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Latest Episodes:

Are Chatbots Really Worth It? | Ep. #308 Jun 13, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #308, Eric and Neil discuss if chatbots are really worth it. Since chatbots are still in its early days, the effectiveness and profitability of the tool is very much debatable. Eric and Neil discuss the tests that they’ve run and lay out the benefits as well as the weaknesses they’ve encountered. At the end of the day, the incredible open and click through rates from using chatbots is something that CANNOT be ignored.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:30 – Today’s topic: Are Chatbots Really Worth It?
00:41 – Eric was moderating a panel with a guy from Hubspot and Wordstream
- 00:53 – Eric’s open rates was about 80%, his friend was at 94%
- 01:07 – A broadcast through email can get you 20-30% open rate, with 5% click rate
- 01:14 – With chatbots 80-94%, at 50% click rates
01:40 – Neil says it’s about opportunity costs
02:21 – Neil was doing a test the other day and found that the opt-in rate was still quite low
- 02:38 – Open rates are great, but opt-in rate needs to be increased somehow—this may get better in a few months
02:56 – Send your bot to ManyChat or Chatfuel and you’ll have a URL to drive traffic to
03:12 – Eric runs a page post engagement ad where people leave a comment if they’re interested and he then gets their email
- 03:33 – You can get a subscriber for a couple cents
- 03:48 – You can also get people to click on a link that brings people to your landing page and then they can message you directly
- 03:54 – Manychat will help you make widgets and landing pages
04:16 – Eric ran a small test, received 300 subscribers and paid about 50 cents per subscriber
04:34 – Neil: The question is can you make them profitable?
- 04:47 – Eric shares a story about a guy who directed his traffic to his chatbots as opposed to closing them in a webinar—he was able to make $400K in sales that way
- 05:13 – Your mileage may vary in regards to sales from using chatbots, but it’s worth testing
05:21 – Neil says chatbots are still its early days and to not expect that these open and click through rates will stick; they will decrease over time just like everything else
05:46 – Eric and Neil will keep a close eye on this trend of using chatbots so stay tuned for future episodes
05:52 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

Chatbots have the ability to get you email subscribers for a couple of cents an email—it’s worth looking into just for this reason alone.
Just like every other tool you use in marketing, test to see if chatbots will help you convert to real, profitable sales.
Direct your traffic from your webinars to your chatbots; using them in conjunction can play to the strengths of each tool.

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7 Things to Consider Before You Start Accepting Guest Blogs | Ep. #317 Jun 12, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #317, Eric and Neil discuss the 7 things to consider before you start accepting guest blogs. Tune in to learn how you can carefully evaluate your potential guest bloggers so that your website maintains its quality and consistency.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 Things to Consider Before You Start Accepting Guest Blogs
00:35 – First is to make sure that you’re ready to deal with spam
- 00:41 – There are people who will try to sell links on your website, which will get you penalized by Google
- 00:48 – Be sure that whatever you’re accepting, people aren’t shoving in irrelevant links
01:00 – Second is to ask for 3 links to their most impressive articles
- 01:11 – It will give you a quick idea of their writing style
- 01:24 – You still want to add value
01:42 – Make sure that the people are authoritative
- 01:49 – Authoritative people won’t pass junk
- 02:05 – Make sure the content quality stays high
02:10 – Fourth is to ask why they want to do it
02:40 – Fifth is when accepting guest posts, make sure you’re still building a community
- 03:05 – Make rules for these people so there will still be growth
03:40 – Sixth is to ask for a couple of potential article titles and what will be a good fit for the website
- 03:58 – It can be an evaluation point
04:24 – Seventh is you want to keep new and fresh content; run their content on Copyscape to check its authenticity
04:55 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

Watch out for guest blogs who will try to sell links on your website.
Ask questions that will help you evaluate the guest blogger’s motive and relevancy for your website.
Make sure you’re building a community within your guest blogs and make them adhere to your rules for consistency.

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7 Tools to Help You Promote Evergreen Content | Ep. #316 Jun 11, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #316, Eric and Neil discuss the 7 tools to help you promote evergreen content. Tune in to learn which tools you can use to leverage your evergreen content to achieve that better ranking in Google and promote your best stuff!

