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Improve Your Performance with Callout Extensions ‰ÛÒ Felice Ayling ‰ÛÒ Internet Marketing Podcast #271

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åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ åÊ In this week‰Ûªs Internet Marketing Podcast Andy talks to Felice Ayling, Digital Content Account Director at SiteVisibility, about Google‰Ûªs introduction of callout extensions for paid search ads. They first go through what they are and how they can improve the effectiveness of an ad. She notes how it can set a business apart from others as it can illustrate special offers that are running, therefore attracting people to click on that ad rather than another. Finally they go through the different ways they can be utilised.
Google guide to Callout Extensions
Post from Apple Pie & Custard blog by SiteVisibility – An SEO AgencyImprove Your Performance with Callout Extensions ‰ÛÒ Felice Ayling ‰ÛÒ Internet Marketing Podcast #271

How We Built Our Careers Online (And What You Can Learn From It)

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In this episode of The Lede, Demian Farnworth and I share some of our personal stories of success and failure online, in the hopes of inspiring you and educating you (but mostly inspiring you).
The two biggest concerns for the average blogger are obscurity and sustainability.
In other words ‰Û_ for the vast majority of us who set sail creating content online, we want to first develop an audience; and then, once we have an audience, we want to find a way to earn a living from our content.
The first concern can feel daunting enough, because building an audience isn‰Ûªt easy.
The second concern can feel damn near impossible ‰ÛÓ because despite countless examples of people who have done it, sometimes we struggle to see ourselves succeeding in the same way.
Which is silly.
So long as you‰Ûªre willing to take pride in working hard and have a humble heart and mind when it comes to learning from the people who have already done it, you can achieve sustained success online.
Because if we‰Ûªre here hosting a successful podcast like The Lede for a company as strong as Copyblogger Media, then there really isn‰Ûªt any reason why you can‰Ûªt find your path to online success too.
In this episode, Demian Farnworth and I discuss:

  • Our personal stories of success and failure online
  • How to overcome obscurity
  • The scariest part of starting an online business (and how to conquer it)
  • The importance of building an audience that builds your business
  • If we could go back in time 10 or 15 years, knowing what we know now, what would we do differently?
  • What you need to know to start your online business
  • Why many online business models aren‰Ûªt sustainable
  • Demian‰Ûªs one critical piece of advice for anyone just starting an online business

Listen to The Lede below …
React to The Lede ‰Û_
As always, we appreciate your reaction to episodes of The Lede and feedback about how we‰Ûªre doing.
Send us a tweet with your thoughts anytime: @JerodMorris and @DemianFarnworth.
And please tell us the most important point you took away from this latest episode. Do so by joining the discussion over at Google+.
The Show Notes

The Lede is brought to you by Authority Rainmaker, the live event that will help you accelerate your business with an integrated content, search, and social media marketing experience. The Transcript
Please note that this transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and grammar.
The Lede Podcast: How We Built Our Careers Online (And What You Can Learn From It)
Jerod Morris: Welcome back to The Lede, a podcast about content marketing by Copyblogger Media. I‰Ûªm your host, Jerod Morris.
On Monday, November 17, we published a post on Copyblogger titled ‰ÛÏWhat You Need to Know to Make a Living as a Blogger Right Now.‰Û It was written by Demian Farnworth.
In the post, Demian highlights the two biggest concerns for the average blogger: obscurity and sustainability.
In other words, for the vast majority of us who set sail creating content online, we want to first develop an audience, and then once we have an audience, we want to find a way to earn a living from our content.
The first concern can feel daunting enough, because building an audience isn‰Ûªt easy.
The second concern can feel damn near impossible because despite countless examples of people who have done it ‰ÛÓ who have built successful, thriving businesses around their online content ‰ÛÓ sometimes we struggle to see ourselves succeeding in the same way.
Which is silly.
So long as you‰Ûªre willing to take pride in working hard, and have a humble heart and mind when it comes to learning from the people who have already done it, you can build an audience that drives a sustainable online business.
There is, of course, a sustainability road map.
