WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:04.500 Is blogging dead? That's a question that I saw recently 2 00:00:04.640 --> 00:00:08.000 on threads, and I was like, why are people asking this question? Of course, it's 3 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:11.519 not dead, but, hey. Some of us may be scratching our heads 4 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:15.125 going, is blogging still a viable way to grow our 5 00:00:15.125 --> 00:00:18.664 business, get more leads and more traffic? And that's why I'm excited 6 00:00:18.724 --> 00:00:22.244 today to talk to KP and Jesse all about blogging and how to 7 00:00:22.244 --> 00:00:25.925 use it as a tool to grow your business. But first, a word 8 00:00:25.925 --> 00:00:29.700 from our sponsor. I've recorded over 300 9 00:00:29.700 --> 00:00:33.540 podcast episodes. Yeah. It's a lot of podcast episodes, and I've tried 10 00:00:33.540 --> 00:00:37.080 a lot of different virtual recording studios, but my favorite 11 00:00:37.460 --> 00:00:41.060 has been Riverside. 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I'm talking vertical videos for TikTok and 20 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:14.235 Instagram, Facebook Reels, all the places you can post these videos with the 21 00:01:14.235 --> 00:01:17.915 captions included, and you don't have to hunt and search for 22 00:01:17.915 --> 00:01:21.295 that perfect clip. So if you wanna try this out for yourself, 23 00:01:22.075 --> 00:01:25.275 click the link that goes with this video. Or if you're listening to the audio 24 00:01:25.275 --> 00:01:29.100 on the podcast, it's in the show notes. Okay? Click that link. Use 25 00:01:29.100 --> 00:01:32.540 the 15% off coupon code. It's Drea, d r e 26 00:01:32.540 --> 00:01:36.140 a, and try Riverside for yourself. Thank you, 27 00:01:36.140 --> 00:01:39.775 Riverside. Hi and welcome to episode number 28 00:01:40.315 --> 00:01:44.155 323 of the Mindful Marketing podcast. I'm excited to 29 00:01:44.155 --> 00:01:47.995 have KP and Jesse on the show. KP, Jesse, welcome. Hi. 30 00:01:47.995 --> 00:01:51.135 Thanks so much for having us. Yeah. I'm excited to chat because 31 00:01:51.720 --> 00:01:55.400 I know vlogging's not dead. But it is a question that keeps coming up 32 00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:59.160 time and time again, and I wanna get pros experts like you 33 00:01:59.160 --> 00:02:03.000 on here to to dash those, sneaky little thoughts. But 34 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:06.815 first, I'm curious about well, first, let's start a little bit with your 35 00:02:06.815 --> 00:02:10.574 background. How did you 2 start your business? What 36 00:02:10.574 --> 00:02:14.255 is the origin story? So I started inkpot back 37 00:02:14.255 --> 00:02:17.855 in 2020. And also this is KP speaking, just so that you guys can recognize 38 00:02:17.855 --> 00:02:21.640 my voice. But especially we both graduated in 2020. 39 00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:25.780 We all know how the world was back then. And honestly, on a whim, 40 00:02:25.780 --> 00:02:29.620 we moved out west, I had trouble getting a job and ended up just 41 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:33.460 kind of stumbling into starting my own business after interning for an online course 42 00:02:33.460 --> 00:02:37.265 consultant, which was a lot of fun. And she kind of like showed me like, 43 00:02:37.265 --> 00:02:40.305 KP, you should totally just start your own business, like you have enough skills, you 44 00:02:40.305 --> 00:02:43.905 can do this. So I started out actually as a social media 45 00:02:43.905 --> 00:02:47.665 agency, and then kind of shifted into brand and web design, 46 00:02:47.665 --> 00:02:51.240 and then eventually brought blogging into it. I got really, really busy 47 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:54.780 about 2 years in. And Jesse actually had a full time job at the time. 48 00:02:54.840 --> 00:02:58.120 And I was like, I need somebody to help me out. Like, I can't keep 49 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:00.840 doing this on my own, either you can come help me or I'm gonna have 50 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:04.345 to find help somewhere else. And that's sort of where Jesse ended up joining me 51 00:03:04.345 --> 00:03:08.185 and started doing a lot of website development. Okay. So 52 00:03:08.185 --> 00:03:11.785 Jesse, I'm curious as someone coming into this, what's 53 00:03:11.785 --> 00:03:15.145 been your what's your experience been like? It has 54 00:03:15.145 --> 00:03:18.860 been one that's definitely interesting, and not at all where I 55 00:03:18.860 --> 00:03:22.220 thought my life was gonna be, but coming out of college, this is 56 00:03:22.220 --> 00:03:26.060 not what I thought I was gonna be doing. But it's been something that's 57 00:03:26.060 --> 00:03:29.739 been, like, super fulfilling and super fun, and every day is like a new day. 58 00:03:29.739 --> 00:03:33.555 There's new things to do. There's new problems to solve. And, you know, it's 59 00:03:33.555 --> 00:03:37.235 always it's always a new adventure. And I've been able to learn so 60 00:03:37.235 --> 00:03:40.855 many things. Like, I never really thought I'd be doing website development. 61 00:03:41.315 --> 00:03:45.095 I never liked writing throughout my entire, like, career 62 00:03:45.235 --> 00:03:48.450 in school going up, so I was like, I'm never gonna be a blog writer. 63 00:03:48.450 --> 00:03:51.490 Like, are you kidding me? Why would I sit down and write all of these 64 00:03:51.490 --> 00:03:55.250 things? And now I'm like, okay. Blog post, 45 minutes 65 00:03:55.250 --> 00:03:58.850 out, done, like, start to finish. I'm super 66 00:03:58.850 --> 00:04:02.295 confident in it. I know all the ins and outs of it. Like, I've been 67 00:04:02.295 --> 00:04:05.815 able to kinda pick it up. So it's been really fun being able 68 00:04:05.815 --> 00:04:09.655 to constantly pick up new skills and learn new things and kind 69 00:04:09.655 --> 00:04:13.335 of adjust as things change and grow in the market and in the 70 00:04:13.335 --> 00:04:17.060 industries and with Google and all of these these other things that just 71 00:04:17.060 --> 00:04:20.839 keep getting thrown out there. So it's definitely something that I 72 00:04:21.220 --> 00:04:24.979 absolutely love doing, and I couldn't imagine doing anything else now. If 73 00:04:24.979 --> 00:04:28.360 you told me I would be a podcaster, for instance, 74 00:04:28.419 --> 00:04:32.115 like, you know, 10 years, 15 years ago, I'd be like, but what 75 00:04:32.115 --> 00:04:35.415 would I talk about? And now, you know, 320 76 00:04:35.875 --> 00:04:39.715 episodes later, I'm like, I could do another 320. Like, I could do this all 77 00:04:39.715 --> 00:04:43.470 day. So I think sometimes it's like finding the space where you 78 00:04:43.470 --> 00:04:47.250 feel most confident and comfortable, and then it's easy to show up, that way. 79 00:04:47.550 --> 00:04:51.090 Alright. So let's talk about blogging. You said you recently brought this 80 00:04:51.150 --> 00:04:54.590 into the business, into the agency. Why 81 00:04:54.590 --> 00:04:58.030 blogging specifically? Like, what sparked interest in 82 00:04:58.030 --> 00:05:01.495 this content marketing strategy? So I 83 00:05:01.495 --> 00:05:04.935 started my first ever blog back in 2012. I had a book review blog 84 00:05:04.935 --> 00:05:08.215 publishers would send me books to review when I was like 14. It was around 85 00:05:08.215 --> 00:05:11.940 the time of like the Hunger Games craze, if anyone remembers that. And I 86 00:05:11.940 --> 00:05:15.540 used to get really into like, just reviewing books and putting my thoughts out there. 87 00:05:15.540 --> 00:05:18.600 Blogging was very different back then you could pretty much treat it like a diary. 88 00:05:18.740 --> 00:05:22.040 Now it is very different. The whole landscape of blogging has changed a lot. 89 00:05:22.260 --> 00:05:26.100 But essentially, we studied abroad in 2019, I ended up turning that blog into 90 00:05:26.100 --> 00:05:29.115 a travel blog. And then I always have kind of been like running that as 91 00:05:29.115 --> 00:05:31.755 an extra business on the side, because it does kind of bring in some income, 92 00:05:31.755 --> 00:05:35.195 but nowhere near like what the design work does. So I was like, I wonder 93 00:05:35.195 --> 00:05:38.015 if there's a way to combine both of these. So then a few years ago, 94 00:05:38.075 --> 00:05:41.860 I wanna say it was the beginning of 2023, we ended up adding 95 00:05:41.860 --> 00:05:45.540 blogging into our services. And it was basically just kind of like a 96 00:05:45.540 --> 00:05:48.900 testing. At first, I reached out to some of our clients who we had done 97 00:05:48.900 --> 00:05:52.440 design work for. And I was like, Hey, we have been blogging really 98 00:05:52.820 --> 00:05:56.180 well, over at our travel blog, we've been getting around like 70,000 monthly page views. 