Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

In episode #828, we discuss how to deal with Google’s algorithm. Tune in to hear what you can do if your traffic slows down because of changes to the algorithm. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Deal With Google's Ever Changing Algorithm [01:17] When traffic tanks, Neil likes to check Search Engine Roundtable. [01:22] Also check out forums like BlackHatWorld to see what the chatter is. [01:40] Unless you see huge tanks, there is not much you can do. [01:52] The most important thing you can do is diversity your traffic. [02:10] This will put you ahead of the game, instead of dealing with problems after your traffic tanks. [02:40] When Gmail released the “Promotions” tab, Facebook saw a dip in traffic, because their emails were getting sorted out of the inbox. [03:

In episode #827, we discuss how developers drive more traffic. Tune in to hear what they can do that marketers cannot. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Developers Drive More Traffic Than Marketers [00:40] Dropbox and Facebook didn’t grow through paid ads, but through leveraging developers. [01:10] The tactics people have used in the past won’t work now. [01:20] A new tactic is to create tools. [01:32] If you give away a free tool, traffic will increase. [01:53] Tools have a cheaper cost per acquisition. [02:20] It’s called product-led growth. [02:21] Hubspot used to charge for their CRM, but they now have their own chat tool and website grader that they offer for free. [03:00] They lock people out from certain features, which is a great tactic. [03:20] Get creati

In episode #826, we discuss if you should sell your business and how. Tune in to hear what you should consider before selling your business and what steps to take in order to do so. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Much Is Your Business Worth (And How Do You Sell It)? [00:40] There are a couple of websites that can help you with valuation. [00:48] Digital Exits has different calculators to use. [01:07] FEInternational publishes a lot of different content. [01:25] If you want to sell your site, but aren’t sure what it’s worth, check out Empire Flippers or Flippa. [01:30] These sites will also tell you how much similar sites are worth. [02:01] BizBuySell is another great resource. [02:12] These sites have a lot of inventory you can check out. [02:30] If you have a b

In episode #825, we discuss whether you should sell ads on your site. Tune in to hear why this may or may not work for you. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Should You Sell Ads on Your Site? [00:50] If you are selling ads on your site, people are leveraging your site and making more money than you are. [01:30] Neil used to think ads were useless. [01:42] However, his friend who runs Astrology Answers monetizes by selling astrology-related items and ads were great additional revenue. [02:21] It’s important to test this out. [02:35] Neil doesn’t monetize in India, so ads could be a way to generate extra income without hurting his revenue stream. [03:45] Test out ads to see if it will help, but don’t use it as your main source of income. [04:10] That’s it for today! [04:

In episode #824, we discuss why you shouldn’t copy your competitors. Tune in to hear how you can beat the competition without copying their tactics. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why Copying Your Competition Doesn't Work Anymore [00:37] In marketing, things change constantly. [01:40] What has worked for others in a given time span, won’t work in the future because it has already been done to death. [02:20] Copying means you are not the visionary, you are the follower. This will leave you with an inferior product or service. [03:10] Every few months, Google rolls out algorithm updates. [03:30] SEO from 10 years ago won’t work today. [04:15] If you look at Drift or Intercom, they didn’t copy the competition. [04:41] Drift always changes how they launch new features.

In episode #823, we discuss how you should network with rich people. Tune in to hear how you should court the wealthy. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Network with Rich People [01:05] There are a lot of people that want to network with the wealthy. [01:20] Typically, if you want to network, you need to figure out what they do for fun or provide some sort of value. [02:25] Sometimes, networking can be indirect: you may end up connecting with a friend of the wealthy person you are trying to snag. [03:40] We’re speaking in generalities, but obviously, the advice works. [04:00] Don’t act like a fanboy, treat rich people like regular people, because they are regular people. [05:00] Neil doesn’t get fan attention, but in general if people have questions, he will answe

In episode #822, we discuss the one tool that will change your business. Tune in to hear what this new, revolutionary tool is and what it does. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: The One Tool That'll Change Your Business [00:40] The sales tool is technically for anyone with a team that runs sales or presentations. [00:55]  The tool is called “Gong”. [01:10] Our mutual friend, Mike, told another friend who told Neil. [01:25] Eric heard about it a similar way. [01:43] Gong is a sales coaching tool. [02:30] It’s impossible to have your VP of Sales sit in on every call. With Gong, this person can search through every sales call and figure out where the issues are. [03:07] Gong has a call recorder function that makes this possible. [03:22] It helps you train your team in les

