The High Cost of Free Traffic

The High Cost ofFree Traffic

- Wil Reynolds

Tricked…

Tricked…

Tricked…

Guess the CTR of that #1 spot?http://bit.ly/CTRisbroken

Diminishing marginal utility

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Paid

Tricked…

YOUR TRAFFIC ISN’T FREE!

YOU JUST GOT TRICKED!

IS IT TIME TO FLOCK TO PAID??

WRONG QUESTION!

What are you building that is worth PAYING for people to see?

The Total audience for your content is Greater ThanThe searching audience for your content

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kjten22

What does that mean for the marketer/seo focusing on organic only?

WELL EXECUTED ORGANIC IS COSTLY!

Vegas, lets talk Steak!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/abradyb/3604783784/

Fight the good fight

Pivot

What is GREAT Content?

How do you feel about seriouseats.com?Would you ever go there again?Why?

Does the content level you up?

If you made better steaks, might you get more compliments?

How do you feel when you get compliments?

Is YOUR content Leveling People Up?

People don’t buy products, they buy better versions of themselves…http://bitly.com/why-people-buy

@buffer

What else is ranking?

MEDIOORBITAL FRONTAL CORETEX

MEDIOORBITAL FRONTAL CORETEXIT’S WIKIHOW!!

HOW MUCH TIME HAVE YOU SPENT ON WHATMAKES PEOPLE BUY?

ALGO’S VS AUDIENCES

MEDIAL ORBITAL FRONTAL CORTEX

Does it level you up?Does it make you look smarter?

Wait?!! My

old content is my highest performing content?

@kieranbass

@wilreynolds

The Year is 1900

Job: To build linksJob: To get 3 posts outJob: Increase Rankings

Job: Sell more tires with

Content

@wilreynolds https://www.flickr.com/photos/125261545@N03/

Worn Tires

@wilreynolds https://www.flickr.com/photos/125261545@N03/

How can I increaseTire Wear?

@wilreynolds https://www.flickr.com/photos/anacronicos

How can I, the content marketer, get him toDRIVE

@wilreynolds https://www.flickr.com/photos/125261545@N03/

Driver + Guide = Well Fed, Happy Clients = Repeat Biz

@wilreynolds

Still doing it today, “Good for the brand”Serendipity…

@wilreynolds

20% of our budget is NOT tied to ROI

@wilreynolds

The Serendipity Multiplier

@wilreynolds

What’s the ROI of your mom??

@wilreynolds

ROI of “felt special”

Turned an empty room, into free PR in Entrepreneur Magazine

Gets Friction

I’ll out “SEO” any of YOU

74% Conversion Rate

© 2015 Seer Interactive • All Rights Reserved • Page ‹#›

The company’s analysis of Prime versus non-Prime members’ cross-shopping behaviors found that less than 1% of Prime members are likely to consider other mass-market retail sites — Walmart.com and Target.com, for example — during the same online session.

Take the easy solution off the table

We hate this

He gave us this

X

Understand friction, address it, or remove it.That is a Business Function, not a web function.

Make content worth Paying for people to see.

Go bigger

1 piece of content,11 people,200-300 hours $900 in promotion0 link building0 outreach

Be honest with yourself

In love with mycontent

Impact?

Did that email improve the ranking?

Question for you:I searched for SEO 101

1 - Name the companies you think show up

Question for you:I searched for SEO 101

1 - Name the companies you think show up

2 – Which is the least likely to show you pop ups?

Question for you:I searched for SEO 101

1 - Name the companies you think show up

2 – Which is the least likely to show you popups?

3 – Who loves popups?

Serious eats, has the cow, they just gotta chop it up!!

Serious eats already had the beachhead& FANS

Click icon to add picture

Value, subsequent content gets easier

Commit to doing less content, reap the later organic benefits

Why are we paying to make content like this?

What do you think the users signals look like?

© 2015 Seer Interactive • All Rights Reserved • Page ‹#›

We buy things we weren’t searching for, right?

Who Google’d “SEO Conference” to get here today?

Great content needs a nudge, social, paid social

Seek to understand the audience that would be “leveled up”if they found your content.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kjten22

© 2015 Seer Interactive • All Rights Reserved • Page ‹#›

© 2015 Seer Interactive • All Rights Reserved • Page ‹#›

Exclude too (cut 80%)

Want an example?Restless Leg Syndrome

Question:If your content was removed from the web, would anyone

miss it?