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OPEN INVITATION: Rip my startup idea to shreds

by tanay2088
13 replies
Hi guys - I deeply appreciate you all! I have an idea for a startup, and I'd love it if you can help answer a single question:

Would you buy / opt-in to my list?

IDEA: I'm starting a monthly SEO report that documents all changes in the SEO industry and a condensation of what works RIGHT now, delivered in an eBook to your inbox every single month.

No fluff, no BS - just a report that makes it super easy for internet marketers of all cadres to head in, spend 20-30 mins of their time every month and take away the absolute BEST strategies for driving organic traffic to their businesses.

All information will be compiled from the greatest authorities of SEO in the field (mastermind forums, blogs, blackhat + whitehat forums and my own research) - I spend hours and hours every single month to educate myself and distill all my learning into a tight, concise ebook every month that anyone can read, follow and implement - so that you don't have to do it yourself.

Before I go spend 1000+ hours on this idea, I would love your input to see if this is something that you would personally (HYPOTHETICALLY) be interested in.
  • Would you opt in to it, if it was free?
  • Would you pay $7 a month if I decided to charge for it?
  • Would you pay $97 a month if I decided to charge for it?

Through my list, I'd offer personalized coaching/strategy, Done For You or mastermind groups you can join. All these would be the real bread and butter.

I'm excited, nervous, intimidated by the sheer amount of hours it'd take me to launch this, and would deeply value your feedback.

Be gentle. <3
#idea #invitation #open #rip #shreds #startup
  • Profile picture of the author MeelisM
    Originally Posted by tanay2088 View Post

    Hi guys - I deeply appreciate you all! I have an idea for a startup, and I'd love it if you can help answer a single question:

    Would you buy / opt-in to my list?

    IDEA: I'm starting a monthly SEO report that documents all changes in the SEO industry and a condensation of what works RIGHT now, delivered in an eBook to your inbox every single month.

    No fluff, no BS - just a report that makes it super easy for internet marketers of all cadres to head in, spend 20-30 mins of their time every month and take away the absolute BEST strategies for driving organic traffic to their businesses.

    All information will be compiled from the greatest authorities of SEO in the field (mastermind forums, blogs, blackhat + whitehat forums and my own research) - I spend hours and hours every single month to educate myself and distill all my learning into a tight, concise ebook every month that anyone can read, follow and implement - so that you don't have to do it yourself.

    Before I go spend 1000+ hours on this idea, I would love your input to see if this is something that you would personally (HYPOTHETICALLY) be interested in.
    • Would you opt in to it, if it was free?
    • Would you pay $7 a month if I decided to charge for it?
    • Would you pay $97 a month if I decided to charge for it?

    Through my list, I'd offer personalized coaching/strategy, Done For You or mastermind groups you can join. All these would be the real bread and butter.

    I'm excited, nervous, intimidated by the sheer amount of hours it'd take me to launch this, and would deeply value your feedback.

    Be gentle. <3
    Hey

    I would not opt into it if it was free, because since it's free it's probably no good.
    I would not pay $7 a month, because I don't do SEO myself.
    I would not pay $97 for the same reson

    Thanks,

    MeelisM
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  • Profile picture of the author tanay2088
    MeelisM, thank you! I appreciate your feedback. The world is too nice and too encouraging nowadays. I'd rather have the truth and be told my startup idea is balls, before I sink in 1000 hours into it.

    By the way, WWMD? (what would MeelisM do?)
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    • Profile picture of the author Regional Warrior
      Originally Posted by tanay2088 View Post

      MeelisM, thank you! I appreciate your feedback. The world is too nice and too encouraging nowadays. I'd rather have the truth and be told my startup idea is balls, before I sink in 1000 hours into it.

      By the way, WWMD? (what would MeelisM do?)
      I am with MeelisM on this one BTW how old are you in the avatar you look 15!!
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    • Profile picture of the author MeelisM
      Originally Posted by tanay2088 View Post

      MeelisM, thank you! I appreciate your feedback. The world is too nice and too encouraging nowadays. I'd rather have the truth and be told my startup idea is balls, before I sink in 1000 hours into it.

      By the way, WWMD? (what would MeelisM do?)
      Well like... Is that really an idea to build a company on? To get a bunch of content and link them together and charge money for that?

      What would Meelis do?

      Well I wouldn't do that for sure.

      I just do stuff I like to do.

