6 Content Marketing Upgrades for Your Business #319

Hi, and welcome to the SEO Podcast, Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing. My name is Chris Burris, owner of E-Web Results. I am Charles Lewis, your client results advocate. Welcome back to another fun-filled edition of our podcast. This is podcast number 319. That's the one right there on the screen you can see behind this. If you're listening to this, by the way, you can actually watch the podcast, and you need to only go to e-youtube.com. I've never been to e-youtube.com, but if you go to e-youtube.com slash e-webresults, you can see all of our podcasts. It might actually be. Or you can go to e-webresults.com slash SEO Podcast, and you'll see the archives, you'll see transcripts, and you'll see all of that good stuff. Very cool. As always, we have a tip from our previous podcast, and the tip is determine your goals and objectives before you start writing content. Look, understand what it is you want to accomplish, who you're trying to target, and what you want them to do, then start writing, and that way your writing can accomplish that. SEO tip. All right, please remember, we are filmed live in Houston, Texas, and we are your friendly local neighborhood top position snatchers. And our mantra is do not be a douche. We've got some sort of good article. We've got a great article, man, posted by Amanda Dodge and the good folks over at Search Engine Journal. She posted an article, six content marketing upgrades for your business. So we'll see what those six upgrades are, see if we can update your content marketing. Excellent. Hey, if you have some sort of electrical device that allows you to tweet or interact, this is a sample one, to interact with people. Got a new galaxy, finally off the GS3. And what should they do if they have one of those devices right now? Well, first off, you should tweet us, right? We ask you to tweet us. Just tweet us at eWebResults, at BestSEO Podcast. Use the hashtag SEO Podcast. And like I said, tag

us in it. That way we can follow you back and do all of our social networking stuff. And if this is the first time you've listened to the podcast, howdy. Welcome to the podcast. We're glad that you're joining us. We're glad to have you. Yeah. Get comfy. Have a seat. Yep. Get settled in. We've got a little bit of potatoes to get through, and then we'll be getting into the meat. If you've listened to this podcast before, you'll notice there is no tear tattoo, and we've got a boatload of follows, so awesome, on social media, some 755 new followers on BestSEO Podcast. Boom! Yep. So what that does mean is we won't be telling you exactly how you can leave this review if we don't get more than 10 shikos. Share, likes, and follows. Right, if we don't get more than 10 on any one platform and a review, then we would tell you exactly how to write a review. We may have to adjust that number here soon. Yeah, to like 20. Yeah. Yeah, although the 750 doesn't really make much difference. What we will do, though, is teach you or tell you how to shiko us. Yes, and where to go. Again, that's a share, like, or follow. There's all sorts of ways to interact with us. Facebook.com slash... E-Ware Results. YouTube.com slash... E-Ware Results. Twitter.com slash... E-Ware Results. Instagram.com slash... E-Ware Results. LinkedIn.com slash... Company slash... E-Ware Results. All of those will get you to our profile page and you can do the... Psycho us. At those pages. Yeah, that way we don't have to describe, like, here you do this. Yeah, exactly. It's going to be a share, a like, or follow. It's going to be one of those things. It goes. Yeah. Hey, if you're a PHP genius or a WordPress guru, we're probably looking for you. Give us a call. Submit an audio resume. 713-510-7846. If you're interested in a free, comprehensive website analysis... Keyword, comprehensive. Comprehensive. It usually starts with a phone call with somebody here at the

office just to make sure that the direction of that analysis is exactly right. That's how comprehensive it is. And if you want one of those, just go to our website, eWebResults.com, and you will find somewhere... First thing you see, as soon as you land, bam, it's right there. The green button says free website analysis. Click the button. Sign up. Done. Any algo cat today? No algo cat today. We do not have any algorithm cataclysm. So, we do have a little bit of news. Yeah, I got some news, too. Pulled up a little bit of stuff. This is interesting. Opera, which is an internet browser, has said that they're going to offer free VPNs when you're browsing on Opera. So, you get a virtual private network that'll help you keep it secured. So, that's what that is. Uber has stopped doing surge pricing for the remainder of their trial in India. What about in the U.S.? How about in Houston, specifically? That surge pricing kind of sucks. So, it does... You get it? Yeah. I totally get it. More costly things that are substantially similar suck. Like, I'm on board 100%. If it costs more and it's pretty much the same crap that I got minutes ago or hours ago, that sucks. Yeah. It is fundamentally supply and demand. Yeah. There's a lot of people who want Ubers right now and their whole logic, their argument, is that by charging more, that's when more Ubers will drive. Like, Uber... No, I get it because that was the biggest... I know several people who drive for Uber and their biggest complaint was that they don't make enough. Right. And so, I get the price surge. Right. Especially for my comrades who drive. Yeah. But it just sucks. It does suck. When you're used to paying $20 for a trip and now that same trip cost you $44. It was like, man. What happened? Yeah. That wasn't a price surge. That was a price double. Double. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? That was a little different. There