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 Tools to Help You Promote Evergreen Content
00:34 – First, Meet Edgar allows you to schedule posts on different social media sites
- 00:49 – Clean it up for things that are no longer relevant or for concepts that no longer apply
01:01 – Second is Ahrefs
- 01:03 – Type in the competitor URL that has similar posts, see who are linking out to your competitor and reach out to them
- 01:12 – It’s easy to do and provides great results, but is time intensive
01:35 – BuzzSumo can help you find posts and links that have a lot of social shares
- 01:55 – Build out a prospect list and reach out to people who shared them
02:12 – Fourth is Google Search Console
- 02:23 – For the posts that are gaining much traffic, look at the keywords that are driving you traffic, download the CSV file, take those keywords and innovate them within your content
02:45 – Repurpose your evergreen content
- 02:58 – Repurposing is similar to promoting it
03:29 – Your evergreen content can rank in Google
- 03:31 – if you’re going to make your title tags more appealing, you’re going to get more clicks and your search ranking will rise
- 03:46 – A headline generator tool will give you ideas to update your title tags
04:18 – If you have very good evergreen content, put it into paid advertising
05:00 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

Repurposing your evergreen content will help you to continually maximize its value.
Reach out to people who share your competitor’s post; perhaps they can help you to gain more traffic as well.
A great title tag can make your posts appealing which will attract more clicks and improve your overall search ranking.

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7 Fundamentals that Every Content Promotion Plan Should Include | Ep. #315 Jun 10, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #315, Eric and Neil discuss the 7 fundamentals that every content promotion plan should include. Tune in to learn the checklists that you need for your content promotion plan and the importance of keeping your “unicorns” up to date!

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 Fundamentals That Every Content Promotion Plan Should Include
00:36 – First is to have a checklist where you document everything you need as well as your standard operating procedure
01:04 – Second is to create a list of people you are going to hit up in your space
- 01:08 – Every promotion has an outreach
- 01:13 – You want to keep a list so you will know who responded and promoted
- 01:17 – You want to hit up the same exact person 5x a week
- 01:29 – You could also determine who to hit up for a specific type of post
- 01:33 – You don’t want to burn the relationship
01:40 – Have an inventory of the tools that you have
- 01:42 – Use LastPass to organize everything
- 01:58 – Eric uses Meet Edgar and Buffer for promotion
02:13 – Fourth is to test out timing
- 02:20 – Depending on your industry, there are times that are best to post
- 02:28 – Stick with that time and be consistent
02:44 – Fifth is to use paid advertising
- 03:04 – Look at your top performing content and check the ones that are getting the most shares and likes
- 03:12 – The top performing ones are your unicorns and you want to push them
- 03:14 – Larry Kim from WordStream and Dennis Yu from BlitzMetrics talk about this further
03:33 – Sixth is having your unicorns
- 03:41 – Every 6 months, check all the content that has done well, re-share and update them
- 03:57 – Update your old content or the traffic will decline
04:06 – Last is to measure results
- 04:15 – If you’re not measuring and managing results, you’re not being a good marketer
04:24 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

Set a goal and have a plan in place to reach that goal for your content promotion—this way you can track and measure your progress.
Keep your unicorns up to date so your traffic and engagement won’t decline.
Make sure that you keep track of your processes, plans, and create checklists to help organize yourself.

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3 Simple Ways to Save Money on SEO Using PPC | Ep. #314 Jun 09, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #314, Eric and Neil discuss 3 simple ways to save money on SEO using PPC. Tune in to learn the importance of knowing the right keywords to use in SEO so you won’t end up wasting money or time.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:27 – Today’s topic: 3 Simple Ways to Save Money on SEO Using PPC
00:38 – Everyone looks at pay-per-click as an expense but it’s not a bad expense
00:49 – From an SEO perspective, it takes a long time
01:00 – The first way to save money is to target the right keywords
- 01:05 – You can use Google Keyword Planner, UberSuggest or Keyword.io
- 01:11 – “Volume isn’t everything if people don’t purchase from those keywords—no matter how many visitors you get, it’s useless”
- 01:19 – With PPC, you can test out words and phrases and when you see conversion, start targeting from organic search perspective
- 01:35 – If you want to scale, use AdWords Editor to move things faster
- 02:00 – If you have a brand keyword, a competitor can start to categorize you as the brand owner
02:48 – Focus your SEO first on non-seasonal based terms
- 03:10 – It costs the same time and money with seasonal-based keywords
- 03:22 – Go to Google Trends, type the terms and make sure it’s not in the seasonality
- 03:38 – After the terms get consistent traffic all year round, then go for the seasonal terms
04:03 – More consistent income is better than the income that goes up and down over a few months
04:15 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

