Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

In Episode #441, Eric and Neil discuss how to avoid over-servicing clients. Tune in to learn what the Zero Dollar Charge Order is, the value of doing exactly what’s stated in your contract, and how to prevent being taken advantage of by your clients.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Avoid Over-Servicing Clients 00:47 – Eric uses Hubstaff, which is a time tracking tool 01:00 – It’s important to internally track time in a company 01:15 – You don’t have to charge per hour, but audit your time wisely 01:38 – Follow what’s in the contract 01:44 – Learn how to say “no” if it’s not in the contract 02:07 – Eric hired The Smart Agency Podcast’s Jason Swenk 02:20 – He created the tactic called “Zero Dollar Charge Order” 02:27 – You send an invoice for zero dollars that states the services you gave for free 03:35 – If you have to charge for it, charge for it 03:59 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 04:07 – Go to

In Episode #440, Eric and Neil discuss seven ways to keep potential clients engaged during business pitches. Tune in to learn the value of being honest, using story, and ensuring that your clients are the ones doing most of the talking to increase their level of engagement. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 Ways to Keep Potential Clients Engaged During Business Pitches 00:34 – First, make sure that you go above and beyond in preparing for the meeting 01:00 – Make the client feel good about the whole experience 01:11 – Second, utilize storytelling in a way that gets people engaged and hooked 01:29 – Instead of talking about yourself, talk about the client and asks the right questions 01:43 – Fourth, be honest 02:12 – Fifth, show your clients what you can do for them via a conversation 02:44 – Eric uses UberConference; your client should be talking 70% of the time 03:01 – Pay attention to the other person and respond/act according to their reactions 03:24 – Seventh, have someth

In Episode #439, Eric and Neil discuss the major differences between PPC ads on mobile and desktop. Tune in to learn what you need to consider when creating a well-executed ad and the value of testing the experience on every single device.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: What Are the Major Differences Between PPC Ads on Mobile and Desktop? 00:37 – You get less text in mobile because of its limitations 00:50 – Mobile costs are cheaper 01:15 – You’ll see less snippets or other information with mobile ads 01:35 – When you’re doing mobile-based ads, you need to fine-tune your landing page depending on the device 02:07 – “You have to tailor for experience” 02:18 – Have a responsive design and test how it looks on different devices 02:40 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 02:52 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 02:28 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: When creating ads, consider the dev

In Episode #438, Eric and Neil discuss how to improve brand quality. Tune in to learn how you can effectively boost the quality of your brand, make people talk about you, and what you need to be doing to increase customer loyalty.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Improve Brand Loyalty 00:38 – Amazon Prime’s two-day shipping policy initially scared their investors, but it became successful in the end 01:11 – “Go above and beyond to help customers” 01:28 – When people post on social media and tag your business, make sure to reply 01:40 – When people know that you’re responsive, they tend to be more loyal to you 01:53 – Eric helps their clients get additional exposure which is already above and beyond their services—this creates loyalty 02:05 – Eric connects and builds relationships with people 02:32 – “Just care about people” 02:42 – Think of the big brands who go above and beyond to help you 03:05 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a

In Episode #437, Eric and Neil discuss how to create an irresistible product or service guarantee. Tune in to learn what some of the big brands are doing to provide top-notch service guarantees and how you can effectively implement your own.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Create an Irresistible Product or Service Guarantee 00:38 – The baseline is to have a 30-day money back guarantee 00:55 – One of the craziest ideas Neil has heard of is having double money back guarantee 01:22 – With Nordstrom and Zappos, you can return an item as long as you have a receipt 02:27 – Amazon is committed to giving the best customer service 02:37 – Eric bought a TV from them that wasn’t in the best condition when it arrived; Amazon sent a new one without asking for the first TV back 03:06 – Your guarantee should reflect the quality of your product or service 03:45 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial of Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 03:55 – Go to SingleGrain.com/

In Episode #436, Eric and Neil discuss if TV advertising is really worth it. Tune in to learn whether or not TV ads is worth your investment OR if it’s more advantageous for you to utilize digital ads. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: Is TV Advertising Really Worth It? 00:37 – Neil was in Canada with a friend who was working with TV ads 00:57 – Neil’s friend told him that the ROI increases from 20-50% every time they run a TV ad 01:30 – Eric shares about the Trivago ad all over the TV 02:12 – The effectiveness of your ad will still depend on your target demographic 02:25 – Do your market research and planning before implementing a TV ad 02:52 – If you have the money, you can consider a TV ad 03:07 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 03:22 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 03:25 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: TV advertising still works and IS worth it—if it fits your budget, of

In Episode #435, Eric and Neil discuss how to own negative social media comments. Tune in to know just how Eric and Neil handle the criticism and why it helped them improve and grow as professionals in the long run! Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Own Negative Social Media Comments 00:36 – Neil learned to just ignore negative comments 00:55 – Eric ends up helping out the negative commenter 02:04 – Some feedback is good feedback that can help you improve 02:27 – “When people give you negative feedback, embrace them” 03:00 – In the long run, it may influence how you change 03:05 – Feedback helps you grow 03:20 – Eric shares about a YouTuber who responds to feedback 03;49 – Don’t take the feedback personally 04:28 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 04:42 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 04:48 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Negative comments will get to you at first, b

