{"id":223822,"date":"2020-03-13T08:50:21","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T03:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qcsglobal.com\/marketing\/the-future-of-ubersuggest\/"},"modified":"2020-04-18T17:10:41","modified_gmt":"2020-04-18T11:40:41","slug":"the-future-of-ubersuggest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/the-future-of-ubersuggest\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Ubersuggest"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

* Please read the whole post, I have some good news at the bottom, but it won’t make sense unless you read the whole post.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you know why I got into SEO?<\/p>\n

Not many people know this, but I grew up in middle-class America, and I wanted a better life for me and my parents.<\/p>\n

When I was 16 years old, I worked at a theme park called Knotts Berry Farm where I picked up trash, cleaned restrooms, and swept up vomit every single day.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t mind it because that’s life and I needed the money.<\/p>\n

At 16, I realized I was too young to get a high paying job, so I did the next best thing… I started a business.<\/p>\n

But making $5.75 an hour picking up trash wasn\u2019t enough to market my business, though. The only solution that I could think of was SEO because if you put in the time and effort you can get the traffic for free. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the main reason I fell in love with it\u2026 it
\ngives the little guy a chance to compete with the big guys<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And over the years I wanted to pay it forward and help out all of the entrepreneurs and small companies so they can do the same\u2026 succeed without having to spend a lot of money<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what did I do?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Well over the years, I\u2019ve produced a ton of free content, videos, and guides that help entrepreneurs and marketers of all sizes succeed.<\/p>\n

And in February 2017, I decided to take it to the next level by acquiring Ubersuggest<\/a> for $120,000.<\/p>\n

When I first bought it, I had the dream of creating an SEO tool that could compete with the big players that charged $100+ a month, but of course, offer it for free.<\/p>\n

The developers that I had at that time estimated that I could do this for $30,000 to $45,000 a month. That was perfect as I had no issue losing that much money each month.<\/p>\n

But as we got rolling and kept adding in more features, our
\nexpenses continually climbed. Just look at what I spent in the last month\u2026<\/p>\n

I spent $89,930 on hosting so far in January with an estimated spend of $128,680 for February. But again, let’s stick with January\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

My back-end development bill from Tryolabs<\/a> was $47,885 for January.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

My data feed from SEO Power Suite<\/a>, Data For SEO<\/a>, and Shared Count<\/a> totaled $75,253 for January.<\/p>\n

And of course, my front-end developers as well as my dev-ops team Netlabs,<\/a> which ran me $22,700.<\/p>\n

Then if you add on miscellaneous costs, such as support, design, and project management, I was out another $11,450.<\/p>\n

All in all, I spent $247,218 during the month of January 2020.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that my costs are continually rising. As the tool gets more popular, it costs me more.<\/p>\n

One of the big reasons for the server expenses is scrapers. <\/p>\n

Believe it or not, a lot of companies are scraping our data and continually rotating up IPs and creating fake accounts, which increases our server expenses. Especially when you consider that they are researching vague SEO terms or domains that aren\u2019t cached in our system.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t feel bad for me<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Now the purpose of this post wasn\u2019t to make you feel bad or guilty (unless you are scraping me). I just wanted to be transparent about my situation.<\/p>\n

Originally, I was hoping that I could convert a portion of the Ubersuggest customer base into agency clients but as we continually move upstream and work with bigger brands, the conversion rate from an Ubersuggest visitor to a paying consulting customer has been low.<\/p>\n

As that didn\u2019t work out the way I wanted, which I learned around 11 months ago, it became harder and harder for me to eat the costs as they continually grew and I didn’t have a way to pay for them other than to dip into my own savings.<\/p>\n

So, I started searching for solutions, such as turning
\nUbersuggest into a non-profit and raise money from foundations to help support
\nthe cost. I tried that for 5 months and I didn\u2019t gain much traction.<\/p>\n

I also tried to see if I could get sponsors for the tool who would help cover the costs, but that didn\u2019t work out well either. Instead, many of them offered to buy the company for millions of dollars (some in the 8 figures) but I didn\u2019t want to sell it as I knew their goal would be to turn it into another $100-a-month tool, which didn\u2019t sit well with me.<\/p>\n

After running out of options, I had no choice but to make some changes to Ubersuggest (don\u2019t worry it is not closing down). But you can guess what the changes are.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t worry<\/strong>…<\/h2>\n

First and foremost, my goal is still to give as much away for free as I can. Within Ubersuggest<\/a>, you will still be able to do a lot for free\u2026<\/p>\n

Creating projects<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You will always be able to create projects and track your rankings. And just like before you always have been limited on the number of keywords you can track and that, of course, is due to costs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Keyword research<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Within the app, you will still be able to see keyword research data.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

You\u2019ll see a chart with the latest few months’ traffic volume, data on mobile versus desktop search volume, demographic data, and even keyword recommendations.<\/p>\n

And you can, of course, continually find new keywords to target.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Sure, some of the data is blocked, but did you know that
\nonly 14.3% of people used to register for a free account to unlock that data.<\/p>\n

In other words, most of you never even registered because the application shows you enough for free without needing to log in.<\/p>\n

Content ideas<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Similar to before, you can also see popular blog post suggestions for any given keyword.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

You\u2019ll also be able to see the top keywords a blog post
\nranks for and the backlinks pointing to that URL.<\/p>\n

Again, keep in mind the majority of you only looked at the
\ntop 10 results as 14.3% of you registered for a free account to unlock more
\ndata.<\/p>\n

