email marketing industry benchmarks
Hello and welcome back for some bold and honest conversations around what it's really like to run an SME against London's vibrant yet challenging economic and political background. This is the Ugli webinar series. I'm JP Founder and Director of the Ugli campus and today I'll be chatting with Clwyd Probert of Whitehat.
Youtobe
email marketing google analytics
Believe it or not, I’ve been working on Ubersuggest for almost 3 years now.
I bought it on February 13, 2017, for $120,000 dollars as a test to see if I could get more traffic from a tool than traditional content marketing or SEO.
Since then the tool has come a long way, in which I’ve added tons of features that competitors charge $100 a month or even more for.
But I’ve finally got Ubersuggest to a point where I can start releasing features that my competition don’t even have.
So before, you head on over to Ubersuggest to work on your SEO, make sure you read everything below because I’ve just changed up how you are going do keyword research (in a good way).
On top of that, I’ve also released a few other features as well related to link data and traffic estimations.
Here’s what’s new:
The biggest problem I had with keyword research was how to find the right keyword.
Sure, there are metrics like CPC data, SEO difficulty, or even search volume, but assuming you find keywords with a high CPC, low SEO difficulty, and high search volume, it still doesn’t mean it is a good keyword to go after.
And there are a few reasons why…
Because of all of this, I decided to change how the industry does keyword research.
Now when you type in a keyword like “marketing” into Ubersuggest, you’ll see this:
If you have been using Ubersuggest for the last year or so you may notice some differences… but if you haven’t let me break down what’s new.
First off, for any given keyword you will see what percentage of the searches are taking place from mobile devices or desktop devices.
For example, with the term “marketing” you can see that the majority of the searches are coming from desktop devices.
On the flip side, if you use Ubersuggest to look at the term “weather” you’ll notice that the majority of the searches happen on mobile devices.
And with any given keyword you can also see what percentage of the people even click on the SEO or paid results.
I love this bar chart because it tells me if I should even go after a specific keyword. Just because a term has tons of searches doesn’t mean you are going to get tons of clicks, even if you rank at the number 1 spot.
If you leverage paid ads, this bar chart is also helpful because it will give you a sense of how many people click on the paid ads as well.
Another chart that I’ve added is one that breaks down the age range of each searcher.
As you can see from the above image, Ubersuggest now shows what percentage of the searches take place between each age range.
This is really important if you know the persona of your ideal customer, as you only want to target keywords that your ideal buyer is searching for.
What’s also cool is this data is available for all countries within Ubersuggest and for almost all of the keywords within our database.
Now before you head off to Ubersuggest and test it out, there are a few more features that I’ve just released.
Over the last few months, I’ve gotten feedback that our link database isn’t as big as you would like, so we have been working on fixing this.
First off, whenever you do a backlink search in Ubersuggest, you’ll start seeing stats on historical backlink data.
This chart will quickly show you if a site is growing in backlink and referring domain count over time or if they are declining.
On top of that, we are even showing the daily new and lost link count for a given site.
I know the new and lost link count chart looks a bit off, but keep in mind we started having Ubersuggest crawl more pages around the web faster and more frequently. Hence you are seeing a big spike in new and lost links.
But over the next 4 weeks, it should normalize, and you’ll see an accurate representation of new and lost links.
This will help you identify new link opportunities more easily. Especially because you can now clearly see where your competitors are focusing their link building efforts.
Lastly in Ubersuggest, you can also enter in a URL and get data on any given domain.
From its estimated monthly search traffic to the number of keywords a domain ranks for to even its top pages based on link and traffic count.
We haven’t fully finished creating our new algorithm when it comes to traffic estimations, but the chart you’ll see now is much more accurate than the older one.
Even though this is a big improvement from our older charts, give it another 3 months and it should be extremely accurate.
When you are using the traffic analyzer report in Ubersuggest, keep in mind that this will give you a directional guide on how you are doing versus your competition.
I hope you enjoy the new changes to Ubersuggest.
I’ve made them in order to give you a leg up on your competition as the data in the tool is now something that most of you have never seen before.
And over the next two months, you’ll see some big launches in Ubersuggest. From a chrome extension to even more accurate traffic estimations to even an Alert system that will notify you when things are wrong with your site.
