What is Google looking for in your content? While they are famously secretive about their search algorithms, Google reveals important clues with each major update. Let’s take a look at the key search factors and how to apply them to your SEO strategy.
SEO Is About Serving People (not Google)
People are at the heart of your SEO efforts. So let’s look past the keywords, page rank, and site traffic for a second and focus on the real point of SEO – connecting with your potential customers. SEO is about building the apparatus to find the people who are already out there asking for your help – and the pathway to deliver that help.
SEO Is a Key Part of Any Marketing Strategy
SEO helps you tackle one of the most difficult parts of any business – finding new potential customers. What’s more is that Google will help you do this for free. Episode 135 is an overview of why it’s worth the effort to learn even just a little bit of SEO so you can take advantage of its marketing power.
What Is SEO and How to Unlock Its Power
Teaching is how we form a connection with a future customer. SEO is simply a signal that someone wants to learn – with a distinct data “signature” that offers clues about what they want to know. From there, it’s up to us to use that data to put ourselves in the best position to answer that question. Episode 134 is an overview of how to do that.
SEO: A Different Approach
SEO is one of the most important factors in any marketing strategy, so it’s worth the effort to learn the basics. It doesn’t have to be complicated, and anyone can learn it. Episode 133 is an introduction to my approach to SEO, and the start of a new series to teach you all the nuances of a good, sound SEO strategy.
The New Business Mindset
Why does business need to be a ruthless, zero-sum game? It doesn’t. You can still be successful by being nice – and in point of fact, I think that you can be even more successful if you unlearn some of the awful lessons that the corporate world teaches.
Charting Your Own Path
The challenges you face in starting a business are different than any other thing you’ll do in your career. Episode 131 is a summary of my 10-part series about the early days of my small business – my strategies, successes, and mistakes – so that you have somewhat of a roadmap in your own journey.
The New Marketing and Sales
Ethical marketing is not an oxymoron. Respectful, soft-touch marketing not only feels better, but in light of today’s consumer behavior, it’s also more effective too. But it requires a mindset shift, and that we unlearn some of the “conventional wisdom” about marketing.
Productizing Your Knowledge
If your business involves teaching or training, then you are in a good position to create “knowledge products” out of your expertise. Whether you sell these “outputs” or use them for customer acquisition, a little planning up front can help you work towards something bigger in your content strategy.
Building Your Email List
Email is your conversion instrument. It’s 40 times more effective than social media in this regard, so building your email list is one of the most important things you can do for your business. It pays to get started early, with a plan for segmentation and some simple automation as well.
The New Customer Relationship
Customers expect more now, which presents an opportunity for small businesses to surpass their larger competitors. Let’s look at what it takes to earn a customer in this new environment, the evolving criteria of a sales transaction, and what makes a customer loyal now.
Producing a Podcast: Pros and Cons
Have you ever thought about starting a podcast? It’s a great marketing tool, which is why I’m a big proponent of podcasting. Let’s take a look at the criteria for deciding whether or not it could be a good strategy for your business in particular.
Creating Effective Cornerstone Content
Cornerstone content supercharges your efficiency. It not only carries some the sales load, but it’s good for SEO too. With a little investment of time up front, it can pay dividends for years to come. Let’s look at why cornerstone content is so important, what it can do for your business, and a simple guide for how to get started.
Making the Fear Disappear
We all start out scared. But in order to be successful, you have to learn how to quiet the voice of fear in your head. It takes time, but making the fear disappear puts you in a position of power. You make better decisions, attract better customers, and produce better outcomes.
Surviving the First Few Months of a New Business
In the early days of a new business, structure is critical. Otherwise, how can you be sure that you are spending time on the right things – and that you are building something that your customers want? Episode 124 is about testing your initial assumptions to make sure you’re on the right track.
Finding Mentors and Models
What makes a great mentor, and more importantly, how do you know who will be the best mentor for you in particular? Here’s a rundown of the key things to look for – and key things to avoid.
Day 1 of Your New Business
The sooner you start interacting with and learning about your audience, the better. This starts on Day 1 of your new business – it’s too important to let it wait. A side benefit is that it gives you a system and structure for creating worthwhile content to serve your audience. Let’s take a look at exactly how to do that.
So You Want to Start a Business?
There’s so much to learn when you are starting a business, and the challenges that you will face are as unique as your own fingerprints. It will be up to you to chart your own path, but it helps to have a map. That’s why I created this 10-part series, taking you through my process as I built my own business.
Creativity Is a Business Imperative
You can draw people in with your creativity. Or you can repel them with annoying ads. We have a choice, and my strong belief is that the storytellers and artists will win, while the aggressors and interruptors will lose. Let’s commit to making every interaction with your audience either educate, inspire, enlighten, or entertain.
How to Start Writing a Book
Writing a book is a huge undertaking, not to be taken lightly. But it can be incredibly rewarding too. In my experience helping hundreds of writers become authors, here are the considerations for if and how to start writing a book (for beginners).