Marketing Speak | Take Your Marketing To The Next Level

The ultimate goal when creating a startup is to join the ranks of giants like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, but there are quite a few hazards along that path. Often this can involve getting major investment capital. Now imagine you get that $20 million investment, then the real stress starts. My guest for this week's episode did just that.  Rand Fishkin is the founder and former CEO of Moz, and currently the founder and CEO of SparkToro. He's the author of Lost and Founder, which charts the rise of his eight-figure SEO technology company Moz and his rocky dealings with venture capitalists along the way. He pulls no punches sharing the realities of dealing with venture capitalists, sometimes known as vulture capitalists, and how they change the shape of his company and not in the way he wanted. Rand is also my co-author on the first two editions of The Art of SEO, which is considered to be the Bible on search engine optimization back in 2009. That book really solidified my leadership position in t

For most people, your website is the first impression they have of your brand. So you really want to have that "wow" factor that keeps them on the site and ready to take action. That "wow" factor goes beyond impressing people with high profile social proof, although that is an extremely important factor in your brand's credibility. In reality, you want your site to speak more about them and less about you in order to assure them that you can meet their needs and solve the problem that led them to your site in the first place. Every inch of your site must be imbibed with your branding from the top nav all the way down to your footer. In my opinion, there's really no one better than Greg Merrilees and his company Studio 1 Design when it comes to creating web design that converts. And that's why I'm so excited to have him on the show today. Aside from the eight websites that Greg and his team has designed for me, I constantly refer him to my clients and colleagues. Studio 1 has custom designed well over 1500 web

SEO is a deep and nuanced discipline. This is evidence in no small part by the fact that the book I co-authored, The Art of SEO, is nearly a thousand pages. And the complexity is only increasing as Artificial Intelligence plays a bigger and bigger role in Google's ranking algorithm. But don't let that deter you from working to optimize your website, because there's undoubtedly a lot of low hanging fruit there, even if you've done a lot of SEO work already.  Today, I have Dan Shure joining us. Dan is an SEO consultant who's worked with Sumo and WGBH in Boston, and he's the host of the Experts on the Wire Podcast. It's always fun to geek out with someone who's also passionate about SEO. In this episode, we'll be covering everything from understanding the psychology of searchers, to entities versus keywords, to biases, and Google's machine learning algorithms, and so much more. Stay tuned as Dan and I share some of the most valuable SEO strategies for this new decade.

Whether you’re an artist, brand, or agency, you should be creating videos. And lots of them. Mark Zuckerberg famously predicted that the Facebook news feed will be mostly video in five years. That was a while ago now, so that day is coming sooner than you might think. But today we’re not here to talk about Facebook, we’re here to talk about YouTube, the number 2 search engine, and how to get more reach and watch time on YouTube. According to Ahrefs, YouTube was 2019’s most visited website in the world, with an average of 8.6 billion monthly organic visits! A fundamental tenet in marketing is to be where your customers are. And your customers are on YouTube, that’s just a fact. So what do you do to reach them on YouTube? Fortunately, I have some answers for you, because we have YouTube expert Jeremy Vest in the house! Jeremy is the Director of Marketing at vidIQ. He’s created video marketing strategies for a number of Fortune 100 companies and famous YouTubers. He’s had clients with billions of views and mil

I love systems and I love outsourcing, two things we are going to dive deep into, in this episode #219. A business without systems and processes isn’t a real business. Or let’s put it this way: it won’t stay in business for long. With proper systems, you have location freedom and time freedom, two very precious commodities. Did you know for instance that I spent half of 2018 living in Tel Aviv? It was an amazing experience, one that wouldn’t have been possible if my business hadn’t been designed for that. The digital age has shepherded in an era of outsourcing knowledge work. Not only does it make it easier to scale, outsourcing lowers operational costs. My guest for this episode is Chris Rugh, and he just happens to be a master at outsourcing and systematizing. He’s the founder of Custom Tollfree, author of the book 1-800-Awesome: Tactics for Making $10,000 an Hour, as well as a real estate investor, and an angel investor. ‏‏‏‏The company that he sold, Custom Toll Free, has since become the nation’s leading

