In Episode #114 Eric and Neil discuss how tools create better marketing ROIs for your business. Listen to hear their examples and to better understand that links are a big factor for tools.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:27 – Today’s topic: How tools create a better marketing ROI
• 00:39 – Neil did a test
  • 00:44 – Neil checked Hubspot
  • 01:02 – Leads today from content marketing, conferences, sponsorships and ads
  • 01:09 – During the early days, they got leads from their tools
  • 01:12 – Word Stream also generates leads from their PPC creator
  • 01:19 – Neil’s tool experiment on Quick Sprout
• 02:31 – Check Walkscore through Ahrefs and you’ll find a lot of anchor text going back to their site
  • 02:56 – Don’t do black area
• 03:28 – Neil shares what he knows on Walkscore
  • 03:55 – They created a tool
  • 04:15 – How realtors helped Walkscore build links
  • 04:40 – Realtors were able to use Walkscore as selling point
  • 05:00 – Using links and badges these days can be hit by Google
  • 05:46 – Don’t use tools for mischievous purposes
• 05:51 – Tools are mouse traps
• 06:16 – Check Outgrow.co will help you get started
• 07:01 – Simple tools don’t do well
• 07:14 – Do a tool that’s a bit more wowing
• 07:52 – Think about interactive content too
• 08:20 – Links are a big factor
• 08:34 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

1. Create tools for black hat purposes if necessary.
2. Complex tools require complex solutions.
3. Instead of creating simple tools, go for ones with interactive content.

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• Quick Sprout
• Growth Everywhere
• Single Grain
• Twitter @neilpatel
• Twitter @ericosiu