99 00:05:56.180 --> 00:05:58.955 And I was like, I want to just test and see if this is something 100 00:05:58.955 --> 00:06:02.635 that we can make work for online businesses. And 101 00:06:02.635 --> 00:06:06.395 before long, it turned into like our most popular offering. And we were really starting 102 00:06:06.395 --> 00:06:09.435 to see results for our clients. And it's just been one of those really fun 103 00:06:09.435 --> 00:06:12.300 things where like, we can test things out on our travel blog first, just to 104 00:06:12.300 --> 00:06:15.900 kind of like see how things work and then bring those new ideas over to 105 00:06:15.900 --> 00:06:19.580 our clients. Oh, I love this idea that it came from a 106 00:06:19.580 --> 00:06:23.419 passion project too. And I find that for 107 00:06:23.419 --> 00:06:27.065 business owners, specifically, a lot of our best ideas come from 108 00:06:27.065 --> 00:06:30.365 like, oh, I'm genuinely interested in this thing. 109 00:06:32.105 --> 00:06:35.945 What you you mentioned there was like a turning point, for the success 110 00:06:35.945 --> 00:06:39.245 of the blog for your brand, for Inkpot. 111 00:06:40.510 --> 00:06:44.110 Do you have a defining moment where you were like, oh, this is really 112 00:06:44.110 --> 00:06:47.550 working for us? Tell me that, like, some of the the details of that 113 00:06:47.550 --> 00:06:50.850 story. I think the biggest thing for us 114 00:06:51.230 --> 00:06:54.910 was switching to what we always like to call the keyword 115 00:06:54.910 --> 00:06:58.345 first method. So we had put 116 00:06:58.345 --> 00:07:02.105 out so much stuff on the travel blog, like, a ridiculous 117 00:07:02.105 --> 00:07:05.945 amount of content that just wasn't really doing anything. And, 118 00:07:05.945 --> 00:07:09.600 eventually, we were like, okay. Let's take a look at keywords and 119 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:12.500 actually look into this. And, basically, 120 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:16.960 in the SEO world, the second we started doing keywords, obviously, it 121 00:07:16.960 --> 00:07:20.480 takes a while for everything to grow with SEO on Google, so it's not actually 122 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:24.075 the snap of a finger. But once we started using 123 00:07:24.075 --> 00:07:27.835 keywords, we started to see that growth, and we were seeing people coming in. 124 00:07:27.835 --> 00:07:31.675 We were starting to rank better on Google. We were starting 125 00:07:31.675 --> 00:07:35.355 to see ourselves, you know, very easily ranking on the 1st page or 126 00:07:35.355 --> 00:07:38.960 even getting up to the number one spot on Google with our travel 127 00:07:38.960 --> 00:07:42.800 blogs. And I think and even with, like, Inkpot kind of bringing that 128 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:46.480 into the the Inkpot blogs, I think that was really the big turning point 129 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:50.265 of, like, okay. We're not gonna sit here and, essentially, 130 00:07:50.265 --> 00:07:54.105 what feels like waste our time writing all of these posts and putting out 131 00:07:54.105 --> 00:07:57.705 all of this content without actually knowing if 132 00:07:57.705 --> 00:08:01.225 someone is searching for this and if we even have a shot at 133 00:08:01.225 --> 00:08:04.905 ranking for it on Google because some of the things we are going forward too, 134 00:08:04.905 --> 00:08:08.720 I think where we were at the moment, we just had no chance of ranking 135 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:12.319 for it because everyone else ranking was just had so much more authority 136 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:15.680 and, you know, all of the kind of factors that go into ranking. They were 137 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:18.615 just so much higher, and we were like, we shouldn't have done that yet. We 138 00:08:18.615 --> 00:08:21.095 could have, like, waited and built up a little bit and then done it and 139 00:08:21.095 --> 00:08:24.775 had a really good chance of ranking. So I think taking that 140 00:08:24.775 --> 00:08:28.535 kind of keyword first approach and doing the research, taking time to 141 00:08:28.535 --> 00:08:32.375 understand what makes a good keyword, what to look for when you're trying to figure 142 00:08:32.375 --> 00:08:35.490 out if you can rank, if you can't rank, and then bringing that into a 143 00:08:35.490 --> 00:08:39.250 blog post. It's really the turning point of, okay, we're just putting content 144 00:08:39.250 --> 00:08:42.389 out, and now we're putting content out that is actually 145 00:08:42.929 --> 00:08:46.610 getting us something in return. Yes. I love this keyword 146 00:08:46.610 --> 00:08:50.455 first approach. I think it's it is very different, 147 00:08:50.455 --> 00:08:54.215 though, from what blogging was back in the day. Like, back in my day. 148 00:08:54.215 --> 00:08:57.995 So I started blogging in 2004. And it very much was, like, basically 149 00:08:58.055 --> 00:09:01.610 the evolution of LiveJournal. Right? Like, we we were still 150 00:09:01.610 --> 00:09:05.050 posting our little thoughts and, it was very much like a 151 00:09:05.050 --> 00:09:08.730 diary experience. And I 152 00:09:08.730 --> 00:09:12.110 distinctly remember starting to follow specific 153 00:09:12.170 --> 00:09:15.985 bloggers because I would search for specific topics, and then be 154 00:09:15.985 --> 00:09:19.265 like, oh, I want more of this topic, and then I become a super fan 155 00:09:19.265 --> 00:09:22.725 of specific bloggers. One that comes to mind is this getting confidential. 156 00:09:23.825 --> 00:09:27.345 This was like a huge blog back in the I think she's still doing it 157 00:09:27.345 --> 00:09:31.170 now. A huge blog back in the day that I 158 00:09:31.170 --> 00:09:34.930 distinctly remember being like, oh, I'm refreshing her website 159 00:09:34.930 --> 00:09:38.770 to see when new blogs come out. And I feel like 160 00:09:38.770 --> 00:09:41.730 that has changed a lot. And I think this is where the conversation of, like, 161 00:09:41.730 --> 00:09:45.395 blogging is dead has come from. And I keep seeing people say it 162 00:09:45.395 --> 00:09:49.155 on threads. And maybe it's just my algorithm. Mister Al is, like, treating me 163 00:09:49.155 --> 00:09:52.915 nasty. But have you been hearing these rumors these rumors, blogging 164 00:09:52.915 --> 00:09:56.640 is dead? And what are your thoughts when people say this? Oh, my gosh, I 165 00:09:56.640 --> 00:09:59.120 see those threads all the time, too. I don't know where they're coming from. I 166 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:02.480 don't know who started this rumor, but it is so not true. And our favorite, 167 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:05.279 like, sort of example of that is last time you were wondering what to make 168 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:07.920 for dinner, you were looking for a certain recipe, odds are you went to Google 169 00:10:07.920 --> 00:10:11.714 and ended up on somebody's blog to learn how to make that thing 170 00:10:11.714 --> 00:10:15.475 for dinner. So 100% not dead at all. I that's how I 171 00:10:15.475 --> 00:10:19.175 make, like, 90% of my stuff. My husband always teases me because I'm like, 172 00:10:19.315 --> 00:10:21.875 I'm gonna make this for dinner. He's like, haven't you made it before? I'm like, 173 00:10:21.875 --> 00:10:25.530 yeah. I just I need the recipe though to, like, guide me. Otherwise, I'm 174 00:10:25.610 --> 00:10:28.990 clueless on what's to happen next. But I think it's a frustrating 175 00:10:29.210 --> 00:10:32.430 conversation because as marketers, 176 00:10:33.210 --> 00:10:36.890 I can see through it. I know that the person saying blogging is dead 177 00:10:36.890 --> 00:10:40.250 is then gonna be like, and here's what you should do by my thing. 