In episode #821, we discuss what you should do if paid ads aren’t working. Tune in to hear how you can fix this failure. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What Should You Do if Paid Ads Don't Work? [00:34] People keep running ads that aren’t working. You don’t need to cut the ads, just pause them. [01:01] Just because you spend money, doesn’t guarantee revenue. [01:30] Back at Treehouse, Eric paused ads when he first got there. [01:50] Pausing campaigns allows you to look at the data and determine what the issues are. [02:30] If you are constantly spending, you won’t have time to reflect and ask the right questions. [03:20] If your ads aren’t working, use SEMRush and see what your competition is bidding on. [03:50] This will give you an idea about what your direction sh

In episode #820, we discuss how to scale your link building. Tune in to hear what you should be doing to create linkable assets. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Scale Your Link Building [00:58] The prerequisite is that you need amazing content. [01:10] The first thing you want to do is use BuzzSumo and Ahrefs. [01:18] Check keywords for similar content using these tools. [01:43] There is another tool called PitchBox: it helps you scale your outreach when it comes to link building. [02:05] They show you your targets when reaching out to people. [02:16] You can also use ScrapeBox. It will scrape the entire Internet to find everyone who links to other sites and content that is related to your topic. [02:40] When mass-emailing, look out for GDPR. [02:53] Use Hunte

In episode #819, we discuss tactics for competing in a saturated market. Tune in to hear how you can get an edge over the competition. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Compete in a Saturated Market [00:38] Neil recently released version 2.0 of UberSuggest. [01:01] I looked at the big players in the space and found that most of the major players aren’t making a ton of money. [01:19] Moz is making around 50 Million, Ahrefs is between 30-100 Million, and SEMRush is between 50-100 Million. [01:39] Google does over 100 Billion in ad revenue. [01:50] I found their models were all wrong, so I just released it all for free. [02:30] When you’re in a saturated market and there is no clear winner, you take the best of what everyone is doing. [03:00] Most people don’t use a

In episode #818, Eric and Neil discuss how often you need to adjust your on-page SEO. Tune in to hear how attentive you should be regarding this matter. Eric and Neil have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Often Do You Need to Adjust Your On-Page SEO? [00:40] Neil hasn’t updated in over a year. [01:00] You should probably adjust once per quarter. [01:15] Eric and Neil are too controlling, which means they didn’t make the time to get to it, because they are determined to do it themselves. [01:50] Neil optimized his own website. [02:00] He doesn’t typically set dates to optimize his SEO, he does it as he gets Search Console errors. [2:35] If your on-page SEO is solid, you don’t need to change it, but you should run tests. [03:12] Optimize your title tags using Clickflow. [0

In episode #818, we discuss steps to scaling your content marketing. Tune in to hear each step you need to take to make sure your content ranks. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Scale Your Content Marketing [00:48] Step 1: Find an editor who can manage writers and come up with good topics. Check out ProBlogger. [01:18] Step 2: Go out and hire writers. The editor may be able to help with this. [01:36] Always hire the editor first. [01:48] Step 3: Have the writers submit topic ideas. [02:15] Remember the Content Reusage Framework. [02:30] Step 4: Hire someone who helps with promoting. [02:48] Step 5: Come up with rubrics for content guidelines and promotion. [03:02] Once you have a system or guideline, there will be a consistent voice, tone, and format for your

In episode #816, Eric and Neil discuss how to build a 6 figure software business in under a year. Tune in to hear the secrets to their successes. Eric and Neil have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Build a 6 Figure Software Business in 10 Months [00:36] Eric has created a software company called ClickFlow. Clickflow takes Google Search Console data and will then tell you how many people are clicking on your title. [01:05] Clickflow helps you A/B test your title tag in order to get the max amount of clicks. [01:20] Clickflow is a subscription service that charges monthly or annually. [01:27] They are now making six figures in less than ten months. [2:00] Eric didn’t have a built-in audience to leverage. He achieved his goals with hard work. [02:20] He did a lot of cold ou

