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Tip: Build links by using Google Ads to target queries with link intent

Source: Growth Bites

Manually getting backlinks takes some elbow grease, but there's a way to do it passively if you've got a few bucks. Get exposure and links by using Google Ads to target queries with link intent.

Ahrefs experimented with using Google Ads as a link-building strategy. They spent $1,245 over the course of a month and got linked by 13 unique domains. Every link was on-topic and most were high-enough quality to be beneficial. In the end, they paid $41.60 per link ($77.26 per high-quality link). That's not bad, especially considering that it was passive. It's hard to quantify the actual impact of the campaign, but it certainly got them exposure and probably brought in some conversions too. And it's likely to have contributed to them getting to #2 in the SERP for one of the keywords. Just take a new (or existing) piece of content that people are likely to link to — stats are great for this. Then set up a search campaign in Google Ads and target a list of queries with link intent. Make sure to test it out before going all-in. And don't expect immediate results. Ahrefs didn't start getting links for a couple of weeks, and some took months.

What’s trending?

AI is on residency, but will it ever graduate to a doctor?

_{Brought by Solveo}

Will AI wear the white coat? Would you rather wait weeks for a specialist appointment or get an instant AI-powered diagnosis? Spend half your visit filling out forms or just show up and get treated? Rely on a doctor’s best guess or have AI analyze millions of cases in seconds to find the best treatment? Put your health in the hands of one expert or have a human-AI team working together to get it right?

Traditional industries have never been quick to embrace change. For years, they’ve stuck to the mindset of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And we’ve talked a lot about how AI is shaking up traditional industries. Missed it? Catch up here.

Now, it’s healthcare’s turn. Will AI wear the white coat? What’s its medical degree?

For centuries, doctors, nurses, and hospitals have relied on intuition, experience, and, a lot of paperwork. And AI can definitely help. But does it actually make healthcare better? Will it free up doctors to focus on patients, or just add another layer of complexity?

I guess we’ll have to wait and see. 🙂

Read the full article down below 👇

Don’t succumb to shiny objective syndrome

Source: Demand Curve

"If you sell to everyone, you sell to no one." – Common saying remixed many ways.

Most startups get a bad case of shiny objective syndrome: trying to collect a bunch of wins, and sacrificing focus in the process. Examples:

Product: They want to have a “rich feature set.” Which turns into a feature dump.‍

Messaging: They want to make as many sales as possible. Which results in distilled messaging that connects with no one. 

The almost-inevitable result: The team spreads itself too thin, employees feel lost, and growth suffers.

Three ways to overcome shiny objective syndrome:

#1) Define your core persona. Make it niche—almost scarily so.

Lenny Rachitsky calls this the “super-specific who.” Examples he shares from companies’ early days:

• Substack: “successful veteran online newsletter writers”

• Cameo: “B-list athletes in Chicago”

#2) Define your north star metric and the levers that move it.

Examples:

• Monthly active newsletter subscribers

• Orders

• Number of transactions per week

• Percentage of paid subscribers

What levers affect active newsletter subscribers?

• New monthly subscriber rate

• Unsubscribe rate

• Email bounce and spam rate

• Open and click rates

So, if active newsletter subscribers is the North Star Metric, every one of your growth initiatives should be centered on those levers.

#3) Try fewer channels for more concentrated growth.

Don't invest in Twitter, TikTok, SEO, influencers, Facebook Ads, and cold emails all at once.

Look for the one or two channels that have the greatest chance of success, given your specific goals and constraints.

The seven criteria we recommend considering are: scale, targetability, effort, time to results, intent, context, and cost.

Nail one, scale it up, systemize it, and only then move on.

Thank you for reading! ✌️

We look forward to sharing more with you next week. Stay tuned!

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