IndieHackers - 🗞 What's New: SEO money pages

For indie hackers, SEO money pages consist of:

• Alternative, comparison, migration, feature, and solution pages. Add video content to these pages, and host on YouTube with the same page title.
• YouTube channels cater to our need for new, engaging content. Niche down to lower competition, and sell merch to diversify your income.
• From teacher to full-time website flipper. Will Williams sold his website for $160K, purchased another for $5K, then sold it for $82K.

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by James Fleischmann

Ross Simmonds is an SEO expert who has worked with the likes of Moz, Canva, and Mailchimp. He's also a founder doing millions in revenue across multiple brands, including an AI product. Here's his advice on SEO!

SEO still matters for indie hackers

I have a philosophy around what I call "SEO money pages." For indie hackers, money pages consist of:

• Alternative pages: Showcase yourself and others as alternatives to your competitors.
• Comparison pages: Your product vs. your competitor's product.
• Migration pages: Targeting people who need to migrate from a big company's product to your product.
• Feature pages: Highlight in-demand features.
• Solution pages: Highlight the business outcomes and solutions that your customers are seeking.

These pages tend to be the highest ROI assets on SaaS websites.

Making the most out of money pages

• Use them for traffic acquisition, but also run re-marketing ads.

• Create a lead magnet that can be a softer touchpoint on these pages if the reader doesn't book a demo or buy.

• Include video content, and host it on YouTube with the same page title.

• Include these pages in the footer of your website.

• Optimize old blog content to link to these pages when appropriate.

• Embrace internal linking across this collection of landing pages, and use a pillar asset to link out to each.

Don't overlook backlinks

1. Get backlinks. Links are what Google uses to understand what's going on on the web. Start by finding friends in the industry that you can write blog posts for. In those blog posts, link back to your own content.

2. Aspire to the level of content that Google wants to show. Constantly have an optimization function, updating your page with new graphics, new visuals, new references to data and stats, etc.

3. Optimize your content to demonstrate what Google calls EEAT: Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trust. You need an author page, linking to your social channels, education, expertise, accolades, companies you've worked with, etc. All of those things demonstrate further trust and authority.

Be shameless. Promote all the time, create all the time, distribute all the time, and amplify all the time. Don't overthink it. If you've got an idea, share it.

Subscribe to Ross's marketing newsletter, and check out his products, Foundation and DistributionAI!

Discuss this story.

from the Growth Trends newsletter

🧵 Threads will make its API broadly available by June.

🏘 How community native companies are changing work. #ad

📝 A comprehensive list of 2023 and 2024 tech layoffs.

😂 Elon Musk's legal case against OpenAI is "hilariously bad."

🤖 The top types of AI-generated content in marketing.

📧 15 post-purchase email examples to inspire your next campaign.

Check out Growth Trends for more curated news items focused on user acquisition and new product ideas.

from the Trends.vc newsletter by Dru Riley

Problem

We want content that fits our needs and interests.

Solution

YouTube channels cater to our need for new, engaging content.

Players

YouTube channels:

• Minute Physics: Teaches physics.
• MKBHD: Tech reviews of consumer electronics.
• No Code MBA: Tutorials on how to use no-code tools.

Tools for YouTube channels:

• Powtoon: Create videos with animated characters, templates, backgrounds, audio, and more.
• TubeBuddy: Optimize your channel to get more views and subs.
• Descript: Write, record, transcribe, edit, and share your videos.
• vidIQ: Boost your YouTube views and subscribers.
• OpusClip: Turn long videos into viral clips.

How to build

• Niche down to lower competition. Matt Parker mixes standup comedy with math.

• Build in public to earn trust and build awareness. Casey Neistat vlogged his daily life, including the process of making his videos.

• Use AI to make content more quickly. Use ChatGPT to write video scripts. Use AI image generators to make visuals.

How to grow

• Make YouTube Shorts. They are easier to create, and yield better return on effort.

• Split-test your YouTube videos to see what works. This can help you optimize your channel and boost engagement. Sean Cannell shows how A/B testing thumbnails got his channel to 1.5M views.

