Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

In Episode #46 Neil and Eric explain how to measure the results of your content marketing efforts. Listen as Neil and Eric illustrate why measuring your content marketing, while important, isn’t necessarily KEY until your content marketing and its reach has hit a certain level of exposure. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:30 – How to measure the results of your content marketing efforts 00:40 – What gets measured gets managed 00:55 – One thing you can do?—start simple. Track what’s important using a spreadsheet 01:45 – With content marketing, it takes time to measure results so be patient 01:50 – Neil never measures ROI from content marketing 02:25 – When you’re spending your OWN time on content marketing, there’s virtually no cost 02:45 – Content marketing is a LONG-TERM play 03:00 – As long as traffic keeps going up, you’ll be able to find a way to monetize 03:20 – Once traffic exceeds 10,000, start collecting emails 04:15 – Calculated Risk 04:55 – Content marketing is a 12-18 month journey before you see any traction 05:35 – Think of content marketing like you think of PR 06:35 – Writing eCommerce posts didn’t get the most traction…but they were the most loyal 06:50 – Moral of the story, buzz does not necessarily equate to sales 07:58 – Each visitor isn’t the same, attract the RIGHT type of readers 08:28 – Cyfe will allow you to build out dashboards with ease 09:10 – Make something people want before you start measuring 3 Key Points: Content marketing takes time, there won’t be short term wins. Attracting the RIGHT type of readers is more important than attractive LOTS of readers. What gets measured gets managed. Resources Mentioned: Calculated Risk – Blog from a WSJ journalist CYFE – Social media, analytics, marketing, sales, support, infrastructure... all in one place. Track your entire business in real-time. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode #45 Neil and Eric talk testimonials—what they are, why they’re important, and how you can go about collecting them for your business. Listen as Neil and Eric share their personal experience with testimonials—both good and bad—and illustrate why you should never create a fake testimonial. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:30 – How you can get testimonials from your customers 00:39 – Testimonials are KEY because they do all the hard legwork in terms of winning new business 01:28 – Add company badges and testimonials to your homepage 01:49 – YesInsights 02:39 – Email people asking for feedback 03:03 – Roughly 3 people out of every 100 will give you feedback…at least one of those should be good enough for a testimonial 04:32 – A testimonial will give you a conversion lift of around 8% to 10% 05:19 – Net Promoter Score 06:05 – Be sure to ASK people if you can use testimonials…if you don’t, you can get in BIG trouble 06:15 – However, when it comes to logos, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission 07:14 – Do NOT make-up testimonials 08:15 – Bottom line?—testimonials are powerful and awesome, but you need to be careful when using them 3 Key Points: Don’t make up a testimonial—people will see it from a mile away. Always ask permission before using a testimonial. Testimonials will help your conversions, but not by any astronomical amount…10% if you’re lucky. Resources Mentioned: YesInsights – Get Customer feedback with simple one-click surveys. Net Promoter Score – A management tool that can be used to gauge the loyalty of a firm's customer relationships Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode #44 Neil and Eric talk about generating more blog topics for your website—why it’s so important and the tools you can use to ensure your content is always fresh. Listen as they share their personal strategies for creating winning blog content that’s not only interesting to them, but interesting to their readers. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:30 – Generating more (and more exciting) blog topics 00:37 – Use BuzzSumo 00:53 – Take what BuzzSumo gives you and IMPROVE upon it 01:54 – Look at posts that are fairly new 02:20 – Take the sub-headers and turn those into individual posts 02:58 – Use Google News or Trends to see what’s hot 03:23 -- Learn how to write content that’s fresh AND informative 04:00 – The internal search feature on your website isn’t sexy, but it is valuable 04:35 – Go to NeilPatel.com in the footer click on TOOLS and then type in your competitor’s URLs 05:00 – Don’t copy your competition, outperform them 05:55 – Convince and Convert 06:30 – Look into your analytics and figure out which of your posts have done well—find the key elements and piggyback off them for new content 07:48 – Feed.ly 08:10 – Whenever you’re coming up with new ideas, you need to strike while the iron is hot or keep a running inventory of those ideas 3 Key Points: YouTube advertising is cheap right now but it won’t be forever. Someone else’s laziness is your competitive advantage. When your ad doesn’t resonate, retarget, retarget, retarget! Resources Mentioned: BuzzSumo – A valuable took Neil and Eric use to identify trending blog topics Convince and Convert – Strategic advisors that work with world-class organizations to make digital marketing and customer experiences remarkable Feedly – Organize and share relevant news stories Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode #43 Neil and Eric hammer out the realities surrounding YouTube advertising. Want the two-word summary?