Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

In Episode #485, Eric and Neil discuss how to write a killer blog conclusion that leaves the reader satisfied. Tune in to learn how having a conclusion can encourage the skimmer to read the entire article, encourage engagement through next steps and questions, and cap things off with a concise summary. Time-stamped show notes: [00:28] - Today's topic: How to Write a Killer Blog Conclusion That Leaves the Reader Satisfied [00:46] - How Neil always had a conclusion on Quick Sprout, his first big marketing blog. [01:09] - Ending a conclusion with a question mark encourages more comments. [01:19] - The conclusion should summarize the blog post. People scroll to the bottom and read the conclusion first. [01:46] - Eric likes to get to the point and extract value. [02:06] - Put next steps in the conclusion such as “leave a comment” and “check out this post”. [02:25] - Have conclusion, ask a question, and summarize things. Cap it off. [02:38] - That's it for today! [02:41] - Marketing School is giving away a 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool. Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy. [02:51] - You can also learn how to win a one-year subscription to Crazy Egg.  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 us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Episode #484, Eric and Neil discuss how to turn marketing qualified leads into sales qualified leads. Tune in to learn the difference between a marketing qualified lead and a sales qualified lead; how to convert an MQL into an SQL through criteria, and how to automate the scheduling and sales calls. Time-stamped show notes: [00:29] - Today's topic: How to Turn Marketing Qualified Leads Into Sales Qualified Leads [00:39] - MQL or marketing qualified leads are actions that are taken inside your email marketing software or marketing automation software. Such as Drip or Marketo. [00:49] - Once someone visits a certain number of pages they may have a marketing score of 70 which makes them a marketing qualified lead. [01:02] - A sales qualified lead is based on the ideal client profile. [01:11] - How do you turn marketing qualified leads into sales qualified leads. [01:18] - Different behavior triggers can move someone into a sales sequence based on criteria that you set. [01:47] - Ask for a lot of criteria when qualifying a lead. Use a form field and pass it to sales. [02:11] - If sales reps aren't talking to the leads, they are not generating conversions. [02:17] - Once the lead hits the form fields you can schedule them automatically in a call using something like ScheduleOnce. [03:26] - Once a lead comes in we use Clearbit to enrich the leads. We only reach out if they fit a certain criteria. [03:50] - If you want more sales qualified leads have an online chat on your site like Drift. [04:20] - Think about what types of leads are closing based on region. [05:20] - That's it for today! [05:22] - Marketing School is giving away a 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool. [05:27] - Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy. You can also learn how to win a one-year subscription to Crazy Egg. 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 us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Episode #483, Eric and Neil discuss how to do content marketing if you’re in a boring industry. Tune in to learn how you can use other forms of content like video, make content that is either fun or useful, find out what is popular, and build a brand over time. Time-stamped show notes: [00:29] - Today's topic: How to Do Content Marketing if You’re in a Boring Industry [00:34] - Squatty Potty in 2015 did $20 million in sales on Shark Tank. [00:58] - They spent $600,000 on a fun video with a unicorn pooping out rainbows. [01:24] - Content marketing can be video too. [01:29] - Use BuzzSumo to see what is popular. Education and helping other people is sexy. [01:50] - Your content just has to be helpful and people will link back to you. [02:03] - The Points Guy talks about credit cards and miles. [02:26] - The only way to build a brand is to provide value to people. [03:00] - How Neil couldn't find a good article on how to install a bidet. Some people may think it is boring, but if the content is helpful you can do well. [03:35] - Just look at How to Tie a Tie the number one result is very useful which is sexy at the moment. [04:01] - Look at the opportunities and what is performing no matter what niche you are in. [04:11] - That's it for today! [04:14] - Marketing School is giving away a 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool. [04:23] - Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy. [04:30] - You can also learn how to win a one-year subscription to Crazy Egg. 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 us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Episode #482, Eric and Neil discuss how to drive traffic to your website using YouTube. Tune in to learn how you can boost your ranking by having transcriptions on your website, linking to your site from your video, asking for people to visit your site from the video, and using YouTube advertising. Time-stamped show notes: [00:29] - Today's topic: How to Drive Traffic to Your Website Using YouTube [00:35] - Make sure that you are transcribing your videos using a tool like Rev or finding a virtual assistant from OnlineJobs [00:48] - Make sure you have something for the search engines to crawl and have different pages on your site. Also make sure you are interlinking. [01:21] - YouTube gives you more views and authority the longer you keep people on YouTube. [01:43] - YouTube is owned by Google and has advertising that you can use to drive people back to your website. [02:05] - There may be a higher barrier to entry on YouTube, but you can even make selfie videos. [02:26] - Telling people within your video to go check out your page generates traffic. [02:48] - Look at YouTube analytics and see how people subscribe to your channel on your channel page. Put in a link back to your website. [03:16] - The more videos you produce the bigger brand you will create. [03:51] - It's important to be consistent. 