PPC is an expense, but it is NOT a bad expense—test if it’s right for you.
While SEO can be cheaper, it takes time and testing to see which works best.
If you have a brand keyword, keep it, as a competitor will start to see you as the brand owner.

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How to Do SEO for Small Businesses with Less than $1000 a Month | Ep. #313 Jun 08, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #313, Eric and Neil discuss how to do SEO for small businesses with less than $1000 a month. Tune in to learn how you can still do SEO effectively—even with a small budget—and why you shouldn’t believe everything that Google tells you.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Do SEO for Small Businesses With Less Than $1000 a Month
00:35 – You can’t focus on everything
00:40 – Try to have your site on WordPress so you can have Yoast and not worry too much about on-page SEO
00:48 – Neil sticks to content creation and building links around the content
00:55 – Neil uses Ahrefs
- 01:01 – Put in your competitor’s URL and click on the top pages that will show you the pages your competitor gets the most traffic
- 01:29 – Look at that page and try to create a better version on your website
- 01:38 – Find the people that are linked out to the page and reach out to them
- 02:00 – Reaching out works, but it’s a long-term play
- 02:08 – Keep it simple
02:34 – “Don’t believe everything that Google says”
02:58 – When you only have $1000 a month, you can’t go really fast
03:10 – You can also use BuzzSumo which is similar to Ahrefs
03:26 – You can find a journalist who can write content at JustReachOut which is a PR tool
03:48 – For link outreach, you can use Pitchbox and MixMax
04:03 – You have to make sure that you stay consistent with your SEO
04:22 – Consistency will give people the impression that you’re starting to build your flywheel
04:33 – Scripted allows you to buy content at scale
04:53 – Upwork and ProBlogger also have people you can hire to make content for you
05:16 – Scripted is like a marketplace
05:37 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

There are ways to work on your SEO while on a conservative budget.
SEO results takes time so you have to be patient.
Leverage free and affordable tools that you can use to make your SEO work successfully.

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How to Create an Experimental Culture in Your Marketing Department | Ep. #312 Jun 07, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #312, Eric and Neil discuss how to create an experimental culture in your marketing department. Tune in to find out how Eric and Neil do experiments with their respective teams and how it boosted engagement and a sense of value and pride for team members to be a part of the experimentation.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Create an Experimental Culture in Your Marketing Department
00:38 – Twitter was running .2 tests per week when they were still struggling
- 01:02 – After that, their usual growth skyrocketed
01:12 – Jeff Bezos of Amazon also brought tons of experiments that helped them boost quickly
01:17 – Driving experiments for the company or marketing department is really important
01:26 – Treat your experiment as a product
01:37 – Eric runs experiment meetings with his company, Single Grain
- 01:49 – Every week, someone is required to bring in new ideas
02:33 – You can use Trello to write in your experiments
02:43 – There should be a well-thought idea and a plan as well as data to back up the plan
02:58 – Neil enforces the culture to everyone until they fully adapt to it
03:06 – Neil also believes that no opinions that are wrong or right
- 03:13 – Just because you are doing marketing longer, does NOT mean you have better ideas
03:33 – It is a weekly process for Neil’s team
- 03:49 – Neil encourages testing and gives a pat on the back to who has the best idea
04:04 – Once you start with testing, people will love it
- 04:15 – The team will feel good that they’re making progress
04:34 – Eric tried to incentivize the person with the best idea, but now they’re having a monthly celebration
05:07 – One of the mistakes that Eric made with the experiment was that people were voting just by raising their hands—they shifted this to automated voting
05:43 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

Engage everyone on the team in regards to the experiments and make sure that ideas are well-thought and planned.
Your team will have a sense of engagement and responsibility when they are included in the experimental process.
Incentivizing isn’t always beneficial for everyone—find what motivates your team.