—it’s awesome! YouTube advertising is one of the easiest ways to revolutionize your business, listen as Neil and Eric show you how. Time Stamped Show Notes:  00:30 – Does YouTube advertising REALLY work for your business? 00:38 – It’s a hidden GEM! 00:55 – Any time you’re running display, you’re looking for TRACTION more than anything 01:45 – Going all-in with YouTube advertising saved a company 02:10 – At CrazyEgg, YouTube advertising generated more revenue in one month than any other medium 02:52 – Check out Tai Lopez 03:33 – YouTube advertising is extremely profitable—but it is expensive to set up and it’s a lot of work 04:05 – Bid on pre-roll and search ads 04:40 – Leads coming in at less than $1 a pop 05:10 – For Growth Everywhere, we’re targeting entrepreneurial viewers 05:39 – Other people being lazy is your opportunity 06:41 – The key to getting an add that works really well is answering objections 07:47 – When people watch your ad and don’t buy, hit them with another ad, retarget them 08:30 – Get in on YouTube ads while the costs are low 3 Key Points: YouTube advertising is cheap right now but it won’t be forever. Someone else’s laziness is your competitive advantage. When your ad doesn’t resonate, retarget, retarget, retarget! Resources Mentioned: Tai Lopez – A guy who did YouTube advertising RIGHT Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Marketing School Podcast—your 10-minute resource to learn, grown, and nurture your passion for online marketing! In Episode #42 Eric and Neil discuss their favorite marketing tools, like Infusionsoft & LeadPages—and why. Enjoy! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode #41 Neil and Eric talk about how to generate more leads. Neil stresses the importance of not just getting people to sign up, but getting qualified leads that are viable for your business. Learn as they share. Time Stamped Show Notes:  00:30 – How to generate more leads for your website 00:39 – Tools you can use 00:40 – Hello Bar 00:45 – SumoMe 01:03 – Figure out why someone should become a lead 01:19 – Give something to convert them into a lead 02:15 – Make sure content is categorized 02:35 – Segmenting your audience 02:57 – Example on marketing funnel post 03:15 – Give a bonus on the topic 03:39 – Sending people to case studies 04:33 – It’s about getting qualified leads 05:01 – Taking people down to a long funnel 05:16 – Putting click to action after getting leads to sign up 05:35 – Drip and Infusionsoft 05:50 – Make sure to segment people from your website 06:04 – Lead scores 06:39 – Breaking leads into multiple steps 07:14 – Try storytelling as a strategy 07:53 – Test your call-to-action buttons 08:59 – Let them fill out what they want to fill out 09:20 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Give something to people to convert them into a lead. It’s not about having a lot of leads; it’s about getting qualified leads. Storytelling is a strategy that engages people to convert. Resources Mentioned: Hello Bar – tool to collect more emails SumoMe – tool for having takeovers or pop-ups Drip – email service provider Infusionsoft – another email service provider Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode #40 Neil and Eric discuss the 7 simple SEO tactics for increasing your web traffic. Neil shares the reason for his long blog posts and why you should link them to your most popular page. Learn how to optimize your website’s exposure with these easy, non-technical steps. Time Stamped Show Notes:  00:29 – 7 Simple SEO tactics to sky rocket your traffic 00:49 – Linking to your most popular pages 01:19 – Make sure to link on every blog post 01:29 – Featured snippets 01:53 – How to Rank Zero 02:01 – Make sure you have a H1 title and tag 02:19 – Google’s role 03:01 – Click through rates 03:18 – Optimizing title tags 03:48 – Think of title tags as human 04:14 – People love to Google, “What is SEO?” 04:27 – Second order page scraping 04:37 – Getting into Google search console 05:25 – Google likes to audition you 05:50 – Neil’s loooong blog posts 06:05 – More keywords you have, more long tail terms 06:38 – More detailed content, more sure traffic 07:02 – Transcribing videos 07:05 – Rev.com 07:15 – Search engines can’t crawl videos 07:29 – Google image search 07:57 – Naming your image files properly 08:30 – Optimize image file names and alt tags 08:44 – End of today’s episode 3 Key Points: Link all blog posts to the most popular page you have. Optimize titles, tags, and images. Transcribe videos for content. Resources Mentioned: How to Rank Zero – read on how to optimize your title and tag Google – the most used search engine Rev.com –for transcribing videos Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Marketing School Podcast—your 10-minute resource to learn, grown, and nurture your passion for online marketing! In Episode #39 Eric and Neil discuss why webinars are great for generating sales. Enjoy! