Indie Letters - ⚡ IL - Riches 💵 are in the niches.

Happy New Year!

May you stick with new year's resolutions.

On my side, I have set my new year's resolutions very high. And few of them are starting a content marketing agency, writing an ebook / making a growth strategies database, building a community, and starting a SaaS/acquiring a SaaS. 

P.S Reply to this email with your New year's resolutions.

Based on Dec 18's feedback, I am cutting down Articles and doubling on Snippets' part. Now the newsletter will have a maximum of two articles. And if you don't like the articles section, I can cut it completely as well. 

To do so, just leave the feedback (or reply if you have left feedback earlier)

Marketing & Growth

Create a growth loop with user-generated templates

User-generated content is gold, and user-generated templates are a cut above the rest. Get new users and retain old ones by allowing them to create (and share) templates for your product.

Notion's templates are a big part of what makes it such a successful business. And user-generated templates are particularly effective because they create a growth loop. It goes like this: 

A potential user comes across a useful template that someone else shared. They sign up to access the user-generated template and start using the platform. Eventually, they create their own, and the cycle repeats. 

Of course, templates only work for customizable products, but it doesn't need to be Notion-level customization. You should be able to start leveraging templates as long as your individual users are achieving their goals in unique ways. 

The first step is to set the stage by making your own templates. Promote them and create a culture around them. Then allow users to make and share their own.

Support us by sponsoring an issue sent to our 1800+ subscribers each week. (US audience: 90%) Book now →

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How long did it take for SEO to start working for you?

In the beginning, it typically takes 3 to 6 months for (low-competition) content to start ranking well on Google.

After covering a whole bunch of topics related to your niche, new content will rank in 2 to 3 months, or even faster as Google "trusts" the site more.

Interlinking is definitely a great way to speed up the indexing process, and promoting your content on the web does too, but competition is the most important factor.

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Snippets

• After 69 days, Google indexing tool is reenabled on 23th-December-2020. If you have large numbers of URLs, you should submit a sitemap instead of requesting indexing via Search Console.
• Notion launched the beta API. You can join the waitlist here.
• Using Tailwind CSS for your projects? Get 120+ free blocks ready to copy-paste and use in your projects. These blocks are pre-made for headers, authentication page, pricing section, grids, gallery, navigation, and footers.
• Riches are in the niches. (Click to tweet)
• Once you start investing into something, stick to that project at least until you have an MVP out in public and get some feedback. Don't jump back and forth between too many projects without reaching important milestones.
• Pinterest 2020 trends report was accurate. Now they have created "Pinterest Predicts" report, featuring 150+ trends they expect will rise in 2021.
• Prediction: The best indie hacker companies in 2021 will be building tools and platforms to support the creator economy — the millions of people moving online to make a living from writing, videos, podcasting, teaching, etc. (Tweet link)
• Double down on video content. Video marketing is the future of SEO and Content Marketing. Especially when it comes to "How To" type of queries, videos will perform any day better than written text. 72% of consumers say they would prefer a video over written text. Even in search, the video snippets are taking over the first ranking blogs + google is testing out Instagram stories / Reels videos in SERP.

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Worth Reading

1. Product-led vs sales-led vs founder-led vs marketing-led growth (podcast)

2. The end of advertising? Facebook Vs Apple

3. How to measure customer value and start using it for segmentation

4. Email design trends to win your subscriber’s heart in 2021

5. How marketing analytics helps businesses make data-driven decisions and grow

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 If risk > reward, you fail.

One more thing!

💲 Grow your projects by sponsoring an issue.

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