It‰Ûªs what Brian Clark and Robert Bruce chart for you in the free New Rainmaker training course that you will find at newrainmaker.com/register.
Go ahead and get started with the two-week course if you aren‰Ûªt one of the 25,000-plus people who have taken it already.
Our personal stories of success and failure online
In this episode of The Lede, Demian Farnworth and I are going to share some of our personal stories of success and failure online in the hopes of inspiring you and educating you.
But mostly inspiring you, because if we‰Ûªre here hosting a successful podcast like The Lede for a company as strong as Copyblogger Media, then there really isn‰Ûªt any reason why you can‰Ûªt find your path to online success too.
Demian, you love your job, at least based on all of my interactions with you. You seem to love your job. You get to dive deep into work that you really love without having to sacrifice time with your lovely wife and your two incredible kids.
I would say that you have found a way to overcome the obscurity and sustainability concerns you wrote about in your most recent post. How did you get here, and what role did your personal blog, Copybot, play in it?
Demian Farnworth: That‰Ûªs a great question. Copybot was my business card, and that‰Ûªs kind of lame, but really: it‰Ûªs the place, it‰Ûªs the hub, it‰Ûªs the place to point people.
It‰Ûªs also my book, and it‰Ûªs everything that I need to create visibility, both in the search engines and just the social sphere.
When I quit the corporate world and said I was going to work for myself, I knew that I needed a website, and so I started writing that website, and that allowed me to work through a lot of content that I had created in my mind.
When I was looking for guest writing and freelancing opportunities, I needed somewhere to point people back to ‰ÛÓ a body of work.
That‰Ûªs exactly what Copybot allowed me to do, and that‰Ûªs the purpose that it serves. That‰Ûªs the body of work that I‰Ûªve created.
It‰Ûªs my portfolio. It‰Ûªs my resume.
How to overcome obscurity
Jerod: So putting the content out there, creating these posts on Copybot, that kind of got you started with the whole overcoming-the-obscurity part that you talked about in your post.
And then you talked about going out and guest posting using Copybot as that reference. How did you then go from overcoming the obscurity concern, getting the audience, and then to a point of sustainability?
You‰Ûªre not on your own anymore, but you have a career now that you built on your own. How did you get there?
Demian: I tell everybody I talk to that we all start at the bottom, and I certainly started at the bottom.
I had some connections, but I wasn‰Ûªt on anybody‰Ûªs radar as ‰ÛÏThis is someone you should hire; this is someone who‰Ûªs doing things.‰Û
There‰Ûªs not a day that goes by now when I don‰Ûªt get an email or some sort of response in the social sphere where someone asks to interview me or wants advice, or wants me to guest write.
Clearly, I started out with none of that, and I started out with nobody knowing, virtually, who I was. And so there‰Ûªs no secret.
This is kind of lame, but it was just simply putting one foot in front of the other and consistently creating that body of work, and reaching out, and creating that work that people admire.
Creating work, like you said, guest posting.
That‰Ûªs first and foremost one of the best ways in order to expand your visibility, to increase your visibility, and the other thing, too, is to write things about other people that challenges what they say.
There might be some influencer in your industry who you don‰Ûªt agree with, and so if you do that respectfully in a meaningful, articulate, and powerful way, then people are going to pay attention to that and you‰Ûªll get on their radar.
It‰Ûªs not a flash-in-the-pan type of thing either. You have to do it consistently.
It‰Ûªs better to be on a slow burn than it is to be firing out with all cylinders and all cannons blazing and stuff like that.
Because a fast rise usually precipitates a fast fall, too ‰ÛÓ you want a slow, steady burn.
Jerod: Your story is compelling to me especially ‰ÛÓ and also our audience ‰ÛÓ because I think your story in particular is closer to what most of our audience experiences than perhaps mine.
I didn‰Ûªt have the corporate job first, haven‰Ûªt had a family, so I‰Ûªve been able to make a lot of decisions just based on what was best for me in the moment.
You did all of this with a family, having that job, being a little bit more settled.