So, go to Ubersuggest and try out the new keyword features as well as traffic estimation and backlink features.
What do you think about the new features?
Youtobe
email marketing is typically performed
We used to just call it ‘meeting people’, but in this increasingly connected business world we all live in, it’s become known as networking. Having a time to meet potential new business contacts, partners or suppliers can happen online, but despite our reliance on website marking by SEO experts, social networking and email, there is still a lot to be said for doing it the old fashioned way.
Marketers tend to be very reactive.
And it makes sense because every time a search engine or a social network changes their algorithm we jump as marketers.
We are conditioned to be very reactive. Whether it’s your boss who is pissed that your traffic dips or even yourself… everyone hates when sales and income drop because of something you can’t fully control.
And even when you try to be proactive, you are probably planning ahead from a 3-month period to a year max.
But that’s not how you win. You win by making bold bets that take time and can’t be done in a few months or a year… you win by doing what your competition isn’t willing to do.
So how do you come up with these bold bets?
You unplug!
Once a year I try to unplug. Just like right now, as I am writing this I don’t have cell reception and there is no WiFi.
I’m on a ranch in the middle of nowhere.
No matter where I look, there are no neighbors. All you have is nature in its rawest form. Just like how lightning kept going on for hours.
By unplugging and just being one with nature, you truly realize what’s important.
See, we all have problems and issues… especially in business. But how bad are your problems? Do they even matter in the grand scheme of things?
Look, I’ll be honest with you. I am not a big nature person… I’m actually quite the opposite.
I live in a modern, cold feeling house in a heavily congested city. I’m so OCD that I have a full-time cleaner come just because I’m afraid of getting dirty (seriously).
Heck, I won’t even go through airport security without having booties in my briefcase, just in the rare chance they make me take off my shoes. There is no way I can have my socks touch that dirty ground.
Yes, I am crazy when it comes to cleanliness and hygiene.
But even me, I go to places that are full of nature and wild animals… or in my case, cows, bears, deer, snakes, mountain lions, etc… being there really helps put things into perspective.
Because when you aren’t surrounded by noise caused by us humans, it allows you to clearly focus and think about what’s important.
For me, spending 3 days a year usually does the trick.
It allows me to forget about the bullshit we all have to deal with on a daily basis and come up with ideas about what I need to do over the next 5 (or even 10) years to win.
I know that sounds like a really long time… and it is. But again, to win you need to think long term and make bold bets that your competition wouldn’t dare to copy.
Just look at what I did with Ubersuggest.
I came up with that idea a few years ago by disconnecting (just like I described above).
Companies like Moz would constantly post their revenue stats and their competitors decided to also talk about their financials. So while being disconnected, I came up with an idea on how I could win and the first step was acquiring a tool like Ubersuggest.
And since then I’ve executed a few of the steps in my plan, but I still have a long way to go.
None-the-less, those steps have paid off. Just look at my traffic numbers.
I am going to turn SEO upside down again.
It hit me on this trip that we all have to go to sites like Ubersuggest, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or even Moz to get data.
But why is that?
It’s not natural in our workflow. Wouldn’t it just be easier to see this data as you browse the web?
Like when you search Google for any query sure you can use browser extensions like Keywords Everywhere to get some data or SEOquake or the Mozbar… but what you can’t get is that Ahrefs or SEMrush experience when you are just on a Google Search results page.
What will that look like? I have no clue yet, but I will figure that out over time.
Will that kill the traffic I generate to Ubersuggest over time?
Yes!!!!!!
But that is what needs to be done. I obsess about providing an amazing experience to my customers, even if that will kill off my existing business.
And no, that won’t take 5 years to do… I will probably do it over the next 6 months. I will first roll out a basic plugin like Keywords Everywhere and, eventually, I will add the functionally so you can get that type of Ubersuggest or Ahrefs experience right on Google or on your competitor’s site.
What will happen over the next 5 years though, is that I will be able to build something that gets you more traffic. Just like a light switch. Something that simple.
Why can’t we automate most of our marketing tasks? Why does SEO have to be manual when I can add a piece of JavaScript to a website and automate most of it? Why do I have to send out a blog post every time I release a new post or a push notification?