178 00:10:40.250 --> 00:10:43.815 Right? I can't be alone in this. Right? Do y'all see this too? 179 00:10:44.115 --> 00:10:47.795 No. Absolutely. I feel like we see it all the time. And a 180 00:10:47.795 --> 00:10:51.635 lot of the times, it can end up being, like, buy this instead, 181 00:10:51.635 --> 00:10:55.335 but it's a very short term marketing thing that might get you 182 00:10:55.670 --> 00:10:59.050 quick results in the second, but it's not gonna do 183 00:10:59.430 --> 00:11:03.190 as much for you long term, and you're gonna be constantly involved with 184 00:11:03.190 --> 00:11:06.630 it and having to, like, show up every day or put a lot of, 185 00:11:06.630 --> 00:11:10.305 like, here and, like, constantly working and working and working and working and, like, 186 00:11:10.305 --> 00:11:13.985 burning yourself out doing it. Whereas blogging, you can take that 187 00:11:13.985 --> 00:11:17.185 same effort that you put in at the beginning, write the blog post, make sure 188 00:11:17.185 --> 00:11:20.625 it's optimized, make sure you're actually targeting keywords, and that's gonna 189 00:11:20.625 --> 00:11:24.080 continue to grow and kind of help you and sustain 190 00:11:24.380 --> 00:11:28.000 over the course of the next few years. I think also the 191 00:11:28.140 --> 00:11:31.760 waiting period is what gets a lot of people of like, you're not gonna post 192 00:11:32.060 --> 00:11:35.875 a blog post and instantly have it rank. Obviously, once you get to a 193 00:11:35.875 --> 00:11:38.995 really high point, that can totally happen, and you can post something that it can 194 00:11:38.995 --> 00:11:42.515 start to rank instantly. I know even on our travel blogs, we started to see 195 00:11:42.675 --> 00:11:46.275 you know, we'd post something new, and within a week or so, it would 196 00:11:46.275 --> 00:11:49.930 be, you know, the 2nd page of Google, 1st page of Google. So, obviously, you 197 00:11:49.930 --> 00:11:53.610 know, the more authority you have on Google, the likely more likely 198 00:11:53.610 --> 00:11:57.050 you are to rank faster. But I think sometimes they're like, well, it doesn't 199 00:11:57.050 --> 00:12:00.810 work because a week later, 2 weeks later, you're still not 200 00:12:00.810 --> 00:12:04.170 seeing any results. You're not seeing any traffic. But then if you look 201 00:12:04.170 --> 00:12:07.824 back at that, you know, 6 months later, you're like, wow. I'm 202 00:12:07.824 --> 00:12:11.665 seeing constant traffic from Google now. I'm getting inquiries coming in from this blog 203 00:12:11.665 --> 00:12:15.264 post. You know? I'm seeing people talk to me about this and mention 204 00:12:15.264 --> 00:12:18.940 it and, you know, say things about it. So I think sometimes the 205 00:12:18.940 --> 00:12:22.620 long term part of it, I feel like, is what people kinda get stuck 206 00:12:22.620 --> 00:12:26.380 on and not being able to take a step back and be like, okay. This 207 00:12:26.380 --> 00:12:29.100 is gonna take a while. I'm gonna have faith in it. I'm gonna have confidence 208 00:12:29.100 --> 00:12:32.905 in it. I know what I'm doing. And once I'm, you know, consistent with it 209 00:12:32.905 --> 00:12:36.125 and I'm giving it its chance, it's gonna start working out for me. 210 00:12:36.905 --> 00:12:40.665 Okay. Yes. I wanna dive deeper into this concept of, like, what 211 00:12:40.665 --> 00:12:43.625 makes a good blog, how do we get traffic, and then how do we convert 212 00:12:43.625 --> 00:12:47.430 that traffic? Because I think it it is very different from 213 00:12:47.430 --> 00:12:51.050 the the good old days of, like, word vomiting your thoughts. 214 00:12:51.510 --> 00:12:55.190 And especially as a business owner, it definitely has to be strategic. Right? We 215 00:12:55.190 --> 00:12:58.790 don't like, we don't wanna put all of our time and energy into something for 216 00:12:58.790 --> 00:13:02.404 our business and not have it actually bring us 217 00:13:02.404 --> 00:13:06.085 business. Right? There's difference between, like, a just for fun project and, like, 218 00:13:06.085 --> 00:13:09.925 we're trying to make money here. So let's start at the beginning. What's the 219 00:13:09.925 --> 00:13:13.770 process like for creating content that not only brings in 220 00:13:13.770 --> 00:13:17.230 traffic, but also converts readers into leads? 221 00:13:17.370 --> 00:13:21.130 So definitely keyword first. Always, like, do 222 00:13:21.130 --> 00:13:24.830 not waste your time writing anything without looking up keywords because 223 00:13:25.725 --> 00:13:29.485 our kind of philosophy behind it is that's what people 224 00:13:29.485 --> 00:13:32.765 are searching on Google. That's what Google is telling you people are searching. So why 225 00:13:32.765 --> 00:13:36.605 are you gonna ignore Google, who's the one that's going to basically decide 226 00:13:36.605 --> 00:13:40.440 if you're gonna rank or not? But you can also think that something 227 00:13:40.440 --> 00:13:43.960 is a keyword, and it's either completely wrong, no one's searching that at 228 00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:47.640 all, or literally flipping the way you say it can make the 229 00:13:47.640 --> 00:13:51.240 difference between, you know, no one's seeing it and everyone's seeing it. So one of 230 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:54.595 our favorite examples is if you look up the searches 231 00:13:54.595 --> 00:13:58.195 between, like, HoneyBook versus Dubsado and Dubsado versus 232 00:13:58.195 --> 00:14:02.035 HoneyBook, it is the same exact topic. There is nothing different about that 233 00:14:02.035 --> 00:14:05.735 topic. You are comparing the 2 of them, but they have significantly 234 00:14:05.955 --> 00:14:09.680 different search terms and or search volume. So 235 00:14:09.680 --> 00:14:12.800 why would you not I mean, obviously, our advice, we put both of them in 236 00:14:12.800 --> 00:14:16.400 the post, make sure you have it both ways. But if you stick to HoneyBook 237 00:14:16.400 --> 00:14:20.180 versus Dubsado for the entire post, you never say Dubsado versus HoneyBook. 238 00:14:20.400 --> 00:14:23.780 You might not hit the people looking for that keyword. So 239 00:14:24.695 --> 00:14:28.215 always do research first. And then we also like to 240 00:14:28.215 --> 00:14:31.975 suggest having basically content series. So 241 00:14:31.975 --> 00:14:35.655 similar to what you would maybe do on, you know, TikTok or Instagram where 242 00:14:35.655 --> 00:14:39.440 you're kinda talking about the same topic over and over and over 243 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:43.279 again, you wanna do the same thing on your blog because what that will 244 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:46.579 do is it will give people a route to continue 245 00:14:46.880 --> 00:14:50.639 looking on your blog. It'll give them additional posts to look at that are related 246 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:54.245 to the topic. It's gonna give them different avenues to stay on your site, 247 00:14:54.705 --> 00:14:58.465 but it's also gonna position you as the expert, and Google 248 00:14:58.465 --> 00:15:02.145 loves it when they're like, okay. You know what you're talking about here. You 249 00:15:02.145 --> 00:15:05.960 have, you know, 15 posts on this same exact topic. 250 00:15:06.100 --> 00:15:09.800 So, obviously, you're an expert in this area, and we feel confident, 251 00:15:09.860 --> 00:15:13.140 you know, putting your stuff up in the rankings because you know what you're talking 252 00:15:13.140 --> 00:15:16.980 about, and people are staying on the content. They're enjoying it. They're, you know, taking 253 00:15:16.980 --> 00:15:20.725 it in. So I think we always like to kinda think about what 254 00:15:20.725 --> 00:15:24.005 are, you know, the main pieces of your business or the main things that you 255 00:15:24.005 --> 00:15:27.765 wanna promote. Like, we have a lot of series on, like, blogging and, like, 256 00:15:27.765 --> 00:15:31.525 basically, everything you could wanna know about blogging. We have a lot on brand 257 00:15:31.525 --> 00:15:34.120 design and all of the ins and outs of brand design, same thing with website 258 00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:37.560 design. So kind of breaking things 259 00:15:37.560 --> 00:15:41.319 down into smaller questions. I know we get a lot of times like, 260 00:15:41.319 --> 00:15:44.680 well, I'm gonna run out of topics if I, like, do that. You will 261 00:15:44.680 --> 00:15:48.060 never run out of blog topics. Like, it is almost impossible 262 00:15:48.774 --> 00:15:52.455 to run out of topics to blog about. And so just 263 00:15:52.455 --> 00:15:56.135 taking that and kind of breaking it down, thinking about questions that you get asked 264 00:15:56.135 --> 00:15:59.575 every single day by your clients or your customers, odds 265 00:15:59.575 --> 00:16:03.089 are they're not the only people asking those questions and other 266 00:16:03.089 --> 00:16:06.769 people on Google are gonna be asking that, you know, finding ways to 267 00:16:06.769 --> 00:16:10.610 highlight different projects that you've been doing or anything like that. That's that's 268 00:16:10.610 --> 00:16:14.370 a great place to start, and it's gonna build up these series and these 269 00:16:14.370 --> 00:16:18.165 pillars that are gonna make you feel like an expert to Google and 270 00:16:18.165 --> 00:16:21.764 to your readers, and it's gonna give them more content to take 271 00:16:21.764 --> 00:16:25.524 in because we want that, like, oh, I wanna, like, see what's next and, like, 272 00:16:25.524 --> 00:16:28.565 click more and, like, see more, and that's gonna keep them on their site. It's 273 00:16:28.565 --> 00:16:32.250 gonna keep them engaged with you, and it's gonna keep you kind of 274 00:16:32.250 --> 00:16:35.530 top of mind when they're thinking about whatever it is that you're you're writing about. 