10,000 subscribers is the inflection point. [04:23] - That's it for today! [04:25] - Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool [04:31] - Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 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 us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Episode #481, Eric and Neil discuss how to become a successful vlogger if you're just starting today. Tune in to learn the importance of good editing, original content, great audio, and video quality – while cranking out volume so you can get your channel to rank. Time-stamped show notes: [00:28] - Today's topic: How to Become a Successful Vlogger if You're Just Starting Today [00:39] - A good example is Casey Neistat he does a great job on his good editing. [00:48] - If you just getting started, you need to find a good editor. [01:08] - You also have to have a good camera and good audio is super important. [01:30] - We are in the studio right now to deliver a better audio experience to you. [01:37] - You need to come up with interesting content topics that pique interest. [02:05] - Use sites like BuzzSumo to see what is and isn't popular. [02:29] - Only 1 in 30 videos are going to take off. [02:51] - Look at what Gary Vaynerchuk does just by having a guy following him. [03:29] - Crank out volume and deliver value. [03:54] - With the algorithms your rankings can die down. Always shoot for success. [04:40] - It's also about building your channel's authority. [04:54] - Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial to Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool [04:55] - Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy [04:56] - That’s it for today’s episode! 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 us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Episode #480, Eric and Neil discuss link building techniques that will become more risky in 2018. Tune in to know which strategies will still work for you and why you should always implement long-term plays into your marketing strategy. Time-Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: Link-Building Techniques that Will Become More Risky in 2018 00:45 – PBNs or private blog networks still work but have their risks 00:54 – Google has had a difficult time catching PBNs 01:33 – Guest posting is great but won’t be as effective as it once was 01:56 – Google will know when a contributor posts 02:21 – Linking spam will continue to lose its value 02:54 – Do content marketing the RIGHT way so you can scale up 03:20 – Anything that is quick and easy will NOT last 03:37 – Focus on your long-term strategy—this will help you grow the audience that will link to you 04:00 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial for Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 04:02 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 04:15 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Google is continuously improving how well they track and catch PBNs. Content marketing is a long-term play and if done right, will gain you the audience that will link to you. Marketing plays will change significantly in 2018. 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 us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Episode #479, Eric and Neil discuss how to make money from videos. Tune in to learn how you can monetize your videos and the types of videos you can create to attract viewers. Time-Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Make Money From Videos 00:44 – You can use Patreon to have your fans support you through donations for your videos 01:22 – Add call-to-actions to your videos 02:15 – Product reviews still work—link them to a different platform, like Amazon 02:37 – Neil’s YouTube videos are getting hundreds of thousands of views a month that he can retarget 03:09 – YouTube needs millions of views before you can monetize from it and their terms are continuously changing 03:24 – Videos are a long-term play 03:40 – Gary Vaynerchuk’s empire has grown because of the number of videos he has 04:02 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial for Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 04:10 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 04:13 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: YouTube’s algorithm is constantly changing—video creators need to be just as quick to adapt to the changes. Monetizing from videos is a long-term play for your marketing. Know your target market and craft videos that cater to them specifically. 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 us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Episode #478, Eric and Neil share their own personal checklist for throwing a successful live event. Tune in to hear them discuss whether to use a free venue or one that costs money, the various methods to get the word out about your event, the importance of getting help when planning and running a conference, and why your should focus on building relationships rather than making money. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: Conferences Are Going to Lose You Money Unless You Follow This Checklist 00:34 – Map out how much the venue is going to cost you. 00:45 – For their Marketing School Live event they wound up booking one that costs $2,500 instead of a free one because the venue took care of everything. 01:20 – If they’d used the free venue, it would have been an inferior experience for the guests. 01:29 – You need to have contingencies for how you’re going to get attendees. 01:40 – Email blast only works if you’ve segmented your list. 01:50 – Partner up with other organizations in the area to get more attendees. 02:20 – Invite people from your Meetup group. 