What I‰Ûªm curious about, and I think the point that a lot of our listeners, a lot of our audience members get to, and people that I‰Ûªve talked to get to when they get to the sustainability concern is that moment of fear, the moment of trepidation, being able to take that leap of faith.
What was your scariest moment? What was that moment of trepidation for you, and how did you overcome it?
The scariest part of starting an online business (and how to conquer it)
Demian: That‰Ûªs a great question. My scariest moment was the morning after I had turned in my two-weeks notice, because I had nothing else planned, with no job lined up.
I would not recommend anybody do this.
But it came down to points like ‰ÛÓ no, I‰Ûªll let God worry about the future, I need to worry about today, right here. And so I did that, and that was definitely the scariest part.
I had lunch with Jeff Goins a couple of weeks ago, and he and I were talking about that sort of moment, and he had a much better approach.
He actually built the business while he still had a firm, steady job, and he had a wife, and I believe they had a young one at this time.
He had those family concerns, but he built the audience, and then he built the business behind it.
He sold the products that made him a lot of money, and he finally got to the point where he thought ‰ÛÏI can do this.‰Û
He will tell you he‰Ûªs very conservative, and he had way more money than he needed, if there‰Ûªs such a thing, but he was definitely in a position to say, ‰ÛÏHey, I‰Ûªm ready to make this move.‰Û
I took that leap partly because that‰Ûªs just my personality. To be honest, I don‰Ûªt do anything unless my back is up against the wall.
I‰Ûªm lazy, I‰Ûªm passive, and yes, I do have self-discipline. I can keep a job, and I‰Ûªm loyal to that job, but at the same time, if I need to make a dramatic change in my life, I will.
If I had not made that move, I would not be here.
I would still be stuck in a dead-end job, just moping along, continuing to do the daily grind without the opportunities that I have now.
Despite the pain that I went through, I‰Ûªm glad I did it. I would never wish or recommend anybody to do it, because there is a better way to do it. However, like I said, I don‰Ûªt regret that moment.
The importance of building an audience that builds your business
Jerod: I think it‰Ûªs important to understand, too, that everybody who has succeeded online, going through this process of building an audience, then building a business around that audience, has their own individual story.
A lot of people have your story, where their backs were against the wall for some reason, or they hated what they were doing, and this almost felt like the only way out, or they had to do it.
But it‰Ûªs not necessarily always some act of desperation.
Demian: Right.
Jerod: I talked about this in the intro ‰ÛÓ that there is a road map for success doing this. So many people now have succeeded doing it in different ways, with different audiences, for different reasons.
What is the through-line of success, then, for the people who succeed online?
Because ultimately, there are people behind audiences, and behind the businesses that they build.
While everybody has their own story, for people listening and maybe they‰Ûªre trying to think about if this is the path for them, or maybe they‰Ûªre at that moment of trepidation themselves, what should they look at in themselves to say, ‰ÛÏOkay, if you have this, if you can do this, then you will succeed.‰Û
Demian: The best way to answer is probably to talk about how I learned a lot about myself when I went to work for myself. Because within the first eight months, I realized that I did not want to do this.
I did not like working for myself. I thought I would; I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for someone who‰Ûªs an introvert and who manages themselves well.
Like I said, I am driven and I have initiative, but about eight months in, I was like ‰ÛÏI need to find a job.‰Û I already had the structure, but I realized I didn‰Ûªt want to build a business.
However, back to Jeff Goins. I‰Ûªm impressed with him because he had that desire and that drive, and the ability to build that business.
He built the audience, and then his business is basically the membership model with the training courses, so that‰Ûªs working incredibly well for him.
You have to find out who you are and what you want. You have that drive to build something like a business, and that‰Ûªs the path you follow.
Even those people who have built full careers, rather than just businesses ‰ÛÓ Chris Brogan, Seth Godin, those guys ‰ÛÓ they, again, built audiences and then they built the businesses behind them.
It just begins with going from that point of obscurity, getting the visibility, building the audience, and then figuring out how to monetize that.