It should all be automated.
And no, I don’t mean in a templatized way. I manually send out emails every time I write a blog post because I know I can write custom copy that generates a 30% open rate and a high click rate.
But again, it should all be automated. And not just for English based sites, it should be done on a global level and work for every site in any language or country.
You may not be able to disconnect like me and spend the money that it costs to go to a ranch in the middle of nowhere.
And that’s fine… you don’t have to.
When I first started off, I didn’t have the resources or money, and I did just fine within my constraints.
For example, roughly 5 years ago I came up with the concept that I needed to go after global markets and compared to any of my competitors in the digital marketing realm, I’ve crushed all of them when it comes to global marketing.
Most of my competitors just translated their site or translated some of their content. Me on the other hand, I have 7 offices and teams in 18 different countries. And I’ll continue to expand so I can keep beating my competition when it comes to grabbing international attention.
But that idea didn’t come to me when I was in nature, being disconnected.
At that time, I was in my condo in the middle of Seattle and I disconnected my Internet for a few days.
Before I disconnected my Internet, I went and got food so I didn’t have to leave my house, and then I turned off all my gadgets… from my TV to phone and anything that was a distraction.
It worked well because now only 18.89% of my traffic is from the United States compared to 57% before I started to expand globally.
In other words, you can disconnect no matter where you are. You just literally have to disconnect your router, turn off your phone, and unplug your TV… it really is that simple.
If you do that for a few days, you’ll start realizing what is important and what isn’t. You’ll be able to strategize and start thinking more long term.
The key to winning long term isn’t by being reactive every time there is an algorithm update or even proactive and preparing for each algorithm update.
Because some of those things are simply out of your control.
Instead, you need to think long term and how you can disrupt your market to make a long-term bet that your competition isn’t willing to make.
Nike wasn’t built by SEO.
Airbnb wasn’t built through paid advertising.
American Express wasn’t built through social media marketing.
Tesla wasn’t built through content marketing.
Doing something disruptive or better than the competition is how you win.
Ubersuggest gets 1,668,233 visitors and 9,136,512 page views a month from people just coming directly. Not through SEO, marketing, or anything like that… I just focus on the future instead of being reactive.
That’s how I win.
Now, the real question is, how are you going to win?
Youtobe
With a webinar, you can reach everyone and go global. You're not tied to a specific location and you're not tied to a specific time or audience. It's a great way to implement a video marketing strategy across your business.
Everyone talks about algorithm updates, but Google does a whole lot more than adjust algorithms.
Some of the moves they are making are really going to impact your marketing efforts.
So, what are these non-algorithm changes?
Well before I get into them, keep in mind that you aren’t going to like some of them, and that’s ok. Instead, I want you to focus your energy on how you can leverage these changes before your competition.
Let’s get started…
If you aren’t familiar with the concept of ambient computing, here’s a quick definition:
Ambient computing is a term that encompasses many different concepts. At its core, it is the combination of hardware, software, user experience, and machine/human interaction and learning, all of these things becoming the idea of using a computer or internet-enabled device, without necessarily consciously using it.
In other words, Google wants you to use them 24/7 no matter where you are or what you are doing. They are doing this by integrating products everywhere.
Whether it is Nest, Android devices, Chromebooks, smartwatches, Google Home, or anything else they can drum up.
Because their mission is to spread the usage of all Google related products, it will eventually open up new ways for you to drive traffic and monetize.
An obvious example is to create apps on mobile devices that work on Android phones. Uber, Netflix, and Candy Crush are all examples of apps that work on Android devices.
You already know about apps, but I bet you don’t have one.
To give you an idea of how well you can do with a mobile app, there are roughly 2 million mobile apps, and there are over 13 billion mobile devices.
Of course, a lot of those devices are old or in landfills. But still, there aren’t that many apps for how many mobile devices that exist. Especially when you consider that there are over 1,518,207,414 websites.
In other words, there are 759 times more websites than apps, so consider creating one. 😉
If you don’t know how you can always use services like Build Fire.
And in addition to apps, you’ll need to start looking at generating traffic through all voice devices. Phones, watches, and even the smart home assistants that Google is creating leverage voice search.
