How to generate $1M+ in revenue through SEO for a new site

Publish Date

Aug 4, 2022

What does the Aazar Shad do?

Aazar is a growth marketer who works with various companies and brands. His efforts are typically focused on SEO and paid ads, though he handles a diverse number of channels. Aazar will typically make a plan, then pass off to an agency to execute on.

👨‍👨‍👦‍👦 What kind of companies does Aazar work with?

B2C Tech Companies

→ Usually running paid social, paid ads or SEO – channels that work well with consumer tech brands

📝 Aazar’s approach to SEO?

Starting from zero

Aazar assumes companies have done nothing with SEO so far. Even if they have done some efforts, they don’t focus on high intent keywords. Many companies start a new blog and try to go after high volume keywords, under the assumption that if they get a piece of the pie, it will be significant. But if you are a new brand, no one knows you. You might be solving a problem but no one can find you.

So where do you start? Start with people who know about the problem.

Focus on a niche

Say you are a digital nomad job board. A lot of people will start by saying “Hey! If you want to become a Digital Nomad, go through this guide and find a job here”. But instead think, “what are people already searching for that is NOT my brand?”→ Do competitor research, see what keywords they are ranking on that aren’t very competitive, and (more important) what are people looking for that they don’t have? What does your product beat its competitors at?

Let’s take WeWorkRemotely as an example. It’s a general jobs board for everyone. But if you are a marketer, you are more likely to engage with a jobs board built specifically for remote marketers. You’ll have much faster success targeting “remote marketing jobs” vs. just “remote jobs”.

Another example: let’s say you have a podcast platform. Most people use Zoom to record podcasts, but it’s not great for that. So naturally, people look for alternatives. There are a TON of articles on Zoom alternatives, but not nearly as many on Zoom alternatives for podcasts. Focus on the niche!

📝 How to grow your own SEO channel

1. Define your niche

Start with a group of people who are already aware of the problem you’re solving. Ideally, they’re already looking for a solution. This might seem obvious, but many people try to do the opposite by writing tangentially related blog posts, in hopes of simply getting their solution in front of the right eyes.

People who are aware start with keywords that have business buying intent. Things like:

Tools

Software

Game

Course

Certification

Consultant

etc.

Taken from Aazar’s Twitter thread on SEO

Before you start writing your actual content, really think about who you are speaking to. Modern day SEO involves more critical thinking about who is searching for what kind of query. If you do this well before writing, your ranking will get easier. You want your end user to feel like the content was written just for them.

Tip: Read other ranked blogs first to stand out.

2. List and select high-intent keywords

Once you have your list of high-intent keywords, how do you know what to focus on? Consider a few things (in this order):

Commercial intent (ready to buy or considering)

Search volume (not too high, but some traffic)

Authority on the topic

Low difficulty

Few backlinks

Essentially, you want to focus on keywords that are highly connected to your product, have lots of potential and are not very competitive. And of course things you can produce genuinely great content around.

3. Write content that will rank

Now that you have your keywords, how do you write content that will actually rank?

Again, focus on the intention behind the keywords. You need to actually solve the problem people are looking to have solved. Often times, this will involve much more research than it will expertise. Go in deep. Write for people skimming, not an algorithm optimizing long-form content.

Aazar has a great Twitter thread explaining this more in depth.

Be sure to get the basics rights. Start with the headlines first, and be sure to have the 4 U’s: urgent, unique, ultra-specific, and useful. Make sure the first paragraph really leads them in. Pull them in based on the intent of the keyword, and entice them to read until the end.

Example: Put a content magnet in that encourages scrolling. Aazar uses comparison charts for this.

Follow the checklist below when creating and optimizing content:

4. How to grow and optimize your content

Distribution is underrated. You can share posts on Quora, Reddit, and as Guest Posts on other blogs once they’re finished. You can also “rank” for high competition keywords by getting backlinks on content already ranking highly.

When using lead magnets, be up front with context about what they’ll get. Base it on the content of the page, and let the user take the next action. It’s okay to promote yourself on your own blog. Just be honest and as neutral as possible.

💡 Advice for someone trying to build something similar?

Write “alternative” articles that solve people’s problems. Take the advantage of the alternative product to leverage a larger successful brand.

Answer a very tactical question with little search traffic

Super low volume, but anyone searching will definitely convert

Utilize the “help desk” for SEO

Things like FAQ pages are very easy to optimize

Write reviews for a certain competitor (either direct or not). Add opinions to it.

Focus on the end outcome: “video podcast software that makes you look like a pro”

Don’t worry about backlinks, just focus on creating great content

When doing keyword research, don’t worry too much about metrics. Look at how much competition there is and who is ranking for it, but don’t worry if the volume is low