Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

In episode #652, Eric and Neil discuss affiliate marketing. Tune in to hear what steps you should take to be successful at affiliate marketing. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Affiliate Marketing Made Simple_A Step-by-Step Guide [00:44] Affiliate marketing is performance-based marketing. [01:15] It has a bad rep, because some affiliates are really aggressive and don’t put out quality work. [01:59] Read Affiliate Program Management: An Hour a Day [02:45] It’s important to have an affiliate manager. [03:10] If you can find the right affiliate, they will help you scale your business. [03:22] TapFiliate is less expensive and great. [03:35] Get Ambassador is another good affiliate service. [04:00] A lot of affiliates won’t work for you if your funnel isn’t fine-tuned. [04:10] ConvertKit is a great recruitment tool. [04:33] They reach out to ideal customers and do joint webinars with blogs that have the target customers. [05:05] Educate and offer a deal, otherwise webinars won’t convert as well. [05:30] There’s a company that made $88 Million last year and all they do is affiliate marketing. [06:30] You have to make sure that you understand affiliate marketing, so you don’t lose your shirt. [06:47] When paying out your affiliates, don’t do net 30, do net 60. [06:59] That’s it for today! [07:02] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! 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 #651, Eric and Neil discuss how you can fix your declining traffic. Tune in to hear how you can fix problems with your SEO. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: When SEO Goes Wrong How to Fix Your Declining Search Traffic [00:54] When you haven’t changed anything and traffic declines, it could be the link algorithm, your content is outdated, or user experience isn’t that good. [01:22] Read Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Roundtable to see if you’re up to date on algorithms and changes to sites. [01:50] Use SEMRush and Moz to see indicators of change. [02:25] Look for correlation across the board. [02:38] Rusty Bricks looks for chatter on forums to see what problems arise for traffic. [02:55] It’s important to have quantitative and qualitative data. [03:00] Wicked Fire and Blackhatworld are good resources. [03:30] When traffic dropped for Neil, they ran experiments and tracked everything. [04:10] Make sure you are diversifying. [04:30] Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. [04:47] Sometimes your rankings may drop due to a change you made on your own website. [05:44] Always track your changes. [05:55] Don’t panic and be willing to take risks. [06;15] Look at it quarter over quarter. [06:40] WP Engine is great because you can revert to previous versions of your site. [07:04] That’s it for today! [07:07] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! 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 #650, Eric and Neil discuss how often you should be running experiments. Tune in to hear when, why, and how you should be running experiments. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Often Should You Run Experiments? [00:39] Eric thinks you should be running experiments every single week. [00:55] For Eric’s site, they run experiments on the site itself and the business. [01:05] They use North Star to run these experiments and Eric loves the Leaderboard function. [01:45] The more experiments you run, the better off you are. [01:52] However, it’s hard to run experiments when you don’t have enough traffic. [02:04] Once you get enough conversion points (500 per month), you can run 1-2 experiments per month because you will be able to see micro and macro conversions. [02:28] A micro conversion could be someone going to your checkout page. [02:36] A macro conversion could be more sales in general. [03:00] If you’re a small business, it’s ok to track micro conversions only. [03:22] In the short run, if you can’t optimize for conversions and sales, your experimentation should be around traffic generation. Use Similar Web, SEMRush, and AHREFS. [04:15] Managing Oneself is a short booklet that talks about the importance of feedback analysis. [05:14] There isn’t one experiment that will make you a major success, but rather a lot of little things that add up. [05:36] Make sure to break down the experiments to focus on tiny aspects of your business. [06:28] Running experiments over time lets you see what your strengths and weaknesses are. [06:44] That’s all for today! [06:46] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! 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 #649, Eric and Neil discuss whether Twitch is worth your time. Tune in to hear why you might want to consider a new outlet. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Is Twitch Worth Your Time? [00:37] YouTubers are starting Twitch channels. [00:54] First and foremost, it claims to be the sixth most trafficked website in the world. [01:20] They have 15 Million daily active users. [01:28] 81% of users are male and 55% are between the ages of 18 and 34. [01:47] The numbers are impressive. [02:12] There are a ton of gamers on Twitch. Just because they are gamers, doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in other things. [02:39] Twitch is fourth in traffic in the US. [04:00] You don’t need a professional set-up. [04:11] There is a misconception that high-quality video is the only option. [04:52] If you create video, why wouldn’t you post it on every site available? [05:50] The content re-usage framework applies here. [06:11] If you’re already doing the work, you may as well post to Twitch. [06:26] That’s all for today! [06:30] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! 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 #648, Eric and Neil discuss how to prioritize your marketing. Tune in to hear what you should be doing before anything else. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What Runs First? How to Prioritize Your Marketing [00:50] If you are improving every week by 1-2%, this means you are improving by 50% per year, which is a good place to be, [01:16] Look at the funnel first: you can see in Google Analytics what’s working and what isn’t. [01:41] From there, you can determine what to focus on. [01:57] Look at what’s causing the biggest drop-off and run AB tests. [02:38] If you have a leaky bucket, you wouldn’t pour more water in. [02:53] Make sure your funnel is optimized before you drive a lot of traffic to it. [03:00] Both Eric and Neil know a man named Shaun Ellis who was on the growth team for Dropbox. [03:10] He went on to create Growth Hackers. They have since released a growth management tool. North Star. [03:40] North Star uses the ICE model (Impact, Confidence, Ease) [04:36] Average your scores in each category. [04:44] North Star allows you to test different hypotheses. [05:15] The problem with the ICE framework is that it only works if someone in your company knows marketing really well. [05:52] Once you fix your funnel, it’s all about driving traffic to your site/funnel. [06:00] The best traffic is paid traffic. [06:12] For paid traffic, you can try Facebook, Taboola, Outbrain, etc. [06:30] Measure traffic based on the ROI. [07:04] That’s all for today! [07:07] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! 