Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

In Episode #161, Eric and Neil discuss the 7 elements of an effective marketing report. The marketing report reflects the health of your business and is a great sending base to inform that next step. Tune in to find out WHAT you need to assess and HOW to gather that information, in order to have that clear assessment of how your business is doing. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 - Today’s topic: 7 Elements of an Effective Marketing Report 00:45 – First, have high-level goals 01:08 – Have a different kind of threshold 01:24 – “Have your targets laid out so it is easier for people to digest” 01:31 – Second, look at the growth 01:47 – Examine your growth weekly 03:25 – Assess how to calculate your growth properly—don’t just look at the total visitor count 04:28 – The growth rate should be staying the same, if not increasing 04:39 – Third, use simple, report tracking tools, like Cyfe, and connect it to your spreadsheet report in order to pull data 05:27 – GA data grabber helps you to pull reports

In Episode #160, Eric and Neil discuss the 7 tips that will help you improve the reach of your podcast. Starting a podcast is not easy and improving its reach requires putting in some work. Tune in to learn tips and strategies such as growing your network, changing up your headlines, and maximizing off the traffic you get on iTunes. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 Tips to Improve the Reach of Your Podcast 00:35 – #1: Have a following and email list AND push your content out to your channels 00:48 – Eric uses a podcasting host called, “List It” to push to multiple channels 01:15 – Email blast has also been effective for Eric and Neil 02:30 – #2: Show every single episode that you have recorded 02:50 – Eric uses MeetEdgar to schedule his posts 04:04 – #4: “The headlines really impact how many downloads a podcast gets” 04:13 – Copyblogger headline formula can give you templates to create attractive headlines 04:32 – Fortune’s headline generator also helps 04:36 – TitleCapitali

In Episode #159, Eric and Neil discuss what you need to know about digital marketing before investing your time and money. Listen as they explain the benefits of zeroing in on one channel over time and more first hand advice about how to tackle digital marketing for yourself as opposed to outsourcing to an agency. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: What You Need to Know About Digital Marketing Before Investing in It 00:50 – First is to get a high level view of what is going on 00:57 – There are a lot of YouTube videos available, like the one from HubSpot 01:30 – Know what your goals are and be clear with your target 01:51 – Figure out what channel you want to tackle first 02:02 – Neil’s focus is content marketing 03:00 – Neil wants to use YouTube 03:58 – Neil shares how he still maximizes on Facebook, even after he stopped spending money on it 04:30 – “Focus on one channel at a time and focus on things that work” 05:29 – Neil only does a few channels at once 05:49 – NeilPatel.com

In Episode #158, Eric and Neil discuss a how long it actually takes for SEO to work. Having the right expectations in mind will help you as you wait for results. Tune is as Eric and Neil discuss their own experiences with SEO and the techniques that you can do now to boost your traffic. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How Long it Takes for SEO to Work 00:35 – For a brand new website, it takes 6 months to 1 year. For an established website, it can take 6 months or more to get ranking. 00:50 – Neil shares his website’s ranking as an example 01:45 – It took Neil 9 months for him to see a decent ranking 02:00 – The search traffic goes up slowly 02:39 – “It takes good placement to see traffic” 02:53 – Eric shares his own experience with SEO 03:12 – Eric decided to buy a decent age domain 04:00 – Eric made a lot of adjustments with the domain and their website traffic went from hundreds to millions 04:54 – Redirecting an old domain to a new domain helps 05:03 – Having high brand keyword

In Episode #157, Eric and Neil discuss whether guest posting is irrelevant or still effective. Guest posting today works differently than it did before – its main ROI is not to build links, but to deliver value and drive those leads. Listen as Neil and Eric discuss how to best utilize guest posting for your marketing needs. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: Is Guest Posting Still Worth It? 00:44 – Guest posting is posting on other websites for link building purposes 01:30 – It’s still worth it 01:48 – Before, guest posters get author accounts 02:00 – Now, if you’re given an author account, it will be in a sub-page without indexes 02:32 – DON’T waste your time guest posting for links anymore 02:41 – Focus on guest posting to drive leads 03:13 – Neil talks about his friend, Jason, who specializes in guest posting 03:57 – You will see little to no results on your first 6 months of guest posting 04:00 – It takes a year to get traction 04:29 – Eric shares an article he wrote about YouTub