Conventional methods for monetization are advertising or affiliate marketing, and there are people who are quite successful at affiliate marketing.
I think those are channels and streams of revenue, but they probably shouldn‰Ûªt be your sole method.
You would also want to have memberships, forums, training courses, ebooks, and resources. Maybe also do some consultancy at the same time.
Jerod: We talked about this on our editorial call yesterday, actually. And I‰Ûªm curious to bring this part of the conversation to the listeners.
If we could go back in time 10 or 15 years, knowing what we know now, what would we do differently?
I think Robert asked, ‰ÛÏIf you could go back in time 10 or 15 years, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?‰Û
Demian: That‰Ûªs a good question. I really wasn‰Ûªt sure how to answer that yesterday, but I‰Ûªve given some more time and thought to it.
I wouldn‰Ûªt go down the corporate path. I would have realized that I‰Ûªm a maverick and I need to find environments that allow that to be my strength, which Copyblogger does.
I probably would have paid more attention to the Internet, of course, because I paid zero attention until probably the year 2001. What about you? What would you do differently?
Jerod: That‰Ûªs a great question. Like you, I didn‰Ûªt know how to answer it when he asked it, but I‰Ûªve spent some time thinking about it.
Ten years ago, just like you, I wasn‰Ûªt really paying attention to the Internet.
I love where I am now, and if you had told me then that I‰Ûªd be where I am now, I‰Ûªd have said, ‰ÛÏYou‰Ûªre crazy,‰Û because it‰Ûªs been such a zig-zaggey, roller-coastery ride here that couldn‰Ûªt have really been predicted.
I would make the conscious choice that this is where I wanted to be, and I think I‰Ûªd do more to get here faster and to be even further.
Part of that would involve some of the blogging projects I had before, like the sports blog that I had; I‰Ûªd do that in a much smarter way.
I‰Ûªve talked about this before ‰ÛÓ that kind of flying by the seat of my pants, loving the part of creating content, and enjoying getting traffic, all that was great.
And Midwest Sports Fans generates a lot of revenue, which led to the development of Synthesis.
A lot of positives came out of it, but I didn‰Ûªt even understand the first part about building an audience.
That site was pretty much obscure a week after a big post if there wasn‰Ûªt something daily on there because I wasn‰Ûªt building content assets, right?
It was pretty much the opposite of the Copyblogger model, but I think all of that effort that I put in there early on was so valuable just in terms of learning about content creation and some of the basics.
If I had been smarter then about actually building an audience, building an email list, and building an asset with that, I mean ‰ÛÓ I shudder to think what that could be now, as valuable as the experience I actually had was.
Demian: Tell me if you think differently, but for me for some reason, that question too, ‰ÛÏWhat would you do differently 10 to 15 years ago if you knew what you knew today?‰Û ‰Û_ I always have trouble with that question.
I think I would not engineer it any differently because, for me, it‰Ûªs part of the fun. It‰Ûªs like learning about yourself, right?
That wisdom, that experience, that suffering, the trials and tribulations that you go through. Maybe I‰Ûªm just sadistic, but I enjoy that because it‰Ûªs a learning process, and it‰Ûªs an experiment for me, too.
Both you and I probably think a lot alike in that sense, and I think this is true for a lot of us at Copyblogger. We may not be entrepreneurs, but we have that spirit within us that we want to try something new, we want to try a new initiative.
We‰Ûªre never short of ideas, and we‰Ûªre always kind of pushing the envelope and saying, ‰ÛÏHey, what can we do next? How can we do that?‰Û Which, again, is a great opportunity.
I wouldn‰Ûªt give up the experiences that I went through 10 years ago. Because ultimately what we want is to speed up where we‰Ûªre at.
We always want that shortcut. But is that fair?
What you need to know to start your online business
Jerod: Here‰Ûªs the other question I wanted to ask you: what advice would you give to someone listening now?
Someone who reads Copyblogger, who listens to this podcast, who knows that they want to create content, but maybe doesn‰Ûªt have the perfect vision or plan for what they want to do yet.
