In keyword research with the synonymous intent method, we learned how to better measure the traffic potential for a given content opportunity. We looked at how posts can account for multiple keyword clusters as long as they have the same or adjacent intent.
We used the example looking at phrases related to “how to I change my behavior” as well as “how do I change my mindset.”
But looking at that opportunity in a vacuum doesn’t really help us. Our time, energy, and money is finite, so we need to prioritize our efforts based on what will have the highest estimated return on traffic and traffic value.
Let’s say I identify two topic opportunities and want to pick a direction for the next few months.
- how to change (bad) mindset and behavior
- 1,400 traffic potential (8,000 searches with 3 to 5 SERP features)
- 70 keyword difficulty (range of 63 to 78)
- 7 to 10 sites linking to top pages in Google results
- 50 new monthly email subscribers
- $199 monthly sales from those subscribers for somewhat relevant product
- how to develop a growth mindset
- 4,400 traffic potential (20,000 searches with 3 to 4 SERP features)
- 74 keyword difficulty (range of 64 to 84)
- 15 to 20 sites link to top pages in Google results
- 132 new monthly email subscribers
- $750 monthly sales from those subscribers for highly relevant product
In the above examples, it’s pretty clear. We’ve teased out that the first direction will result in about $2400 annual revenue while the second will result in $9000.
We’ve also determined that the cost to create some hub and spoke content is similar for both (about 30 hours) but only 30 hours of content promotion for the first topic and 50 hours for the second.
Even with the additional time required, we more than double our effective hourly rate for the second topic.