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The Marketing Tasks Eric and Neil Do Every Day | Ep. #311 Jun 06, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #311, Eric and Neil discuss the marketing tasks they do daily. Tune in to know what Eric and Neil do every day and how these habits contribute to their success.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:27 – Today’s topic: The Marketing Tasks Eric and Neil Do Every Day
00:36 – The big thing that Neil does is post on social media
00:49 – Neil also responds to comments from Social Web and Social Profiles
00:59 – Neil looks into Google Console to track posts that are declining in views and clicks
- 01:07 – He will then update those posts and content and they will go back to where they were
01:27 – Eric is trying to work on the business more
01:44 – Eric is working on creating content
01:58 – Eric also checks his Google Console and track his posts’ ranking
02:33 – You do NOT have to do exactly what Eric and Neil are doing
02:35 – Eric also has a lot of one-on-one time with the team to see where he can help
02:48 – Eric checks the interns campaigns and coaches them if needed
03:09 – Neil reads marketing blogs and keeps himself updated on the industry trends
- 03:15 – Neil also responds to Quora’s questions
03:54 – The biggest hack for Eric is listening to marketing podcasts daily
- 04:04 – Eric recommends listening to Growth Everywhere and Digital Marketing Podcast
04:21 – There’s so much consumption you can do but you need to produce, too
04:48 – Eric and Neil both try to continue to level up and build a flywheel that continues to go
05:12 – Build all the pieces, hire the right people, put in the right processes and start to build the flywheel
05:20 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

Keep yourself updated in the industry that you’re in.
Tracking your post’s analytics does not have to be done daily, but needs to be checked constantly to assess if you need to update.
Learning is useless without application.

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How to Rank in Google Image Search | Ep. #310 Jun 05, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #310, Eric and Neil discuss how to rank in Google image search. Tune in to learn how Google can recognize your images more easily and how to adjust for Google’s limitations to BOOST your ranking.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Rank in Google Image Search
00:40 – If you are in consumer-based industry, you can generate a lot of traction from Google image search
01:00 – Image filing should be restricted to what you’re trying to rank for
- 01:06 – If it’s a car, use all tags to describe to Google what your image is about
- 01:57 – You can also use a long description which is similar to all tags, but longer
02:31 – If you’re always ranked over time, make sure you’re surrounded with text as Google uses text to figure out what the image is about
02:40 – In the next couple of years, Google’s AI might be able to identify which is which
03:06 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

How well you rank on Google image searches will depend on the industry.
Google will know what your image is about if you describe it well in text.
Google’s AI will probably improve in the future and won’t require as much text to recognize an image.

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How to Get Tons of Views on Your LinkedIn Updates | Ep. #309 Jun 04, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #309, Eric and Neil discuss how to get tons of views on your LinkedIn updates. Tune in to know the number of views Eric and Neil received on their first LinkedIn update and why you should leverage LinkedIn NOW.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Get Tons of Views on Your LinkedIn Updates
00:38 – You can now write longer-form LinkedIn content now
00:55 – Eric has around 6K connections in LinkedIn and when he wrote about longer-form LinkedIn updates, he got a thousand views in just 10 minutes
- 01:10 – There were also 2nd degree views in LinkedIn
01:23 – A simple text update can get you tons of views
01:34 – Neil has also tested LinkedIn updates
- 01:44 – He got 232K views, 280 likes and 151 comments on his first update
01:57 – Neil learned that the more generic your update, the better off you are
02:28 – It comes down to how many views your content is getting by the right type of people that can potentially generate income—so be specific
02:48 – One guy reached out to Eric when he posted an update asking Eric if he can work for him
- 03:04 – There are also paid advertising managers who approached Eric
- 03:11 – One from Dropbox has reach out to Eric as well
03:33 – There’s a lot of potential with LinkedIn updates
03:54 – Go use LinkedIn now while only a few people are into it and leverage it
04:04 – AdWords is not restricting LinkedIn yet, so now is a good time to use it
04:14 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

Take advantage of LinkedIn while it is not as saturated as other platforms.
Posting specific LinkedIn updates can target the RIGHT people who are possible sale leads.
LinkedIn updates can also help you connect with people who can become a part of your network.

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