      If that's what you love however, then do it. You will probably find people who like that as well. You never know before you try.

      But I wouldn't do it
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    Curating content is okay but without personal experience (not just research), the positive effect of what you want to share may be limited.

    For example, what do you do when Moz says X is the best way to do something but Backlinko says they are idiots and that Y is the only way to do that thing while Search Engine Land (or whoever) says both are wrong and you'll get banned if you don't do Z instead?

    Which one of those "authorities" are right? And, how do you know without your personal experience - not just research?

    Simply because of the competing ideas, I would probably not pay for this. You can look at the SEO subforum here to see what I'm talking about. It doesn't really help anyone because of the 100% different opinions spouted off as authoritative.

    Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author tanay2088
    Gotcha Mark.

    I see where you're coming from. I've been doing SEO for almost 6 years now and the best part about it is that even though there are various schools of thought, most of them are very effective in their own right.

    My only job is to make sure I distill the newest strategies and lay it out there for my readers, to implement the one they resonate with the most.

    Instead of trawling over SELand, Moz, Baklinko - they get a 10 page guide that cuts the trolls, flaming and tedium. They have it all laid out for them.
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  • Profile picture of the author tanay2088
    Regional Warrior, Hahaha.

    That is indeed, an old pic. I need to update it at some point. I'm 28 now. Would you be kind enough to leave feedback on why you wouldn't opt in to a free monthly report?

    Is it true that "free" in our industry has connotations of "hacked together BS" ?
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  • Profile picture of the author Jean Voncken
    Hi there,

    What would you think about offering a short (preview) of your book to get visitors to join your mailing (and a subscription to a basic part of your site for example). Great way to get e-mail adresses for your target audience!!!

    Offer the full version for 20-30 USD (whatever it would be woth like).

    Than make a membership part of your site where you actually give personal advice/ consultancy etc. on their specific questions.

    Than consider giving a discount (or free mont membership) on the item for the "bundle" of both.

    I'm into "cloudhosting" and mostly this kind of "bundles" do the job. Give your visitors a choise (from free) and if they actually notice the true value of your works they are to try paying.

    With the e-mail you can always put some nice deals together !!

    Good luck,

    Jean
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  • Profile picture of the author Mapperkids Lee
    Well, I won't pay a dime for those SEO info. I I want to know, i shall do my own research.

    Again, the word "authoritative", how can you prove you are authority enough about SEO stuffs.

    Sorry too many BS around for SEO, may be you can attract some newbies.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gambino
    I'm not in your target market so I wouldn't sign up for free. But, I do question who your target market actually is.

    Professional SEO services will be up-to-date on changes within the SEO industry. Maybe this could attract newbies but then you're likely going to only keep them around for a few months at most since most will inevitably fail.

    In my opinion, the entire plan is flawed. From what I've observed, major changes in the SEO industry are very reactive. Nobody is going to sit around and wait for your monthly report while the sites they're responsible for are crashing.

    Maybe there are some small changes that happen monthly that could be useful... But, I just don't know that there's a market willing to pay for information that's readily available and free.

    In my opinion, if you're going to target SEO providers, then you should aim to create a highly useful tool or service that makes their job easier or quicker and provides a lot of value. Aim to create something that when your target market sees it they think "how did I do SEO without this?"
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  • Profile picture of the author tanay2088
    BOOM!

    I love it. Value, advice and no mollycoddling. Forced me to think. The idea has now been officially ripped to shreds. Back to the drawing board.

    Gambino, I fully agree with you. The industry is very reactive and volatile - most people wouldn't pay for a report that only comes out monthly. I need to figure out how to make a value offering that makes people go "Shut up and sign me up" - that's the only kind of business worth putting your time and money into. Half baked measures kill more dreams than anything else
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    All information will be compiled from the greatest authorities of SEO in the field (mastermind forums, blogs, blackhat + whitehat forums and my own research) - I spend hours and hours every single month to educate myself and distill all my learning into a tight, concise ebook every month that anyone can read, follow and implement - so that you don't have to do it yourself.
    Great, another rehashed product from someone with no experience reading opinions on blogs/forums.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bjarne Eldhuset
      Research companies charge thousands of dollars for things like industry analysis reports etc.

      For example $4950 for a PDF report:
      http://www.grandviewresearch.com/ind...are-dms-market

      Food for thought: What makes them able to sell their information for such prices? What can you learn from them?

      :-)
      Signature
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