What's New: Use AI directories to skyrocket ROI

(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)

Google isn't very good at helping people find AI products:

• Listing your product in AI directories is cheaper and more targeted. Pro tip: List in 1 or 2 directories, and the rest will likely pick it up.
• "Luck" matters more than many founders realize. The good news is that you can increase your luck by hustling, discovering, or attracting.
• 300K monthly visitors led to a $102K acquisition. Georgi Todorov hired freelance writers to increase content for his site, and sold in 2 years.

NYC AI developers: Join DataStax at Pier Sixty on September 4 for live demos, networking, dinner, and hacking. Secure your spot today! #ad

AI Directories 🤖

by Alex Ign

Google isn't very good at helping people find AI products. AI directories are the best for that!

The case for the directory

Think about it: If you wanted to find a new app for your phone, would you search on Google? Probably not. You'd probably search the App Store. Well, it's the same idea for AI tools.

AI directories:

• Are more targeted and easier to use than Google when it comes to finding AI tools.
• Are much easier for new AI products to get listed in, and to appear at the top of the results.
• Attract people who are specifically looking for AI solutions.
• Are cheaper than Google or Facebook Ads.

These directories are becoming the go-to place for people looking for AI products, creating new opportunities for AI companies to reach customers without spending a lot of money on advertising.

A case study

Askpot got 7800% ROI, with a PPC cost of $0.30.

Here's how:

1. The founder put his product on code.market, an AI directory.
2. He used pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on the directory. This means he only paid when someone clicked on his ad.
3. Each click cost him $0.30.

The results were very good:

• He got many people to try his product for free.
• About half of those people decided to buy it after the free trial.
• He made much more money than he spent on advertising.

Aside from positive ROI, this tactic brought many other wins:

• SEO: Being visible in directories helps with search engine rankings. How? Users see the product in a directory and search for it by name on Google. This increases traffic.
• Better reputation: Being in well-known directories can make your brand look more trustworthy to potential customers.
• Improved website ranking: You can get valuable links to your website from these directories.
• Customer reviews: Directories let users leave feedback, which can help you improve your product.

Choosing the right directories

Here's what you should look for:

• Free listing options: If they want you to pay before you see any results, it might be better to avoid them.
• Control over your listing: Make sure you can change things, like the description and image of your product.
• Ability to manage ads: Look for directories that let you control your own advertising.
• Starting ad costs: Check how much it costs to start advertising.

This approach helps new AI products get noticed, improve their online presence, and build trust with potential customers, all while keeping costs low.

A list of AI-focused directories and marketplaces

1. code.market.
2. AI Multiple.
3. Futurepedia.
4. AI Expo.
5. AI Tools Club.
6. AI Finder.
7. AI Resource.
8. The AI List.
9. AI Hub.
10. AI Startups.
11. AI Landscape.

Pro tip: Add your product to one or two major directories. The others will likely catch it from there, since they often scrape each other's content.

Discuss this story.

Hack With DataStax in NYC 🌆

This issue is sponsored by DataStax

Hey, AI developers in New York! Want to learn about the latest in GenAI and RAG tech, and be one of the first to try out a new feature?

Join DataStax at Pier Sixty on September 4 for live demos, networking, dinner, and of course, hacking.

Secure your spot today!

Increasing Your Luck as a Founder 🍀

from the Trendy Software Ideas newsletter by Darko

Pieter Levels, one of the most successful bootstrapped founders in the world, created over 70 projects. Only four of them made money and grew.

That's a 5% success rate. The good news is that you can increase your luck. In the first part of this series, we're diving into what luck is, and why it matters.

Luck matters more than we realize

Seemingly trivial factors that are outside of our control influence our success in profound ways:

• About half of the differences in income worldwide are attributed to country of residence, and the income distribution within that country.

• There's a birthday bias: Most people who get drafted for a particular sport are born close to the draft date.

• Two Italian physicists simulated the evolution of careers over 40 years. The conclusion? Luck plays a far greater role in life success than we realize. Books like Fooled by Randomness demonstrate several other points that confirm this.

But...it's not just about luck

A VC on Hacker News said:

All successful startups are lucky, but they're never just lucky.

Luck is important, but it's not everything. Skills matter. Talent matters. The way you think matters. When it comes to having a successful business, there are a whole range of things within your control that you can do to increase your probability of success.

Types of luck

In general, there are four types of luck:

1. Blind luck: You can't influence this luck, as it's totally random. You walk down the street and see a $100 bill. Or, you get an extra drink with your order.

2. Hustle luck: This luck is about showing up. For example, you tweet 2K times and nothing happens, but your next tweet goes viral. You've hustled your way into this luck.