• Cross-promote your YouTube channel on social media. Use discovery platforms to reach a wider audience.

How to monetize

• Sell merch or products to diversify your income.

• Offer channel memberships, giving more value to your true fans.

Predictions

• YouTubers will build multimillion dollar e-commerce businesses.

• YouTube channels will grow into multi-channel networks that cover many topics. The Game Theorists grew from video games to cover food, film, and fashion.

Haters

“The YouTube algorithm is unpredictable."

While this is true, there are ways to stack the odds in your favor. Experiment with content, see what works, and stick to it. Great content will eventually get a boost from the algorithm.

“It’s hard to compete with popular YouTubers.”

Share your personal experiences. Inject your personality.

“I don’t know what to talk about.”

What are you passionate about? What do you know a lot about? Share stories based on your experience, even if you’re not an expert on a topic. Show your progress in learning a skill or a topic. People want authenticity now more than ever.

Links

• A Doctor Turned YouTuber with 4.8M Subscribers.
• Building a Report on YouTube Channels.
• The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Monetization.
• How to Grow A YouTube Channel.

Related reports

• Personal Brands.
• Faceless YouTube Channels.
• The Creator Economy.

Become a Trends Pro Member to get the full report on YouTube Channels, or get the next free Trends.vc report here.

Discuss this story, or subscribe to Trends.vc for more.

🔎 Finding a market and an underserved niche. Posted by Ethan.

💰 My first $165 with no experience in SaaS. Posted by Evgenii Anikin.

🎙 Should I start this podcast? Posted by Chakrdeep.

🚀 How I plan to ship products more often. Posted by Scott James.

🤔 First three customers, but Google Ads isn't working. Posted by Moritz Hofmann.

🌟 The most beautiful software I've ever built! Posted by Mike.

Want a shout-out in next week's Best of Indie Hackers? Submit an article or link post on Indie Hackers whenever you come across something you think other indie hackers will enjoy.

by Marc Andre

Each week, Flip My Site publishes an inspiring success story featuring a founder growing and selling an online business. Will Williams went from teacher to full-time website flipper, and is now teaching other founders how to flip!

From the classroom to the laptop

In 2017, Will had been teaching in Liverpool for a decade. He started a side hustle offering in-person group training for teachers. For about a year, he grew the business while teaching full-time. Then, he left his teaching job to go all-in on his business. For the next two years, Will continued growing the business by leading training sessions throughout the UK.

Will started a blog to generate more traffic. In 2020, when COVID-19 hit, Will’s in-person training sessions were abruptly shut down. Needing to adapt quickly, he created recordings of the trainings, and sold them on his website.

In the meantime, Will continued working on the blog. Eventually, Will’s site was monetized with Mediavine ads, and he was at $6K MRR.

The sale

After running the site for a few years, Will decided to sell it. He listed it on Motion Invest, and it sold for $160K.

As of November 2023, Will has sold two more websites: A small pet site sold for $4.5K in late 2022, and an outdoor site sold for $82K in March 2023.

Flipping sites

So far, Will has bought five sites, all with sales prices below $20K. He found three of them through SEO communities, and bought them from the previous owners privately. He’s also purchased a site on Flippa, and another through a broker.

You might assume that you need a lot of money to start buying and flipping existing websites, but think again. The outdoor site that Will sold for $82K was purchased for just $5K two years earlier. He improved the site, made money from it for two years, and cashed out.

Will purchases sites with the intent of improving them and selling them, rather than holding on to them long-term. This keeps him motivated, and helps him prioritize what needs to be done to make the business as profitable as possible in the here and now.

When buying existing sites, Will prefers to avoid competitive niches. He likes sites that have existing traffic and lots of authority; sites that are also well-branded are a bonus.

In addition to growing a few sites he's purchased, Will is currently working on a new website, Flipperfy, which will serve as a resource for anyone looking for information on website flipping!

Discuss this story.

by Tweetmaster Flex

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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to James Fleischmann, Darko, Dru Riley, and Marc Andre for contributing posts. —Channing