No matter what industry you are in, every business shares one common goal: to GROW. The best way to ensure growth is to continually search out and apply what we have come to call “growth hacks.”
Growth hacking simply refers to actions taken via marketing, design, sales, technology and customer service. These approaches are geared towards sparking positive movement in any or all of the different wings of a business.
At Gbox labs, we make it a priority to test out and utilize new, innovative ways to market for growth. Here are ten effective methods and practices that WORK.
Method #1: Link Builders
As a content producer myself, I realized early on that it takes more than a great article or video to entice people to link to your work. No matter how fabulous your stuff, you need to be extremely systematic with how you create and promote your content if your goal is to get high quality links (Hint: Your goal IS to get high quality links).
Using link building has been coined as “The Skyscraper Technique.” It’s really simple, and it’s guarantees you high quality links. So what are link builders and how do you use them? It’s an easy 3-step process.
- Research content that is already doing well (aka “link-worthy”)
- Revamp it into your own, BETTER version
- Send your hot new content to relevant site owners
To get started in researching link-worthy content, you can simply type in your relevant keywords on Google and see what comes up. To dig even deeper, use a tool like Open Site Explorer or Topsy. Topsy will allow you find heavily shared content in the niche of your choice. You are looking for published pieces with more than 25 “linking root domains.”
Once you’ve found your piece, make it your vendetta to revamp it into something so useful, so provoking and so fabulous that people can’t help but include your link in their own content or pages. Make it newer, fresher, better designed and more thorough than the original piece.
After you’ve published your masterpiece, use a tool like ahrefs.com to clean up your list of potential prospects. Export the links pointing to your competitor’s content onto a spreadsheet and then choose the ones that make sense for you.
For the last Gbox article, I emailed 150 relevant site owners the following email.
From this outreach, I received 15 quality links. “Quality” is the key word here! That number might seem small but when influential site owners post, those grow quickly.
Method #2: Build Your Online Community
This one’s a given and it might not sound like anything new. The point is, if you are failing to build an active, engaged online community, you’re doing your business a major disservice.
If this is a pain point for you, I suggest focusing on just ONE location (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook…wherever your niche audience is primarily involved). Make that one destination very lively and consistently fill it FULL of relevant topics and posts.
At Gbox, I found that in the beginning, Twitter was the most best place to connect with influencers and get the word out about our start-up. If you want to read more about how I did it, check out my article, How to Use Twitter to Meet Your Marketing Initiatives This Year.
One note on building your online community – don’t start from scratch. Launching a page with no followers or engagement is one of the quickest ways to get discouraged and quit.
Instead, develop some “roots” first. Involve yourself on related forums/pages. Build up a large number of contacts and identify valuable relationships with early adopters. Provide real value to them so that they become accustomed to appreciating the relationship as a two way street.
Once you have ensured that people within your industry know and trust you, you’re ready to launch a sincere, genuine community that can flourish.
Method #3: Use SessionCam
SessionCam is a tool that gives you recordings of your site visitors. This is especially useful for online businesses, specifically those with ecommerce. Even if that is not you, SessionCam can give you fast, specific information about your website’s user experience.
What used to take a lot of blind testing can now be watched. You can see where your visitors are dropping off so that you can fix problems and increase conversions. You can also access heat maps to get more insight on how users interact with your site.
Integrate your SessionCam easily with your Google Analytics, Campaign Monitor Olark, and more.
Method #4: Optimize Your FAQ page and Utilize Help Forums
Targeting and using specific keywords related to your business is important. Your attempts at getting to the top of a Google search page depend on it.
Another way to earn search rank is with “Long-tail keyword search queries.” Research and find out what questions your target audience will type into that search box, and then tailor your Frequently Asked Questions to match them.
The big plus-plus with this type of SEO is that you find people later in the conversion process. They’re already looking for you. As long as you effectively convey that you are the answer and solution to their question, you have earned a hot lead.
Another idea is to create a help forum. This has the safe effect AND the added bonus of natural, genuine questions coming from your customers so that you don’t have to “guess” how to form those queries effectively.
Method #5: Use BetterWhois to find Email Addresses
Sometimes it isn’t easy finding the person you are looking for. Whether it is a potential user or a blogger you would like to reach out to, there are tools to help you find them.
BetterWhois can be used to identify the owner of any website. Usually, you will get an active email address. Use this method when you are creating your list of contacts for link building. It’s easier than scrolling through endless Google search pages!
Method #6: Repurpose Your Content on SlideShare
Slideshare gets tens of millions of unique visitors each month and ranks in the top 150 websites in the world. Learning how to use them will be to your great advantage!
Posting your content on large platforms like SlideShare is a growth-hack that helps increase your viewers and traffic, since you can always link back to your original post or website.
For the best results, follow these three best practices on SlideShare:
- Transform your content into something HIGHLY visual and appealing
- Link back to a strategic URL with a CTA (your website or the original post)
- Use your titles and descriptions as prime opportunity for SEO (make sure you use your niche keywords).
Once your presentation is created and uploaded, share it on your social networks and even on your blog!
Method #7: Export Email Addresses from LinkedIn
This method is simple and easy, but there are still a lot of people who don’t realize they can do it! When you are connected with people on LinkedIn, you can simply export their email addresses and send them an email that encourages them to opt in to your core list.
Follow the steps in the photo to do this for yourself!
Method #8: Use Facebook’s Targeted Audience Tool
Ever heard of “Facebook Lookalike Audiences?” This tool allows you to target your Facebook ads to users who are similar to your current customers.
Find the top 1% or 5% of similar users in a specific region by uploading your subscriber list or you can choose to find users similar to any visitor to your site.
This is a great way to strategically target hot leads via Facebook ads. Just another reason Facebook is a top advertising space!
Method #9: The Twitter Hack
Whoever thought of this simple dirty little secret is a genius: Follow your competitor’s followers on Twitter.
I know, I know, it’s so smart that it’s dumb (as in you can’t believe you didn’t come up with this idea yourself!).
Those who are following your competitors are highly likely to be interested in following YOU! When you follow them, you are basically inviting them to check you out. Just another great way to target your niche on social media!
Method #10: Customize Micro Data
Micro data, also known as “Rich Snippets,” are the lines that appear under search results. Google uses these as a preview so that users can check out what’s in the link before clicking.
You can use tools like Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to customize your rich snippets. It’s a good idea to do so, considering these micro data are proven to increase attention and click-through rates 20-30%!
Get creative with what you add. Star ratings, reviews, events, special offers, and more can all be strategically placed in your rich snippets.
Conclusion
These are some of the methods that have been effective for Gbox, but some will work for your business better than others. Determine which are the most relevant to you and put them into practice this month!
If you have any super growth-hacks of your own, we would love to hear them in the comments below!
Cheers to your success, and don’t forget to keep us posted as you implement these ten tricks! Stay in touch on Facebook and Twitter!
