Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

In episode #784, Eric and Neil discuss why you should change your lead forms to applications. Tune in to hear how this could make a big difference in your conversion rates. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why You Should Change Your Lead Forms to Applications [00:45] Eric was trying to get people to move from a webinar to purchasing a course and software bundle. [01:25] Using Zoom, he added a button that would bring them to a purchase page. [02:05] Instead of sending them to a checkout page, Eric changed it to an “application”. [02:27] Now it goes to this link. [02:40] If you to Consulting.com, they have a good example of an application page. [02:54] The first thing you do after following the link is schedule a call. [02:58] After that, you fill out a survey about your business. [04:20] Eric and his team did a strategy call. [04:55] Once you switched to the application, their conversion rate went up. [05:05] They then made three sales for $6000 total. [05:35] The guy that recommen

In episode #783, Eric and Neil discuss putting on a Mastermind group or conference. Tune in to hear how Eric put on a Mastermind weekend. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Throw Your Own Mastermind [00:45] Eric through his own Mastermind. [00:55] He has been part of an Entrepreneurs’ group for a while. [01:00] Recently, they were in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and it inspired him to do a four-day Mastermind group. [01:36] It is important to surround yourself with the “right” people on a regular basis. [01:54] Eric mandated that there be no technology during the Mastermind, so there would be no distractions. [02:15] The 9 people that attended were friends and/or acquaintances. [02:35] When doing a Mastermind, make sure it includes people you don’t talk to on a regular basis, so you get fresh perspectives. [03:05] Eric has already implemented some great ideas he got from the Mastermind. [03:45] Eric didn’t make money, but total cost was $3000 for the weekend. [04:05] He decided tha

In episode #782, Eric and Neil discuss how they deal with shit-talkers. Tune in to hear how you can deal with the negativity. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Deal With Shit Talkers [00:40] Shit talkers don’t necessarily hate you, but they can still screw up your brand. [01:11] Eric loves being talked about, because it makes him feel successful. [01:40] Neil thinks he has the most shit-talkers in the industry who do not like his work. [02:15] Don’t talk the shit talk to heart, take it as constructive criticism. [02:33] At least you are getting some form of feedback. [03:20] Neil once emailed a shit-talker back and thanked him for the feedback, then asked him if he implemented any of his tactics. [03:45] He wanted to know if the shit-talker used tactics and found they didn’t work. [04:00] Do not take negative feedback personally. [04:34] Always focus on improving your work. [04:54] That’s it for today! [05:00] Go here to see how many downloads the show is getting. Also rate

In #781, Eric and Neil discuss the marketing channel you are taking for granted. Tune in to hear what you should be leveraging, but are probably neglecting. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Number 1 Marketing Channel You Are Taking For Granted (But Shouldn't) [00:35] The number one search engine in the world is Google. [00:45] The second search engine is YouTube. [01:45] YouTube can suck you in for hours without you realizing. [02:08] Neil recently sent an email out about whether he boosted others’ traffic. [02:20] He received thousands of replies and is responding to all of them. [02:45] Most of the respondents have said that Eric has, indeed, helped them boost their traffic with his podcast, videos, and blogs. [0322] Based on their YouTube comments, Eric and Neil find they get a higher rate of interaction with YouTube. [03:45] Google is now putting more resources into YouTube. [04:22] If you are going to go on YouTube, upload the same content to Facebook and LinkedIn. [04:41

In episode #780, Eric and Neil discuss how they are going to reach 1 Million downloads per month. Tune in to hear how they are going to do this and why they set this goal. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How We Are Going to Get to 1 Million Podcast Downloads Per Month [00:50] They know their podcasts stats aren’t as high as some other more popular podcasters. [01:10] They want their download numbers to increase because… [01:54] ...They want to help more people! [02:16] If Eric and Neil reach 1 Million downloads, they will reach more people. They also think this community of listeners will help them learn something new, in turn. [03:18] It has been over two years of podcasting and they know they are performing a needed service. [03:51] Incentives are a great way to get what you need from customers. [04:20] Some ideas Eric and Neil are going to test out are: premiere seats for those that rated and reviewed. [05:22] Look into how you can incentivize your team to do better work. [05:2