are going to... They're thinking about putting some... And they've gotten a lot of flack because there's... I think there's even anti-gouging laws, right? So, if there is a hurricane coming, you can't triple the price of your plywood. Yeah. Right? Right? That's just not... So, I thought of a cool Uber idea. All right. Uber tow. Uber tow. So, you got your car and someone can Uber and tow it? No. You just need a tow truck. Yeah. Get an Uber tow. Ain't no need to search and find the lowest tow truck driver or do a search for a tow truck near me. Yeah. Just Uber it. Yeah. And the tow truck comes up. That's awesome. Yeah. I like that idea. Select flatbed or just kind of like the XL or the car size situation. Anyway, Uber, y'all can have that one for free. And if y'all want a chunk of bone to you, boy, I sure appreciate it. That would be great. Hey, and I also saw this. So, they're like keyboard pants. Right? So, it used to be... Keyboard, like musical keyboard pants? So, no, it's got like a computer keyboard on your pants and it's Bluetooth. Act your keyboard. So, they tie you into your Google Glasses and you can see what the end of the time is. So, I mean, they made the point, you know, two, three years ago, your phone didn't last at all, right? Now, you could actually have it connected to a Bluetooth keyboard and if the keyboard were built in your pants, you would always have, you know, well, most of the time, you would have a keyboard. But who really uses keyboards, though? Yeah. On a mobile device. Well, you might if it were built in your pants. Although, I do find myself, you know, using the keyboard in the library, right? I mean, using my phone in the library, which at that point, keyboard on the pants really doesn't help. Yeah. Keyboard doesn't help nowhere unless you're at a desktop. Like, even when I got my first

tablet, it came with the keyboard and I thought it was cool and I used it twice. And I was like, man. Don't eat that. Yeah. This is slowing me down. Yeah. Frankly. Doesn't work that good. Trying to type on a wrinkle might not help. You've got a little bit of news, right? Yeah. I do have some news. I do have some news. So, Google drove 95% of US smartphone paid search clicks in the first quarter of this year. 95%. By Google. Yeah. By Google. Dig this. They say on Google, 57% of paid search clicks came from mobile. Overall, desktop and paid search clicks were flat. Table clicks were tablet clicks, excuse me, were off by 5% compared to 101% growth for smartphone clicks. What does all that mean? That means that Google is making a killing off of mobile ads is what that translates to. What that also means is that there are more and more people taking advantage of mobile commerce and clicking on mobile ads and so you should be including mobile ads in your plans. More news. Now, this is kind of cool from Google. Also, I tested it and it really works. If you're on Google, right? I'm sorry. If you're a team Android like us and you have an Android phone, Samsung, LG, whatever your phone is, open up your Google search app and do this search. You can even try voice search. Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing Podcast. That's us. If you search our podcast, the new thing Google will do is display all of our most recent podcast results in the end on the server page with the play button. So you can literally listen to podcast 318 right now. Check that out. I tried it. It kind of works. It's kind of cool. Wow. That's more news from Facebook. So remember, they are they've been making changes to the newsfeed algorithm. Facebook will now make an attempt to predict how long people will spend viewing a piece of content. This will be based on how long you