Using tools like Jetson.ai will help you create a voice version of your website so you can collect sales and leads.
If you don’t think voice search is that important, 50% of searches are now voice-based.
Again, just like an app, I bet you don’t a voice search version of your website.
Question is, are you going to create one first or is your competition?
Do you have a Chromebook? Chances are you don’t.
But if you have kids, or nieces or nephews, ask them if they have ever used a Chromebook.
Chromebooks are not only affordable, but they are taking over the world, at least when it comes to millennials and generation z.
Just look at the percentages of schools that use Chromebooks.
In some countries like the United States, 60% of the schools use Chromebooks.
That’s a ridiculously high percentage.
Apple has also been trying to penetrate classrooms, but they haven’t been having the same success as Google.
All this means is that kids are going to grow up using Google devices and fall into their ecosystem.
Sure, social sites like Instagram, Tiktok, or whatever else is new will always be popular, but the chances are these young kids will get to those sites using a Google device.
Even though Google isn’t as sexy as it once was, you shouldn’t take it for granted. It’s not going anywhere, and future generations will continue to leverage them. Just don’t drop your eye on Google and you’ll be fine.
When you think of ecommerce, what name comes to mind?
I bet you are thinking of Amazon.
We all use Amazon and, of course, every major tech company wants a slice of the ecommerce market.
Even when I’m using a search engine to find something to buy, I usually click on an Amazon listing because we all love their Prime shipping feature.
Google’s been trying to take a piece of that market for years. From shopping actions to Google Shopping nothing has really been too effective.
As consumers, we are just trained to go to Amazon to buy stuff.
And if you aren’t going to Amazon, you are probably going to Walmart or one of their online stores that they own all around the world.
To make matters worse, Walmart has removed all of its products from Google Shopping.
Google hasn’t made any big ecommerce or commerce purchases in general but you can expect that to change.
They may decide to buy a grocery delivery company like Instacart, but knowing them, I believe they will stick with the software, just like most things that they are doing.
Expect them to go after Amazon by helping people create their own ecommerce site. Whether it is through a Shopify acquisition or Bigcommerce or any other platform out there, they want to own the ecommerce market.
It’s going to be too tough to go head-on with Amazon, and that’s I think they will take a different route and go after a platform like Shopify.
If you are selling products online you should, of course, be on Amazon, but don’t rely on them. Make sure you have your own website and look to see what platform play Google makes as you may eventually want to consider moving over to whatever they buy.
And no, I don’t mean they are going to create something better than an iPad or an iPhone.
Apple, at its core, is a hardware company and they are clearly the winner when it comes to producing amazing devices that we use. But there is a big issue with Apple devices and even Samsung devices.
They are expensive.
If you want to buy a brand new iPhone, expect to drop $699 for the lowest model.
Google, on the other hand, does have high-end devices, but they also try and produce affordable devices. They also let other manufacturers use their operating system for their phones.
Their goal isn’t to make the most money per phone. Their goal is to get everyone in the world using their hardware.
Why?
Because that means they are collecting more data and that allows them to generate the most amount of money from advertising because all of these devices drive people to their search engine that is filled with ads.
It’s a pretty smart move.
I highly recommend that you watch this…
They aren’t just using this strategy with their phones, they are trying to make all of their products affordable. That way people all over the world can afford them.
Because if you live in places like Brazil or India, Apple devices are too expensive, which leads people to choose a Google device.
Less than 5% of the world lives in the United States… the money is in the global markets.
If you are debating which platform to build on, consider Google, even if it isn’t the sexist due to sheer volume. Android’s market share is roughly 87% because of its affordable hardware and partnerships.
Right now you mainly see ads on their search engine.
Yes, you will also find ads on some of their other properties like Maps, but expect them to be everywhere.
For the first time, the 2019 digital ad spend overtook traditional ad dollars in the United States.
But still, ad dollars offline is more than a hundred billion-dollar industry, and that’s just in the United States.
Over the next few years, I bet you’ll see Google dip into offline advertising.
Just think of it this way. Google owns Waymo, a self-driving Uber type of service that is growing fast in popularity.
