What's New: The infinite marketing glitch strategy

(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)

This growth strategy creates a cycle for driving traffic:

• Achieve any success, big or small. Tell people how you got this success. Talk about how telling people drove even more traffic. Repeat.
• Most founders have weeks where they feel unproductive. On those weeks, focus on impact, accept that large tasks take time, and celebrate your wins.
• 9 years. 7 figure exit. Elena Buetler spent 3 months creating a single page for link building, then 6 months getting it to rank. Years of growth followed.

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A Growth Strategy for Driving Traffic 🚀

by Farid Shukurov

I used to read about how people would get free traffic to their websites, and it always seemed like magic to me. But now that I've finally experienced my own success with growth hacking, I want to share exactly what I did. Maybe it can help someone else!

The "infinite marketing glitch" strategy

It started with a Product Hunt launch. We were able to hit Number One Product of the Day, but despite that, traffic was much lower than expected. We got around 800 visitors from our launch.

After that, I decided to write a blog post entitled: "Bulletproof Strategy to get #1 on Product Hunt." This got us 1.2K visitors! I posted it in multiple places: X, LinkedIn, Reddit, Indie Hackers, etc. Here is a post example that did well on Reddit.

Once my post went viral, I posted on X about how my Reddit post drove more traffic than the Product Hunt launch. The X post went viral, generating over 45K impressions (~450 visitors).

After my X post went viral, I reposted the same post to Reddit and Indie Hackers. Here is the Reddit post that brought in ~1.5K visitors.

The core idea

1. Achieve any success, small or large. For example, you've landed your first 100 users.

2. Tell people how you got this success. This drives traffic.

3. Talk about how telling people about your success drove even more traffic. This drives even more traffic.

4. Keep doing this!

In conclusion, if you have some cool success stories, don't keep them to yourself! Share them with the world, and those stories may bring you even more success.

Discuss this story.

In the News 📰

from the Growth Trends newsletter

💰 LinkedIn shares new guidance to improve your sales approach.

🤫 These five steps can help you maximize performance in a privacy-first era.

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

🔎 Strategic SEO insights and tactical tips.

💵 The current state of SaaS pricing.

📱 How US adults use TikTok.

Check out Growth Trends for more curated news items focused on user acquisition and new product ideas.

Learnings From an Unproductive Week 😕

by Wyatt Feaster

I think every founder has weeks where they just feel unproductive. This past week was one of those for me.

I am working on accepting that weeks like that happen, learning to look back and reflect on why it happened, and finding ways to move forward. Here are five things that I took away from an unproductive week!

1. Focus on impact

Three large tasks are too many to focus on daily, especially if you're short on time.

I've learned that I need to reduce the amount of things I'm focusing on. I need to focus on one key thing each day, and this thing should be the most impactful thing.

2. Accept that large tasks take time

Some tasks bleed over because they are large, or may require more in-depth thinking.

That is okay. I've learned to accept that I can't accomplish every task on my list right away. I'm not going to beat myself up because I didn’t complete the entire task.

3. Celebrate the wins

Even if it wasn’t my most productive week, I still got things done. Something is better than nothing.

4. Remove distractions

On weeks where I have trouble focusing, I really need to remove distractions.

I need to mute notifications, get off my phone, go to a different environment, and talk with someone about my project to get my brain heading in the right direction.

5. My (current) worst is still better than my (past) best

Throughout my journey of building Email Emu, I've implemented a routine that has helped me become more productive.

I've learned that even my worst days or weeks of productivity today are still better than my best days were in previous years. That is progress to celebrate!

Discuss this story.

Top Posts on Indie Hackers This Week 🌐

🛠 How we got our first 500 users for free. Posted by Arian Adeli.

🙅‍♀️ Launch mistakes to avoid. Posted by Sam McManus.

💳 Easiest way to collect credit card information without charging? Posted by Mihail Eric.

💻 What I learned from testing X ads. Posted by Mathis Vella.

😬 Do founders need to be shameless and borderline delusional? Posted by Darren.

💡 I have a validated idea, but I'm not sure I like the audience. Posted by Syed Faraaz Ahmad.

Want a shout-out in next week's Best of Indie Hackers? Submit an article or link post on Indie Hackers whenever you come across something you think other indie hackers will enjoy.

This Hack Led to More Pageviews 👀

by Marc Andre

Each week, Flip My Site publishes an inspiring success story featuring a founder growing and selling an online business. When Elena Buetler created her first website as a side hustle in 2006, she had no idea she'd eventually sell the site for seven figures. At the time, Elena, originally from Russia, faced a challenge in finding work after moving to Switzerland with her husband, Daniel.

The start of it all

Because she didn't speak the language, or have the legal paperwork to get a job, Elena had limited options for making money. So, she decided to start a content website. Later, she took on a full-time job as a marketing manager for a French company, while working on her site sporadically as she had time. During the recession of 2008, her job hours were reduced by 50%, cutting her income in half.

Rather than looking for another job, Elena used the extra time to grow her website faster. When her side hustle income matched what she earned from her job, she walked away from the job and never looked back.

Today, Elena and Daniel run Investors Club, a marketplace for buying and selling content and e-commerce websites.

Growing a seven figure website

Elena's website was monetized with AdSense, and SEO was her only traffic strategy. She attributes her success to implementing Brian Dean's skyscraper strategy.

Elena spent countless hours creating a single page that she used extensively for link building. It took three months just to create that one page, then another six months of daily outreach to get it to rank. After months of email outreach, Elena's efforts paid off, as the new page ranked number one on Google for a competitive keyword, with 400K monthly searches.

Downloads were a major component of the website. While some competitors had all their download links on a single page, Elena linked to individual download pages for each file. This approach led to significantly more pageviews, and higher advertising revenue.

In 2015, Elena sold the site for a seven figure sum.

Building a portfolio of digital assets

A few years before the exit, Elena and Daniel started building a portfolio of websites, primarily through acquisitions. They purchased their first site in 2011 for $1K, and eventually, they had 30 sites in their portfolio.

Elena believes the right approach depends on one's goals, skills, and resources. She also points out the advantage of immediate revenue through an acquisition.

In 2022, after several years of managing their portfolio, Elena and Daniel purchased Investors Club. Today, it takes a lot of their time, so they've sold off a number of their sites to focus on its growth.

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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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Farid Shukurov, Darko, Wyatt Feaster, and Marc Andre for contributing posts. —Channing