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Latest Episodes:

How to Decide if You Need Separate Brands for Your Business | Ep. #57 Sep 26, 2016

Show notes

In Episode #57 Neil and Eric talk brands, specifically, how many you should have if you want to be successful in your efforts. Listen as they explain why brand diversification is not only unnecessary in most cases, but how it can actually damage your business.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:25 – Today’s topic: How to Decide if You Need Separate Brands for Your Business
00:35 – If you’re creating different products and they’re not related at all, obviously you need different brands
00:45 – Having said that, you put SO much into building a site and brand, why not bring everything under one umbrella?
01:28 – Talking about QuickSprout
- 02:12 – The brand split wasn’t intentional
- 02:35 – Crazy Egg was such a different concept, it couldn’t merge with QuickSprout
03:10 – Most people create too many businesses
03:39 – Focus on your CORE business until it flat-lines
03:55 – Talking about Growth Everywhere versus Single Grain
05:05 – Just look at all the effort Neil had to put in to build NeilPatel.com
05:30 – You don’t need a personal blog and a corporate blog—just do ONE
- 05:45 – And generally go corporate, because you can market and sell that

3 Key Points:

Your time and focus are limited—that alone means rare is the time when it make sense to split brands.
If you’ve already established a brand, domain, and good traffic volume, why divert your attention from that?
Unless the brands/products/offerings are going to be EXTREMELY different, it usually doesn’t make sense to kick-off a new brand.

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The Best Services for Finding Great Freelancers | Ep. #56 Sep 25, 2016

Show notes

In Episode #56 Neil and Eric highlight how they go about hiring the best freelancers no matter the industry. Listen as they share websites, tools, and creative strategies for finding freelancers that are truly masters of their given craft.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:25 – Today’s topic: The Best Services for Finding Great Freelancers
00:40 – Talking designers
- 00:47 – Dribbble for designers
- 01:18 – 99designs.com a contest driven resource
- 01:39 – visual.ly – great for infographics
01:53 – upwork.com
- 02:05 – A lot of the freelancers suck, but a lot of the people offering jobs suck too
- 02:31 – You need to find people who’ve done EXACTLY what you’ve done
02:40 – Check out freelancer.com as well
02:50 – Toptal.com is great for engineers and developers
03:10 – The Code Pen is where Eric sourced his developer
03:14 – Don’t forget about word of mouth sourcing
04:32 – Consider searching LinkedIn—it’s not as unusual as it sounds
05:05 – angel.co Angel List means you’re plugged-in
05:52 – ProBlogger.net has really good writers
06:09 – More often than not though…this is all about YOUR hiring process—if your process isn’t good, you’ll run in circles
- 06:22 – When you’re hiring people, be explicit, nitpick PRE-hire so you don’t have to nitpick POST-hire
07:15 -- Remember that a friend will rarely if ever recommend a lousy freelancer because they don’t want to look bad…this of a personal recommendation as (generally) a sure thing

3 Key Points:

Looking for a talented freelancer? Look word of mouth FIRST.
Be extremely upfront and explicit in your expectations before hiring.
Feel free to get creative—try plundering LinkedIn for talent in your industry.

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What Should You Do with a Website that Is No Longer in Use? | Ep. #55 Sep 24, 2016

Show notes

In Episode #55 Neil and Eric discuss tried and true strategies for making the most of a website that is no longer in use. Listen as they talk 301 re-directs, domain name investments, scrappy partnerships, and more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:25 – Today’s topic: What Should You Do with a Website that Is No Longer in Use?
00:35 – Neil usually does a 301 redirect to another digital property, or sells the domain
- 00:50 – Check out flippa to sell
- 01:09 – Rent the website as well
01:29 – Empire Flippers and FEinternational.com
01:58 – Eric just acquired another gun blog
- 02:10 – Used a 301 to drive that blog to his site
- 02:38 – 301 redirect EACH page and renew the domain for a very long time
- 03:10 – Redirect no less than the Top 25 pages driving traffic
03:35 – See what competitors are doing to make money
04:00 – If you drive the same amount of traffic, why aren’t you making the same amount of money?
04:20 – Finding website brokers
04:35 – Owning a premium domain name is a GREAT way to make money
05:03 – Why aren’t you doing anything with your site?
05:39 – Don’t be afraid to partner with someone who’s scrappier and hungrier than you

3 Key Points:

Take advantage of 301 redirects.
If you’re thinking about terminating your website, ask yourself WHY before doing so and evaluate the alternative options.
Always hold on to a premium domain—that’s a digital real estate investment.

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The Secret to Measuring the Success of SEO Changes to Your Site | Ep. #54 Sep 23, 2016

Show notes

In Episode #54 Neil and Eric share their secrets for measuring the success of SEO changes you make to your website. Listen as they talk Google Search Console versus Google Analytics, and highlight how you should approach each tool.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:25 – Today’s topic: How to Know if Your SEO Changes are ACTUALLY Working?
00:34 – Checkout Google Search Console
- 00:58 – As long as it says you’re going up—everything is typically all good
01:05 – Look at impressions
01:49 – When you make a technical SEO change, make a note of it and check back in 20 days via Google Search Console
03:23 – One framework to use, Brian Balfour experimentation framework
04:04 – All you need is a spreadsheet
- 04:14 – Neil lists the columns in his spreadsheet
04:30 – Tracking against 1 EID
05:15 – Set weekly growth meetings to review changes
05:40 – Take screen shots 2 or 3 times a month to track your data, because you will lose your history in Search Console
07:00 – GrowthBot.io can sync with Slack and preview key analytics

3 Key Points:

You MUST use Google Search Console.
When using GSC, be sure to take screen shots at least 2 or 3 times a month as history is not stored.
Set weekly or monthly meetings to review SEO changes.