spent viewing other types of content in the past. Facebook will then rank the content, prioritizing the content it believes you will spend the most time looking at. Make sense. They want eyeballs on website. Exactly. Well, what content goes viral? What content gets the most views will tend to be shared the most will tend to get the most engagement. What does that mean? That means you can't just continue to drop a little crappy Facebook videos just for the sake of having social activity. Yeah, you want engagement that frankly people engage with, that they watch the entire video, that they comment, that they share, that they like. So that way, we got to somehow get watched in the site. Shacko. Okay. I don't know how it will. Share, watch, watch your code. But anyway, the more engagement you have, the higher likelihood of your post being seen. Watch and listen. Last piece of news here. This is back to the Google search. They're going to soon be your new TV guide. So they're adding air times for TV shows. So if you do a search for a TV show, Google will be able to tell you when it's airing next. You can even specify the cable or satellite provider for more accurate or relevant results. Wow. That's kind of cool. Yeah. Google, you know, so that's really- It kind of makes you wonder, like, why wasn't that done a long time ago? Well, more importantly, so I use Comcast, right? Right. The Xfinity person. And, you know, the new X1 remote that you voice search from the remote. Right. And so the benefit is that remote is directly connected to the cable channel. To the TV. So it can go there. But the fact that you can make changes to your channel from your smartphone, I think this is awesome. Especially if you're in a situation like, I was at the restaurant the other day. Me and Wifey was trying to watch the game and I didn't know what channel the game was on. Oh, yeah. That

would have been an awesome time to have this information right here. And so that's what's up, Google. I appreciate you making my life easier. I've actually set my phone to do TV, like to be a remote. Yeah, I know. I don't know if you've done that yourself, but it's pretty cool. Yeah. My little cousin was doing it. I've just been fighting the revolution. It's kind of like an ultraviolet, UV something or other. All right. Let's see. We do have a review and that review is, well, this is, so David actually wrote us two reviews, one of them on one of our Facebook pages and a shorter one somewhere else. So punch in the face to you, David, for doing this. It is, of course, Fastos. I have been a regular listener to the podcast for several years and have come to rely on the excellent, timely, and objective advice and information which is delivered in an easy to listen to manner. Thank you, Chris and Charles, for your tireless efforts over the long haul. And congratulations for keeping the podcast as relevant and interesting as ever. That's what's up. Boom. Punch in the face, David. Appreciate you. Very cool. All right. I got a punch in the face. We got a punch in the face. Man, this punch in the face actually goes to Google. Okay. They just did something real awesome. We lost an icon yesterday and Google changed their whole logo to purple and made it rain purple. Huh. Oh, yeah. You know what I'm saying? So punch in the face to you, Google, that was kind of what's up. Man, when you first said that, it was like, we had some icon and we did the digital small icon that we liked a lot and we lost it and Google helped us find it. No, we lost an icon. We lost a real icon. Yeah. Yeah. So rest in peace to Prince, man. Yeah. All right. I'm a punch in the face to Google for honoring him with their Google doodle. That's

what's up. Very cool. All right. So that is the potatoes of the podcast. Time to get into the meat. So like I said, this punch in the face to Amanda Dodge, good folks over at Search Engine Journal. She posted this article, six content marketing upgrades for your business. And so let's dig in and see what these content marketing upgrades are. First thing she says is treat your blog like a client, treat your blog like a client, right? She goes on to say, um, if you treat your blog like a client, you will set aside the right amount of time each week to write, share, and respond to comments on your articles. And she's right. Essentially what she's saying is schedule it, right? And this is not, it's not a new concept. This is something we've preached before that if you're going to be serious about content marketing, if you want it to be effective, then you got to schedule it. Then you got to dedicate some time to it. And so I'll say schedule time for research, schedule time for finding images, schedule time for creating that draft, schedule time for editing that draft, schedule time for posting and reviewing that draft, schedule some time for sharing that post. The key here is treat it like a client. Make sure that everything that's necessary for that post to be successful, you've actually allocated some time to do that. And not just kind of doing it on the whim because then it may not get done the right way or as effective as you'd like. Number two, two, she says, uh, become an expert in one area instead of average in many areas. She says, become an expert in one area instead of average in many areas. I think that's kind of subjective, but I get what she's saying. She says, uh, two dangers exist when following this idea. One, you position yourself as an expert on a topic you don't fully grasp and damage your reputation by broadcasting incorrect information. Two, she says, you seem

