Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

In Episode #134, Neil and Eric discuss how to use Pinterest to drive more traffic and revenue. Tune in to discover the ways Neil, Eric and other entrepreneurs use Pinterest to drive more interest to their business at a low cost. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to Use Pinterest to Drive More Traffic and Revenue 00:45 – You can advertise in Pinterest 01:06 – The clicks in Pinterest are cheaper than other platforms 01:31 – Neil found the article The Pinterest Traffic Experiment: I’m Up 2350% in 60 Days at HustleNation.com 01:48 – The tool BoardBooster that can boost boards in Pinterest 02:54 – You can also automate pinning with BoardBooster 03:20 – Ezra Firestone Pinterest ads 03:45 – Ezra made $41,000 using Pinterest ads 04:33 – Samuel O taught Neil how to overcharge 05:46 – Ezra’s advertorial in Pinterest explained 06:17 – Pinterest, in general, has a lot of testing but you can eventually figure it out 06:40 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Pinterest

In Episode #133, Neil and Eric list the 7 things to assess when your content marketing is failing. Tune in to discover how Neil and Eric use different tools and websites to understand their viewer engagement and the effectivity of their content marketing campaign,  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:30 – Today’s topic: 7 Things to Assess When Your Content Is Failing 01:31 – Find the cause of why your content marketing is failing through analytics 01:44 – Analyze quantitatively 02:29 – The data will tell you what’s wrong with your blog post 02:54 – Get feedback from people asking them what needs improvement 03:03 – People want something that is actionable 03:26 – Find the basic metrics of your site 03:43 – Install Google Search Console 04:10 – In the Google Search Console dashboard, click “analytics”, and search for the “impressions box” at the top left corner 04:45 – Use Hemingway App – a desktop application 05:01 – Hemingway App is the more advanced version of Docs and is best for writers

In Episode #132, Eric and Neil share how you can generate content ideas for your website without having to do keyword research. Listen as Neil and Eric drop tips and tricks to help you generate better content for your website and for your specific audience. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Generate Content Ideas Without Keyword Research 00:38 – SEO and keyword research is important BUT it’s also important to start with your audience 00:56 – Think about what’s interesting and trending 01:05 – Eric shares his Feedly account with his team to stay on top of trends 01:18 – Eric also has Panda as a Chrome extension that shows him 3 different feeds from the sites he follows 01:56 – Neil takes his competitors’ links and runs it in BuzzSumo 02:37 – Look at your competitor's’ posts and try to replicate but make it better 02:41 – Look up Brian Dean’s Skyscraper Technique 03:16 – Email out people who share your competitor's’ content and ask them to share yours, too 04:21 – Use io to s

In Episode #131, Neil and Eric discuss how to improve your mobile conversions. Listen to know how you can optimize your mobile conversions and what to expect in Google’s upcoming changes for 2017. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Improve Your Mobile Conversions 00:32 – Google has changed things; they now have mobile index 00:52 – A description of how mobile pop-ups work 01:09 – Neil doesn’t use mobile pop ups and explains why 02:05 – “Optimize for conversions through the flow” 02:48 – Breakdown steps and forms 03:08 – There will be an interstitial update on pop ups in 2017 03:27 – Convertflow can show different offers to people 04:36 – Different conversion rates for people who already opted in 05:01 – Neil integrates CTAs in his blog posts 05:48 – Single Grain has an “opt-in” bar at the bottom of their mobile page 06:10 – Make sure your pop ups don’t take most of the screen 06:31 – Search Google interstitial penalty 06:38 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points:

In Episode #130, Neil and Eric list the ways you can use live chat to grow your business. The two men discuss that there are right and wrong ways to use live chat in order to increase your sales. Also, tune in to discover how Neil tests Eric’s own live chat service without his knowing just for our benefit. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to Use Live Chat to Grow Your Business 00:48 – Live chats should pop up at engaging points of interaction to work well 01:25 – Avoid using live chat to interrupt the sales flow 01:47 – Eric has tried Olark and Zopim as live chat tools in the past 02:08 – Eric found out more people are using Intercom.io for their live chats 03:17 – Neil drops what Eric doesn’t know! 03:46 – Intercom.io and Drift are two most popular live chat tools 04:26 – Get in touch with people at certain engagement points 04:58 – Neil messaged Eric on his website using the live chat! 06:03 – Always put the person’s name on the chat 06:25 – How Eric does his live chats 06:

In Episode #129, Neil and Eric discuss the ways you can amplify your content. Listen to learn the tips and tactics you can use to boost your viewership and get that traction you’ve been looking for. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to Amplify Your Content 00:35 – 20% of your time should be spent creating content and 80% marketing it 00:51 – Hand-to-hand combat – Hunter.io or LinkedIn will let you access emails of people of whom you can ask to share your content 01:21 – Groove HQ’s CEO’s strategy was to get people to share their content 01:45 – Use hunter combined with every site you’re linking out to 03:06 – Don’t focus on getting people to link back to you, direct your focus towards getting people to share your content 03:22 – Send emails manually instead of using tools like SendGrid 03:29 – Use HubSpot to track how many email opens you’re getting 04:14 – Try paid advertising like Facebook Ads, Twitter, LinkedIn and Gmail Ads 05:57 – Google and study the “Pinterest Traffic E

In Episode #127, Neil and Eric talk about the different ways you can combine your content marketing with paid advertising. Listen as they list down pros and cons for different Facebook ads, and the difference between Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and Twitter ad costs. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Combine Content Marketing with Paid Advertising 00:45 – Neil’s favorite strategy is using Facebook fans’ “likes” 01:21 – When you drive paid clicks and you stop paying, you’re not going to get anymore 02:04 – The goal is to have the least amount of fans that create the most amount of engagement 02:30 – “Boost Post” button to Facebook works 03:33 – Look at your Facebook insights 03:51 – Make sure you have a content upgrade – you can use Thrive 04:54 – Spend what you need to get the right campaign/headline that results in the most “shares”, “posts”, “likes”, etc. 05:25 – Eric promotes the page post engagements 06:31 – Think about the channel before investing in paid traffic 07:22 –

In Episode #126, Neil and Eric discuss strategies for setting up a basic re-marketing campaign—what it is, why it works, and how it can drive significant increases in conversion. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Set-up a Basic Re-marketing Campaign 00:37 – Re-marketing is when a page you recently visited shows up in another you’re viewing 01:01 – Make sure you have the right pixel on your site when doing re-marketing 01:10 – Have a Google Tag Manager setup to manage the pixel 01:38 – Create new creative and rotate those createives often to attract more views 02:08 – You can buy stock images from Fotolia 02:16 – A good digital marketer will always have a Venn diagram of the different types of traffic 02:22 – Cold traffic has never heard of your brand before 02:26 – Warm traffic is when they visit your website and join your email list 02:29 – Hot traffic has spent at least a dollar with your brand 02:36 – “You are marketing to people, not objects” and don’t forget it! 03:16

In Episode #123, Neil and Eric discuss the ways you can create form fields that lead to conversion. Listen to know more about which form field strategies actually work and which ideas you can incorporate into your own. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Create Form Fields that Actually Convert 00:41 – Having less form fields will lead to higher conversion rates but quality will go down 01:00 – Break up form fields 02:20 – Your mileage will vary 02:31 – It’s about getting conversions for qualified leads 02:40 – Small tweaks can make a difference 03:32 – Remove the asterisks in your forms 03:41 – Leverage exit pop-ups 04:18 – Add a check mark for “other” options to get more insights 04:55 – Integrate form fields into stories 05:51 – Check out Quick Sprout and Neil Patel for more info on how to optimize form fields 06:16 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: The goal is NOT about getting the most conversions. Breaking up your forms into steps will help you segment y

In Episode #122, Neil and Eric share about how to integrate the holidays into your marketing campaign. Listen as they list down the ways and tactics you can use to get that “most wonderful time of the year” feel in your marketing. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Integrate the Holiday Seasons into your Marketing Campaign 00:37 – Have a holiday calendar 00:53 – Google “Holiday Campaigns” to know what others are doing 01:05 – Offer discounts and promotions 02:10 – Make sure you have your products in stock 02:43 – Promote holiday campaigns in advance 03:44 – Set partnerships and promotions beforehand 04:43 – Have upsells and downsells to maximize profit per user 05:22 – Use contests for holidays 05:35 – KingSumo is one contest platforms you can use 06:09 – Put countdown timers like PlusThis in the emails to set the urgency 06:47 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Discuss with your team what you can offer for the holiday seasons. Make sure your inventory is full