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 #647, Eric and Neil discuss why you should post less frequently on social media. Tune in to hear what you should be doing instead. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Posting Less Frequently on Social Media Will Get You More Traffic [00:36] Eric used to use a tool Meet Edgar, but he doesn’t use it anymore because the engagement was too low. [00:55] By decreasing their social media posts, they focused on quality content instead. [01:30] MeetEdgar made the team lazy about social media traffic. [01:45] It should always be quality over quantity when it comes to social media posting. [02:24] If you keep posting crappy content, social media sites might bury your posts. [03:05] Don’t post for the sake of it, focus on high-quality content. [03:23] Neil would be lazy and just post a link to Facebook, but now he makes sure to add titles and descriptions, as well. [03:53] The VP of Marketing at Sales Hacker will write mini blog posts on social media, then add links to the full content. He will also tag people in the posts. [05:00] Post at least two to three times per week. Grant Cardone has great content, but doesn’t do well because he posts too often. [05:21] That’s all for today! [05:25] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! 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 #646, Eric and Neil discuss how you can use social media to dominate Google’s search results. Tune in to hear how you can leverage social media to rank higher in Google. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Use Social Media to Dominate Google's Search Results [00:40] You have to create a lot of content. [00:50] You can use social media to rank for your brand, but also for a lot of other keywords or terms. [00:56] If you search for anything, Google will also bring up Twitter results. [01:30] By participating in all social media sites, you can show up for everything! [01:45] Eric helped an alarm company push up the results for their social profiles and buried their one negative Forbes review. [02:35] Link to your social profiles from your website. [02:52] The domain authority to these sites is so high already, that Google will push the results higher. [03:08] Participate actively on social media. [03:24] Make sure you engage other users on social media. [03:48] Listen to Eric and Neil’s episode about getting your social media profiles up and running/link building. [04:00] Make sure you cross-promote your social profiles once per month. [04:20] Get personal: social is meant to be about you. Talk about your team instead of the product. [05:00] That’s all for today! [05:03] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! 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 #645, Eric and Neil discuss how SEO is changing. Tune in to hear what will become of SEO next year and how you can adapt. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: [00:38] SEO is heading towards voice search. [00:40] However, it’s not just SEO, it’s the world. Consider Amazon’s “Alexa”. [01:03] Search is changing, because people will ask an AI assistant as opposed to Googling. [01:56] There is a tool that was developed to help with semantic searches. [02:08] It looks for the meaning of what you are looking for (ex. What is love? And it will produce results that offer resources to answer that question). [02:50] AI and semantic searches are melding together. [03:09] Alexa the product is better at SEO, but the voice device outranks it. [03:25] Mobile is huge now. [03:33] If you are using a mobile phone, the search index you see is different than what you would get on a desktop. [03:50] It’s unclear how to monetize voice search thus far. [04:04] You need to be there, so once it’s monetized, you can jump on it. [04:46] Eric and Neil now have their podcast on Alexa and they are getting more listens. [05:20] That’s it for today! [05:22] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! 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 #644, Eric and Neil discuss why you should never rely on SEO or social media marketing alone. Tune in to hear why and how you should diversify your efforts. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: You Should Never Rely on SEO or Social Media Marketing [00:35] With social media sites, you are never in full control of your own destiny and you never want to put that in someone else’s hands. [01:00] Paid ads are great, but costs can go up or you can get banned. [01:26] Leverage SEO and Social, but you also need to diversify into things like paid advertising, email marketing, etc. [02:04] Be patient, get ONE thing working before you diversify. [02:47] When relying on social media channels, take your profits and diversify as quickly as possible. [03:05] Spend the money earlier on. [03:20] Once you have that multi-channel approach, make sure you are creating really high quality content. [04:00] Slow and steady wins the race with SEO. [04:11] It takes time and money to create great content. [04:44] Going for short-term hacks will screw you in the long run. [05:14] That’s all for today! [05:16] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! 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 #643, Eric and Neil discuss the best marketing tools for under $100. Tune in to hear which marketing tools are free or low cost and still get the job done. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Best Marketing Tools For Under $100 [00:33] Eric likes BuzzSumo, because it lets you track your brand, certain keywords, and traffic coming into your site. [00:56] Neil likes SpyFu. It’s not as popular as SEMrush and AHREFS, but it’s a lot less expensive and has a lot of good data. You get similar results, so if you can’t afford the other services, this is a great option. [01:16] Wistia has a good free version you can use to make and post videos. [01:50] Sumo is a great way to collect emails and remarket to people. It’s an all-in-one free tool. [02:18] Frame.io streamlines the video-making process. It may run you over $100/year. [02:42] Survey Monkey is a great tool to help you get feedback from your customers; this is a way to qualitative data. [03:14] For heat mapping, Crazy Egg can’t be beat. [03:26] Convert Kit is for email blasts. While it doesn’t have full automation, it’s a useful and easy-to-use tool for marketers. [04:29] You don’t have to pay for these tools every month. Sometimes, you can use the free option and always upgrade for a month at a time. [04:40] That’s it for today! [04:50] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! 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.