In Episode #434, Eric and Neil discuss how important headings are for SEO. Tune in to learn why you should still take your sweet time on your headings and how it helps boost your website’s ranking.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How Important Are Headings for SEO? 00:35 – Headings are still important because the H1 tag still has more authority for search engines 01:12 – If your H1 tag is larger, search engine will read it as more important than the other text in your website 01:25 – Ranking zero is having a snippet above the actual organic ranking 01:39 – Have some sentences after your H1 tag 01:56 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 02:08 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 02:15 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Search engines still read your H1 tag as the most important text in your content. Be sure that your heading is high quality and well thought-out. Snippets below your H

In Episode #433, Eric and Neil discuss how to quickly find the most popular blogs in a niche and list the top websites that will help you find them. Tune in to find out the most reliable and useful tool to date. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Quickly Find the Most Popular Blogs in a Niche 00:35 – Buzzsumo shows the most shared content and links to content 00:55 – SimilarWeb shows you which posts are similar to yours and the ones that get the most traffic 01:03 – Ahrefs is great for looking at content as well and they will find things you can’t find with Buzzsumo 01:35 – Google search is still one of the most useful ways to find popular blogs 01:57 – Search through different communities like Reddit 02:37 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 02:52 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 02:57 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Blogs that are constantly shared are the ones that are th

In Episode #432, Eric and Neil discuss how to secure your website. Tune in to learn why a two-factor authentication for your website is better and the importance of backing up your website for security reasons. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Secure Your Website 00:33 – HTTPS is a certificate that can secure your website and there are multiple versions of it 00:55 – Get an SSL certificate 01:08 – One of Eric’s friends switched from HTTP to HTTPS and their traffic dropped 01:48 – Have a two-factor authentication for your website 02:05 – LastPass helps, too 02:21 – Make sure you are constantly checking your website 02:41 – For blogs, use VaultPress 02:55 – For hosting, make sure you’re using a great host 03:15 – Backup your sites 03:39 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 03:46 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 03:50 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: An SSL certificate and

In Episode #431, Eric and Neil discuss 7 WordPress plugins you ought to use. Tune in and take note of the plugins that you need for your WordPress site—especially if it is the face of your business. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 WordPress Plugins You Ought to Use 00:35 – First tool is the Yoast SEO plugin 00:41 – It will give you the foundational tool 00:52 – Second tool is VaultPress so that you can backup your blog, especially if it’s your business 01:10 – Have a tool for content upgrades like Thrive Leads and OptinMonster 01:33 – Breadcrumbs NavXT can be added to your WordPress theme 01:45 – Fifth is to have a plugin checklist like WP Blog Checklist 02:13 – Sixth: check out Comments Not Replied To so you won’t miss out on any comments 02:27 – Seventh is a cache plugin to manage your blog speed 03:05 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 03:13 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 03:17 –

In episode #430, Eric and Neil discuss how to generate more YouTube search traffic. Tune in to learn how you can revamp your videos to attract more traffic and why your watch time is important. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Generate More YouTube Search Traffic 00:35 – Use TubeBuddy and VidIQ—TubeBuddy will give you ideas on what tags you should use for your YouTube videos 01:11 – Upload your transcript or the captions for your videos to boost your ranking 01:32 – Think about how you can rank for great titles 01:50 – You have to understand your audience 02:00 – Use amazing images for your CTR 02;34 – YouTube wants people to stay longer on their platform so consider your watch time 03:02 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 03:22 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 03:26 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Know your TOP keywords for your videos. If you can upload your own tra

In Episode #429, Eric and Neil discuss 7 tips for increasing engagement with your blog. Tune in to learn how you can boost your viewer’s engagement levels and hook them so they have to keep coming back for more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 Tips for Increasing Engagement with Your Blog 00:35 – First is to write your blog in a conversational tone by using “you” and “I” 00:54 – People become more engaged and they will probably leave comments 01:00 – Add a live chat button to your blog 01:26 – Third is to wrap up your blog post with a conclusion 01:36 – Most readers will read your conclusion first before reading the whole blog 01:44 – Fourth is adding different types of content 02:00 – Some read on their mobile while others on their computer 02:13 – Fifth is to respond to comments in your blog 02:30 – Connect social media channels with Edgar 03:08 – Seventh is to do a content upgrade with Thrive, Hello Bar, OptinMonster 04:00 – There are different content upgrades av

In Episode #428, Eric and Neil discuss how to correctly use live chat on your website. Tune in to learn how you can target the right people using live chat and convert them into sales. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Correctly Use Live Chat on Your Website 00:51 – Live chat isn’t just about talking to your website visitors, it can actually detect potential customers 01:34 – Segment your audience and only show the live chat option—it’s your best bet 01:50 – Intercom is doing well for live chat 02:00 – Eric just switched to Drift which has the ability to set appointments for people 02:47 – The appointment setting becomes a revenue generating tool 02:58 – Drift Enterprise costs $2K a month, but they have the another version 03:38 – Eric’s clients like Drift 03:50 – Just make sure you’re not showing your live chat to the wrong people or you’re wasting money 04:31 – “You can’t hit everyone” 04:35 – Marketing School is giving away a free 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg wh