275 00:16:35.530 --> 00:16:38.490 They're gonna be like, oh, I got all this great information over here. Like, let 276 00:16:38.490 --> 00:16:42.170 me go back over here and look at this and maybe, you know, book their 277 00:16:42.170 --> 00:16:45.915 services or buy their product or whatever it might be. Oh, this 278 00:16:45.915 --> 00:16:49.595 is so good. Like, I'm over here already thinking about a series that I could 279 00:16:49.595 --> 00:16:52.875 do because I just launched this threads workshop, and I was like, I should probably, 280 00:16:52.875 --> 00:16:56.635 like, start blogging about threads, maybe. You've inspired 281 00:16:56.635 --> 00:17:00.019 me today. I'm curious. You mentioned, just like a follow-up question. You 282 00:17:00.019 --> 00:17:03.620 mentioned, doing keyword research. Is there a particular tool that you 283 00:17:03.620 --> 00:17:07.460 recommend for that? We love key search. That's what 284 00:17:07.460 --> 00:17:11.300 we use. I think it's, like, 15 or $17 a month, something 285 00:17:11.300 --> 00:17:14.885 like that. That's our favorite one. The other 286 00:17:14.885 --> 00:17:18.565 one that, you can use that we would suggest is Ubersuggest. That 287 00:17:18.565 --> 00:17:21.605 one, they have a free version. You only get 5 searches a day, so you 288 00:17:21.605 --> 00:17:25.180 gotta kind of I think it's 3 or 5. So you gotta kinda, like, do 289 00:17:25.180 --> 00:17:28.300 a little thinking and make sure you're not wasting all your all your searches if 290 00:17:28.300 --> 00:17:32.060 you're if you're staying on it for free, but key search is definitely our favorite. 291 00:17:32.060 --> 00:17:35.100 You get a ton of information on there that you can use to kinda figure 292 00:17:35.100 --> 00:17:38.780 out what you wanna do to rank and if there's anything you need to add 293 00:17:38.780 --> 00:17:42.365 in. You also see everyone else who's ranking so you can make sure that, 294 00:17:42.365 --> 00:17:45.965 like, what you're putting out is, content wise, the same 295 00:17:45.965 --> 00:17:49.325 answering the same question. You're not putting something out there and be like, oh, that's 296 00:17:49.325 --> 00:17:52.445 not actually what people are searching for when they search that question. Like, I just 297 00:17:52.445 --> 00:17:56.160 did something completely different. So that's definitely our our go 298 00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:59.920 to. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Love those. We'll put those links in 299 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:03.760 the show notes. Okay. So next question is all about 300 00:18:03.760 --> 00:18:07.360 balance, and I used to work for a, 301 00:18:07.560 --> 00:18:11.115 I was an intern at a marketing agency. This was 302 00:18:11.414 --> 00:18:15.095 in 2020 12, I wanna 303 00:18:15.095 --> 00:18:18.715 say. So, like, we would we did local, 304 00:18:19.575 --> 00:18:23.255 SEO. Keyword stuff, every page. That was a 305 00:18:23.255 --> 00:18:26.960 strategy in 2012. Right? It was like, I lived in Atlanta. Right? So it's 306 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:30.500 like listing every single city, town, 307 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:34.320 suburb of Atlanta. And the 308 00:18:34.320 --> 00:18:38.160 project I was working on specifically for was like a water damage 309 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:41.715 company. So it was like every single keyword that someone could possibly 310 00:18:41.715 --> 00:18:45.475 think of for water damage in Atlanta. And that 311 00:18:45.475 --> 00:18:49.174 was, like, my entry point into marketing. And that strategy 312 00:18:49.235 --> 00:18:53.075 is so it's, like, so old. But I think there's, 313 00:18:53.820 --> 00:18:57.580 there's a temptation sometimes to, like, go, oh, I'm gonna put literally as 314 00:18:57.580 --> 00:19:00.720 many keywords as possible. So how do we balance between, like, 315 00:19:01.340 --> 00:19:04.799 optimizing for search, but then also writing something valuable 316 00:19:05.019 --> 00:19:08.685 that people wanna read? So our best advice, especially when it 317 00:19:08.685 --> 00:19:12.445 comes to working on your posts in particular, and like making sure they're actually 318 00:19:12.445 --> 00:19:16.125 optimized, is honestly treat it like you would like your high school 319 00:19:16.125 --> 00:19:19.950 English essays. So literally make an entire outline. Do your 320 00:19:19.950 --> 00:19:23.630 keyword research while you're making that outline and just like pop the different keywords in 321 00:19:23.630 --> 00:19:26.510 the spots where you think you'll use them before you even write. So then as 322 00:19:26.510 --> 00:19:29.230 you're writing, you can make sure you're not keyword stuffing and try not to say 323 00:19:29.230 --> 00:19:32.030 the keyword more than the times that you put it in there. Honestly, you always 324 00:19:32.030 --> 00:19:34.885 wanna make sure you're writing people first. I think there's been a huge shift over 325 00:19:34.885 --> 00:19:38.485 the last few years of Google really preferring that, you know, human first written 326 00:19:38.485 --> 00:19:41.525 content, especially with the rise of AI and everything like that, like it can tell 327 00:19:41.525 --> 00:19:44.485 when your keyword stuffing, it can tell when you're being too robotic. So that's definitely 328 00:19:44.485 --> 00:19:48.150 something that you wanna pay attention to. If you're using the keyword more than 329 00:19:48.150 --> 00:19:51.830 once every 500 ish words, I would say you are probably 330 00:19:51.830 --> 00:19:55.590 starting to near the side of keyword stuffing. It's totally okay to use like different 331 00:19:55.590 --> 00:19:59.055 variations like Jesse was saying, you know, HoneyBook versus Dubsado, and then 332 00:19:59.215 --> 00:20:02.415 Dubsado versus HoneyBook, like, that's totally okay. But you don't wanna be saying, you know, 333 00:20:02.415 --> 00:20:05.535 HoneyBook versus Dubsado in every other sentence, because then people are gonna be like, what 334 00:20:05.535 --> 00:20:09.215 the heck is this person doing? Right. I've 335 00:20:09.215 --> 00:20:13.020 definitely read articles like that where I'm I don't even understand this 336 00:20:13.020 --> 00:20:16.780 one because it's just a bunch of the same words over and over again. So, 337 00:20:16.780 --> 00:20:20.220 yeah, I love this human first approach. I feel like, honestly, all of 338 00:20:20.220 --> 00:20:24.059 marketing is this way. Right? It's the human on the other side 339 00:20:24.059 --> 00:20:27.845 of the screen is the one gonna be making the decision. So we kinda gotta 340 00:20:27.845 --> 00:20:31.285 keep that in mind and also be strategic about it, which I 341 00:20:31.285 --> 00:20:35.125 love. So besides SEO, what are some of the ways that you promote 342 00:20:35.125 --> 00:20:38.885 the blog to increase traffic to the blog? So 343 00:20:38.885 --> 00:20:42.380 we are major fans of repurposing 344 00:20:42.919 --> 00:20:46.700 everything. So taking your blog, if you have an email list, 345 00:20:46.840 --> 00:20:50.519 getting it out to your email list, it can literally be as 346 00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:53.320 simple as, you know, every time you have one, you have a email template that 347 00:20:53.320 --> 00:20:56.184 you use that you either give, like, the main points of the blog or just 348 00:20:56.184 --> 00:21:00.025 like, hey. A new blog post is up. Put it out there. On 349 00:21:00.025 --> 00:21:03.385 social media, anything like Instagram, if it's an 350 00:21:03.385 --> 00:21:07.145 educational type post, almost doing like an Instagram carousel with 351 00:21:07.145 --> 00:21:10.940 just the main points of the post is great. It gets people kind of 352 00:21:10.940 --> 00:21:14.780 that, like, first little taste of it, and then it's as easy as just being 353 00:21:14.780 --> 00:21:18.540 like, if you wanna learn more about this or see everything, like, click the 354 00:21:18.540 --> 00:21:22.380 link in my bio to go read this week's post or whatever, it 355 00:21:22.380 --> 00:21:26.075 might be. Threads. I know threads is coming up. Literally 356 00:21:26.075 --> 00:21:29.595 copying and pasting, like, parts of the blog post on threads. I know we've started 357 00:21:29.595 --> 00:21:33.434 to do that a little bit, and it starts conversations. It gets people talking. It 358 00:21:33.434 --> 00:21:36.255 gets people to your site to kinda learn more and read more. 359 00:21:37.595 --> 00:21:41.010 We also have started using Pinterest more. So 360 00:21:41.230 --> 00:21:44.830 putting things on Pinterest using, we 361 00:21:44.830 --> 00:21:48.350 have created some, like, basically templates in Canva that we can 362 00:21:48.350 --> 00:21:52.030 kinda swap out to promote each blog post. And so having it out 363 00:21:52.030 --> 00:21:55.565 there with, you know, the keywords, some information about 364 00:21:55.565 --> 00:21:59.345 it in Pinterest and putting it out there can start to drive more traffic 365 00:21:59.645 --> 00:22:03.485 to your site and kind of hit. We kinda wanna think about everyone's gonna 366 00:22:03.485 --> 00:22:07.245 be using these platforms differently. Not everyone is gonna be using every single one. 367 00:22:07.245 --> 00:22:10.149 So the people on your email list are gonna be different than the people who 368 