Traffic Analyzer<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You will still be able to look up any domain and get stats
\non it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Historical data is blocked, but you can see the last few
\nmonths which is enough for most of you.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll also be able to see the top pages for any domain and the keywords that page ranks for as well as backlinks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

The same goes for the keywords any domain ranks for. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Some of the data is blocked, but just like before only 14.3%
\nof you registered to view that data. Which means 85.7% of you are happy with
\nthe free data.<\/p>\n

SEO Analyzer<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Not much has changed here, you can still analyze over 100 pages on your site and figure out which errors you have.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s an interesting fact: Did you know the average site that goes through Ubersuggest<\/a> only has 48 pages? <\/p>\n

The median number of pages a site has in our system was similar at 43 pages.<\/p>\n

And of course, there is the backlinks report, which now
\nshows new and lost links as well as historical link growth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Similar to what I mentioned above, very few people really cared to see the blocked off information as only 14.3% of you registered.<\/p>\n

My dream<\/strong><\/h2>\n

My goal in life is to help people generate more traffic. And I believe Ubersuggest can get better results and give you a fighting chance.<\/p>\n

I also want to continually make the tool better. For example, why can’t SEO be automated? If you can have self-driving cars, there is no reason why you can’t automate SEO through artificial intelligence and machine learning.<\/p>\n

But with the rising expenses, I was left with 2 options… either shut the tool down (which isn’t an option for me) or figure out a way to cover my expenses.<\/p>\n

In the long run, I can\u2019t keep sustaining the loss of $247,218 a month forever, especially when that number is climbing (that’s roughly 3 million dollars a year).<\/p>\n

My team and I came up with an interesting concept that we think is fair and hopefully, you won\u2019t be upset about it.<\/p>\n

Remember how I said only 14.3% of people register to view more data but 85.7% never register as they were happy with the free data?<\/p>\n

Well, nothing will change for 85.7% of you.<\/p>\n

As for the 14.3% who register to create projects and track keywords, you can still do that for free. But if you want to add more projects or track a lot more keywords, you can upgrade to a paid plan.<\/p>\n

The same goes for keyword research. If you want to view even more data, you can pay for the blocked data. Or if you want to analyze thousands of pages on your site through the site audit, you can also upgrade.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry though, I am still following my original
\nmission.<\/p>\n

I promise to always keep Ubersuggest<\/a> affordable (and mainly free). I decided to take the Netflix\/Amazon approach and try to make the cost super affordable (as my goal is to only break-even). <\/p>\n

On top of that, I made it a 7-day free trial.<\/em><\/p>\n

You’ll also find that the pricing varies per country as my costs vary per country. In regions like India and Brazil when someone registers, creates a project and tracks keywords, my expenses are substantially lower than if someone from the United States registers and creates projects and tracks keywords.<\/p>\n

The same goes for labor. My support team in India and other regions costs substantially less than the team in the United States or the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

If you also pay annually, you\u2019ll get 2 months free so you can save even more money.<\/p>\n

And as I mentioned above, I want to stick to the original mission, which is to help people generate more traffic without having to spend a lot of money. <\/p>\n

There will always be a very generous free plan and I am hoping that I can break even by charging for a portion of the application. <\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ubersuggest is going to continually get better.<\/p>\n

To make things up to you, over the next month or two I am going to release a Chrome extension that will give you tons of insights for free. And of course, if you want a little bit more you can pay.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what the free extension will look like\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Whenever you perform a Google search you will be able to see
\nthe volume for any search term in any major country. And if you click the \u201cview
\nall\u201d link you will see more data on that keyword. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

You\u2019ll also see the average domain score for any given
\nranking page and the number of links you need to rank in the top 10.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

As you scroll down and go through each of the ranking
\nresults, you\u2019ll see the domain score for each URL, social shares, and the
\nbacklinks pointing to that search result.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

You can even drill down and see the top links pointing to
\neach URL.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Now if you head over to the sidebar, you\u2019ll see a list of
\nrelated keywords as well as data on the top 10 keyword recommendations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

If you scroll a bit more, you\u2019ll see a graph that shows how many backlinks each result has so that way you can see how many backlinks again you roughly need to rank in the top 10.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

At the very bottom of the search results, you\u2019ll see data on related keywords.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

As time goes on not only will you have the extension, but I
\nwill continually add more and more features for free.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I\u2019m sorry that I have to start covering my costs, but I hope
\nyou understand at the same time.<\/p>\n

From my projections, it will take me roughly 6 months to break even, so I am going to be out a decent amount of money over the next 6 months\u2026 but that\u2019s life. <\/p>\n

I am not looking to recuperate my original investment and I don\u2019t mind that being a loss, but once I break even on a monthly basis I will continue to either open up more stuff for free or consider lowering the monthly pricing if possible.<\/p>\n

Again, I am really sorry, but I hope you understand that it isn\u2019t sustainable for me to spend $247,218 a month indefinitely.<\/p>\n

I am open to hearing your thoughts or ideas. I also want to let you know I appreciate everything you have done to support Ubersuggest<\/a> and my site.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post The Future of Ubersuggest<\/a> appeared first on Neil Patel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

* Please read the whole post, I have some good news at the bottom, but it won’t make sense unless you read the whole post. Do you know why I got into SEO? Not many people know this, but I grew up in middle-class America, and I wanted a better life for me and my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":223823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224951,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223822\/revisions\/224951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}