In Episode #119, Neil and Eric discuss how you can craft high converting explainer videos for your website. Listen as they help you uncover the feasibility of having explainer videos on every budget and how to craft an excellent explainer video that not only reaches your audience, but gets them hooked on your product. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Craft High converting Explainer Videos 00:38 – You DO NOT need a very high budget 00:45 – Youtube Director allows you to shoot decent videos from your iPhone 01:04 – Video Brewery is a market place for videos 01:24 – Be involved in crafting your videos 01:39 – You need to look at the objections 02:14 – Answering objections isn’t enough, you have to make a story 03:05 – Growth Everywhere’s Squatty Potty is described as an example 04:22 – Short explainer videos don’t get people hooked on your product 05:00 – People get hooked by how you good you are at answering questions and objections, building story, and connecting emotionally

In Episode #118, Neil and Eric drop 7 unorthodox SEO strategies you might be missing out on. Listen to learn what these 7 strategies and tactics are and discern whether these tools can fit your current business’ SEO plan. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 Unorthodox SEO Strategies and Tactics That You Should Try 00:33 – #1 Use Scrapebox to find people within your space that talk about particular topics 01:43 – #2 Tube Buddy will tell you how your video is ranked 02:29 – #3 Brand loyalty—create new ideas to promote brand loyalty 03:29 – #4 Link blending 04:08 – Link to other credible sources beyond your own 04:44 – #5 Neil uses Animagraffs for animated infographics 05:33 – These visual infographics get so many links 06:08 – #6 Write original researched pieces of content 07:25 – #7 Translate your content 08:09 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Keep coming up with NEW ideas to promote brand loyalty to your consumers. Try NOT to overuse your links—extend to othe

In Episode #116, Neil and Eric list the 7 ways you can optimize your marketing proposals. Listen to learn more about optimizing proposals so you can ace that deal you’ve been aiming for. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 ways to optimize your marketing proposals 00:31 – #1 Don’t talk about how great your company is 01:02 – #2 Don’t assume the decision maker will talk to you 01:23 – Make sure to have case studies in the proposal 01:38 – Show screenshots where the business is messing up 02:00 – #3 Use Qwilr or Bidsketch—this will help you make nice proposals 02:43 – #4 Learn from the people you don’t close 03:27 – #5 People want something customized for them 04:07 – #6 Don’t send people proposals right away 05:16 – #7 Don’t just send the proposal—walk them through it 06:00 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: It’s not about you or your company, it’s about them! Get feedback from the people who didn’t close a deal with you—learn from it. Talk to people in detail before

In Episode #115, Eric and Neil discuss the 7 things you should say NO to as a marketer. Listen to know more about which things to say no to and the reason why. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 things you should say no to as a marketer 00:34 – #1 Making changes without data 00:57 – Make sure you test with data 01:10 – #2 Looking at the tactics all the time 01:26 – Leads to being in “tactical hell” 01:43 – Don’t focus on tactics 02:00 – #3 Don’t make short term gains for long term losses 02:53 – Don’t make changes for short term gains 02:57 – #4 Lack of organization 03:09 – Look at GrowthHackers Projects to organize all your ideas and experiments 03:28 – Look about documenting your marketing processes 03:48 – #5 Don’t do too many things at once 04:51 – #6 Don’t try to take everything on by yourself 05:48 – #7 Don’t run an A/B test on the same part of the funnel more than once at the same time 06:39 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Don’t EVER make chang

In Episode #114 Eric and Neil discuss how tools create better marketing ROIs for your business. Listen to hear their examples and to better understand that links are a big factor for tools. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How tools create a better marketing ROI 00:39 – Neil did a test 00:44 – Neil checked Hubspot 01:02 – Leads today from content marketing, conferences, sponsorships and ads 01:09 – During the early days, they got leads from their tools 01:12 – Word Stream also generates leads from their PPC creator 01:19 – Neil’s tool experiment on Quick Sprout 02:31 – Check Walkscore through Ahrefs and you’ll find a lot of anchor text going back to their site 02:56 – Don’t do black area 03:28 – Neil shares what he knows on Walkscore 03:55 – They created a tool 04:15 – How realtors helped Walkscore build links 04:40 – Realtors were able to use Walkscore as selling point 05:00 – Using links and badges these days can be hit by Google 05:46 – Don’t use tools for mischievous

