\u2026and of course, the presence of competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The presence and strength of competition helps determine the cost you should pay for content<\/a>, the payback period of your efforts<\/a>, the channels by which you should distribute content<\/a>, and even how you should craft and create your content<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A simple way to look at this is the Red Ocean vs Blue Ocean framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This concept comes from the book \u201cBlue Ocean Strategy.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Red Oceans are all the industries in existence today<\/a> \u2013 the established market space. In red oceans, \u201cindustry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Blue Ocean, in contrast, is a space where there are no yet established boundaries or rules. In blue oceans, \u201cdemand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the time, this is denoted at the industry level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n An example of a blue ocean strategy is Stich Fix<\/a>. Operating in the generally crowded retail fashion space, they differentiated by leveraging both artificial intelligence as well as human guides to open new market space in retail. There have since been new competitors in this space, but they opened up the market and started the movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of us operate in red oceans. If you\u2019re starting a new CRM<\/a>, for example, you\u2019re in a red ocean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond the industry-level, we also have to delineate between red ocean and blue ocean search spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of us are red ocean companies operating in red ocean search spaces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We all have access to the same tools nowadays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you can look up a keyword in Ahrefs, so can your competitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you can write the piece using Jasper<\/a>, so can your competitor. If you can optimize it using Surfer, so can your competitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why I always say you shouldn\u2019t copy HubSpot\u2019s content strategy. They started decades ago when the space was very blue ocean, and now they\u2019ve built up a moat with their website authority, budget for content, and existing audience and brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s nothing wrong about building a strategy in a red ocean, so long as you have a unique advantage that gives you a reasonable chance of winning (or at least generating marginal ROI). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Blue ocean strategies, lacking competition and existing demand, are higher risk (but therefore higher reward). And even if you pull ahead in a blue ocean, competitors quickly swim in, making the ocean red. Thus, the goal here is to move fast and build a moat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The rest of this piece will cover specific strategies to help you win the search game whether you\u2019re in a red ocean or a blue ocean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Companies playing to win in in red oceans have two paths they can take:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I like to read from dissociated topics and connect them to business (see: barbell strategy for content<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n One area I’ve gone down is evolutionary biology. There’s a theory of evolution and sexual selection called “Fisherian Runaway” that seeks to explain exaggerated male traits like the Peacock’s tail<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Fisher developed the theory further by assuming genetic correlation between the preference and the ornament, that initially the ornament signalled greater potential fitness (the likelihood of leaving more descendants), so preference for the ornament had a selective advantage. Subsequently, if strong enough, female preference for exaggerated ornamentation in mate selection could be enough to undermine natural selection even when the ornament has become non-adaptive”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n It might be a stretch, but I view certain marketing behaviors like this. For example, the Skyscraper Technique.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Google’s “fitness signal” being comprehensiveness, marketers started to optimize for that, reverse engineering articles that already ranked and added 500 words and some images, maybe another item on a listicle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, once you skyscrape, it’s only a matter of time before you, too, are skyscraped. Victor Pan<\/a> hilariously tweeted about this in reference to the 4, 5, 6, 22 P’s of Marketing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It reminded me of the scene in<\/a> There’s Something About Mary where the hitch hiker pitches 7 minute abs (“what if someone comes along with 6 minute abs…)<\/p>\n\n\n\nRed Oceans vs Blue Oceans<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Most Oceans in SEO are Blood Red (Why and What to Do)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Red Ocean SEO Strategies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Fisherian Runaway SEO Strategies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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