3. Discover luck: This is when you're sensitive to chances that others miss. You have deep knowledge in an area, and you start seeing opportunities that not many people can see. Many pivots came from discover luck, like YouTube's pivot from video dating.

4. Attraction luck: At this stage, luck comes to you. You have a personal brand, or are an expert in a field. Say you're a world class deep sea diver. Someone discovers fortune at the deep sea level, and you're one of the rare people who can dig that fortune. So, they come to you.

Researching luck

I researched overall luck, and luck as a founder. I watched close to 100 videos, browsed 3-4 major books about the topic, and read pretty much every post and news story on Hacker News about it.

When I talk about luck in this series, I'm not talking about blind luck. I'm talking about the type of luck where you have to buy a ticket to get a chance to win:

• To win the lottery, you need to get a ticket.

• To write a successful book, you need to invest in your education (learn to read, learn to write, learn to construct sentences, etc.).

• To create successful software, you need to know how to code (or have enough money to hire someone else to do it for you).

The "ticket" you "buy" to get a chance to win and get lucky often comes in the form of education or hard work. As the quote says, "Chance favors the prepared mind."

Part two of this series will focus on how to improve the types of luck we mentioned above. You'll learn how to get better at hustle luck, how to be more attuned to the world around you, and how to gain more attraction luck.

Discuss this story, or subscribe to Trendy Software Ideas for more.

In the News 📰

from the Trendy Software Ideas newsletter

🎁 TikTok's 2024 holiday marketing guide.

🏃 Six quick ways to increase website speed.

💲 Link to your product here. Our most affordable ad.

🧵 Threads is testing posts that disappear in 24 hours.

📝 An SEO guide to ChatGPT prompts.

🤑 How Ikea tricks you into buying more stuff.

Check out Trendy Software Ideas to discover more software ideas inspired by recent news.

Thrive My Way Grew Through SEO 💻

by Marc Andre

Each week, FlipMySite publishes an inspiring success story featuring a founder growing and selling an online business.

Georgi Todorov grew Thrive My Way to 300K monthly visitors, then sold it for six figures in just two years.

The background

Georgi taught himself the basics of SEO, and that led to a career. He worked in digital marketing and link building as a freelancer, then did a stint at Semrush.

After a year, Georgi left to pursue his own business. In August 2021, he launched Thrive My Way, a content-based website with articles about ways to make money online.

Starting and growing a blog or content-based site takes time, especially those that rely on organic search engine traffic. Georgi didn't want to wait 3-5 years, so he decided to publish ~300 articles in just six months.

Georgi invested $50K of his own money into the business. He did extensive keyword research, and created a content strategy for the site. After identifying the topics to cover, he created outlines and drafts. Then, he hired freelance writers to crank out hundreds of articles from the drafts.

After the articles were written, virtual assistants optimized them for search engines by following a simple checklist and documentation that Georgi created. This approach allowed him to leverage his SEO expertise to create optimized content affordably, and at scale.

Thrive My Way reached 100K monthly visitors in just eight months.

Ups and downs

After the initial push, Georgi's content production slowed drastically. Then, Google Search algorithm updates in fall 2022 eliminated more than half of the site's traffic.

In early 2023, Georgi worked hard to turn things around. He evaluated pages that lost traffic, and created a checklist of improvements and updates. Then, he and his freelancers made the updates, improving the site's content for readers and search engines.

Updating the content was a lengthy process that involved improving most of the site's articles, but it paid off in a big way. Thrive My Way's traffic continued the upward trend for months after the update, eventually reaching new highs.

Initially, Thrive My Way was monetized with display ads. Later, Georgi used affiliate marketing, sponsored content, and an online course to increase and diversify revenue.

The exit

Georgi wanted to cash out and start something new, so he decided to list the site on Flippa. The listing generated interest from more than 200 potential buyers, and concluded with a sale for $102K.

Georgi didn't go with the buyer who offered the most money. He could have gotten a higher price, but he chose to sell to his particular buyer because he was easy to do business with, and didn't ask Georgi to sign an NDA. For Georgi, it was important to be able to tell the story of how he grew the website, since he already had his next project, Create and Grow, in mind.

Advice for founders

1. Don't sell your website during the summer, because many of the potential buyers will be on holiday.

2. Don't rely solely on Google for traffic; diversify your traffic sources. For example, with Create and Grow, Georgi uses a podcast and LinkedIn to promote content and grow an audience.

3. Personally test everything that you promote as an affiliate partner.

Discuss this story.

The Tweetmaster's Pick 🐦

by Tweetmaster Flex

I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:

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Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.

Also, you can submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter.

Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Alex Ign, Darko, and Marc Andre for contributing posts. —Channing