(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)
Do you invest in paid ads?
Want to share something with over 100,000 indie hackers? Submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter. —Channing
I recently wrote about how I learned to spend money on ads:
Revenue screenshots always do well on Twitter, but if you supplement your screenshot with a comment about how you achieved this while spending $0 on ads, you have a winning tweet.
In the indie hacker world, not spending money on ads is seen as a badge of honor. VC-funded startups routinely burn through millions of dollars in ad spend, so if you’re able to build a revenue-generating business without spending money on ads, you become an indie hacking hero.
For a long time, I bought into that narrative.
It's time to change the way we look at ad spend!
Erik Arrabal says that many people falsely believe that there are only two ways to create awareness for their product (free vs. paid traffic), but the truth is more complicated than that:
The reality is that there is no such thing as “free traffic.” The more accurate term is “organic traffic,” which is paid for with time, energy, and sometimes, money (if you've hired an employee, agency, or contractor to do the work for you).
Sadly, time is the only nonrenewable resource. Once it’s spent, it’s gone for good.
So, which option is right for you? Here’s a framework that I use to help my clients decide:
In short, neither option is right or wrong. Keep in mind that you’re always paying for awareness, either with time or money.
Victor believes that we're in sort of a sweet spot for ads:
Assuming that you're an indie hacker, even in this downturn, you're probably seeing that your ad dollar is going farther since there are so many startups that are cutting advertising and marketing. Ads are getting cheaper.
Here's an interesting idea: How can you leverage inflation for your ad spend?
The only reason people are not doing it is the general negative sentiment towards ads in the indie hacker community. That was definitely what was holding me back.
I'm a purist about certain things, but outside of not breaching your ethics, business is not the time to be dogmatic. $500 is a significant amount of money for me, but would I be willing to spend $500 to avoid wasting a month of my life on an idea that has no legs?
Another thing about the "no ads" mindset: It only works if you value your time at zero. Even if you valued your time at $10 per hour, experimenting with ads could save you way more than 50 hours of development, thinking, marketing, advertising, and sales time, all for an idea that potentially could die.
Ropesneer recommends considering your audience:
I think that, depending on the industry you're targeting, you might need some sort of paid advertising.
People who use Pieter Levels' path as the definitive one might be forgetting that his audience was likely naturally inclined to reject ads.
People interested in success stories about the effectiveness of paid advertising for validation may benefit from listening to Courtland Allen's interview with JT Marino on the Indie Hackers Podcast. Here is an excerpt from the transcript:
[We] started an advertising campaign on Google and, within the first 15 minutes, we had an attempt to purchase this product that did not yet exist, but we didn't end up capturing the funds. We set it up so it wouldn't fully process, but there was our cue that we were onto something.
Spending on ads can really pay off.
What are your thoughts on ad spend? Share in the comments!
Discuss this story.
from the Volv newsletter by Priyanka Vazirani
🤩 The prescriptive power of brands, and how to leverage it.
🗡 The double-edged sword of having confidence as a founder.
🚘 France is offering leases for electric vehicles for $100 per month.
📈 Tech was supposed to help lower inflation, but could be actually driving it up.
💪 Understanding the evolution of flex culture can help you map out your marketing plan.
Check out Volv for more 9-second news digests.
from the Hustle Newsletter by The Trends Team
The Signal: A data breach costs a company $4.3M on average, a 12.7% increase from 2020, and they have become increasingly common. But a data breach is just one of many ways that businesses can screw up when it comes to privacy.
Privacy rules in the US are changing. Fast.
*Source: Statista
Five US states have passed consumer privacy laws in the last two years. More than half of all US states have privacy bills in the works, and a federal bill will be voted on soon.
If the implementation of privacy laws in Europe is anything to go by, regulation will create a huge compliance burden and create demand for new tech solutions. In fact, 68% of US-based companies have spent an estimated $1M-$10M to meet the EU's GDPR (general data regulation protection) requirements.
