Semrush Acquires Traffic Think Tank: Why It Matters | Vol 124

Welcome to Volume 124

In this week’s newsletter, we cover: 

• Semrush acquires Traffic Think Tank: why it matters
• Pricing your SaaS in 2023? Here’s how to do it better
• And more

Let’s jump in.

SAAS ACQUISITION

Semrush Acquires Traffic Think Tank: Why It Matters

Semrush has made significant moves to strengthen its positioning and content moat since going public in 2021. 

For example, Semrush acquired Backlinko early last year, instantly doubling its organic search traffic value. The acquisition helped Semrush gain control of Backlinko’s traffic and keywords, which is especially valuable since the brands have a 14% keyword overlap. Semrush got much more out of the deal, including Backlinko Hub to grow its SEO academy. 

A year later, Semrush acquires Traffic Think Tank (TTT) for an undisclosed amount. The goal of the acquisition is to, “further enhance the Semrush Academy to provide new training for marketers and continue improving existing modules.”

Traffic Think Tank is a marketing education company and private community for marketers and entrepreneurs. The TTT academy has 300+ hours of content from over 90 industry experts from companies like Hubspot and Shopify: 

Say TTT has a thousand people subscribing to the academy alone. With a subscription price of $99 for just the academy, Semrush would gain $1.2 million ARR, alongside an extensive content library it can repurpose, repackage, and redistribute to its own audience as well as TTT’s users. 

TTT also has a private Slack community that includes over 700 founders and industry experts from G2, Seer Interactive, and more. 

Semrush now has access to this community to create a more supportive learning environment to help marketers develop the skills, knowledge, and network they need to succeed in the industry. 

Members who have access to both the community and the academy pay $119 per month as part of the accelerator program. As a result, Semrush stands to gain nearly $1 million ARR from the community, if you multiply the $119 subscription fee by 700 existing members. That amount will escalate when the community grows. 

The company also gains the talented team behind TTT, who founded the company in 2017 and grew it into a resource center and community for marketers and entrepreneurs.

From a search standpoint, TTT is still a rising star, compared to CXL and other leading competitors:

Similarweb says the total traffic from all channels last month was over 21,000. Organic search contributes almost 31% of its total traffic, with more than 60% coming from direct traffic channels (its website). That means people hear about the academy, perhaps from someone in their network, and quickly rush to check it out before deciding to subscribe. Of course, when they see experts from leading companies such as Hubspot, Google, Typeform, and Uber enroll in the academy, they can potentially be inspired to enroll. 

However, increasing visibility and generating more traffic aren’t  the reasons behind the acquisition. Rather, it was TTT’s extensive content library and paid community membership. 

So, yes, TTT lacks Backlinko’s search positioning and massive traffic share. It does, however, have a large content library and academy, a paid community, and a talented team, all of which are now owned by Semrush and can potentially pull in more than $2 million ARR .

Don’t miss out on the chance to network with industry leaders and learn from top experts.

On March 13 and 14, 2023, Ross will speak at the SearchLove Conference in San Diego alongside Aleyda Solis, Rand Fishkin, and other accomplished marketers. Register today and save 15% on tickets.

SAAS TIPS

Pricing Your SaaS in 2023? Here’s How To Do It Better. 

In 2023, how should a SaaS product be priced? How do you choose a price? And what variables should you consider when thinking about things like user seats and so on?

We created the Ultimate Guide to SaaS pricing in 2023 to help you understand everything you need to know about different SaaS pricing models and strategies, as well as how to choose the best one for your business.

Whether you’re just getting started or looking to improve your current pricing model, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to succeed.

Read the ultimate guide to SaaS pricing in 2023

🎧 Listen to the latest episode of Create Like The Greats as Ross breaks down how Calm built a $2 billion media, content marketing, and YouTube SEO empire.

B2B NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

📄 Meta takes a page from Twitter’s playbook by offering verified blue checks for a monthly fee of $11.99 for Facebook and Instagram web users and $14.99 for mobile users. The Meta verified account will provide users with increased visibility, prioritized customer support, a verified badge, and other benefits.

👍🏽 71% of Bing users approve of the new Bing Search AI experience during its first week. 

🤳🏽 Google Meet introduces 360-degree backgrounds that change as you move your phone during video calls.

BRAIN FOOD OF THE WEEK: 

Health is wealth, they say. But how mindful are we of our health?

Every week, we have so many deadlines to meet—jumping on client calls, completing a draft, and more. There’s always something we need to get done ASAP.

We can get so caught up in the day’s activities that we forget to take a deep breath and relax. Some of us survive solely on takeout and fast food. Some plan to go to the gym but snooze the alarm to get more sleep or open their inbox to respond to messages. It’s like riding a never-ending roller coaster. 

The truth is we are only as effective as our spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health. No matter how much work you have to do, you should apply balance, so your relationships and health don’t suffer. 

Plan to take a break from work soon. Set goals that prioritize growth and stability in the spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical aspects of your life, as well as financial concerns and the relationships in your life. Prioritize balance. 

You can learn more about how to apply balance in your life from this article.

 HIRING BRILLIANT B2B MARKETERS:

• VP of Client Services
• Director Of Strategy
• Content Marketing Strategist
• Content Marketing Specialist

TWITTER THREAD OF THE WEEK:

The SEO & growth strategies Airtable used to become a $5B startup and reach 1M users by Ross Simmonds

NICE FINDS YOU SHOULD BINGE

• Bootstrapping To 8.5+ Million End Users: Inside Uscreen’s Journey to $20 Million ARR and Beyond by Kyle Poyar 
• Don’t optimize all content for search engines. Do these instead by Taylor Perry
• The evolution of the B2B go-to-market tech stack: areas to watch by Solène Brébant
• We should take AI seriously as a creative tool—here’s how by Dan Shipper

WHAT WE’RE WIRED INTO THIS WEEK 🎧:

Journal Entry 7: How I Made $100K from Public Speaking (How You Can Do It Too)

This charcuterie board of insights is brought to you by me, Jessica Tee O. ✌🏾!