to offer that product or service and then you alienate potential customers who actually ask about it. She says, to avoid this syndrome, create a main topic for your blog and then four to five subtopics. I said, I get the concept on being an expert and kind of being a expert on one instead of a jack of all trades kind of situation. But I think it's subjective and I think it really depends on your industry. So for example, um, if you're a plumber, right? You're a plumber. Then your expertise should not just be in water heaters. Your expertise should be in water heaters, should be in drainage systems, should be in faucets, should be in all of that because those are all services that you really should be an expert in if you're a master plumber. Same thing with an electrician. If you're an electrician, then you don't just focus on maybe lighting. You focus on lighting. You focus on, on all these other things, what rewiring and that sort of stuff, the right type of wires to use. So that way you can really be the expert. So at the end of the day, what kind of expert only knows about one thing in his big field? Same thing if you're AC guy, then you should really be an expert in ductless. You should be an expert in, in HVAC heating. You should be an expert in, in different brands and what they offer in, in thermostats and things like that. You just have to be an expert. So I'll say, instead of, you know, average in many areas, I say, do your research, get certified, go to class, do what you have to do to become an expert in all of those areas because it's necessary. It just is number three, three, she says, uh, the best way to become an A lister is to play with the A listers, right? You know, you big boys hang with big boys kind of situation. She says a talking shop will form, will form a bond,

which appears and our interaction may help with lead generation vendors who handle major clients often suggest trusted names for smaller clients. I get that. And we've actually experienced that and it does work sometimes, but be cautious, right? That's a tread softly when dealing with partnering with competitors and doing things like that because it can turn on and bite you. And frankly, I'm not really interested in connecting our brand, uh, to our direct competitors per se, even if they are a little bit larger or a little bit smaller, just not really interested in doing that. But instead try connecting your brand with similar companies. So for example, we're an internet marketing agency. So it makes sense for us to maybe partner with, I don't know, some PR firm or some print ad agency or something like that where we may have a similar client base, but not crossing over in regards to taking work from each other. And so I would suggest that, or maybe if you're a home remodeler, then you want to partner up with, I don't know, an electrician, maybe a plumber, maybe a roofer guy, right? Because it makes sense for you guys to be connected. You guys share the same kind of client base, but you're not eating off each other's plate. Right. Take advantage and be cautious. Now there's some value, right? If you have a competitor and maybe you're doing something, some community event, some fundraising activities, some, something for a nonprofit, something that all you guys can kind of really win, win from, take advantage of it and do it. Right. But, but if it's for the sake of lead gen, I'd probably not just saying number four, four, she says a gated content is so 2013. And I totally agree. She says, uh, many believe gating your content would do more harm than good. This leads, the leads you generate from email submissions will be outweighed by bounces of visitors who won't come back. Gated content. What is gated content? She's referring to content that you just

can't get. It's in a gate. They want to get some information from you, like an email address or a phone number. They want you to, some social activity before you get access to this content. We talked about it before ESPN does a good job of it and their gated content is worth it. Why? Because the gated content is awesome. Right. And the, and the feeder content that gets you to the gated content is awesome enough to make you subscribe. Now, do they have, so I know like, I think it's Forbes and maybe New York times. You can read up to 10 articles a month or something along those lines. And then you've got to start getting in its gated. That's also considered gated. But what's the, the, the, the, the, the concept there is that those sites you've met, you, you mentioned have what? Great content. Great content. Exactly. So if the content isn't great, then you better not gated. Dude, if the content is not great. Don't use the gated. Do not gated. Yeah. Because, because then you're going to end up with negative reviews, some bounces, and I'm never coming back to the site again. Yeah. Ask me for my email address and your content is not worth my email address. Now I will say, I think some exclusivity is okay. Really depending on your industry, depending on the quality of your content. If your content is new, cutting edge, exclusive, people are looking for it everywhere. Then yeah, you may want to put out quality snippets and then get some, capture some information to get the rest of it. That's okay. But if you're regurgitating content, rewriting other people's posts, and just really trying to have content out there and build up your email list, yeah, offer that content free. You'll have a better result. Number five. Number five. She says, play with paid promotions. Right? She says, the messages are showing on Facebook and the messages getting lost in the chaos of Twitter. If your branding is starting out, you might