In Episode #156, Eric and Neil discuss a valuable opportunity that is worth considering for your team and business—hiring marketing interns. Listen as they reveal the benefits of hiring interns, tips and tools that can make the hiring process easy, and factors you should consider while looking for the next best fit for the company. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to Hire Marketing Interns 00:40 – “The people that are really hungry [to learn]; sometimes, they end up being the best hires” 00:43 – Having a long-term internship program will be good for a business 01:03 – Use Craigslist or a tool called Workable to keep your hiring process simple 01:10 – First, create a good job description 01:19 – Eric uses Spark Hire, which allows video interviewing 02:38 – Neil uses Elevation Scholars to offer marketing scholarships 03:17 – Neil lists his requirements for the marketing scholarships he offers 04:59 – Neil pays for their interns’ services 05:15 – Take your interns to training 05:3

In Episode #155, Eric and Neil talk about 7 creative marketing tactics that you ought to be leveraging. Tune in to discover the online tools that will work for you and the tactics you need to keep your content one step ahead of your competitors. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: 7 Creative Marketing Tactics that You Ought to be Leveraging 00:37 – #1 Use TurboDial to collect phone numbers of visitors on your website 00:56 – Send TurboDial a signal to send a text message to the person 01:30 – You can program replies when a person responds to your text 02:09 – #2 Make your stuff is available for pirates on torrent sites 02:52 – #3 Use exit pop-ups 03:17 – #4 Make sure your funnel is congruent with your client’s interests 04:13 – #5 Go to BuzzSumo and find out which of your competitors’ posts are going viral 04:21 – Ahrefs will also show you your competitors’ most popular posts 04:29 – Take the post’s URL and put it into Twitter search to show the top users sharing the content 04:37

In Episode #154, Eric and Neil teach entrepreneurs how to get started with Faceboook Ads. Facebook Ads have proven to be a really effective tool to grow conversion and traffic. Business owners are now able to customize more of their ads on this platform without needing to be technical. Listen as Neil and Eric provide you with great advice on how to get started with Facebook Ads. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to Get Started with Facebook Ads 00:48 – Boosting your posts 01:04 – Digital Marketer’s Podcast episode on boosting posts has in-depth information on the topic 01:18 – Boost what gets people engaged or what you want 01:34 – Boosting does NOT have to be expensive 01:54 – Neil loves to spend on page likes 02:14 – Spending money on likes is like building your own platform 02:37 – Targeting your audience on geographic location, interests, etc. doesn’t work well unless you have an email list similar to it 03:22 – Build lookalike audiences 03:40 – Use Google Tag Manager to set

In Episode #153, Eric and Neil discuss the 4 steps to get started with RSLA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads). RLSA allow you to target your past website visitors to open up more possibilities for marketing and promotion. Listen to find out how you can set-up your RSLA to start benefitting from this feature ASAP. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: 4 Steps to Getting Started with RSLA 00:36 – RLSA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads) is a feature that lets you customize your search ad campaigns for people who have previously visited your website 00:50 – The idea is to target people who visited your site before and are searching for something similar in Google 01:24 – The 4 Main Steps to get started with RSLA: Pixeling your audience, create content, keyword research, and setting up in Google Adwords 01:36 – PIxeling is very easy – just add the pixel code to your account 01:46 – If your content is NOT relevant to buyers, you will get a ton of traffic without conversion 02:12 – KissMetrics is

In Episode #152, Eric and Neil tackle the Google Analytics metrics that you should be tracking for your business. Listen to discover the metrics worth monitoring on a weekly basis that will help you improve your conversion rates. Understanding your metrics will also help you find and address your problem areas to better optimize your website’s performance. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: Which Google Analytics Metrics Should You Be Tracking? 00:35 – It’s important to track your conversion rates 00:46 – This tells you how well your website is performing 01:07 – Look at your traffic from the last 7 days and do week by week comparison 01:19 – You should be getting more traffic from the previous week 01:25 – “You will not always hit those goals but you’ll see which channels are moving down” 01:30 – Figure out strategies you can use to address the metrics that went down 02:03 – The week by week indicator should show you results of whether you’re doing better or worse 02:06 – Look a

