The Best Alternative to Google Ads (My #1 Growth Hack)

Google Ads are rising in cost. But I have a really cool solution that'll give you a much better ROI.

0:10 Hey everyone, I'm Neil Patel, and today I'm going to share with you the best alternative to Google Ads. What most people don't realize is, you don't have to spend money on Google Ads to create a multibillion-dollar company. Have you heard of Dropbox? Of course, you have; the chances are it's on your computer. Did you know that when Dropbox first came out they tried to grow by doing Google advertising? And what they found is, even though they had a product that costs around $5 a month, which is around $60 a year per customer, they were spending roughly $200 to $300 to acquire a customer from Google Ads.

1:30 Can you see how those numbers don't work out? Not only are they spending more to acquire a customer than what they're paying in the first year, just because someone's paying you $5 a month, but it also doesn't mean that $5 is pure profit either. So, what did Dropbox do? They leveraged growth hacking. They figured out a way to get users to come to their site and generate more customers. They did this by creating a free product or a service, and that's a better alternative to Google Ads.

2:30 If you look at Dropbox, you look at Slack, heck even look at Amazon; Amazon's not really doing free but with a Prime membership, you get free two-day air shipping. By creating something that's free or such an amazing offer, think of it as like your carrot that you're dangling, you're going to get so many people over to your website that then when you upsell them into your paid products or services, it's so much easier because they're already using your product or service, you've already built that brand loyalty, that connection, that rapport with them. It's much easier to get that upsell.

3:00 You do not have to spend money on Google Ads to create a big business; again, look at Dropbox. Leverage growth hacking, and then as you have these free tools, these free products, these free services, and it may not be the best ones out there but something that people are used to paying for, what you can do is do things like creating invite flows. Dropbox has it: you want more free space, invite more users. I can do the same thing with Ubersuggest; I don't, but I can say "Want more free usage? Invite more members." You can get creative with your marketing, leverage growth hacking.

3:30 Just don't put all your money into Google Ads, and the reason I say that, it's not because I don't like Google Ads. Ideally, you should be doing both. But the reason I say this is, the moment you stop Google Ads you don't have any more traffic. By creating something that's free, and it doesn't have to continually cost a ton of money, like HubSpot, they have this free email signature generator. It doesn't cost them much money; they only spent a few thousand dollars creating it.

4:00 They don't even spend any money maintaining it each and every single month. But they found that it can drive over seven figures worth of revenue to their business per year; not too bad from one free tool. So if you have questions on what you should be releasing for free, leave a comment below; I'll answer it. I'll give you some ideas and hopefully, that'll get you off to the races. Thank you for watching; feel free to like, subscribe, comment, and share. Thank you very much.

[loveforthes]

So where does the traffic come from that gets directed to the free offer?

[BradyBeko]

“Don’t use google ads”

*uses google ads*

[mkideckel]

Hi Neil, have a quick question for you. If you offer product packages on your site, and several packages have the same product in it, is it bad for SEO to use the same blurb for that specific product on each of the product package pages?

[rosiserem]

Thanks! What would I give for free in a Real Estate listing website? Other than free listings?

[nhyilawgh]

I run a beauty salon and also sell handmade wigs I created myself, Neil how do I apply this strategy to my business?

[iOSphoneTV]

Thank you bro,

I have a YouTube channel and website connected together, speciality all about iOS and iPhones.
What tool u suggest for me

[manuelh]

Really cool ideas, like this approach. What free offer would you recommend when selling physical products (supplements)? The way to offer tools or service will be difficult in that case.

[fitdmax-roswellgapersonal]

I own a fitness studio and I do personal training and group training. How can I leverage the free tool to generate leads? Thanks for the video!

[HistoryandNostalgiaChannel]

This is great Neil. You've nailed it for me re Google Ads with this vid! Many thanks.

[usmanakram]

Neil I am starting to learn SEO and aim to become a Professional SEO expert and consultant in the near future. Do you think SEO still have chance in the next 5-8 years. I mean do you think companies will still be paying for SEO services in future?

[khiladiyonKekhiladi]

I disavow some backlinks than google stop counting those links and suppose after that I again remove those links from disavow file.
Is google again start counting those links.

[nishagarg]

Hey Neil, can content locking be considered as part of growth hacking? Like, once readers share our post, they are able to read further. It increases social signals and traffic too. Is it ethical? Speaking about me, I sometimes exit from the post when asked to share it.

[sdrana]

I run a blog in startup & small business ideas niche. What do you think my product should be? Any ideas?

[nardog]

@NeilPatel what about Bing Ads I've tried it and the traffic isnt as much as google but it works. I have made sales to my Ecommerce Website from using it. Do you have any tips on leveraging more traffice sources?

[coreynguity]

Question: I have a personal website, landing page, offer free resources + a mini course, and soon a lead gen page, but still no traffic. What ad platform or strategy do you recommend?

[SomexDeArchvist]

Thank you Neil for sharing all these invaluable knowledge with us. I want to tell you I have learnt a lot from your channel and I so much appreciate. I want to start a new business from scratch (buying phones from China then selling online) which I think there is already demand for that but the competition is too high and I have little money to survive this competition. What 2cent advice will give especially on the best platforms utilize and how to get my business out there. Thank you

[blakecartor]

I am a graphics designer for more than 20 years. What type of tool do you think i should create :)

[unblockedgames]

How you create ubbersuggest tool if i want to make then which is the way for creating design ??

[wienerzsolt]

Hi Neil!

Thanks for the video. And what about, if you sell expensive products? I will start my home robotics (vacuum cleaner and lawn mover) store in november. How could I use some kind of growthhack technics?

[pakothiam]

Hi Neil.
I run Shopify general store and
I sell lot of products.
I give free shipping, % discount.
Do you have any recommendations?
Thanks