In episode #779, Eric and Neil discuss how to convert more leads. Tune in to hear their great hack. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Convert More Leads Into Sales With This Ninja Hack [00:52] When doing a webinar, Neil required that people give a name and email address, as well as a phone number. [01:40] For those who couldn’t make the webinar, they would offer a link to a different webinar. [02:14] Eric has found that you could use Front to hook in your Twilio and respond directly to people who want to attend the conference. [03:02] If people didn’t convert after the webinar, Neil would text them. [03:30] Texts that converted well, “Hey” or “[Name]?” [04:10] Try ringless voicemail or send a text to those who didn’t convert. [04:23] That’s it for today! [04:25] Go here to see how many downloads the show is getting. Also rate and review to help Eric and Neil meet their goal of 1 Million downloads per month. They will throw a live event once they reach their goal. Leave some

In episode #778, Eric and Neil discuss what you should do with your keywords that rank in the middle, but not the top of the first search page. Tune in to hear how you can improve your rankings. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What Should You Do With Your Keywords That Rank on The Middle of Page 1 [00:44] Adjust the title or meta-description. [00:55] Clickflow is a tool that will help you adjust the title and meta-description. [01:20] Go look at the content that ranks above you. [01:33] See what they are doing that you are not. [02:25] Stone Temple did a case study on keywords, how they rank, and if they matter. [02:54] When it  comes to Google, user experience and link-building matters. [03:25] Everyone thinks the best way to rank for keywords is to get the sites that link to your competitors, to link to you. [03:34] The best link is the from the exact page that ranks for the term for which you would like to rank. [04:44] If you have something that already ranks well, chances are

In episode #777, Eric and Neil discuss what you should do with blog posts that generate traffic and no revenue. Tune in to hear what you can do to turn things around. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What Should You Do With Your Blog Posts That Generate Traffic And No Revenue [00:40] Neil has tons of posts that rank, but they aren’t what his clients are looking for. [01:04] You can put in affiliate links or promote other products and services, which will help generate revenue. [01:20] Eric’s friend ranks for a page that is about a product or service he doesn’t offer, so he goes to a company that does offer that service and charges them to rent the page. [01:45] You could partner with someone else who has the ideal audience. [02:38] A relevant pop-up can be helpful. [02:50] Pop-ups can help you generate leads. [04:14] It is important to create a process to be on top of redirecting traffic, so that they don’t just bounce. [04:45] Nurturing customers is really tough. [05:00] When you

In episode #776, Eric and Neil discuss why blogging too often may hurt your rankings. Tune in to hear why you should consider blogging less. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why Blogging Too Often Will Hurt Your Rankings [00:45] A site has “x” amount of authority. [01:05] You’ll find that if you start blogging more over time, a lot of your content will become outdated. [01:32] Old pages will drop in rankings, but eventually your whole site will suffer because of outdated posts. [02:20] Refer to the Content Reusage Framework. [02:22] A VC named Tomasz Tonguz did a study on the value of temporal content vs. evergreen content. [02:47] The difference between a news site and an evergreen site is that your rankings will spike from time to time, whereas evergreen content stacks in rankings over time. [03:25] Focus on writing better content, which will help your rankings. [03:45] The majority of your posts will not generate much traffic. [03:55] 20% of your content will make up 70% of your

In episode #775, Eric and Neil discuss the reason they want to do a live event. Tune in to hear why you should also consider putting on a live event. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why We're Going to Do An In Person Event (and You Should Too) [00:50] Eric and Neil don’t monetize their podcast nor do they run ads. [01:24] On their site for this podcast, they only collect emails and surveys. [01:42] If their goal is to impact more people, they realized an in-person event would be a great opportunity. People were also asking for a live event in the surveys. [02:45] Charlie Munger talks about aligning incentives. [02:56] Eric and Neil are incentivized to reach that 1 Million download milestone. [03:12] They did a test even last year in downtown LA. [03:32] People had different ranges for what they found too cost prohibitive in terms of attending a conference or live event. [03:42] Eric and Neil are making this live event free, so they don’t exclude any interested parties. [03:58] The