In digital marketing, the adage “content is king” has to be one of THE most overused phrases. But even if we keep hearing it over and over, we can’t deny the truth in it. Content plays a huge role in every step of the customer journey. And if you DO have great content but it’s locked up somewhere and you haven’t really leveraged it online, you’re wasting a lot of money. It's not enough to publish a plethora of blog posts, infographics, or videos, either. If your content isn’t supporting your larger mission, helping with conversions or at least engagement, then you’re wasting everybody’s time – yours, your team’s, and your prospect’s. Content creation should focus on ROI and the best way to make that happen is to produce content with a powerful intention. For this episode # 218, my guest is Dave Snyder. Dave is the CEO of CopyPress, a content production company that specializes in generating, promoting, and scaling content that generates meaningful results for their clients. Previously, Dave founded several ag

Speaking is the fast path to demonstrating your credibility. Speaking is also how you share your expertise - on stages, on podcasts, on videos, and even on TV. Yet, surprisingly, many subject matter experts and entrepreneurs are either uncomfortable or unskilled at presenting in front of an audience. And often the speech gets worse the larger the audience. It’s uncanny how an audience of ten thousand can cause knees to knock and voices to quiver. The good news is, great speakers are made, not born. Becoming a great speaker takes practice, yes. Yet it is a skill that can be honed over time. And no matter how good you are at it, you should hone it. I myself feel I have a ways to go, even though I've given thousands of presentations around the world. I’ve honed my craft over the last two and a half decades, but my biggest breakthrough in speaking came about this year, while attending a course called Heroic Public Speaking grad program. And the instructor? Today’s guest, Michael Port. Michael earned his MFA in ac

Many of us may take it for granted, but the quality of our voice plays a huge role in our lives- both business and personal. The sound of your voice is oftentimes the basis of someone’s first impression of you. And as such, your voice plays a critical role in your sales and marketing. How you speak and how you present yourself on stage determines to a large degree how persuasive your presentation or sales pitch will be.   It only takes a split second for your prospects or audience to decide whether you’re credible, interesting, and worthy of their time. Would you believe that if you’re not happy with the voice you have now, you can change it and become a better communicator? It’s true.  My guest for this episode number 216 is Roger Love. He’s recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on voice, and his clients include Tony Robbins, John Mayer, Selena Gomez, Brendon Burchard, Simon Sinek, Reese Witherspoon, and Bradley Cooper, to name a few.   My wife, Orion, and I had the pleasure of attending one o

How many times have you logged out of a webinar early because it seemed like a waste of your time? Maybe the content just wasn’t engaging. Or maybe there were annoying technical issues. Or maybe you got tricked into thinking it was live when it was actually a replay.   It’s a common experience that highlights the fact that if you’re running a webinar, you need to be on top of your game -- throughout the entire webinar. And, you need the right tools for the job.   One person who knows this better than anyone is Casey Zeman. Casey started out as a video marketer on YouTube and moved into webinars after he realized the massive financial potential. He never looked back, eventually building his own webinar software platform which became EasyWebinar. Along the way, Casey ran hundreds of successful webinars himself, learning what worked and what didn’t the hard way. Casey is also the founder of the TribeMinded Mastermind and has consulted with companies such as HarperCollins, Estee Lauder, and Dell.   If you want to

To me, business is a spiritual game. This is something that you may have heard me say before, like in my most recent interview of Jay Abraham. With the right mindset, running marketing campaigns and growing your business can transcend the transactional and offer tremendous opportunities for personal growth. I find it extremely satisfying when I can use my business to help others and be a part of something bigger than myself. My guest for this episode # 214, Doug Bentley, also comes at his business from a spiritual perspective. Doug isn’t just a gifted web designer and entrepreneur, he’s also one of the most spiritual people I know. This is due in no small part to his 10 years as a Oneness monk in India serving under Guru Sri Bhagavan. Now he’s back in the US, running Inner Vision Studios, a conscious web design firm, and Sacred Wisdom School, which offers spiritual retreats and workshops. Doug has created a lot of value for me and for many others. He really demonstrates that businesses can reveal a lot of lig