02:39 – Use ads. 02:45 – Use Dux-Soup, an automation tool where you can, for example, hit up all your contacts with “marketing” in their title. 03:05 – You’ll lose money if you don’t create the right experience because over time people will come to know you as someone who hosts bad events – and will likely assume that your business isn’t very good, either. 04:00 – Get help because it takes a team to run a successful event. 04:24 – Eric and Neil’s goal was to break even, not to make money off it. 04:39 – If you lose a couple hundred dollars, that’s a win! 04:50 – Don’t just measure how much money you make from throwing the event, measure how much you make in total: networking, long-term contracts, etc. 05:05 – Build relationships from going to conferences and learn from others who’ve thrown events. 05:55 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial for Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 06:02 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 06:06 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: A good venue is critical so that you give your event attendees a great experience. Plan ahead how you’re going to get attendees to your event – email, partnering up with other organizations, advertising. The point is not to make money off of a live event, but to build in-person relationships – which will pay off in the long run. 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 us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Episode #477, Eric and Neil discuss how to get more views from your videos. Tune in to hear them share which tools you can use to improve how your tags are ranking on YouTube, why you should be publishing your videos on multiple platforms, and the importance of pushing and promoting your videos in the first 24 hours. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Get More Views From Your Videos 00:40 – You have to have great tags because that’s how Google makes sense of your video. 00:50 – Use a tool like TubeBuddy or vidIQ to show you how your tags are ranking on YouTube. 01:05 – YouTube is the world’s 2nd largest search engine so it makes sense to optimize your videos there. 01:10 – Publish your videos on multiple social platforms, not just YouTube and Facebook. 01:22 – It won’t hurt your video because it’s not considered duplicate content. 01:29 – Publish your video on LinkedIn, too. 01:35 – Neil gets more views on LinkedIn than on Facebook. 01:39 – The power of taking the same piece of content and publishing it on multiple sources. 01:44 – Neil publishes his videos on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, his website, plus tweets out his YouTube video. 01:55 – Leverage automation for this with such tools as Zapier and If This Then That (IFTTT) 02:14 – Don’t forget about Instagram. 02:18 – Because search engines can’t crawl videos, use a service like Rev to add captions to your videos (especially if you’re going to run ads with them) and/or transcribe your video and put it on your blog. 02:48 – The shitty part is that the way a video performs in the first 24 hours will determine its fate of its existence. 03:13 – So make sure that as soon as you publish your video, you do an email blast, promote it hard on all your social channels, integrate it within your website on popular pages so it gets more views, ask people to watch and comment it. 03:29 – This is the opposite of SEO where you can expect great results in 6 months to a year. 03:40 – YouTube looks at your watch time so put your videos into different playlists, like an SEO playlist for all your videos about SEO.   04:14 – Look at your analytics to see what’s doing well and make more videos like that. 04:30 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial for Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 04:35 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 04:44 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Because Google cannot crawl video, add great tags, and use a service like Rev to add captions to your videos (especially if you’re going to run ads with them) and transcribe your video. Publish your videos on multiple platforms, like YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and your own website. Make a playlist to keep people watching your videos longer, as YouTube looks at watch time. 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 us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Episode #476, Eric and Neil discuss whether you should be worrying about Google’s cache date. Neither Eric nor Neil worry about this too much, and the results of Neil’s tests show that ranking isn’t affected by cache date.   Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: Should You Worry About Google’s Cache Date? 00:38 – Cache date is when Google last cached a web page. 00:45 – But not the last time Google visited your web page. 01:10 – As Google’s John Mueller says, the cached date is separate from crawling & indexing, so not to use that as a metric. 01:29 – Neither Eric nor Neil have worried about this too much. 01:35 – Neil has tested this by updating his content a little to get a new cache date but his ranking has never increased from doing it. 01:58 – On the other hand, when he takes content pages that are doing fairly well and updates them with the right keywords, makes them more thorough, and adds better images, then over time his rankings do increase. 02:20 – Marketing School is giving away 90-day FREE trial for Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool 02:30 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your FREE copy 02:42 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Cache date is when Google last cached your web page, but NOT the last time Google visited your web page. Google’s John Mueller advises ignoring the cached date as it is separate from crawling & indexing. Updating your content to get a new cache date will not increase your ranking – although the update itself will. 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 us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.