5 builders who never spoke to each other

Put a number on the demand before you build

Open a keyword tool and check that the phrase your buyer would type has real monthly volume, in their vocabulary rather than yours. Founders here treated a thin result as a reason to drop the idea outright, not as a challenge to overcome with better writing. The check costs an hour and it decides whether search can be a channel for you at all.

The method

1. 01

   Check the search volume of your keywords in Google Keyword Planner before assuming search is a viable channel, and check whether the phrasing you tested is what buyers actually type rather than what a developer would type.

2. 02

   Decide whether a site is worth building at all by doing the keyword research first. If the search volume in the niche does not justify it, do not start.

3. 03

   Use search volume as your demand test - if nobody is querying for it on Google, on Amazon, on YouTube or in the app stores, they probably don't want it.

4. 04

   Vet a category with three checks: is the demand deep enough, are people actively searching for a solution, and are new customers entering the market every day.

5. 05

   Do not start from the assumption that your business needs SEO at all. Decide whether it fits before you staff it.

What it returned

• 10

  The terms Zue had judged beatable drew only 10 to 100 monthly searches, while what real buyers searched drew 10,000 to 100,000 for one phrase and 1,000 to 10,000 for another.

• The founder calls niche selection and keyword volume the most crucial step, and has repeated the model across six sites drawing hundreds of thousands of monthly page views.

• Volume-checking tools named include SparkToro, Answer the Public, and the keyword explorers from Moz and Ahrefs.

• Most SaaS companies are named as poor fits for conventional SEO for exactly this reason.

Sources

• Ideas I was right about | Corey HainesCorey Haines · corey.co · Idea: HARO replacement · 2024-06-11
• Do entrepreneurs create demand?Justin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · What factors do entrepreneurs control? · undated
• How do I find customers for my SaaS?Justin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · A hack for evaluating customer demand · undated
• The Place Card TeardownCory Zue · coryzue.com · SEO · 2017-04-30
• How Ron Makes $10K/Month With 6 Different WebsitesRon Stefanski · failory.com · Which are your marketing strategies to grow your traffic? · undated
• Rethinking SEO in the age of AI | Eli Schwartz (SEO advisor, author)Eli Schwartz · lennysnewsletter.com · 2024-09-19
• 42 Questions to Ask Before Starting a BusinessPreetam Nath · preetamnath.com · Can I differentiate on product, or distribution? · 2021-01-10