How to Not Go Viral and Grow by

500,000+ Monthly Visits

Ross Hudgens, Founder, Siege Media

@RossHudgens | siegemedia.com

Stop me if you’ve heard

this one before...

SEO agency starts a

presentation on

content and links.

They show

you a fancy

interactive

you can’t

replicate.

@RossHudgens |

Then they list a ton of publications

it got covered in.

@RossHudgens |

Then they show

another fancy

$10,000+

interactive you

can’t replicate.

@RossHudgens |

Then they list

a ton of

publications it

got covered

in.

@RossHudgens |

Then you see

another one

of those

presentations.

@RossHudgens |

And another.

@RossHudgens |

And another.

@RossHudgens |

They’re cool.

But do they

work? What’s

the value of

the talk or for

the client?

@RossHudgens |

Here’s the

problem.

@RossHudgens |

Viral topics

aren’t on

brand.

aBrandvoice

Topics that can go viral

@RossHudgens |

Giant link

spikes aren’t

natural

“brand”

activity.

@RossHudgens |

Would you

want to wait

a full year for

the next link

spike?

@RossHudgens |

For many

reasons,

these linkbait

assets fail to

deliver

measurable

results.

@RossHudgens |

http://bit.ly/linkbait-failure

Instead, let

me propose

something

novel.

@RossHudgens |

Content that

generates

five links.

@RossHudgens |

Content that

generates

seven links.

@RossHudgens |

Content that

generates

nine links.

@RossHudgens |

And doing that

several times a

month,

over and

over again.

@RossHudgens |

With content that’s

on-brand.

@RossHudgens |

And delivers

something

more than

a link.

@RossHudgens |

And doing it for

less cost per link

than those other

companies would

charge for their

average “swing”

at virality.

@RossHudgens |

We’ve been in

business five

years, and we’ve

only had two

assets

go “viral.”

@RossHudgens |

But we’ve

helped ten

businesses grow

by 200k+

monthly search

visits, including

five by 500k+.

@RossHudgens |

And seven by

monthly traffic

value

increases of

$240,000

or more.

@RossHudgens |

Here’s a

secret:

Virality is

overrated.

@RossHudgens |

Virality and

large,

interactive

linkbait is shiny

and fun to talk

about.

@RossHudgens |

But sustained

quality content

and links, done

over and over

again... is what

drives

sustainable

business value.

@RossHudgens |

And you can

do it yourself!

For less. And

you can learn

from it without

breaking the

bank.

@RossHudgens |

They are

Barry Bonds.

Steroids and

out of the

league.

@RossHudgens |

You can be

Adrian Beltre:

.387 on base

percentage and

future Hall

of Famer.

@RossHudgens |

How can you consistently

create effective, linkable

content?

Here’s our

playbook for

doing it.

@RossHudgens |

First, make

your business

invest in at

least one sunk

cost

differentiator.

@RossHudgens |

What are

examples of

sunk cost

differentiators?

@RossHudgens |

A

photographer

@RossHudgens |

A

videographer

@RossHudgens |

An animator

@RossHudgens |

Best-in-class

website design

@RossHudgens |

Industry-best

graphic

designers

@RossHudgens |

If you can’t

invest in any

of these,

stay home.

@RossHudgens |

First, find

top/middle funnel

search topics that

have 30 LRDs

each on average

and build those,

first.

@RossHudgens |

In B2B spaces,

make an effort

to build data

studies that

get cited.

@RossHudgens |

And even if you

do that, always

curate the go-to

“KEYWORD

statistics” post,

too.

@RossHudgens |

In B2C (or

B2B), build

the things

people

curate.

@RossHudgens |

Make sure

they tie back

to search and

drive real

business

value.

@RossHudgens |

Slot that content

in a folder,

ideally one word

that

deoptimizes/still

signifies what it’s

about.

@RossHudgens |

/blog/

or

/reviews/best-air-conditioner/

Then, make your

content exactly

the highest

volume version

of the keyword,

unless the folder

repeats it.

@RossHudgens |

/ideas/home-decor/

Do some

targeted

outreach. Use

the following

template

framework:

@RossHudgens |

Subject: ASSET TYPE for WEBSITE: POST

TITLE

Hey name,

Custom sentence about what about their site

made us reach out, without being fake. Second

sentence on what our content is about.

You can see it here: http://www.website.com/url

If you like the post, we’d appreciate if you

considered sharing it with WEBSITE readers.

Thanks and looking forward to hearing what

you think!

Maybe

generate

10 links.

@RossHudgens |

Use that content

promotion to

generate

bottom-funnel

value through

follow-ups.

@RossHudgens |

http://bit.ly/link-followups

And then,

watch that

asset (and its

bottom funnel

connectors)

rank.

@RossHudgens |

Rinse and

repeat...

forever.

@RossHudgens |

You’ll soon

build a

marketing

flywheel.

@RossHudgens |

content

links

promotiongenerate

rankings

Your link

velocity will

naturally

increase

without more

cold

outreach.

@RossHudgens |

Virality, as it

turns out,

rarely

generates a

flywheel

effect.

@RossHudgens |

You should

still apply the

“leans” of

virality in

your content

ideas.

@RossHudgens |

Validate

concepts with

1. average links to

those concepts

2. search volume

3. social proof in

terms of sharing on

social networks.

@RossHudgens |

Ideally, the

intersection of

these three means

you are building

things that have

search demand,

but also link

opportunity, too.

@RossHudgens |

Links Searchvolume

Social proof

For bonus points,

always include

the outreach

market/shareable

format you will

include when

ideating for max

linkablility.

@RossHudgens |

DIY Flower Crown for Parties and Weddings

(SV 2,400) How to Make a Flower Crown - 2x

Custom photography/video how-to. This has 53

LRD’s. Confident we could rank for this query. We

could include a shareable featuring different styles

of flower crowns similar to the flower chandelier

infographic to make the piece more shareable and

capture the winter wedding market for outreach.

• Outreach Market: lifestyle, wedding

• Format: photography how-to

Going to bat

with these five

levers, one or

more

sunk cost

differentiators,

and a work

ethic to do it for

years…@RossHudgens |

…means

you will

win, even

without

going viral.

@RossHudgens |

Here’s to

eight links.

@RossHudgens |