need some paid placements. She's right. Paid placements work. That's the reason why, what was my news earlier? Yeah. About how much money Google is making off AdWords. Those are paid placements. Right? And she's even considering paid social placements. Right? That's like boosted posts and Facebook ads and sponsored Instagram ads and sponsored tweets and things like that. You're a new brand. You got new content. You got a new site. Then you're going to have to spend some new money to get some new traffic. And you're going to have to pay to do that. Because you're right. If you follow 2,500 people on Twitter and you say you posted that at 10, then I missed it. It's gone. Yeah. Right? It's the same thing on Facebook. I may see it again later due to Facebook's algorithm, depending on how much you and I engage. But if we don't engage much, then I missed that one too. Yeah. But if you boost it, if you post it, you sponsor it, Facebook is going to guarantee I see it because they want me to click so they can charge you. And so, play with paid promotions. I totally agree on that one, Amanda. Absolutely. Number six. Six. Last one. She says, track what works and what doesn't work. Duh. We've always been a good fan of testing and measuring. Do not throw money against the wall and see if it sticks. Have a plan. Have a plan. She says, what topics generated the most views, shares, or comments? Right? What content got the most psychos? She says, what content formats had the most psychos? Longest page view time, lowest bounce rate. She's talking about engagement, right? She says, what marketing channels generated the most leads? Was it your social? Was it those boosted posts? Was it your organic page that's ranking well because it's optimized? Was it that newsletter that milled out? What type of content generated the most engagement? And then once you had that, well, then she says, by gathering and evaluating this data, you should start

painting a picture of what your content audience looks like. And she's right. Once you understand what type of content they engage with most, the platform they're using on, what time of day they come to it, then you can start crafting your content that's more suitable to them. But if you don't have that data, then you really don't know. It's all about the data and what you do with it. For example, maybe you have a long form content page and it's image heavy and you get lots of engagement but low conversions. Right? Then you put that to the side and you note that. Then you got another short form kind of aggressive sales page that gets a few conversions but low engagement, high bounce rate, things like that. Well, that tells you maybe you should try creating a blend of the two. Yeah. A little bit longer, less images, cut down on the sales and then you've probably found your sweet spot. The point is, look at your analytics, review your content that's been out there and see how people are engaging with it. Then make adjustments. Look, she closed out by saying, if you don't commit to high quality curation, dedicated curation and tracking conversions, you may not realize the full benefits. She's talking about your content and she's right. At the end of the day, content is that important. Period. The resources that you put towards it should be worth it when done right. Don't worry about wasting money because you spent all this time creating the post. If you do it right, you share it right, you spend a little money promoting it, it's going to be all the way worth it. Curation. What was it? Curation. Yeah, she said high quality creation. Creation. Dedicated curation. And propagation. Well, creation, curation, and conversions. Yep. I can dig it. I like that. Amanda Dodge, Punch in the Face to You and the good people at Search Engine Journal. That's what's up. Cool. That's a great article. Yeah. Do we have any what I... I

got some blanks there, kind of what blanks there. It's really a moment of silence for two things. Yeah. One, for the five confirmed deaths that we had here in Houston this week, we had the huge rainstorm, big storm. The whole city was flooded. Matter of fact, northern parts of our city are still under three and four feet of water right now. People lost everything. And there have been confirmed deaths from people who died in this. So this moment of silence is for them. And this moment of silence is also for the icon I spoke about earlier. The rest of the priests, parents, thank you for the great music and what you've left on this earth for us to remember you by. Yeah. Bye-bye to the Prince. And hearts out to the Houstonians who are struggling. That it? That's it. All right. So, hey, if you're looking to grow your business with the largest, simplest marketing tool on the planet... The internet. ...go ahead and give E-Web Results a call for increased revenue in your business. Our phone number is 713-592-6724. If you have a referral, somebody interested in some sort of internet marketing service... Newsletter management, social media marketing, search engine optimization, custom website design... PPC... Oh, custom mobile-friendly responsive website design that all goes together, pay-per-click management, whatever it is. Send them to us. They pay their bill. We pay you. Please remember, we were filmed live here at 5999 West 34th Street, Suite 106, Houston, Texas, 77092. You can get a transcript, video, audio of this podcast and links to subscribe to this podcast at our website, E-WebResults.com. Hey, we are the most popular internet marketing podcast on iTunes. That is because of you all, y'all. Thank you so much for making that happen. Until the next time, my name is Chris Burris. Charles Lewis. Bye-bye for now. Balance check. Balance check. 3-1-9. SEO Podcast 319. If you think we're going to stop, that's unlikely. Chris and Chuck, man, back for another week. So get comfy. Sit down. Stay in your seat. Yeah.

SEO Podcast 319. Let's go. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.