In Episode #113 Eric and Neil talk about whether or not you should hire a PR agency for your business. Listen to know the pros and cons that are tied to hiring a 3rd party agency and why PR is not for new companies that are just starting out. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: Should I hire a PR agency for my business? 00:44 – If you’re first starting out, don’t expect a launch to take you a long distance 01:19 – Neil shares his negative PR experiences 02:05 – The best way to hire a PR person is to have them work full time for you 02:13 – Neil shares more of his PR experiences 03:53 – Find a person to do PR – do not find companies 04:17 – Eric shares his PR experiences 04:36 – The PR industry is antiquated 04:37 – Neil recommended Chris Barrett to Eric 06:01 – PR makes sense if the costs make sense 07:01 – If you’re looking for PR people, check out: Janine from Fresh PR and Richard Lorenzen 07:39 – Your goal is to graduate from an agency and hire in-house 08:01 – That’s it for tod

In Episode #112 Eric and Neil share their insights on when and where it’s worth investing your time in the pursuit of long tail keywords. Listen to understand what long-tail keywords are, what they are compared to, and how their strategic implementation can always help you rank. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: Is it really worth going after long tail keywords? 00:36 – Long tail keywords are 3-5 word phrases people are searching for 01:06 – Head term vs long tail keywords 01:35 – Wikipedia’s Abraham Lincoln page as an example 02:35 – Brian Dean’s 1M search results 03:28 – Long tail phrases are worth it 04:08 – Don’t think about long tail content 04:28 – Use Ahrefs to see long tail traffic that comes to your site 04:43 – When your content is older, you’ll start ranking for long tail phrases 04:50 – Use your Google Search Console 06:17 – Continually update content you already have 06:57 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Long tail keywords are worth using. Long tail

In Episode #111 Eric and Neil help you decide whether you should or should not repurpose your content to bring to followers in. Listen to learn what the advantages and disadvantages are, and the truth about Google’s penalties for replicated content. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: Should you repurpose your content? 00:39 – Maximize your investment by repurposing 01:04 – Posting on multiple platforms is repurposing 01:15 – Repurposing helps you get eyes in other areas 01:37 – Not all form of content should be text based 01:42 – Misconception on Google for duplicate content 02:11 – Make sure to link back to the original source 03:29 – Splinter out posts and create more content 03:52 – Google content repurposing workflow 04:30 – Think about the monetization aspect of your business 05:20 – Medium and Quora rewrites certain answers 05:52 – Using Rev to transcribe podcast episodes 06:02 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Repurposing content doesn’t mean you post the s

In Episode #110 Eric and Neil share their highlights from the past 100 podcast episodes. Apart from sharing what they’ve learned and what they’ve experienced, they’ll also thank all the listeners for being part of this journey with them! Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:26 – Today’s topic: Our biggest lessons from 100 episodes of marketing school 00:46 – #1 When you first launch a podcast, you won’t get too much traction 01:17 – As you do it more and more, people start to listen 01:52 – No huge ‘bang for your buck’ on the first 100 episodes 02:06 – #2 Great feedback but with couple of negative ones 03:11 – #3 People who launch a podcast for the sake of making one doesn’t do so well 03:41 – You have to have an audience to push it through 04:02 – #4 Consistency takes a lot of work 05:15 – #5 Blog audience helps the success of this podcast 06:03 – It’s not easy to get a lot of downloads and listens 06:22 – #6 Podcasting is just like blogging 07:11 – #7 Time buys you listens and traffic 08:24 –

In Episode #109 Eric and Neil talk about whether you should or should not have a Wikipedia page. Listen as they highlight the pros and cons of having a wiki page and to find out whether having one really does fit your business profile. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: The advantages and disadvantages of having a Wikipedia page 00:36 – Having a Wikipedia page adds credibility 01:05 – Neil used to have a Wikipedia page but he had it removed 01:23 – Knowledge graph pops Wikipedia to the top of search pages INSTEAD of Neil’s website 01:43 – A person or business can have a Wiki page for added credibility but not if you’re doing sales 02:53 – A Wikipedia page can help you with reputation management 03:28 – You can use it to verify your profiles 04:24 – Leonard Kim can help to make a Wikipedia page 04:41 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Every platform has its own advantages and disadvantages. Wikipedia ranks so if you run a sales website, don’t use it. A Wikipedia page ad