Why should he or she get out there anyway? Ten years ago, we couldn‰Ûªt have really predicted that we‰Ûªd be where we are now, and I think that‰Ûªs true for a lot of people in this day and age.
And that‰Ûªs okay.
Even when you start out online, where you end up online may be completely different from where you started.
Starting out as a sports blogger, ending up at Copyblogger. You can‰Ûªt really predict that.
What advice would you give to somebody who‰Ûªs teetering on that line between ‰ÛÏShould I do it? Should I not? I don‰Ûªt really have that perfect plan yet.‰Û
Why should that person do it anyway? Or should they?
Demian: You don‰Ûªt need the perfect plan.
I was just talking to a good friend who‰Ûªs kind of branching out on his own. He was saying: ‰ÛÏHere is my tagline. This is going to be my unique selling preposition.‰Û
He had four or five, and I said, ‰ÛÏListen. All those are great. Choose one, move forward, because it will change.‰Û It will evolve over time because as you experiment, as you get out there and you do things, it will change.
You will say, ‰ÛÏOkay, that‰Ûªs not working, but some people seem to want to go this way.‰Û
The question you have to answer, though, is: ‰ÛÏDo you have the passion, the energy to sustain this long-term?‰Û
If it‰Ûªs something that you‰Ûªre considering, it might be a good hobby but if you think ‰ÛÏJeez, I‰Ûªll exhaust this in 30 days,‰Û then it‰Ûªs probably not a good business idea.
Because the one thing that you have to have is that energy to say, ‰ÛÏI want to do this. I want to make this happen. I can see myself spending the rest of my life, at least for the next decade and a half or whatever, doing this.‰Û
You‰Ûªll need that because the first two years, you‰Ûªre going to feel like you‰Ûªre alone.
You need to have that belief and that vision to accomplish what you can, and to sustain it until you get to the point where you have an audience that you can then monetize, that you can then leverage into work, whether it‰Ûªs for yourself or with another company.
Jerod: Yeah, it‰Ûªs interesting. Tell me if you agree with this, but I feel like a lot of times people‰Ûªs perceptions get flipped about what it‰Ûªs like to create success online.
I think people think that it will be easy in the sense that it doesn‰Ûªt require as much work, but they also may be intimidated because the technology part is hard.
I actually think it‰Ûªs the opposite.
Like I talked about: The road map is there, right?
The New Rainmaker training course is one example of a road map that shows you how to get to that point of sustainability.
So many other people have charted that course ‰ÛÓ that part is actually simple.
But I think it‰Ûªs the other part: the daily grind, to use that term. And just like you said, the passion to do it consistently over time. That‰Ûªs really the harder part, where more people fail.
But it doesn‰Ûªt have to be if you have mentors and study the examples of others. Do you find that, too? Do you agree with that?
Why many online business models aren‰Ûªt sustainable
Demian: I do, and I think your experience is a great example with the Midwest Sports. You had a quick rise to success and fame, but did you have the long-term sustainability?
Because it is hard work.
That‰Ûªs the truth. And for me, it is a lot harder because once you have the visibility and people are looking at you, there‰Ûªs a lot more pressure in order to perform.
My biggest fear is that I will become stale, I will become routine, I will become predictable. And I don‰Ûªt want to do that.
For me it‰Ûªs always constant ‰ÛÓ I want to beat everything I‰Ûªve done previously. And that‰Ûªs a lesson that I learned.
I remember I waited tables for about six months. I was absolutely terrible at it. But I got great advice from a server who was really good.
He said, ‰ÛÏYou‰Ûªre only as good as your last table.‰Û
Whatever he meant by that, which I‰Ûªm not 100 percent sure, but I interpreted it, the young, impressionable 21-year-old I was, as: ‰ÛÏYou have to continually improve and beat each time. Each table is an opportunity to excel from what you did last time.‰Û
That‰Ûªs the pressure that I‰Ûªm on now, and so when I come to a piece of work, again, I deal with that procrastination of thinking, ‰ÛÏShoot. How am I going to make this the best thing that I‰Ûªve ever created?‰Û
There‰Ûªs a lot more pressure because a lot more people are looking at you and expecting things from you.
