Ahrefs - Ahrefs' Weekly Digest #66

Hey there,

Happy New Year! I hope you’re enjoying your holidays or, at the very least, taking a nice break before the new year begins.

With 2021 coming to a close, I have a question for you:

What is the best SEO/marketing article you read this year?

Feel free to hit “reply” and let me know. I’d love to read or watch some of your best recommendations.

With that said, here’s what we published this week:

✍️ New on our blog

17 Actionable Content Marketing Tips for 2022 by Si Quan Ong

Some tips you can apply to your content marketing in 2022.

If there is one tip I think you should apply from the 17 on this list, it is “to be more opinionated.”

In a bid to “skyscraper” their content, writers collate and compile every possible idea, extending lists to hundreds of items and guides to tens of thousands of words. But that’s not helpful to the reader. No one’s going to trudge through 10,000 words just to find the one thing they need.

The selling point of a writer or content creator is taste. Taste comes from experiences, reading, conversations, and subject matter expertise. It’s what makes your content unique. It’s what makes it stand out.

Taste means sharing your opinions. One of Tim’s most popular posts is his “rant” on email outreach. That’s how Wirecutter does it too. It stands out by sharing an opinion, i.e., telling its audience which is the best item in the category it reviews.

How to Achieve Product-Market Fit (5 Steps) by Mateusz Makosiewicz

Product-market fit (PMF) happens when a business has confirmed signals that its product can satisfy an existing demand in a high-potential market. And the typical signs are when people are willing to buy the product (even if it’s not perfect yet), actively use it, and recommend it to others.

Every startup wants to reach this stage. But how do you do it? Mateusz has devised a five-step plan for you to achieve PMF:

Formulate your value hypothesis, i.e., specifying what value your product would introduce to the user’s life
Specify the features of your minimum viable product
Build your minimum viable product
Test your minimum viable product with real users
Learn from your users and iterate

66 Content Marketing Statistics for 2022 by Mateusz Makosiewicz

Mateusz has collated a list of important content marketing statistics. Use them to inform your content marketing strategy or convince your boss of the channel’s importance.

Here are some content marketing statistics that I found interesting:

Only 10% of marketers don’t use content marketing. (That’s a huge change from just a few years ago.)
51% of the businesses that invest in content marketing publish content every day. (That’s more than I expected.)
The top three organic content distribution channels used by B2B marketers are social media, email, and their organization’s blog/website. (Interesting that SEO isn’t part of these.)
79% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy or download a piece of software or app by watching a video. (It’s incredible how powerful video is.)

📹 New on YouTube

The Only Link Building Tools You Need (Free and Paid) by Sam Oh

To understand which tools you need for link building, you need to first understand the three stages:

Prospecting
Vetting
Email outreach

Only then can you match the right tool to the right job. And here are the tools we recommend:

Google Search – Use search operators to find potential link prospects.
Ahrefs – Find and vet potential link prospects. (Also, check out our course on how to use Ahrefs.)
Hunter.io – Find email addresses for your link prospects.
Neverbounce – Check if the addresses you found are deliverable.
Pitchbox – Streamline and automate the email outreach process.
Screaming Frog – Use it for your “unlinked mentions” campaigns. (Check out our guide on unlinked mentions.)

Till next time. ;)

Cheers,
Si Quan
Content Marketing @ Ahrefs

P.S. We’re experimenting with adding more content to our newsletter. What do you think? What should we improve? What should we add? Let me know by replying to this email.

Copyright © 2021 Ahrefs Pte Ltd, All rights reserved.
If you received this email by mistake, just delete it and we won't ever email you again.

Our mailing address is:

Ahrefs Pte Ltd

16 Raffles Quay #33-03

Singapore 048581

Singapore

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Ahrefs - Ahrefs' Weekly Digest #66

✍️ New on our blog

📹 New on YouTube

Older messages

Ahrefs' Weekly Digest #65

Ahrefs' Weekly Digest #64

Ahrefs' Weekly Digest #63

Ahrefs' Weekly Digest #62

Ahrefs' Weekly Digest #61

You Might Also Like

He sold his company (and is still totally lost)

Book Proofreading Services by ContentMo

Explain a Movie Plot Badly -- The Answers

🧙‍♂️ How to stop getting your pitches ignored

🎤 The SWIPES Email (Friday, January 10th, 2025)

7 Tips for Writing a Book From Entrepreneurs Who Have Done It

5 Ways to Improve Any Webpage by Adding Specificity

Open for a Limited Time ● January Books Newsletter Promo for Authors ●

MAGA Immigration: Ignoring Economics Isn’t ‘America First’

3-2-1: On savoring your victories, being adaptable, and doing things cheaper, faster, and better