00:22:10.149 --> 00:22:13.990 follow you on Instagram versus threads versus TikTok versus people finding 369 00:22:13.990 --> 00:22:17.830 you on Pinterest. So kind of spreading it out and, like, putting 370 00:22:17.830 --> 00:22:21.590 it out there in different forms on every platform 371 00:22:21.590 --> 00:22:25.325 that you have can just kind of expand that reach so 372 00:22:25.325 --> 00:22:28.705 that you're not just completely missing an entire 373 00:22:28.845 --> 00:22:32.445 subset of your audience or of people who might be 374 00:22:32.445 --> 00:22:36.125 searching for it who aren't in your audience yet. If you 375 00:22:36.125 --> 00:22:39.620 do use, like, TikTok or even YouTube shorts 376 00:22:39.760 --> 00:22:43.440 or anything like that, literally taking pieces 377 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:46.960 of the blog post and just, like, face to 378 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:50.800 camera, saying it out loud, talking about it, and then, you know, 379 00:22:50.800 --> 00:22:53.060 being like, if you wanna learn more, like, go here. 380 00:22:54.405 --> 00:22:58.165 So that's kind of a a great way to do it. And, also, these all 381 00:22:58.165 --> 00:23:01.845 of these social media things can start to get you traffic to the post a 382 00:23:01.845 --> 00:23:05.365 little quicker while you wait 383 00:23:05.365 --> 00:23:09.029 for, you know, the SEO to kind of take effect and Google to kinda pick 384 00:23:09.029 --> 00:23:11.990 it up and it to start rank. So it's a great way to get eyes 385 00:23:11.990 --> 00:23:15.510 on it. The more eyes you get on it and the more Google sees people, 386 00:23:15.510 --> 00:23:19.110 like, constantly going to it too, it's gonna just boost your authority and Google might 387 00:23:19.110 --> 00:23:22.655 be like, okay. This is obviously something people want and, like 388 00:23:22.975 --> 00:23:26.655 and it's something that can be trusted. So, you know, we're more confident ranking 389 00:23:26.655 --> 00:23:30.495 it higher knowing that it's gonna be good information. So all 390 00:23:30.495 --> 00:23:34.090 of those kinda can work together, but, like, it takes no 391 00:23:34.090 --> 00:23:37.770 effort at all to take pieces of it and just copy and paste it or 392 00:23:37.770 --> 00:23:41.049 say it in front of a camera or, you know, reword it slightly and put 393 00:23:41.049 --> 00:23:44.890 it out on all of these different places. And I know sometimes we've had 394 00:23:44.890 --> 00:23:48.554 people be like, well, yeah, but what if people are seeing it, like, 7 different 395 00:23:48.554 --> 00:23:51.595 places? They're gonna get bored of my content and if they're constantly seeing the same 396 00:23:51.595 --> 00:23:55.434 thing. And my philosophy with that is if they're seeing it 397 00:23:55.434 --> 00:23:59.034 on your blog and Instagram and TikTok and your email list, 398 00:23:59.034 --> 00:24:02.250 like, they're obviously a fan of yours, and they're not gonna be mad that you're 399 00:24:02.250 --> 00:24:06.010 seeing they're seeing your face pop up or they're seeing your content. So 400 00:24:06.010 --> 00:24:09.770 it's not gonna affect you. Yeah. The super fans. I love that too because I'm 401 00:24:09.850 --> 00:24:13.455 I love repurposing. K? Like, if we work hard on this blog post, 402 00:24:13.615 --> 00:24:16.654 we're gonna share it out as much as possible because we want everyone to see 403 00:24:16.654 --> 00:24:20.335 it. And sometimes people see it once and they go, oh, yeah. I need 404 00:24:20.335 --> 00:24:24.174 to read that. And then, you know, life happens and they're suddenly on a 405 00:24:24.174 --> 00:24:27.960 different app or scrolling somewhere else or, like, chasing after their dog. And then they 406 00:24:27.960 --> 00:24:31.080 need to see it again to be reminded. Oh, yeah. I meant to read this 407 00:24:31.080 --> 00:24:34.840 blog post. Let me go read it. And so I love repurposing and 408 00:24:34.840 --> 00:24:37.960 the big brands do it too, so we can do it as well. But you 409 00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:41.795 mentioned this kind of, like, momentum that builds up. Right? We share 410 00:24:41.795 --> 00:24:45.315 it on social, we get the initial traffic, and then Google picks it up. So 411 00:24:45.315 --> 00:24:48.695 let's say all of that's happening and we're seeing the page views go up, 412 00:24:49.075 --> 00:24:52.835 how do we keep that going, once the post is 413 00:24:52.835 --> 00:24:56.630 published? So I think one of the biggest things is that 414 00:24:56.630 --> 00:25:00.390 it's not going to be just that singular post. So, like, it's 415 00:25:00.390 --> 00:25:04.170 the same thing as, you know, one of your TikTok videos being picked up. 416 00:25:04.230 --> 00:25:07.875 That can be great, but it's not gonna mean that your whole 417 00:25:07.875 --> 00:25:11.715 following is gonna change overnight. You're gonna you know, all of your 418 00:25:11.715 --> 00:25:14.675 videos are gonna be super successful and, like, you don't have to put any effort 419 00:25:14.675 --> 00:25:18.515 into anything, and they're all just gonna, like, skyrocket immediately. So 420 00:25:18.515 --> 00:25:22.010 part of it is going to be constantly putting out 421 00:25:22.010 --> 00:25:25.470 more content, new content that is valuable content. 422 00:25:25.929 --> 00:25:29.210 The more Google sees it, the more they're gonna trust you, see you as an 423 00:25:29.210 --> 00:25:32.670 authority. The more even, like, your regular website pages 424 00:25:32.975 --> 00:25:36.655 can start to rank. So it's not just people getting to your blog, it's 425 00:25:36.655 --> 00:25:40.415 people also getting to the other pages on your website, which is great. But when 426 00:25:40.415 --> 00:25:43.375 it comes to that specific post too, one of the other things that we've seen 427 00:25:43.375 --> 00:25:47.215 is going back to it and making sure that it stays 428 00:25:47.215 --> 00:25:50.660 updated. So, especially, if we're looking at anything 429 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:54.480 that is time relevant, anything that has to do with 430 00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:58.160 technology, anything that has to do with, like, buying 431 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:01.825 practices that might be changing over time, all of those 432 00:26:01.825 --> 00:26:05.585 things. You know, we can look at threads wasn't around, what, like, 433 00:26:05.585 --> 00:26:09.105 last year, but now it is, and that's a huge thing. So we 434 00:26:09.105 --> 00:26:12.865 wanna look at what we're actually putting 435 00:26:12.865 --> 00:26:16.650 out, making sure that the content is still relevant to whoever's gonna be landing on 436 00:26:16.870 --> 00:26:19.990 it today, because the last thing that we wanna do and what can actually start 437 00:26:19.990 --> 00:26:23.830 to hurt you is if you put something out, you never touch it. Someone gets 438 00:26:23.830 --> 00:26:27.270 to the post a year, year and a half later, and they're like, this is 439 00:26:27.270 --> 00:26:30.925 all completely useless. Like, this doesn't even exist anymore. There's something that's 440 00:26:30.925 --> 00:26:34.685 totally different. There's an entirely different way to do this 441 00:26:34.685 --> 00:26:38.445 now. So making sure that we're going back to the content, we're updating 442 00:26:38.445 --> 00:26:42.285 it, we're adding anything new that comes 443 00:26:42.285 --> 00:26:45.140 in, We're adding any new personal 444 00:26:45.679 --> 00:26:49.520 experiences or takes or anything like 445 00:26:49.520 --> 00:26:53.039 that. Google loves when you're like, I'm the expert at this. Here's 446 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:56.799 why. Here's, you know, what I've seen work. Here's what I've 447 00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:00.645 seen hasn't worked. Here's why I love doing this in a way that's 448 00:27:00.645 --> 00:27:04.245 still focused on informing the reader because we never wanna make our blog posts all 449 00:27:04.245 --> 00:27:07.625 about us or all about our clients. We want them to be informational, 450 00:27:07.685 --> 00:27:11.120 but making sure that they they stay 451 00:27:11.120 --> 00:27:14.660 updated and you're still consistently putting out content 452 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:19.040 throughout the duration of, you know, hopefully, the rest of your business. We would 453 00:27:19.040 --> 00:27:22.799 never suggest stop, like, just completely stop blogging. So, yeah, just 454 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:26.525 keep keep putting content out and Google will continue to to see you as 455 00:27:26.525 --> 00:27:30.365 someone who is putting out trusted information. My first thought when you're talking 456 00:27:30.365 --> 00:27:34.065 about this is, like, yes, I understand that this is important, and 457 00:27:34.445 --> 00:27:37.645 it sounds like a lot of work. Like, I don't know if it's just, like, 458 00:27:37.645 --> 00:27:40.529 the season of life that I'm in. But as soon as you said that, I 459 00:27:40.529 --> 00:27:43.809 was like, oh, man. I can already think of, like, 3 or 4 blog posts 460 00:27:43.809 --> 00:27:47.570 that I need to go and update now. And it sounds 461 00:27:47.570 --> 00:27:51.090 like a lot of work. Plus, I have this new thread series that we've just, 462 00:27:51.330 --> 00:27:54.985 determined I need to write. So with all of that in mind, how I'm 463 00:27:54.985 --> 00:27:58.505 kinda skipping around a little bit in my questions. But how do we stay 464 00:27:58.505 --> 00:28:02.345 consistent with blogging and with especially updating the 465 00:28:02.345 --> 00:28:06.105 blogs as you mentioned? So for updating the blogs, we actually recommend 466 00:28:06.105 --> 00:28:09.100 creating, like, your own sort of, like, spreadsheet on the back end so that you'll 467 00:28:09.100 --> 00:28:12.620 always know, like, when you publish posts, when they're, like, due to be updated. So 468 00:28:12.620 --> 00:28:15.680 we actually do this in Notion. We, like, love Notion. We use it for everything. 