Tip: It's possible to demonstrate both your expertise and your product's value while teaching prospective customers how to use your product — and they'll thank you for it. How? Create a niche course and give it away for free.
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As someone who knows a lot about your niche, you have knowledge that others want. So consider putting what you know into a course and giving it away for free.
Ahrefs did this, unlocking a course that they originally sold for $799. The course shows their expertise, and the act of giving it away for free creates goodwill.
But perhaps most importantly, it repeatedly shows their product's value and acts as a tutorial for new (and prospective) users. And after learning so much about the product, it's very unlikely that someone will leave and spend the time to learn a competitor's product.
Of course, it does take time to plan and create a quality course, so it's important to validate it first, just like you would with any product. But once it's created, the marginal cost is nothing.
To create a course, you can simply record yourself (either video or audio with slides), upload it to Youtube, and display it on your site. That's what Ahrefs did. Or try tools like @coursifyme and @easygenerator.
Tip: If your B2B serves multiple industries, it can be difficult to position yourself effectively. Improve your positioning and boost conversions by creating a landing page for each industry and allowing visitors to browse them on your site.
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By creating multiple industry-specific landing pages, you can focus on the features, benefits, case studies, testimonials, etc. that are most likely to convert each type of lead.
Then, with good SEO, those landing pages can snag some organic traffic from niche keywords (e.g. "[product] for [industry]"). You'll also have a place to send readers from any industry-specific blog posts (or outreach) that you write.
Tip: Whether it's for a podcast, promotional video, webinar, or one-on-one interaction with customers, audio quality is more important than you might think. Increase trust and conversions by improving your audio.
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In one study, people rated a speaker's presentation as being 19.3% better when the audio quality was high. They also liked the speaker more and viewed them as more competent and intelligent.
That impacts trust, and trust impacts sales, so it may be time to ditch your built-in laptop (and headphones) microphone. Check out podcast-quality mics instead. Blut Yeti is good quality while still being affordable, as is the HyperX QuadCast.
How do you prioritize new features in your product?
Good prioritization can lead to a better product — one that meets the goals of your business and your customers.
So if you don’t have a clear answer, check this out.
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TL;DR: There are a ton of prioritization frameworks out there. In the end, it comes down to personal preference, but the DIE framework will be a pretty solid choice for many indie hackers.
1. Value vs Effort Quadrant: Rate a feature's value to the business and the difficulty to implement it. Plot the resulting point on a quadrant chart. The sweet spot is the highest value with the lowest effort. High effort/low value gets the axe.
Tip: A little bit of creativity (and collaboration) can go a long way. Monetize the traffic of your competitors when they close up shop by suggesting a revenue share.
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When @finesse_ay of Salesloop went to a competitor's website, he saw a notice saying that they had shut down. The notice included links to their other projects, indicating that they were still getting (or at least expecting) some traffic.
So he reached out to the founder and came to an agreement — they would link to Salesloop and split any revenue that came from it, allowing both parties to monetize the traffic.
Tip: Reviews are important — no surprise there. But your first review is even more important than you might think. If you plan to sell on a marketplace, boost sales by incentivizing your biggest supporters to be the first to purchase.
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A recent study analyzed product ratings across multiple marketplaces and showed that a negative first review begets more negative reviews. This, in turn, leads to fewer sales, which leads to fewer reviews.
In fact, the study showed that 12 months after an initial negative review, the average rating was .29 stars lower, with 36.49 fewer reviews. The opposite was true when the first review was positive.