How I'd grow Plausible

Plausible is a website analytics tool.

Now, the first thing that probably comes to your mind is: why should I use a paid analytics tool when Google Analytics is free?

Let’s see if they do a good job handling this objection.

As you land on their website, the hero section explains why Plausible is better than Google Analytics.

It is simple, lightweight and open source.

Is this enough to make people switch?

Mmm. I’m not sure. I think the most important reason may be missing: privacy.

Let’s take a quick look at Fathom, one of their competitors. All the reviews talk about the product being ethical and offering privacy.

If I were in charge, I would change my value proposition to reflect this.

I would also emphasize another reason why people should switch.

Ease of use. Look at the testimonials section.

Everyone says they love the product because of its user experience!

So a better subheader may be: ”Plausible gives you all the information you need at a glance, and respects your visitors’ privacy by not collecting personal data.”

And a better header may be: “Easy-to-use and privacy-friendly website analytics tool.”

BTW, something I love about the homepage is the live demo button.

You don’t need to sign up to see how Plausible works. You just need to click, which eliminates a lot of friction.

Now, positioning helps convert more visitors, but it’s all useless without traffic.

How could Plausible drive more visitors? I would definitely prioritize SEO.

Step number one: create pages that target commercial keywords with purchase intent (something that they aren't doing).

Their homepage is currently optimized for “simple, open-source web analytics.”

That’s not ideal. It’s not their main keyword.

I would optimize it for "Google Analytics alternative", starting with basic on-page SEO: page title, a paragraph of dedicated optimized content, etc.

If you analyze the SERP for that keyword, you’ll see that the first page is occupied by independent blog articles that present all the different tools.

This means that Google has established that searchers like that kind of results. It will be tough to get the first spots.

So, while they wait to rank with their own page, Plausible should appear on the hungry searchers’ radars by reaching out to websites on the SERP, and asking them to add Plausible to their lists.

Plus, this strategy has the added bonus of working for link-building.

Links from relevant and on-topic articles like those increase domain authority, which helps rank better.

And what about “open source analytics"? It has a few monthly searches.

For this and for all the other commercial keywords, I would use the strategy mentioned before.

Create a dedicated landing page optimized for that term where they explain the details of the fact that Plausible is open source.

I would also keep their content marketing strategy more focused.

Currently, the Plausible blog has many unrelated blog posts.

All of them should be aimed at Plausible’s audience of potential customers.

The goal of a good content marketing strategy is to intercept an audience that is not aware that your product exists, and make them aware.

Keyword example: GDPR analytics.

It’s got good search volume, so they could write a useful, in-depth informative article where they could also easily mention Plausible, and why it’s the best solution for GDPR compliance.

Moving forward, I would also leverage social media to drive visitors to the website.

In this case, I think that should definitely be Twitter because it’s where their potential customers hang out.

Unfortunately, they don’t have a Twitter profile at the moment.

They are leaving this field empty to their competitors, who are using it to promote their products.

Another thing I would consider is a free plan with a referral program, similar to what ConvertKit did.

I think it would be a huge incentive for those just starting out to use Plausible.

It’s probably not the right moment yet, but something to save for when they get bigger.

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