469 00:28:15.820 --> 00:28:18.460 But we just basically, every time we hit publish, it's just, like, kind of in 470 00:28:18.460 --> 00:28:21.806 our post publish process to go in there, add it in. We, like, categorize it 471 00:28:21.806 --> 00:28:24.522 and everything just so that we can have really cool views and kind of, like, 472 00:28:24.522 --> 00:28:27.237 sort things if needed, like, on the back end. And in there, we'll just kind 473 00:28:27.237 --> 00:28:29.953 of, like, put, like, a preliminary date for when we think that we should go 474 00:28:29.953 --> 00:28:32.669 and check it just so that we are kind of, like, keeping it top of 475 00:28:32.669 --> 00:28:35.570 mind. Do we always check the post to make sure they're updated? Now we're really 476 00:28:35.570 --> 00:28:38.770 busy with a lot of things. It's totally okay. If it's like, you know, a 477 00:28:38.770 --> 00:28:41.809 little bit longer than you planned on going looking at it. But just to make 478 00:28:41.809 --> 00:28:44.049 sure you are looking at them, you know, every once in a while just to 479 00:28:44.049 --> 00:28:47.429 make sure that they are working well. And if you really want to kind of 480 00:28:47.745 --> 00:28:50.145 decide if it's worth even looking at, if it's a post that's bringing a lot 481 00:28:50.145 --> 00:28:52.785 of traffic, then it's probably a little bit more worth looking at just to keep 482 00:28:52.785 --> 00:28:55.745 it updated than one that may be is like getting one page view or less 483 00:28:55.745 --> 00:28:58.945 like every month or something like that. So definitely trying to have like some sort 484 00:28:58.945 --> 00:29:02.650 of back end system will help a lot with that. Yeah. Okay. You 485 00:29:02.650 --> 00:29:06.330 mentioned traffic. That was gonna be my next question about, like, 486 00:29:06.330 --> 00:29:10.090 how do we tell if a blog post is working? Like, what are some 487 00:29:10.090 --> 00:29:13.130 of the metrics that you're looking at? How are you looking at these? Are you 488 00:29:13.130 --> 00:29:16.675 using Google Analytics? Like, I wanna know all the details. So, 489 00:29:16.675 --> 00:29:20.355 yes, if you do not have Google Analytics and Google Search 490 00:29:20.355 --> 00:29:24.035 Console set up, stop what you're doing right now and go set them 491 00:29:24.035 --> 00:29:27.795 up. It literally takes, like, 5 minutes. They're free, super easy, 492 00:29:27.795 --> 00:29:31.210 but it gives you so much information and 493 00:29:31.210 --> 00:29:34.810 details that can help you figure out what's working, what's not working, what's 494 00:29:34.810 --> 00:29:37.870 ranking, what's pulling in traffic, everything like that. So 495 00:29:38.570 --> 00:29:42.010 Google Analytics will give you an insane amount of 496 00:29:42.010 --> 00:29:45.835 information that can feel very overwhelming at times because you're like, I 497 00:29:45.835 --> 00:29:49.455 don't even know what all of this stuff means. Like, this is very overwhelming. 498 00:29:50.075 --> 00:29:53.675 One of the biggest things that we look at there is just your 499 00:29:53.675 --> 00:29:56.715 views. We kinda look at it over the past 30 days. So for our, 500 00:29:57.950 --> 00:30:01.230 monthly blogging clients, we'll track their analytics and kind of look at it over the 501 00:30:01.230 --> 00:30:04.830 past 30 days and see how it's growing as they start to get, you 502 00:30:04.830 --> 00:30:08.670 know, 4 or 5, 6 months into this when we start to kinda see those 503 00:30:08.670 --> 00:30:12.475 SEO metrics take off. So making sure that you're actually 504 00:30:12.475 --> 00:30:15.995 getting views and kind of seeing that grow 505 00:30:15.995 --> 00:30:19.675 month over month. Google search console is really great 506 00:30:19.675 --> 00:30:23.275 because it will give you your traffic specifically from 507 00:30:23.275 --> 00:30:26.940 Google search. So analytics will show you traffic from everywhere. 508 00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:29.720 It'll show you how many you know, you can look at how many page views 509 00:30:29.720 --> 00:30:33.400 a certain page or post on your site got, but that will be from 510 00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:37.100 every single source. So any links that you've sent out there, Pinterest, social media, 511 00:30:37.320 --> 00:30:40.745 Google, all of that. Google Search Console is going to 512 00:30:40.745 --> 00:30:44.505 be specifically the Google search page. So that 513 00:30:44.505 --> 00:30:48.025 gives you really valuable insight into, okay, how many 514 00:30:48.025 --> 00:30:51.725 people are actually clicking on my post from Google? 515 00:30:52.510 --> 00:30:56.130 Is this post working? Is this something that's catching people's eyes? 516 00:30:56.270 --> 00:30:59.730 That's another thing. We wanna make sure that, like, our titles, our meta descriptions 517 00:30:59.950 --> 00:31:03.790 aren't super boring or plain because if you think about your own 518 00:31:03.790 --> 00:31:07.455 habits on Google, if you see a really boring title and 519 00:31:07.455 --> 00:31:10.895 a really great title right next to each other, you're gonna click on that really 520 00:31:10.895 --> 00:31:14.495 great title. So seeing what posts are are kinda getting clicked 521 00:31:14.495 --> 00:31:18.335 on, which ones are performing really well, this is where kind of looking 522 00:31:18.335 --> 00:31:22.020 at those content series can come in. If you're like, wow. All of 523 00:31:22.020 --> 00:31:25.700 my posts about threads are doing really well. Maybe I should, you know, 524 00:31:25.700 --> 00:31:29.060 lean into that a little bit and start doing more of these posts on 525 00:31:29.060 --> 00:31:32.580 threads so that I can, you know, keep this traffic rolling 526 00:31:32.580 --> 00:31:36.040 in, answer more questions that people are having, all of that. 527 00:31:36.455 --> 00:31:40.055 And similarly, if things aren't performing as well, you can kinda look at it and 528 00:31:40.055 --> 00:31:43.735 be like, okay. Can I take a different approach to the next blog 529 00:31:43.735 --> 00:31:47.355 post that I write on this? Is there something different that I can say 530 00:31:47.495 --> 00:31:51.230 or a different way I can say it to maybe see if that changes 531 00:31:51.770 --> 00:31:55.450 the, you know, course of who's actually clicking on it, who's who's coming to the 532 00:31:55.450 --> 00:31:58.910 post, and see if that affects the traffic in any way. So 533 00:31:59.850 --> 00:32:03.635 both of those, like, 100%, do not 534 00:32:03.635 --> 00:32:06.855 skip out on on adding those in. And if you are 535 00:32:07.075 --> 00:32:10.675 a service based provider who is, you know, 536 00:32:10.675 --> 00:32:14.520 having people inquire with you on a contact form or anything like that, having a 537 00:32:14.520 --> 00:32:18.120 question that just says, where did you find me? And including, like, 538 00:32:18.120 --> 00:32:21.960 Google, SEO, blog, one of those all of those with, 539 00:32:21.960 --> 00:32:25.800 like, slashes in between, whatever, that's a great way to 540 00:32:25.800 --> 00:32:29.545 track that as well because sometimes we don't even realize that the people 541 00:32:29.545 --> 00:32:33.145 coming in are actually finding us from Google, and we're just 542 00:32:33.145 --> 00:32:36.905 completely missing out on being like, oh, wow. This is actually working because 543 00:32:36.905 --> 00:32:40.425 we're not asking the question. So asking that, like, very 544 00:32:40.425 --> 00:32:43.725 simple question can also give you kind of a little, like, 545 00:32:44.070 --> 00:32:47.909 confidence and the little push you need to be like, okay. We can we 546 00:32:47.909 --> 00:32:51.750 can definitely keep doing this. This is definitely working. Our clients always 547 00:32:51.750 --> 00:32:55.190 get super excited, and we'll message us and be like, I just had another person 548 00:32:55.190 --> 00:32:57.750 come in and say that they found me off this blog post. Like, this is 549 