In episode #815, Eric and Neil discuss their failed attempts at content marketing. Tune in to learn from their mistakes. Eric and Neil have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: My Failed Attempt at Content Marketing [00:40] Whenever a new game comes out, there are marketers who jump at the chance to write guides for the hottest releases. [00:57] Eric was one of those people and when Portal 2 came out, he made a website that served as a guide for the game. [01:05] He then decided he was going to write crappy articles and then get a bunch of links from black hat websites. [01:27] His traffic spiked, but then after a week, Google caught on to him and his site and traffic ceased. [01:44] Neil’s worst attempt at content marketing was creating a form called, “Traffic and Conversion”. [01

In episode #814, Eric and Neil discuss what you could learn from Southwest Airlines. Tune in to hear which tactics you should rip from this company. Eric and Neil have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Ugly Is the New Sexy: What You Can Learn From Southwest Airlines [00:50] Titles are key, which is why they titled this episode as such. [01:04] Neil tries to avoid Southwest, because he finds they are always delayed. [01:40] Eric’s last Southwest flight was delayed and problematic. [02:10] When Southwest first launched, they focused on serving three cities in Texas. [02:27] It took Southwest three years to get rolling and gain more customers. The first flights were sparsely populated. [02:44] The lesson here is to niche down at first. [02:54] Southwest has a hub and spoke model o

In episode #813, Eric and Neil discuss conferences and their value for small businesses. Tune in to hear how you could actually lose money attending unless you heed their advice. Eric and Neil have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Conferences Will Lose You Money Unless You Do This [00:35] Most people attend the wrong conferences. [00:55] There are conferences where people are paying $20,000 to attend. [01:10] Even if you get paid to speak, doesn’t mean you're going to generate an ROI. [01:14] The audience may not be the right fit for your company. [01:54] If you’re at a conference with lower-level people, they might not be able to close deals with you, as they aren’t decision makers. [02:30] If you are an introvert, you have to bring the party to you: throw a dinner and interact with a smalle

In episode #812, Eric and Neil discuss how to grow your podcast. Tune in to hear what you need to do to make your podcast a success. Eric and Neil have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] How We Grew Marketing School to Over 750,000 Monthly Listeners [01:10] They promoted the podcast through email blasts. [01:26] They begged others to promote through their lists, but you can pay people to promote through their email lists. [02:03] The content tilt was that their podcast is about two guys who love marketing. [02:25] They haven’t missed a show for two years. [02:40] Consider what your spin is, in order to set yourself apart. [02:54] Eric and Neil are picky about their titles. [03:05] They love to create clickbait-y titles. [03:15] Appealing titles help you. [03:35] They check out other ideas th

In episode #810, Eric and Neil discuss the pitfalls of being an Amazon seller. Tune in to hear how you can avoid losing your shirt. Eric and Neil have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Amazon Sellers May Go Out of Business If They Don't Do This [00:45] Eric went to an Ecommerce conference and Amazon was the talk of the conference. [01:00] When it comes to Amazon, there is a lot of “short-termism”. [01:20] When you work on Amazon, you do not control the customers. [01:45] Marketing has now moved to being an omni-channel approach. [02:20] Amazon is growing, but as it grows, there will be more and more competition. [02:35] Because of this, you need to diversify. [04:20] As an Amazon seller, you will find that shady marketers will screw up your revenue. [04:45] Amazon sellers’ rev

In episode #811, Eric and Neil discuss 7 marketing tools that will skyrocket your growth. Tune in to hear which tools you should be using. Eric and Neil have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] 7 Ecommerce Marketing Tools That'll Skyrocket Your Growth [00:41] 1: HelloBar helps you collect emails and emails help you build and control your audience. [01:01] 2: Cart Abandonment Software (ReJoin, etc.) are helpful. [01:25] This will help you increase your sales by 10%. [01:43] 3: Skubana is inventory management software. [02:18] They have a “god mode” that allows you to use one system to track everything and they won’t take a percentage of your revenue. [02:40] 4: Izooto will help you track people who visited your site, but didn’t make a purchase. [03:15] It’s a great way to increase conversions th

In episode #809, Eric and Neil discuss whether all links are created equal. Tune in to see if you are linking to the right sources. Eric and Neil have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Are All Links Created Equal? [00:50] Think about it from an algorithmic perspective. Would you treat every link the same? [01:05] No, because not all links are equal. [01:30] People used to think you needed the highest domain authority links out there, but that is a Moz metric, not a Google metric. Google doesn’t consider domain authority. [02:00] Instead of going for domain authority, go for the most relevant link. [02:30] Getting contextual links these days is the most effective method. [03:15] Don’t just link to one website. There will be diminishing returns. [03:33] You also want the link to b