In Episode #151, Eric and Neil discuss how to prepare for Google’s first mobile index. Google has announced that starting January 1st, 2017, they will start indexing the mobile pages of websites. Google has also laid out the AMP framework to be used as a basis for a better mobile user experience. Listen as Neil and Eric share tips on how to optimize your mobile sites and the tools that will help you get it to its best. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to Prepare for Google’s First Mobile Index 00:38 – Google’s focus is shifting more towards mobile 00:46 – Google came up with AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) framework which makes the mobile user experience a lot better 01:13 – AMP also has a carousel like the ones in the desktop version 01:23 – Make sure you use the AMP framework for your sites 01:37 – Get rid of anything obtrusive like pop-ups 02:18 – Make sure your website is optimized for speed 02:28 – Google Chrome allows you to test how quickly pages are loading 02:39 – Look at

In Episode #150, Eric and Neil discuss 7 ways to get people to show up to your webinar. Webinars require planned marketing to get qualified leads to participate. Unlike podcasts, your webinar’s success depends on the number of people who show up. This is why it is of the utmost importance to make sure your attendance is high. Tune in to learn the tips and strategies you need to skyrocket your webinar show up rates. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 Ways to Get People to Show Up to Your Webinar 00:34 – Make sure you are emailing people inviting them to your webinar 00:58 – Email works because people are busy and tend to forget 01:10 – Collect phone numbers from webinar registrations 01:13 – The lead is more qualified if they’re willing to get more information and stay committed 01:25 – An SMS provider like Twilio that is integrated to your webinar can send SMS reminders before the webinar starts 01:51 – Third, use social media ads 02:29 – You can retarget people based on their b

In Episode #149, Eric and Neil discuss how to create a first-class case study. Tune in to discover the ins and outs of a well-designed case study and how case studies will boost your marketing and draw in those quality leads you’ve been needing. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 - Today’s topic: How to Create a First-Class Case Study 00:40 – It is important to have a data that stands out 00:55 – Be specific with numbers 01:19 – Start your case study with the result 01:30 – If you’re doing an SEO, start with the results 01:48 – Neil’s sample headline is “Neil took me from $600K a year to $15M a year” 02:00 – Break down the solution 02:20 – Show people how they can do it too—not just screenshots 02:58 – Break down the form fields into multiple steps to get to the most relevant leads 04:11 – Conversion-Rate-Experts.com has in-depth and well-designed case studies 04:30 – Find a good presentation or PDF design with Dribbble and 99designs 04:40 – Neil was paying $20,000 a month for CRO services 05:10

In Episode #148, Eric and Neil discuss 7 ways to get more people to open your emails. Tune in to find out how tweaking and adjusting your subject line can lead to a higher open rate. In addition to this, Eric and Neil also stress that providing consistent, high quality content plays a huge factor in maintaining high open rates. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 - Today’s topic: 7 Ways To Get More People To Open Your Emails 00:41 – The open rate with the subject “Hey!” is 60% 00:48 – Invokes curiosity 01:12 – Add RE: to the subject line 01:32 – Open rate goes up at least 10% 01:37 – Add the receiver’s name on the subject line 02:25 – The line “[First name], I need a favor….Can you help me?” works well 02:40 – Telling the receivers that the deal is “Starting now” or “Almost expiring” 02:50 – The last minute signups for webinars are from those types of emails 03:23 – Use different email sender names 03:57 – Add the question “Are you joining us?” on the subject line 04:40 – Don’t copy other em

In Episode #147, Eric and Neil discuss the how, when and why of rebranding. The decision to restructure your brand requires a lot of upfront deliberation and Eric and Neil walk you through that very discussion. Tune in to find out the scenarios in which you SHOULD rebrand and how to make that transition as smooth as possible for your existing clientele. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How, When and Why to Rebrand Your Business 00:36 – Moz (formerly known as SEO Moz) took the “SEO” out of their name to show they were branching out in other fields 01:01 – There’s a lot to consider with rebranding such as site migration 01:18 – Neil doesn’t like rebranding 02:13 – What is your reason to rebrand? 02:17 – “Think about what people are coming to you for” 02:46 – Neil shares about Coca-cola’s rebranding 03:10 – Is the audience open for rebranding? 03:38 – Rebranding can also mean changing your image 04:10 – Burberry changed their endorsements and, in turn, changed the image of their brand