In Episode #427, Eric and Neil discuss if should you hire an agency for link building. Tune in to learn if it’s worth it to hire a great agency to do link building for you OR if you’re better off doing it in-house. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: Should You Hire an Agency for Link Building? 00:33 – Neil ran an agency with link building in the past and Eric’s agency is currently handling link building 00:48 – Most people don’t have proper connections and use templates that don’t work 01:01 – “Links are a very dangerous thing” 01:12 – Link building is the same as doing outreach when it comes to sales 01:50 – Pitchbox is an SEO outreach tool; if you’re using it, it’s better to hire an agency 02:20 – If you’re looking for good links, find the right agency 02:24 – Ask for samples first to see if the links are good 02:32 – If you want to do it in-house, hire someone who knows the processes well 02:40 – If you decide to go with an agency, make sure that you’re not charged per link 02:

In Episode #426, Eric and Neil discuss how to spy on your competition. Tune in to discover the tools that will help you see what your competitors are up to, how you can compete, and ways you can replicate their strategies. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Spy on Your Competition 00:38 – Ahrefs is a great tool to use 01:22 – SEMrush will show you phrases your competitors are bidding on for pay-per-click 01:40 – It will give you an idea of whether you should also be bidding on those keywords 02:14 – Adbeat goes deeper on ads and spend trends over time 02:41 – BuiltWith will show you everything that your competitors are using 03:07 – SimilarWeb will show you top categories, traffic trends and the breakdown of the traffic of a website 03:45 – SpyFu and iSpionage are great tools 03:50 – iSpionage shows the keyword efficiency index 04:42 – Marketing School is giving away a free 1 year subscription to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 04:56 – Go to SingleGrain.com/gi

In Episode #425, Eric and Neil discuss how much you should spend on content promotion. Tune in to discover just how little you need to promote your content. And, if you prefer to spend nothing at all, the alternative methods you can employ to get your content out there! Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How Much Should You Spend on Content Promotion? 00:37 – Eric asked Larry Kim of Wordstream, who is well-versed in paid advertising 00:58 – Larry said that every time he publishes content, he’ll try to find unicorns that have high engagement 01:11 – He’s pushing $50 for every published piece of content 01:39 – For Neil, content promotion is 50% of the time spent writing the content and the other 50% of the time is for promotion 01:52 – At least half of the time should always be spent on content promotion 01:57 – You can spend time or spend money on promotion 02:00 – You can boost traffic from different social media sites 02:20 – If you don’t want to spend money, you can promote yo

In Episode #424, Eric and Neil discuss what part of your funnel you should focus on. Tune in to learn the different parts of a funnel, how to find your weakness, and the actions you can take to make sure your funnel is running (and converting) smoothly. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: What Part of Your Funnel Should You Focus On? 00:40 – Top of the Funnel (ToFu): the traffic that you’re trying to target; which is usually a much larger audience 00:48 – Middle of the Funnel (MoFu): people who have viewed your website or availed of your services 01:02 – Bottom of the Funnel (BoFu): returning customers or those who are close to purchasing 01:24 – If you don’t have a lot of visitors, focus on the top of the funnel 01:27 – If you have a lot of visitors but don’t have much conversion, work on your analytics to see where the drop off is—it’s either the middle or bottom of the funnel 01:43 – You can check it out using Mixpanel and/or Kissmetrics 01:50 – Focus on optimizing that part by doing

In Episode #423, Eric and Neil discuss the 7 point, website redesign checklist. Tune in to know what you need to consider before changing or redesigning your website. This way you can make the changes without any risk to your traffic. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7-Point Website Redesign Checklist 00:34 – First is to make sure that your website is designed with a strong SEO foundation 01:01 – For WordPress, build up your SEO first 01:12 – Second is to keep track of your existing URLs in a checklist 01:25 – Third is to NOT forget about your site speed 01:30 – Check GTmetrix to find out your site speed 01:41 – Fourth is to keep mobile in mind because a bigger percentage of website visitors are mobile users 01:50 – Use Google AMP framework 01:59 – Don’t forget about your pixels like the Google Analytics pixels and Facebook pixels 02:20 – Sixth is to figure out the copy for your content before redesigning it 02:35 – Last is to check your website’s resolution in different b

In Episode #422, Eric and Neil discuss how to market your business at a conference without sponsoring it. Tune in to learn what you need to do on the day of the conference to market your business tactfully and effectively. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Market Your Business at a Conference Without Sponsoring It 00:41 – It’s better to speak at conferences than be a sponsor at one 00:50 – Talk with people in the conference lounge 01:16 – Networking is also a good strategy to market your brand without spending 01:49 – Networking doesn’t mean passing your business card, it means getting to know people’s story and expressing how you can help them 02:55 – Prior to the conference event day, figure out your target market 03:13 – Eric shares how his friend bombarded the booths in an event they went to in order to market his service 03:55 – Marketing School is giving away a free 1 year subscription to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 04:00 – Go to SingleGrain.com/givea