*The International Association of Privacy Professionals tracks ongoing changes to the privacy regulation landscape. Source: IAPP
Here are new opportunities for founders in this space:
1. Privacy consulting:
The fast-changing patchwork of privacy rules is tough for businesses to navigate.
Smaller companies likely won't have a legal department with a privacy specialist, but they may still be collecting loads of sensitive data. You could provide a consulting service that helps companies collect and use data without getting into trouble.
You could also help companies build data breach action plans so that, if a breach does happen, they can react quickly to protect customer data and put out PR fires.
*Source: Twitter
2. Compliance tools:
Europe's GDPR spawned a plethora of data management and compliance solutions (i.e. Private AI, Jentis, and Osano) that have raised $19.4M. You could create US or state-specific versions of these tools.
3. Consumer experience:
Cookies banners that pop up on every other website are a pain in the neck. You could design visually-appealing cookies banners that add to the customer experience and incorporate the brand.
I don't care about cookies is a browser extension that automatically accepts cookie policies. You could create a more nuanced solution with custom preferences. For example, you may want a retail website to keep track of which items you've viewed, but prevent a trashy tabloid from tracking your celebrity gossip habits!
You could also create solutions that help consumers track or request their data from different companies.
4. Branding:
According to a survey, 39% of consumers have lost trust in a company because of dodgy data practices. If you're a marketing agency or business operator, you can build positive privacy policies into your marketing and brand identity.
Concerned about getting data management right for your business? The Trends team will be speaking with a privacy lawyer soon to get the lowdown. Keep your eyes peeled!
How have you handled privacy protection? Share your experience below!
Subscribe to the Hustle Newsletter for more.
from the Marketing Examples newsletter by Harry Dry
Stay up on current events so you can use newsjacking to your advantage.
Go here for more short, sweet, practical marketing tips.
Subscribe to Marketing Examples for more.
by Todd
Hey, indie hackers! I'm Todd, and in June 2018, I launched a website in the highly competitive personal finance space.
I created this side project, not only to help people learn about finances, but to earn additional income. My goal was for the site to be acquired one day.
Fast forward to summer 2021, and I sold it for $65K+. It was a challenging, fun journey to grow the website as a side project with a very small budget. I'm currently working on my next website project, Remote Work Junkie, which I just launched back in March.
AMA!
Here's what I did to help my site grow:
For the first two years, I wrote everything. When I started to make money from the site, I brought on two freelancers. I would do the keyword research and outline for posts, then they would fill in some of the content for those outlines. From there, I would edit and add a bit of my personal touch to it. It saved me a few hours per week, and it was fairly cost-effective.
I did scale back when I knew I was getting ready to potentially sell, but at that point, I had close to 200 articles doing a lot of work for me on traffic and revenue. By then, I didn't need to pump out as much content.
For content websites, pretty much everything has been done and written about in some way. Here are the things that I considered to keep my content fresh:
My business model consisted of ads, affiliate marketing, and sponsorships. These were all companies for investing, financial planning, or budgeting that could genuinely help my audience. My audience was made up of people looking to increase their financial knowledge. So, I worked with apps and products that I liked, used, or was currently using. Same with my affiliates.
Generally, website content businesses have a pretty large range of monthly multipliers; I've seen everything from 10x to 58x. Most buyers in this space look at the income and how the traffic direction is progressing. You can check out Empire Flippers for some of the going multiplier rates.
To make it more attractive, I purchased all the domain variations, and ensured that I had decent followings on social media and email. Some buyers don't care about this, others do. However, I tried to do everything that could make it more attractive to buyers. I made sure it was professional, built domain authority, built community around it, etc.
I was at around a 40x monthly net income multiplier, but traffic was stalling for me. My income stayed steady even with traffic dips, so that wasn't a major concern for the buyers. Plus, after a while, I like to work on new projects, so it was time to sell!
Discuss this story.
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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Jakob Greenfeld, Priyanka Vazirani, The Trends Team, Harry Dry, and Todd for contributing posts. —Channing