00:32:57.750 --> 00:33:00.805 so exciting. So it's definitely something that that makes 550 00:33:01.105 --> 00:33:04.625 blogging feel more worth it, because you see that, like, actual 551 00:33:04.625 --> 00:33:08.065 conversion of they landed on my blog post, they inquired with 552 00:33:08.065 --> 00:33:11.825 me. So definitely something we don't suggest skipping out on with 553 00:33:11.825 --> 00:33:15.450 that as well. Yes. Those little when people fill out the form and they're 554 00:33:15.450 --> 00:33:19.289 like, how did you find me? I'm always pleasantly surprised. Like, I know I 555 00:33:19.289 --> 00:33:22.890 shouldn't be, but I'm like, it's working. You know? Like, I 556 00:33:22.890 --> 00:33:26.585 love seeing people, like, I found you on Instagram or I googled you 557 00:33:26.585 --> 00:33:30.285 or, you know, my friend told me about whatever it is, I'm always like, yes. 558 00:33:31.705 --> 00:33:35.544 So I love that option too to, like, prompt people to say, how 559 00:33:35.544 --> 00:33:38.340 did you find me so that you could know that it's working. I love that. 560 00:33:38.820 --> 00:33:42.580 So speaking of what's working, what's not, has there 561 00:33:42.580 --> 00:33:46.360 ever been a time where something you tried with blogging, a strategy 562 00:33:46.659 --> 00:33:50.419 that you tried, didn't work as expected? And tell me about it. So one 563 00:33:50.419 --> 00:33:54.200 thing I will say, we tried this internally on our travel blog. 564 00:33:54.634 --> 00:33:58.475 We have never tried it on Inkplots blog or any 565 00:33:58.475 --> 00:34:02.235 of our clients' blogs. But when AI first came out, 566 00:34:02.235 --> 00:34:05.774 it, like, kind of exploded in the travel blogging 567 00:34:05.914 --> 00:34:09.659 side of things, like, almost a year before it started 568 00:34:09.659 --> 00:34:13.500 to kinda really pick up in the business world. And so we tried 569 00:34:13.500 --> 00:34:16.880 writing just like having AI write a post 570 00:34:17.099 --> 00:34:20.940 and just putting it out there to see what happened, and 571 00:34:20.940 --> 00:34:24.665 it did not work. It was it was not great, like, copying and pasting 572 00:34:24.805 --> 00:34:28.645 a post from chat TBT or I think at that point, we 573 00:34:28.645 --> 00:34:32.344 were using Jasper. Any of these AI tools, 574 00:34:32.645 --> 00:34:36.380 just copying and pasting, it's never gonna work. Google 575 00:34:36.380 --> 00:34:39.600 is getting better about picking out what's AI and what's not, and 576 00:34:39.820 --> 00:34:43.420 people are getting better at picking out what's AI and what's not. And that's 577 00:34:43.420 --> 00:34:47.020 really the kind of big point of 578 00:34:47.020 --> 00:34:50.800 that is we want to make sure that people aren't like, this was written by 579 00:34:51.295 --> 00:34:54.835 AI or a robot. And are there even any real thoughts in here? 580 00:34:54.975 --> 00:34:58.575 So I will say like, we even tried to optimize it with SEO when we 581 00:34:58.575 --> 00:35:02.255 like, we were like, add in keyword. No, it didn't work. It's 582 00:35:02.255 --> 00:35:05.615 never something we've tried on inkpot or our clients blogs, because they're like, this did 583 00:35:05.615 --> 00:35:09.340 not work on on this travel blog and, like, that's kind of our little 584 00:35:09.340 --> 00:35:12.780 guinea pig tester. So I would say 585 00:35:12.780 --> 00:35:16.540 avoid just having AI write an 586 00:35:16.540 --> 00:35:19.895 entire blog post for you. It is something 587 00:35:20.035 --> 00:35:23.815 that if you are struggling coming up with ideas 588 00:35:24.035 --> 00:35:27.715 or figuring out, you know, sometimes it'll help if you're 589 00:35:27.715 --> 00:35:31.329 just like, I'm really stuck, like, writing this introduction, having it help 590 00:35:31.329 --> 00:35:35.089 you kind of come up with ideas or formulate, you know, what you can say 591 00:35:35.089 --> 00:35:38.770 or anything like that. That can be, you know, helpful, especially as 592 00:35:38.770 --> 00:35:42.369 you're first starting out when you're like, I haven't written anything in years. And now 593 00:35:42.369 --> 00:35:45.835 I need to sit down and write, like, a 1,000 word blog post. Like, this 594 00:35:45.835 --> 00:35:49.055 feels super overwhelming. But, definitely, 595 00:35:49.595 --> 00:35:53.055 you wanna make sure that everything is your own 596 00:35:53.435 --> 00:35:57.160 words, your own content, your own thoughts. You 597 00:35:57.160 --> 00:36:00.760 have to remember that if you just are like, write me a blog post, it 598 00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:03.900 is gonna pull information from across the Internet, 599 00:36:04.440 --> 00:36:08.120 which means it's gonna pull stuff from other people's content. You're 600 00:36:08.120 --> 00:36:11.965 not getting your real thoughts in there. It might be, you know, some 601 00:36:11.965 --> 00:36:14.605 things that you would say anyway, but you wanna make sure that it's all your 602 00:36:14.605 --> 00:36:18.365 thoughts, your ideas, making sure that you're putting your own 603 00:36:18.365 --> 00:36:22.205 personal experience in there. That's what's gonna rank. That's what people are gonna 604 00:36:22.205 --> 00:36:25.380 connect with, and that's what's gonna keep them kind 605 00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:29.520 of sticking on your blog, sticking on your website, everything like 606 00:36:29.520 --> 00:36:33.300 that. But try and avoid using it to write the whole post. Repurposing, 607 00:36:33.680 --> 00:36:37.460 it can be, like, amazing. It can help you repurpose content 608 00:36:37.645 --> 00:36:41.485 so quickly because you can just be like, here is the blog post that 609 00:36:41.485 --> 00:36:45.245 I wrote, take this information and, like, shorten it into 610 00:36:45.245 --> 00:36:48.925 an Instagram carousel, caption or anything like that. Then it's 611 00:36:48.925 --> 00:36:52.480 taking your own words, your own content, and just shortening it. That's kind of a 612 00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:56.320 completely different thing. But starting from scratch, it did not work out. Yeah. 613 00:36:56.320 --> 00:37:00.160 I'm glad you mentioned AI because I do feel like and I talk about this 614 00:37:00.160 --> 00:37:03.600 all the time. It's the perception of AI that gets people 615 00:37:03.600 --> 00:37:07.335 excited. There's a perceived value in that. You know, I can just 616 00:37:07.335 --> 00:37:11.095 say, AI, chat GPT, write a blog post on, 617 00:37:11.095 --> 00:37:14.775 like, how to use threads for business, and it's just gonna, like, 618 00:37:14.775 --> 00:37:18.535 regurgitate what's already out there. And I already know the way that I do 619 00:37:18.535 --> 00:37:22.280 it is different than, you know, what's probably out there. And so 620 00:37:22.280 --> 00:37:25.880 I wouldn't do it that way, but I do love using it to be 621 00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:29.640 like, here are my thoughts on this blog post. What are 622 00:37:29.640 --> 00:37:33.320 some ways I can use this keyword in a title? And I 623 00:37:33.320 --> 00:37:36.555 almost never use what it gives me, but I'm like, oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This 624 00:37:36.555 --> 00:37:39.595 is a good idea. Let me run with this one and, like, take it farther. 625 00:37:39.595 --> 00:37:43.135 So I love using it as more of like a like a thought partner versus, 626 00:37:43.755 --> 00:37:47.515 write me an entire blog post because I'm so scared for the day 627 00:37:47.515 --> 00:37:50.620 when, like, we Google something and it's just all, like, regurgitated 628 00:37:51.160 --> 00:37:54.840 AI BS. Like, I really hope we never go there. Like, I love the 629 00:37:54.840 --> 00:37:58.540 personal stories. I love the insights, the anecdotes, 630 00:37:58.760 --> 00:38:01.845 the analogies that, like, AI just doesn't have that. 631 00:38:02.805 --> 00:38:06.405 So, yeah, I'm glad you mentioned it because I'm so passionate about, like, please don't 632 00:38:06.405 --> 00:38:09.145 copy and paste from chat GPT. We can tell. 633 00:38:11.365 --> 00:38:15.205 Oh my gosh. Okay. So, final 634 00:38:15.205 --> 00:38:18.850 question. How do you see blogging evolving 635 00:38:18.850 --> 00:38:22.390 over the next few years, especially considering this 636 00:38:22.450 --> 00:38:26.290 conversation of AI? And I'll also add in, I've been seeing people 637 00:38:26.290 --> 00:38:29.744 say lately that, ChatGPT has 638 00:38:29.744 --> 00:38:33.585 been recommending them as, like, you 639 00:38:33.585 --> 00:38:37.365 know, for services, which feels like it could be competitive 640 00:38:37.825 --> 00:38:41.424 to SEO. Or is there a way to optimize AI? Maybe that's another 641 00:38:41.424 --> 00:38:45.269 conversation. But how do you see blogging evolving over the 642 00:38:45.269 --> 00:38:49.109 next few years? I think the biggest thing with the 643 00:38:49.109 --> 00:38:52.950 rise of AI, we are going to see, funnily enough, 644 00:38:52.950 --> 00:38:55.690 a shift back into human 645 