The New Lead Magnet: Authority Hacker Shouts Out AIappOnsite (Without Knowing It)

OK, full disclosure: I’m doing some authority hacking of my own here.

I’m suggesting that the Authority Hacker guys, Gael Breton and Mark Webster, were thinking of AIappOnsite when they made their brilliant (and entirely correct) observations on the marketing potential of free web apps, in their recent video.

They called out “the new lead magnet”, discussed turning funnels into “interesting experiences (to) attract people and capture leads”, noted that “apps is the way marketers need to go” and even mentioned an “internet without clicks and links.” They were not actually talking about AIappOnsite (that I am aware of). 

But what they highlighted here is a massive marketing opportunity that is grossly under-used by most marketers and site owners. And AIappOnsite is a ready-made solution for this exact use case.

Free Apps Are The New Lead Magnets

Mark and Gael have clearly been thinking about this for a while.

As Mark notes, “back in the day people would create a PDF or a PowerPoint as a lead magnet but…this style of content (eg AI-powered apps) is the new lead magnet.”

The broader context of the video was around an AI model comparison app that Gael Bretton built and deployed on the Authority Hacker website. Their app makes it easy to compare model quality for specific writing tasks and will definitely challenge your preconceptions about the leading AI providers. 

A key takeaway was that higher quality output can often be found at lower (not higher) cost.

And this means that powerful AI-powered apps and smart forms can now be offered for free, as unique lead magnets and for other use cases.

“These open source models (are) so cheap I can build AI apps on the website and give tokens away for free because it’s that cheap,” Gael said. “I can build AI based apps (directly) on the website.”

Where Marketers Are Failing

AI is redefining so much of how businesses operate and grow. It’s no surprise that marketing pros and site owners need to rethink and upgrade their approach. 

But Gael says it in his usual direct way: “In my opinion, that’s where marketers are failing right now.”

His suggestion is that funnels (including lead magnets and more) should be converted “into interesting experiences (because) people want something more interactive.”

And he points to the heart of the ‘organic traffic’ challenge all SEOs currently face, but also calls out a solution. 

Search is increasingly moving to LLMs like ChatGPT. But, Gael notes, “This app cannot be replaced by ChatGPT.”

“That’s the essence of this… it’s an experience that a chatbot cannot provide with a simple prompt. Therefore, people are willing to go on the website for it. It needs to be a whole interactive experience.”

Again without realizing it, he touches on yet another critical consideration for site owners that AIappOnsite has been screaming from the rooftops: stop sending your traffic and users away to a “Custom GPT”; keep your leads and visitors (and their data) on your website!

Data Fly Wheel

Speaking of data… Mark also touched on a key consideration regarding these interactive on-site experiences: dynamic apps generate way more data than a static lead magnet ever could. 

Not only will site visitor engagement and page dwell time increase, but these apps have the potential to capture more and better input data than a popup form ever could. 

Even for web apps that only request an email, the usage data and in-app choices themselves will provide unique insights about your leads or customers.

Mark was initially talking about data-backed marketing assets. “Once you have that data you can create more content (from it).” But the internal use cases are even more compelling. “The longer it runs, the more proprietary data we have,” he added.

This new data can inform and improve sales and marketing, product development and more. And considering the low cost to launch and maintain such free apps, it’s easy to experiment and iterate quickly. 

As Gael noted, “The idea is you can just launch these things, then if they take off you can spend more time refining them.”

What About Link Building?

As usual, Gael had some hot takes. This one could have been the headline: “Free apps is the way marketers need to go if they want to live on the internet without clicks and links.”

There’s obviously fewer clicks to go around, and this is why a solution like AIappOnsite helps site owners make the most of the traffic they still get.

But links will still be ‘a thing’ for a very long time. And these dynamic, interactive tools can be the centerpiece of an entire link-building campaign. 

“When we used to do more SEO stuff, doing surveys and statistics pages on our site was a way to generate links,” Mark said. But lifeless, static data isn’t enough for today’s content consumer. 

Link building agencies take note: pitching an outreach campaign, press release etc for a new and unique, custom app is far more compelling (and effective) than building links to just another whitepaper.

Imagination Is The Limiting Factor

Mark really summed it up with, “people’s imagination is really the limiting factor here because I’ve seen some really good examples.” Gotta agree with him, because that’s what our platform is all about.

Gael also nods to the many potential use cases. “Think about how you can vibe code your funnels and what you can build that will attract people and put an email gate to capture leads.” Yes. BUT… There are all sorts of reasons that ‘vibe coding’ actually makes this harder and riskier.

AIappOnsite makes it fast, easy and secure.

• AIappOnsite provides this now (including email integration) off the shelf and for FREE
• You can build apps in 6 simple steps without “vibe coding” anything, plus
• The potential applications go WAY beyond lead gen and sales

There really are so many ways to super charge your business website and streamline operations. It goes beyond lead magnets and link magnets to include onboarding assistants, support apps, internal workflow optimizers and much more.

But Gael is spot on when he says that offering a “cool interesting (user) experience” is “the new way the internet should work.”

The Authority Hacker guys get it. So can you!

Check out AIappOnsite today for free. And if you need to borrow some of our imagination, that’s free too (and in unlimited supply). Drop us a note and let’s discuss how to bring your website to life.