Bulletproof Coffee has become a global phenomenon. And you’re about to hear from the man behind the phenomenon, Dave Asprey. Whether you’re a biohacker like me or not, Dave needs no introduction. He isn’t just the inventor of Bulletproof Coffee, he’s authored three New York Times bestsellers, he hosts the super-popular Bulletproof Radio podcast, and he’s famously declared that he fully intends to live to the ripe old age of 180. Well, if anyone is going to live to 180, it will be Dave! To achieve his goal, Dave has consulted with some of the leading medical and scientific minds in the world and conducted dozens of experiments on himself. If you want to hear about all the wild and amazing things Dave has tried, check out my interview of him on my Get Yourself Optimized podcast episode #38 and my wife Orion’s interview of him on her Stellar Life podcast, also episode #38, ironically. Those interviews are mind-blowing. While Dave’s groundbreaking work in biohacking is obviously fascinating, there’s another aspec

You can always find the smart marketers at Traffic and Conversion Summit every year. And as all those smart marketers know, Ryan Deiss' keynotes are one of the highlights of the event, especially if you want to be up with the emerging trends in marketing. Ryan, of course, founded Traffic and Conversion Summit and DigitalMarketer.com, and he's my guest on today's episode number 212. Ryan is the bestselling author of The Invisible Selling Machine and Digital Marketing for Dummies. To say Ryan is an innovator in the digital marketing world would be a massive understatement.  In this episode, Ryan will unpack his Customer Value Optimization methodology and how it's used by companies like McDonald's, Starbucks, Amazon, and Best Buy to achieve massive and sustainable growth. We also discuss in depth the latest digital marketing trends. Get ready for some immediately useful tips and techniques to up-level your online marketing. And now on with the show.

Whether you're negotiating with a prospect, client, or potential partner, it can sometimes feel like your life depends on it. One wrong move and it's all over in a matter of seconds. Thankfully, most sales calls are not life or death situations. However, my guest for this episode number 211, has been on countless calls that were actual life or death situations. His name is Chris Voss and for 24 years he worked as an international hostage negotiator for the FBI. Now he teaches others the high powered negotiation techniques he honed, while literally saving people's lives.  Chris is the founder of Black Swan Group and the author of the bestselling book on negotiation, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on it. He's been featured in TIME, Business Insider, Entrepreneur, Inc., Fast Company, Fortune, The Washington Post, CNN and more. And I have to tell you, this is one of my absolute favorite business books. I'm not kidding.  This episode originally aired on my podcast, Get Yourself

On this Marketing Speak episode, I wanted to try something new and see if it works. This is my first ever solo podcast session and hopefully not the last, especially if you guys find value in it. So if you do, let me know what you think. Also, if you have any SEO topics you'd like me to discuss, feedback is much appreciated! This session is crucial for businesses and professionals who own websites because it's something that most of you may have dealt with in the past—hiring a competent SEO. With the seven key steps I’ll reveal, you'll be set in spotting the best person for the job. Tune in! 

What if everything you know about marketing is irrelevant in the 21st century? What if traditional marketing is dead, and marketing is evolving into something completely new and unexpected? That's the premise of Robert Rose and Joe Pulizzi's provocative book, Killing Marketing. It's a fascinating read that makes the case for killing off traditional marketing initiatives and transforming your marketing department from a cost center to a profit center. If that sounds a little heretical, it is. Robert Rose is my guest for this episode number 209 and he will explain exactly why he thinks you should rethink your approach to marketing and how you can turn a profit from it.  To give away a little spoiler, one secret is that you need an innovative content marketing strategy. If your marketing team can create content so awesome that people get massive value out of it, you can easily monetize your marketing and start generating revenue from it. Robert is a master content marketer. As the founder of The Content Advisor