In episode #774, Eric and Neil discuss when it’s ok to prune your content. Tune in to hear if you should ever flush old content. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: When to Keep, Cut, and Consolidate Your Content [00:54] You may find that some of your content is outdated. [01:22] Consolidate if you have five pages that discuss the same thing, combine them, because Google won’t know which one to rank first. [02:15] Search engines want to eliminate redundancy. [02:55] Removing old, outdated content can be a good idea, but often less content means less traffic. [03:05] People who prune content, prune the quality content that won’t affect traffic. [03:35] SuperMetrics or Screaming Frog are two great tools to use to crawl your website. [03:45] If these tools find pages that aren’t getting any traffic at all, it might be a good idea to prune those pages. [04:18] Use Google Analytics to look at your content that isn’t performing well. [04:35] When you cut those pages, you may lose more traff

In episode #773, Eric and Neil discuss what you should do about pages that rank, but don’t meet user intent. Tune in to hear how you can fix this issue and keep your rankings. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What You Should do About Pages That Rank But Don't Meet User Intent [00:55] People will bounce really quickly if your page doesn’t meet their needs. [01:26] Go to GSC and look at all the key phrases for which you are getting impressions (not just clicks!). [01:40] These key phrases aren’t keywords, they are problems; people are searching because they are trying to solve a problem. [02:14] If you find that your page is ranking for something it doesn’t entirely cover, you can make content that centers on those search terms. [02:30] Otherwise, you can take a risk and alter the content on the page. You may lose rankings, even though you are changing it to suit the key phrases for which you are ranking. [03:30] Search engines don’t put websites that meet their algorithm requirements a

In episode #772, Eric and Neil discuss how to push your rankings to the first page of search results. Tune in to hear how you can easily boost your rankings. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Push Your Rankings From Page 2 to Page 1 [00:35] If you are ranking in the top 3, your click-through rates from organic search results will be higher. [01:38] People rarely go to page 2 of their search results. [02:03] Go into Google Search Console and look at the keywords for which you are getting impressions. [02:14] Make sure you address the problems people are searching for within your content. [02:41] Change the title of your page. [02:59] Use Ahrefs or Majestic and reach out to people who have linked to pages similar to yours; make the case as to why your page is better and convince them to link to you. [03:30] Internal linking also helps. [03:45] Build links, optimize your content, and optimize your title tags. [04:26] That’s it for today! [04:28] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveaway f

In episode #771, Eric and Neil discuss whether you should build links using rich anchor text. Tune in to hear if you should be focusing your energy on anchor text. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Should You Build Rich Anchor Text Links Still? [00:54] If too many links are rich in anchor text and contain a keyword, search engines will know that you’re trying to manipulate them and you won’t rank as high. [01:10] Go to Ahrefs and type in the URLs that are at the top of page 1 for the terms for which you are trying to rank. [01:45] If you are building links naturally, you won’t be able to control the anchor text all the time. [02:25] Once the cup is overflowing, you will be hit with an algorithmic penalty. [02:55] Only focus about 5-10% of your energy on anchor text. [03:33] Links impact rankings, but so does the content on your page. [03:55] If you only focus on rich anchor text, your rankings are unsustainable. [04:30] That’s it for today! [04:33] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for

In episode #770, Eric and Neil discuss what percentage of your links should point to your homepage. Tune in to hear if there is a magical percentage that will help your homepage rank higher. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What Percent of Your Links Should Point to Your Homepage [00:40] Eric and Neil don’t know what percentage of their links lead to their homepages. [01:04] It doesn’t always make sense to link something back to your homepage. [01:26] Your homepage won’t convert as well as other pages, so it’s important to use it to discuss your products and services and make pages that are about the specifics of your offerings. [02:03] There’s no magic percentage that works the best. [02:25] Look at your metrics and determine the right percentage for yourself. [03:03] Even if your homepage converts well, you can’t rank your homepage for a bunch of terms. [03:22] Just focus on internal pages. [03:32] If you already have a lot of links to your homepage, pick the main pages that you w