00:38:56.309 --> 00:38:59.555 focus, human first content. And I 646 00:38:59.775 --> 00:39:03.535 think it's been really cool. People have had a lot of fun, like, looking 647 00:39:03.535 --> 00:39:07.135 at it, playing around with it, you know, seeing the results pull up on 648 00:39:07.135 --> 00:39:10.974 Google, anything like that. But I think people are realizing 649 00:39:10.974 --> 00:39:13.714 that they really like the human to human connection, 650 00:39:15.130 --> 00:39:18.650 the stories and unique angles that people 651 00:39:18.650 --> 00:39:22.170 take. Like you said, if everyone's just saying the same exact thing, that's not really 652 00:39:22.170 --> 00:39:25.770 helpful to anyone. Like, we're not getting any thoughts out there. We're not getting any 653 00:39:25.770 --> 00:39:29.595 new ideas. So I think it's 654 00:39:29.975 --> 00:39:33.335 it's gonna shift back to, no. I want people to say something 655 00:39:33.335 --> 00:39:36.935 new. I want I want those hot takes. I want someone to 656 00:39:36.935 --> 00:39:40.695 connect with me. I don't want something to sound super robotic. Like, I 657 00:39:40.695 --> 00:39:44.430 want to hear someone's personality in their writing. I don't 658 00:39:44.430 --> 00:39:48.190 want something to sound super corporate. I wanna get to know you and 659 00:39:48.190 --> 00:39:51.869 your content and your ideas and what you do through your blog 660 00:39:51.869 --> 00:39:55.410 post, and I think those are the ones we're gonna see people gravitating towards. 661 00:39:55.950 --> 00:39:59.465 And, eventually, I feel like Google is gonna have to be like, okay. These are 662 00:39:59.465 --> 00:40:02.345 the ones we're gonna rank because these are the ones that people are clicking on. 663 00:40:02.345 --> 00:40:05.405 This is the content that, you know, the general public 664 00:40:05.865 --> 00:40:09.705 wants. And I know for a while we kinda saw this a 665 00:40:09.705 --> 00:40:13.440 little bit for a while. I don't know if anyone noticed, but, like, Reddit started 666 00:40:13.440 --> 00:40:17.200 showing up at the top of rankings in Google. And this was, like, 667 00:40:17.200 --> 00:40:21.040 a huge thing that Google did, has done, like, big updates over 668 00:40:21.040 --> 00:40:24.800 the past year. And Reddit started popping up to the top. Even if you 669 00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:28.545 didn't specifically search, like, Reddit, you'd ask a question and all of these different Reddit 670 00:40:28.545 --> 00:40:32.165 threads would come up. And part of it is that it's that 671 00:40:32.465 --> 00:40:36.145 actual, like, human people saying their opinions and being 672 00:40:36.145 --> 00:40:39.825 like, this is my experience. This is I what I think. Here's my 673 00:40:39.825 --> 00:40:43.210 opinion on it. So I think we're gonna continue to see that 674 00:40:43.210 --> 00:40:47.049 people are more and more lenient into, like, no. I wanna hear unique opinions. I 675 00:40:47.049 --> 00:40:50.730 don't wanna hear something that I can go into chat GPT myself 676 00:40:50.730 --> 00:40:54.410 and say, hey. How do I write a blog post? It's gonna give me 677 00:40:54.410 --> 00:40:58.065 information. I wanna know your secrets, your tips, your 678 00:40:58.065 --> 00:41:01.525 hot takes, and that's the information that I'm gonna consume. Yes. 679 00:41:01.825 --> 00:41:05.425 I love I mean, honestly, that's why I love Reddit too. It's like, I 680 00:41:05.425 --> 00:41:09.265 don't want, like, a generic piece of advice. I wanna, 681 00:41:09.265 --> 00:41:12.484 like, hear a story about someone else's experience. 682 00:41:14.840 --> 00:41:18.680 And, also, it feels less like less like someone's trying to sell 683 00:41:18.680 --> 00:41:22.440 you something when it's when it's a personal experience. Right? I think this just 684 00:41:22.440 --> 00:41:25.880 goes for anything. Would you, you know, buy something directly from a 685 00:41:25.880 --> 00:41:29.725 billboard, or would you just ask your friend, like, hey. What hairstylist do you 686 00:41:29.725 --> 00:41:33.505 use? You know? And so I feel like there is something to that, like, 687 00:41:34.045 --> 00:41:37.805 casualness and personal experience that really can can 688 00:41:37.805 --> 00:41:41.270 make the difference. So I'm excited about the future of blogging. I love the diary 689 00:41:41.270 --> 00:41:45.030 blogs, by the way. I love being nosy. Give give it give it 690 00:41:45.030 --> 00:41:47.910 all to me. I love it. So I'm really excited about that. Okay. So you 691 00:41:47.910 --> 00:41:50.950 have a freebie. For those people who are listening, who are like, yes, I'm here 692 00:41:50.950 --> 00:41:54.790 for blogging. Where do I start? You have, free blog post ideas. 693 00:41:54.790 --> 00:41:58.035 Tell us about it. So this is a 123 694 00:41:58.575 --> 00:42:02.335 blog post ideas for creatives to kinda get you started, get the 695 00:42:02.335 --> 00:42:06.015 juices flowing. I know that's normally the part that, you know, 696 00:42:06.015 --> 00:42:08.495 we've seen our own clients. They're like, this is great, but I just don't know 697 00:42:08.495 --> 00:42:11.925 where to start. I don't know what to write on. I don't know what people 698 00:42:11.925 --> 00:42:15.468 wanna see. So this is kind of your way to be like, okay. Look at 699 00:42:15.468 --> 00:42:19.012 all of these topics that you can write about. Like, people are looking for this 700 00:42:19.012 --> 00:42:22.556 stuff. Take this, put your own spins on it, kind of apply it to your 701 00:42:22.556 --> 00:42:26.385 own industries, and and take the content however you know, whatever direction 702 00:42:26.385 --> 00:42:29.424 you wanna go in it. But it's really a way to get the ball rolling 703 00:42:29.424 --> 00:42:33.025 and get you writing because when it comes down to it, the sooner you 704 00:42:33.025 --> 00:42:36.385 start writing and publishing posts, the sooner it can get picked up by Google, the 705 00:42:36.385 --> 00:42:39.910 sooner it can start ranking. So we're always big advocates of just, 706 00:42:39.910 --> 00:42:43.590 like, get started, get writing. It's gonna feel 707 00:42:43.590 --> 00:42:47.270 awkward at first, but it'll get more and more comfortable. You'll get faster and 708 00:42:47.270 --> 00:42:50.550 faster at writing content. And at the end of the day, this is stuff that 709 00:42:50.550 --> 00:42:54.325 you're probably talking about on a daily basis. This is services 710 00:42:54.325 --> 00:42:57.765 that you provide on a daily basis, things that you're doing on a daily 711 00:42:57.765 --> 00:43:01.365 basis. So you're just writing about things that you're an 712 00:43:01.365 --> 00:43:05.125 expert on. It's gonna take you no time at all. You already know the answers 713 00:43:05.125 --> 00:43:08.440 to all the questions. You're just writing it down on a page. So this will 714 00:43:08.440 --> 00:43:12.200 get you going, get you started, give you ideas so you can kinda run with 715 00:43:12.200 --> 00:43:15.800 it, and finally start blogging consistently. Yes. 716 00:43:15.800 --> 00:43:19.020 Okay. Y'all grab this link. I'm putting it in the show notes right now, onlinerea.com/ 717 00:43:21.135 --> 00:43:24.975 323. Jesse, KP, thank you so much for 718 00:43:24.975 --> 00:43:28.335 being on the podcast today. Thanks so much for having us. Yes. And thank you, 719 00:43:28.335 --> 00:43:32.015 dear listener. Before you go, I do have to tell you, I am speaking at 720 00:43:32.015 --> 00:43:34.435 the High End Wedding Summit, which is hosted 721 00:43:36.030 --> 00:43:39.730 by Jesse and KB of Inkpot Creative. If you are 722 00:43:39.870 --> 00:43:43.170 a wedding photographer, this event is for you specifically 723 00:43:43.870 --> 00:43:47.535 if you wanna break into the luxury market. So join us 724 00:43:47.535 --> 00:43:51.295 for the high end wedding summit to learn all about how to hone in 725 00:43:51.295 --> 00:43:55.135 your branding, market your services, and master your 726 00:43:55.135 --> 00:43:58.275 back end systems to attract more high end wedding clients. 727 00:43:58.655 --> 00:44:02.440 And I am doing a special session all about 728 00:44:02.440 --> 00:44:06.119 how to use the power of video to do so. Even 729 00:44:06.119 --> 00:44:09.260 if you're not a videographer actually, especially if you're not a videographer, 730 00:44:09.799 --> 00:44:13.480 this session is for you. And the best part about this 731 00:44:13.480 --> 00:44:17.055 event is that it's completely free. I'll put that link in the show notes as 732 00:44:17.055 --> 00:44:20.415 well. And as always, if you're listening to this podcast, make sure you give us 733 00:44:20.415 --> 00:44:24.255 a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Helps keep us 734 00:44:24.255 --> 00:44:27.695 in the top 100 marketing podcasts, and that's all because of your 735 00:44:27.695 --> 00:44:31.330 support. I'll be back at you soon with another episode. Next 736 00:44:31.330 --> 00:44:35.089 week, we're talking all about podcast pitching, so stay tuned 737 00:44:35.089 --> 00:44:37.190 for that. I'll see you then. Bye.