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Neil & Eric's Favorite Marketing Tools that Save Time | Ep. #53 Sep 22, 2016

Show notes

Welcome to The Marketing School Podcast—your 10-minute resource to learn, grown, and nurture your passion for online marketing! In Episode #53 Eric and Neil discuss their favorite marketing tools that save you time. Enjoy!

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:25 – Today’s topic: Marketing Tools That Will Save You Time
00:34 – Droplr—take screenshots and videos with ease
01:23 – Ahrefs—links to all your competitors
03:14 – Drip—a fresh, effective take on email marketing automation
03:24 – LeadPages—build landing pages with ease
04:49 – HelloBar—collect email address, push out marketing message, etc. with ease
05:15 – Google Tag Manager—Add snippets to whatever pages you want, add pages at-will, etc.
06:29 – Rescue Time—Identify where you’re inefficient
07:06 – Text Expander—Save snippets so you don’t have to re-type paragraphs
08:09 – Gmail Canned Responses—a great time saver for email marketing
09:03 – ScheduleOnce – Just a great time saver in terms of booking people

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The Best Way to Research New Blog Topics | Ep. #52 Sep 21, 2016

Show notes

In Episode #52 Neil and Eric discuss the all-too-common challenge of finding great ideas for blog topics. Listen as they share a number of their favorite tools, proven techniques, and secret sources for marquee content.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:23 – Today’s topic: How to research new blog topics?
00:42 – Hold weekly meetings and crowdsource idea generation
01:00 – You can also tap into your email list
01:50 – Tap into feedly.com
02:05 – Neil only sources his audience for blog/podcast topics
02:31 – What type of problems are you hearing about again and again at conferences and industry events?
02:50 – BuzzSumo and Brian Dean's Skyscraper Technique
04:00 – TrackReddit
04:48 – Tap into article sub-headers and use those sub-headers to create individual posts
05:30 – What have people engaged with in the past?
06:56 – Digital Marketer – Headline Ideas
07:15 – Aaron Ageis Quick Sprout

3 Key Points:

Tap into the hive mind (aka the crowd).
Listen into your industry’s buzz.
Try transforming sub-headers from older content into stand-alone pieces.

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How to Get a Lot of Traffic to Your Site without Building Links | Ep. #51 Sep 20, 2016

Show notes

Welcome to The Marketing School Podcast—your 10-minute resource to learn, grown, and nurture your passion for online marketing! Links affect two types of traffic sources: organic traffic and referral traffic. In Episode #51 Eric and Neil discuss how to drive a lot of traffic to your website without building links. Enjoy!

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Why Neil & Eric Decided to Do this Podcast | Ep. #50 Sep 19, 2016

Show notes

Welcome to The Marketing School Podcast—your 10-minute resource to learn, grown, and nurture your passion for online marketing! In Episode #50 Eric and Neil discuss why they decided to do this podcast in the first place, what their hesitations were, and the benefits of doing it. Enjoy!

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How Often You Should Be Tracking Your Keyword Ranking | Ep. #49 Sep 18, 2016

Show notes

Welcome to The Marketing School Podcast—your 10-minute resource to learn, grown, and nurture your passion for online marketing! In Episode #49 Eric and Neil discuss how often you should be tracking your keyword ranking. Enjoy!

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Best Strategies for Studying Your Competitors | Ep. #48 Sep 17, 2016

Show notes

In Episode #48 Neil and Eric discuss their respective strategies for studying competitors. Listen as both hosts explain why examining the competition—while occasionally valuable—is not as helpful as examining customers, and why your big strategy shifts should be determined by YOU as opposed to the competition.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:10 – How much should you focus on your competitors?
00:15 – Neil doesn’t focus on competitors too much
- 00:29 – Remember that the market is HUGE
- 00:45 – There’s a LOT of room out there
- 01:03 – Making a shitload of money as #2 or #3 is awesome—you don’t need to be #1
01:47 – Just focus on building your OWN business
02:12 – SEMrush
- 02:15 – Use it to gain keen insight into what your competitors are doing
02:49 – AdBeat
- 02:54 – See what your competitors are doing with more granularity
03:13 – If you’re going to pay attention to competitors, may attention to new products and market shifts
- 03:55 – If you don’t, you’ll get left behind
- 04:10 – Don’t sweat the small stuff—look at their roadmap
04:46 – Talk to your customers BEFORE making a big shift
- 05:05 – As long as you’re talking with your customers, you’ll never miss a beat
05:50 – Don’t do legwork for free
06:35 – When all you do is monitor your competitors, you’re playing a constant game of catch-up

3 Key Points:

When it comes to competitors, only pay attention to their new products and market shifts—the rest is small potatoes.
You do NOT need be #1.
Never forget the market is HUGE.

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