In Episode #146, Eric and Neil teach us how to migrate a website. Whether it’s for a redesign, server improvement, new services offered, or overall better customer experience—at some point, you’ll need to migrate your website to a new one. Tune in as Neil and Eric walk us through the steps of website migration and as they offer us valuable tips to make this process stress-free and easy. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Do a Website Migration 00:33 – Why migrate a website? 01:02 – You’re usually migrating servers as well 01:34 – Make sure you have a backup of your website 01:51 – Duplicate your site to the new server 02:04 – Have everyone check both sites 02:25 – Use a tool like Screaming Frog to crawl your website and see what’s happening on the old site 02:51 – Redirect the top pages to the most relevant pages 03:52 – Be careful when redesigning your website as you migrate your website 04:29 – Neil mentions a story from Eric’s website migration 04:58 – Have the right struct

In Episode #145, Eric and Neil teach us how we can do an SEO audit using Google Search Console. Since SEO plays such a valuable part in our content marketing, we need to tighten our SEO campaigns and understand how they work. Learn more about how you can best utilize your audits from Google Search Console and make the changes that drive more traffic to your website faster and more efficiently. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Do an SEO Audit Using Google Search Console 00:32 – Make sure you have Google Analytics and Google Search Console installed 01:02 – Both are free to install 01:50 – Login to your console, then add and verify your website 02:04 – Go to search traffic and search analytics and sort by pages 02:28 – Tick box on clicks, impressions, position, and click-thru rates 02:56 – Change the ticked box from Pages to Queries 03:02 – It will show you all the queries that are driving you traffic to that page 03:12 – Look for the ones that have high click-thru rates and

In Episode #144, Eric and Neil discuss the 7 creative ways to increase Google ranking. Making your website appear on Google’s first search page is extremely advantageous for marketers, but achieving that rank and maintaining it is where you need to put in the work. Tune in to know how you can successfully increase your website’s Google ranking and the tools that will help you achieve this goal. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 Creative Ways to Increase Google Ranking 00:40 – First, Google Hummingbird 00:55 – Use a tool called MarketMuse 01:38 – Neil shares why MarketMuse is effective for him 02:00 – Second, update posts consistently 02:38 – Revives and increases traffic significantly 03:18 – Third, look at your bounce rate 03:50 – Check which pages have a terrible bounce rate and improve those pages 04:15 – Having a lower bounce rate will increase google ranking over time 04:38 – Fourth way is by content flipping 05:18 – Flip a content ranking using a canonical tag

In Episode #143, Eric and Neil discuss how to map out your marketing funnel. Tune in to discover the importance of knowing how your funnel affects potential customers, how to troubleshoot questions they may have along the way, and how to make a logical sequence that converts. Eric and Neil drop specific tools, tips, and sources that will help you map out your funnel to take it to that next level. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Map Out Your Marketing Funnel 00:35 – A marketing funnel consists of the steps a customer takes going through your website 01:13 – The possibilities are endless depending on your business type 01:30 – Most people design a website for people to buy something, but sometimes your customer is not ready to buy 01:50 – List out all the possible scenarios that someone could end up going through BEFORE actually buying your product 02:00 – Use a tool called gliffy.com and MindMeister.com 02:40 – Google “autopilot lead nurturing sequence” 02:54 – Autopilot incre

In Episode #142, Eric and Neil discuss the 7 tools that can help you in marketing design. Tune in to discover some of the best online tools that provide you quality images and designs for your marketing campaign that are both easy-to-use and affordable. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 Tools to Help You in Marketing Design 00:46 – First tool is Canva 00:52 – Currently has around 10 million users 01:00 – Pre-made templates, designs, and dimensions are available for specific social media platforms 01:18 – Very easy to use and intuitive 01:49 – Second tool is Balsamiq for a non-techy person, you can drag and drop 02:33 – Third tool is 99designs 02:53 – Inexpensive option 03:00 – An alternative is DesignCrown 03:09 – Fourth tool is infogr.am 03:20 – Create infographics at an affordable price 03:29 – Has cool and interactive graphics you can embed within blog posts 03:52 – Fifth tool is InVision App 04:15 – Allows you to collaborate different design projects 04:36 – S