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode #38 Eric and Neil teach you how to promote a blog post. Whether you have a tight budget or an endless one, one of these plans will help you get people to read your content and share it. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:24 – How to promote a blog post 00:43 – In the beginning, 80% of your time should be spent on promotion. 01:00 – Find people who have already shared content 01:15 – Use Buzzsumo and Twitter 01:50 – Think about how you can stand out. 02:10 – Link out to influencers within the blog post. 02:55 – Link out ten times for every 1000 words. 03:10 – Linking to companies. 03:28 – Paid social ads. 03:40 – A huge chunk of funds go to promotion. 04:14 – Drive people to your site using Facebook. 04:29 – Also use Google. 04:40 – Figure out how to write amazing headlines 05:00 – Copyblogger Headline Formulas 05:30 – Headlines make a huge difference! 05:45 – Portent Headline Generator 06:05 – Build up a group of people that will help promote your content. 06:35 – It will give you the initial boost with your posts. 07:15 – Meeting people at conferences and build relationships. 07:40 – One guy who had a smart strategy reaching out to Eric and Neil. 08:10 – Take a look at Gmail advertising. 08:35 – A lot of targeting options. 08:58 – Two Facebook strategies 09:08 – Boosting posts 09:23 – Buying page likes 09:55 – Not all of your posts will be a hit. 10:23 – Be creative and listen to digital marketers about how to boost posts. 11:00 – That’s the end of today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Don’t make crappy infographics. Contact people who shared the original source of your graphic, and invite them to share your design. If you use infographics effectively, your site’s rankings will skyrocket. Resources Mentioned: Buzzsumo and Twitter – How to find people who have shared certain content Facebook and Google – Create paid social ads Copyblogger Headline Formulas – Create effective headlines Portent Headline Generator – Generate intriguing headlines on any topic Gmail advertising – Create extremely targeted ads Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode #37 Eric and Neil discuss the value of a good infographic. Neil has seen more traffic and backlinks from infographics than from anything else. Learn how you can create an all-star graphic that drives up traffic on your site. Time Stamped Show Notes:  00:24 – What goes into creating a viral infographic 00:40 – Links effect Google rankings 00:53 – Take complex info and make it visual, and people will link to it. 01:15 – Your rankings will skyrocket 01:30 – For Neil, backlinks and traffic have come mostly from infographics. 02:00 – There are a lot of crappy infographics. 02:10 – Start at Visual.ly to see examples of good infographics. 02:40 – Pull out elements that work in those designs. 02:50 – Dribbble is another resource to contact designers. 03:17 – The first step is to get good data. 03:28 – Get a researcher off of Upwork to collect and outlined data. 03:45 – Don’t have more than six main points. 04:05 – Flow these points into a story. 04:25 – Publish the blog and get an embed code generator so that people can share your graphic. 05:00 – You need to go to Buzzsumo to find a good topic. 05:25 – Upwork is a great way to keep your costs low. 06:08 – Their friend uses 99designs for his infographics. 06:30 – How did your infographic go viral? 06:45 – Find data from other sources. 07:00 – See who shared that original data on Ahrefs. 07:20 – Email those people to ask them to share your infographic. 07:52 – Reach out to people that linked to the original article. 08:40 – Think about repurposing your infographics 09:00 – It makes it worth the time and money. 09:38 – That’s the end of today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Don’t make crappy infographics. Contact people who shared the original source of your graphic, and invite them to share your design. If you use infographics effectively, your site’s rankings will skyrocket. Resources Mentioned: Visual.ly and Dribbble – See examples of good design Upwork – Hire researchers and designers Buzzsumo – Find a good topic for your infographic 99designs – Another tool to hire designers and get inspiration Ahrefs – See who’s sharing certain articles and posts Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices