremkumarKrishnakumar,MattLeaver,NicholasLeClair,HongRay, JordanLitvenenko,TheLingerieLab,FredrikLarsson,OrlandoOrozco,HomerJonYoung,WalterEdmondson,PaulineNguyen,StevenWillems,NinaObraztsova,WarrenCarter,AdrianThompson, Scott Steffek, JonathanBerman,MerikeManley,Karim,Nat,Lindy,BenAnderson,Y.Badack,MichaelaDrake,KairiRapp,MickiBoas,ToddDarby,ChristineContreras,DavidMurray-Hundley,DeepankerDua,EsfandiarBandari,SarahGolden,pedro,mayaglows,Emil,RafalKarwin-Krawczyk,FelixWaiCheung,Vanja,AmarPrashar,MartyBryant,Selwyn, RyanConnolly,ChristianHirsch, AdamBianco,Carl, Philip Steele, Rafe Jeune, Rich,HephziPemberton, JulianWeisse, StephenKirk,MadelineMarie Johnson, Laura AlisonDesign, JanetDwyer,Erica,JonasLejon,Fida,vickimcleod,ChristinaPerry,Lizz♡Choi,IssaraLeatherGoods,Konrad,MaxArnold,MartinKessler,JonathanBaillieStrong,MikeEads,Bart,Seb,EndaGuinan,JoshCrane,ChuckStormon, Austin Craig, Larry Kolinek, LiamMcGuinness, Rafael, Chris Scott, Charlotte Ellis,MaximKahlert, Adam Paciorek, Arjun, RyanMiller, martin anstey, Alice Thwaite, michael horgan, Josephine,
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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.