In episode #769, Eric and Neil discuss which social network is the best for video. Tune in to hear which network you should be focusing on. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Which Social Network Is The Best For Video [00:45] There are so many social networks. [00:54] Twitch is now one of the main networks along with Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. [01:25] Eric got more views on LinkedIn than he did on Facebook. [01:40] Neil thinks LinkedIn performs the best for video, because they want it more and promote it harder. [02:02] However, you shouldn’t limit yourself to LinkedIn. [02:20] You have nothing to lose by posting to a site that doesn’t have your ideal demographic. [02:35] The content repurposing framework is a good model for this. [03:17] Even if you are in B2C, there’s nothing wrong with uploading to LinkedIn. [03:31] The CEO of Cheddar is great at uploading tons of video content. [03:50] Just keep uploading anywhere you can! [04:10] YouTube drives long-term traff

In episode #768, Eric and Neil discuss how you can launch a product like Apple does. Tune in to hear how you can create hype. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Launch Like Apple [00:44] Apple has a PLF: Product Launch Formula. [01:03] Jumpcut likes to take you through three or four videos over a few days. [01:20] The final one pumps you up to buy. [01:42] Apple creates early buzz. [01:50] There are leaks and rumors. [02:00] They always announce at conferences. [02:40] People always know that if they don't’ act fast, the product will sell out and it will take longer to get the product. [03:10] Apple creates scarcity. [03:50] They know how to manufacture a feeding frenzy [04:17] Even though there is no reason to camp out for products anymore, people still do it, because Apple knows how to create hype and manufacture urgency/scarcity. [05:00] Influencers will help you create buzz. [05:13] That's it for today! [05:16] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool

In episode #767, Eric and Neil discuss how the GDPR has changed link building outside the US. Tune in to hear how you must go about link building now that the regulation has made it harder. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How GDPR Changed Link Building [00:37] GDPR = Global Data Protection Regulation. [00:54] There are now a lot of restrictions about what you can do in terms of data collection. [01:15] It has made link-building harder. [01:53] You can’t just email blast people anymore. [02:05] A simple way to build links, is to go to their site and message them through their contact form. [02:45] Be careful how you contact businesses in the UK. [03:10] There are a lot of lawsuits happening right now. [03:20] That’s it for today! [03:23] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! 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 

In episode #766, Eric and Neil discuss how to hire solid SEOs. Tune in to hear how you find great SEOs that don’t suck. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Hire Full-Time SEOs That Don't Suck [00:35] Don’t just believe the resume. [01:00] The real test is to see what changes they would make to your website and if they can implement specific changes. [01:40] Test them out on a temp basis before you hire full-time. [02:05] Good SEOs have “burnt” their own websites. [03:10] The more seasoned you are with running experiments, the better a hire you will be. [03:35] Ask potential hires about their weaknesses and really get into the nitty gritty. [04:05] Make sure they know how to modify basic HTML code. [04:23] You want people who can take action. [04:32] Go to the Marketing School website and find our post about SEO interview questions. [04:40] Check out the potential hire’s website. [04:59] That's all for today! [05:01] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool

In episode #765, Eric and Neil discuss how to find the best marketing talent. Tune in to hear how you can find young, motivated workers. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Find the Best Young Marketing Talent [00:37] Eric’s interns have always been great. [01:06] Singlegrain often uses Angellist to find the best people. [01:31] It is important to have a hiring process. [01:58] You can find young talent via blogging and social sites, but the best way to find great talent is to have interns. [02:20] Neil’s company looks for interns who really want a career in marketing. [02:30] They train them to grow with the company. [02:52] When you get them young, they aren’t jaded. [03:30] Be a “T-Shaped” marketer. [04:18] If you want people who are “up to speed”, look for people who did internships at other marketing agencies. [04:42] Most agencies won’t hire their interns. [05:08] Pay your interns! [05:18] By paying interns, you set a good precedent. [05:30] That’s it for today! [05: