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A simple Table of Contents can work wonders for SEO

Hey — Harry here.

Every week I share 3 short examples, 2 copywriting tips, 1 favourite tweet in my newsletter. Hope you find it useful :)

Three short examples

1/ A Table of Contents can work wonders for SEO

  • Anchor links are included in the SERP
  • Keywords rank long-tail in Google
  • Better UX means longer session duration (a ranking factor)

Credit to Pat Walls for this tip. He ran A/B tests on Starter Story and found a 2.6x increase in session duration after adding a Table of Contents.

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2/ “Give 'em the razor, sell 'em the blades”

In the early 90's Gillette started posting free shaving kits to men to celebrate their 18th birthday.

The idea was simple — Hook men at the age they decide their shaving brand for life.

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Let's do some rough maths:

90% of men pay no attention. 10% get hooked on Gillette. And spend $40/yr on replacement blades for the next 10 years.

That's an average return of $40 (10% * $40 * 10 yrs). On a gift that costs $10 to post.

Gillette post two million a year. $80M revenue. $60M profit.

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3/ Taylordle

Newsjacking is the art of piggybacking on trending topics to draw attention to your own brand. Yesterday I saw a good example.

A Taylor Swift themed Wordle. From a Taylor Swift themed podcast.

  • 2.5M visitors
  • 100 media placements
  • Podcast downloads up 400%

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Two copywriting tips

1/ Three ways to make a price seem cheaper

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2/ “If it sounds like writing, rewrite it” — Elmore Leonard

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One favourite tweet

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That's everything. Have a great week — Harry


PS — Enjoy the newsletter? Please do share with a pal. It really does make a big difference. Cheers.

New round here? Welcome. Marketing Examples here. Copywriting Examples here. Join the newsletter here :)

posted to
Icon for series Marketing Examples
Marketing Examples
on February 18, 2022
    1. 2

      Cheers for reading Spencer!

  1. 2

    That table of contents tip is genius. Fortunately, I just added some a few weeks ago to our documentation (which is heavily SEO-focused as we sell to developers).

    1. 1

      @jamespaden @harrydry do you suggest a tool for creating a table of contents?

      1. 1

        Due to the technical complexity of our documentation (lot of code examples, etc), we've built our own documentation tooling/generator. Sorry I don't have anything more helpful to suggest!

    2. 1

      Have you seen an impact as well?

      1. 1

        Search volume hasn't moved much, but the bounce rate is down and session duration is up 30%, just like you predicted!

  2. 2

    Good tips. Thanks!

    1. 1

      Thanks for reading RJ!

  3. 1

    Awesome stuff @harrydry! dense super-short, super-useful content (what) + terrific visuals (how). Thanks!!

  4. 1

    Thanks Harry.
    Your Newsletter and Posts are pure gold. Not only informational, but for reasons I don't understand, they motivate me.

  5. 1

    This is amazing stuff, Harry!

  6. 1

    So totally finding a way to newsjack Elon Musk.

    1. 1

      Pleasure. Cheers for reading :)

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