Q: Cool - but elephant in the room...
Seems cool - for me, mostly because it's SAAS - but I'm curious on your take with something. How can normal people (vs massive brands) really compete in the affiliate space now, especially if starting out?
Google is clearly punishing spam like affiliate sites. What will your personal strategy be to use this software to make affiliate commissions? Would be cool if it generated a pintrest pin, and socials posts w/ea article (so we didn't have to entirely depend on google.) or something. If I'm honest, I think most pintrest traffic is just bots anyway, but anyone that's tried "affiliate marketing" is probably open to ideas after the culling.
But in general, I believe the market is already at capacity with AI tools that cater to a google first, SEO approach to marketing, so tools that adapt to the new normal are of interest.
Josh_Roundups
Jan 27, 2025A: These are really questions and thanks for the input.
1 - There are a ton of niche audiences that small independent bloggers and influencers already have reach with. The big brands are not trying to compete with them, but empower those users. A big brand like Amazon aggressively push affiliate marketing tools on these bloggers and influencers but the tools are not very good, or at least are severely limited in helping these people succeed, so we've extended what they started and provide a deeper more valuable proposition to help with content and the ability to turn content into commerce.
2- RE: Google is clearly punishing spam like affiliate sites.
Of course they are, but Google doesn't care who writes content. They don't care if it's written by AI or a human. They care if content delivers value to a reader, if it offers a unique and fresh perspective by a writer, and demonstrates knowledge within a specific domain (authority). The problem is that all of these cheap AI wrappers that are generating content don't offer any of the above. They just offer the ability to generate content faster. Google hates that. Just do Google searches for things like "Home office ideas", or "Landscaping ideas", and you'll see all of the top organic search results are round ups. You wouldn't be able to tell if they are AI generated or not, but most of them are at least AI-assisted in generation. None of them are being punished, but rewarded for delivering content of value which is why they are top ranked in SERPS.
3 - Expanding on point #2. Most of the AI writer tools are like vanilla ice cream, and Google recognizes that. We obviously recognized that as well in our product definition. Rather than give you another AI writer tool that brings nothing new to the space, we focus deeply on a particular format "Research", and for launch, more specifically, product research.
Lou_SasslePLUSThanks for the in depth reply. Big brands may not be trying to compete with them, but for the most part the big brands/blogs/forums/directories are what Google places above the fold now. I didn't actually say anything about AI written content - and agree that Google is focused on delivering value. No comments on other means of marketing/distribution?
For sure. That was the motivation for us to release some basic "Community" features. The content can live within our domain and creators that are focused on monetization could piggy back on our domain authority as we grow that (early days for Roundups still), but in general I think this LTD is being marketed by AppSumo with what the product can do today, vs.....1/2
2/2 where we see the market opportunity which is piping out Roundups for a variety of formats and distribution, like email newsletter platforms, not just blog/SEO.
Also, this content is proven to perform well on social. If you're an influencer, drop a link to a Roundup(s) in your link-in-bio tool....