This is gonna blow your mind.
CoSchedule has driven 1.2 million organic visits to a LEAD MAGNET since 2015.
(And in reality, the actual number is probably a lot higher than that since Ahrefs data can’t catch all of the long-tail traffic).
The napkin math
Let’s do some quick math to get a sense of how BIG this really is…
- Organic visits …………… 1,200,000
- Conversion rate ………… 10%
- Total leads (trials) …….. 120,000
If we assume an average 18.2% trial upgrade rate, $50 monthly ARPU, 80% gross margin, and 5% monthly churn — we get a value per lead of about $150.
- Total leads (trials) …….. 120,000
- Total lead value ………… $18,000,000 💰
One lead magnet.
1.2M organic clicks.
$18M in actual value.
(Yes, lots of assumptions here and the actuals will be different, but these numbers are directionally accurate based on the data we do have).
What’s the lead magnet?
If you’ve been in content marketing since the mid-2010s, I’m willing to bet a dollar or two that you’ve heard of (and used) this tool.
You plug in your headline—it gives you a 0-100 score and suggestions on how to improve it.
How has it driven 1.2M organic visits in 9 years?
Simple:
SEARCH INTENT ALIGNMENT.
CoSchedule recognized that tons of people were searching for “headline analyzers” and “headline checkers” — a job to be done that aligned nicely with their product.
So they published a free tool to meet that demand.
And over the years, they’ve optimized the page to build in more content and they’ve built an absolute monster of an authority moat (16,000 backlinks from 6,000 unique websites).
This one page has become a MAJOR ASSET for CoSchedule.
It’s a predictable source of inbound demand and revenue that’s only getting stronger and stronger as the years pass.
How to apply this to your business
You’re not going to beat them out for “headline analyzer” in Google, but you can still act on this to start laying the groundwork for your own organic lead magnets.
Here’s how to copy the playbook ⚡️
- Brainstorm simple tools or calculators your ICP may find helpful
- Check monthly organic search volumes to validate your ideas
- Actually ask your users if they’d find the tools helpful
- Pick one of the ideas to start experimenting with
- Build a simple version (use a Google Sheet)
- Share it with users and get feedback
- Publish it on a gated landing page
- Add optimized content to it
- Build a few good links
Then iterate, iterate, iterate, and iterate some more. Optimize the tool, build more links, run CRO experiments, optimize the page content, etc.
One asset can completely change the game.