Is email the fax machine of our era? Are we living through a tectonic shift in how people communicate online? Can a chatbot really get you conversions? There are many commentators who have proclaimed chat and chatbots as the future of marketing.  But today I'm talking to someone who is actually creating that future. Larry Kim is the founder of Mobile Monkey, a Facebook Messenger marketing platform. And he's the founder of WordStream, a PPC marketing software company employing over 300 people and managing over $1B dollars in ad spend for tens of thousands of customers. Larry has been working at the coalface of AI innovation and natural language processing and has gleaned many important insights about the benefits and limits of automation and its role in marketing, along with some startling stats on the effectiveness of email marketing versus chat marketing.  If you're interested in cutting through the hype and hearing from someone who has grappled with the real-world implications also implementing these tech

Jay Abraham is a marketing legend and for good reason. This is a man who's literally made billions of dollars for his clients. If you're serious about marketing and I know you are, I would suggest you read any and all of his dozen books or better yet sign up for one of his live events to see him in action. But Jay's genius isn't limited to marketing. He is someone who is constantly monitoring trends in business, culture, and society at large. And you better believe he has some fascinating takes on the bigger picture, the problems that face us and ultimately where the human race is headed. I first heard of Jay way back in the mid-90s. Back then he was a towering figure and I never dreamed I would ever be able to have the privilege of calling him a friend, yet now I do.  Our conversations have really enriched my life in so many ways, and I'm grateful to be able to share this one with you. Now, this is the third time Jay's been on Marketing Speak. Those first two are must-listen episodes too, by the way. In thi

In last week's episode, I interviewed an ex-Googler from the organic side of business. This week, I interviewed another ex-Googler, but from the advertising side of Google. You, my friend, are getting the inside scoop for two weeks in a row. If you have anything to do with the PPC or pay-per-click account for your business or for your clients' businesses, you know that it can be tedious and time-consuming work. Keyword research, optimizing bids, writing ad copy, doing A/B testing, or logging onto your account, may feel like falling into a black hole where time disappears. Kind of like going on to YouTube, but not nearly as fun. If you've struggled with PPC in the past, you may have asked yourself how a PPC expert would manage their account. An even better question might be how would the person who developed the system of AdWords run their account?  Today, you're extremely lucky as you're going to get the answer to that very question. My guest for this episode number 206 is Frederick Vallaeys. Frederick was o

A Google penalty can be devastating for any business. Imagine waking up one morning to find your rankings wiped out and your traffic in a nosedive. Worse, it may not be immediately clear why you've even been hit by a penalty. The road to recovery can take months, sometimes even years for those who are inexperienced in SEO. My guest for this episode number 205 is an SEO expert who has a wealth of experience and knowledge when it comes to Google penalties and the best strategies for site recovery. Kaspar Szymanski is Co-founder of Search Brothers and an ex-Googler who spearheaded global web spam initiatives as part of Google's search quality team. If you're a regular listener to the show, you may have heard me talk about how important it is for webmasters to understand Google penalties. If you run an online business and you're not taking Google's quality guidelines seriously, you are accepting a major risk to your profits. Thankfully, Kaspar and I will be revealing how you can mitigate that risk by following a

Would you like to learn how to truly unlock the power of your right brain, or to be more technically accurate, the right hemisphere of your brain? If you're a knowledge worker like me, you spent a lot of time in your left hemisphere. But with simple techniques at your disposal, which you're about to learn, you will be able to engage your right hemisphere in problem-solving ideation, developing marketing campaigns, creating your daily to-do list and so much more. By now, you probably know I have another podcast called Get Yourself Optimized. It's all about optimizing your life, career business, intimate relationship, peer group, health, mindset, even your soul. The problem is, statistically speaking, you're probably not listening to it. And you, my friend, are missing out. In fact, I'm about to prove it to you because I'm about to share with you one of my early episodes from that show for this week's Marketing Speak.  My guest for this episode number 204 of Marketing Speak is Bill Donius. Bill is an expert on