They have data from the Google devices in your home and the watch on your wrist and they know where you going through Waymo… essentially, they have more data on you than anyone else.
Heck, they are even starting to offer checking accounts.
With all of that data, who better to serve you offline ads? They’ll be able to target people better and make them more relevant.
This will also increase the value (cost) of offline ads as well as online ads in the long run.
You are probably going to hate this change the most, but it will also make their search engine more usable.
They are testing a lot of different ad types.
For example, as a business, you can collect leads through Google.
And eventually, you’ll just be able to book a hotel room right on their search engine without going to the hotel’s website.
The same will happen with mortgages, auto insurance, and many more industries.
This doesn’t mean that SEO will be dead or no one will go to your site from search engines, it just means you will have to adapt.
For example, you can create educational-based content, rank highly, and when people land on your website, you can convert them through sales funnels.
You can also use tools like Hello Bar to create sliders and popups to drive visitors to your money pages.
The future isn’t going to look the same. Companies like Tesla aren’t the only ones who are innovating, most big companies are.
Don’t expect Google to just stay the same and not adapt just like every other tech company is trying to do.
It’s the only way to stay ahead and win.
As marketers and entrepreneurs, Google won’t be the only one disrupting how you are growing your sales and traffic. But instead of getting upset or complaining, accept it.
Be productive with your time and focus on adapting. Because when you are adapting while your competition is complaining, you’ll win.
What other changes do you see Google making in the future?
It’s been more than a year since I launched the “new” Ubersuggest.
And over the last 12 months, I have made a lot of progress.
Just as a quick recap: Ubersuggest went from a basic keyword research tool to now containing backlink data, rank tracking, content ideas, site audit reports, and many more features.
If you haven’t played with Ubersuggest in the past few months, give it a try. Type in a URL or a keyword and click around.
The reason I am asking you to give it a try is that I need your help to determine what I should develop next so I can help you improve your traffic and rankings even more.
But before we get into that, let me first tell you what I am releasing in the next few months.
So, let’s break it down by section as I am making a lot of small changes that should not only improve the data, but also the usability of the product.
Funny enough, there will be changes to every section of the tool.
Over the next month, the keyword overview is going to change in which I will start to tell you demographic data. You’ll see what percentage of the searches are done by males or females as well as the average age range of a searcher.
You’ll also see what portion of the clicks for any given keyword go to SEO results, ads, or result in no clicks.
I am also going to break searches down by mobile versus desktop.
Another big change that is happening, and this one won’t be visual, is all of the data will become much more accurate.
From traffic estimations for a domain, to even keywords, you’ll start seeing a more accurate database.
For example, when I look at all of the keywords neilpatel.com ranks for, a lot of them are junk keywords that don’t drive much traffic.
Sure, the report still provides value as a lot of the keywords are good and can provide good SEO insights, but with more accurate data it should make your job easier.
Another feature that I am excited about is the new backlink charts.
I’m adding historical link data over time as well as a snapshot of daily new and lost links.
In addition to that, you’ll start seeing more data on anchor text or link distribution.
A huge problem with Ubersuggest is that you have to continually come back to get value. In the next month or so, you will start seeing email alerts that will tell you what’s happening with your site and what you should fix.
The overall purpose is for you to not have to come to Ubersuggest to figure out what you need to fix.
The biggest problem with Ubersuggest is people don’t know what to do with the data or how to improve their rankings.
This will be fixed in the upcoming months.
From an education center and demos to tutorials and more, we are creating a guided path so you can see better gains in your search traffic.
Alright, so now that you know what I am working on, I now need your help to figure out what I should do next.
I have a few options for you, but I am not sure what you want me to do with the tool.
Sure, I know you want more free features and I will do that, but what’s going to provide you with the biggest gains?
Here are some options…
I can take Ubersuggest in many different directions. There isn’t really a right or wrong approach and, wherever I take it, I will make sure that the product is still really easy to use.
The question is, what do you want me to focus on first?
That’s all that matters in the grand scheme of things because I am building this for you.
So, if you can, leave a comment below letting me know where you want me to take Ubersuggest. It can be one of the options above, or if you have a better idea, I am open to that as well.
Youtobe
