SEO, copy, and charging more — the Kalzumeus school of software marketing
Do not sell software to programmers. Sell a job-to-be-done to a person with a budget. Search is unpaid demand. Copy is a force multiplier. Your prices are probably too low.
Don't call yourself a programmer when you are selling. They do not want a programmer. They want the bingo cards.
Model
Writer-CEO
Engine
SEO + essays
Stance
Price up
Products
Bingo Card CreatorA 'toy' that ranked and charged teachers real money
Appointment ReminderB2B, sold as missed-appointment insurance
Kalzumeus essaysThe long game: teaching as the channel
A query with commercial intent and weak results. Teachers searching for bingo cards. Clinics tired of no-shows. The niche is the search plus the budget.
01Hunt keywords where the current results look like 2009.
02Ask who already spends money to patch this with a human.
03Prefer niches that are uncool — competition is asleep.
04Write the customer's sentence, not the engineer's.