Jerod: It‰Ûªs funny, thinking back. Midwest Sports Fans are still going today, although I‰Ûªm not active on it on a daily basis. It‰Ûªs funny. The passion, the excitement, was never the problem.
I always woke up excited to create content. What eventually killed it, though, was having such a poor strategy where you essentially start over every day.
One of the reasons why that strategy was poor is because I didn‰Ûªt have enough humility. I thought I had all the answers, and thought, ‰ÛÏOkay, this is working. I don‰Ûªt really need to study and figure out the next step. This is working; let me just keep doing it.‰Û
Eventually the flame started to flicker out a little bit because it‰Ûªs like, ‰ÛÏMan, it‰Ûªs the same thing all the time.‰Û
If you‰Ûªre not actually building an audience and building assets with your content, then you‰Ûªre just like a hamster on a wheel.
Every day you start over just trying to drive traffic for the page view based ad revenue, which is a model, but that can kill that passion too.
I think long-term you really want to study the successful models and figure out a way to build assets that aren‰Ûªt just going to lose value the next day.
Because that will kill your passion. That‰Ûªll kill your excitement for it.
Demian‰Ûªs one critical piece of advice for anyone just starting an online business
Demian: Right. Right.
Jerod: Well Demian, this has been fascinating. I love talking with you about your history, your path, your journey.
Which is why we wanted to take a little break from doing the series that we‰Ûªve been doing on The Lede and have a more personal episode that talks about our experiences.
Hopefully we‰Ûªll hear some of your stories in the comments on Google+ or Twitter.
Or email us: Jerod [at] copyblogger [dot] com or Demian [at] copyblogger [dot] com.
Tell us your story. Because they‰Ûªre interesting, and we love hearing them.
Although we all have our own individual stories, there are a lot of through-points that we all experience, that we can relate to and help each other out with.
Always a fun conversation, Mr. Farnworth.
Demian: Thank you. I appreciate it.
I‰Ûªll just end with this: I‰Ûªm always really kind of surprised and I‰Ûªm always humbled when someone says, ‰ÛÏYou‰Ûªve inspired me,‰Û or I get an e-mail of encouragement.
To me, that‰Ûªs how I know what I‰Ûªm doing is working.
I‰Ûªve been given ‰ÛÓ we‰Ûªve all been given ‰ÛÓ a talent. Something to do.
I think the best response to that talent, which I consider a gift, is to become the best you can absolutely be at that and that alone.
They‰Ûªll be ups and downs.
The point is, just be grateful for whatever attention you get. Because, ultimately, ‰ÛÏI have so many followers on Twitter‰Û is not what count. What counts is the lives you touch and the relationships you form, if that makes sense.
Be grateful for whatever you get. Always be grateful. That‰Ûªs helped me enormously.
Jerod: Great final thought to end on, Demian. Thank you.
Demian: You bet.
Jerod: We‰Ûªll talk in a couple of weeks and get another series started.
Demian: Sounds good.
Jerod: All right, man. Bye.
Demian: Bye.
Jerod: Thank you, everybody, for tuning in to this episode of The Lede.
If you enjoyed this episode, and if you like what you‰Ûªve been hearing from us on The Lede, please consider giving the show a rating or a review on iTunes. We would greatly appreciate it.
And don‰Ûªt forget that you can listen to The Lede on Stitcher as well: Just go to copyblogger.com/stitcher and it will redirect you to The Lede page on Stitcher.
Thank you again for listening. We will be back in a couple of weeks with another new episode of The Lede. Talk to you soon, everybody.
# # #

*Credits: Both the intro (‰ÛÏBridge to Nowhere‰Û by Sam Roberts Band) and outro songs (‰ÛÏDown in the Valley‰Û by The Head and the Heart) are graciously provided by express written consent from the rights owners.
The post How We Built Our Careers Online (And What You Can Learn From It) appeared first on The Digital Marketing Podcast Network.

Search – Social – Press Releases – And CYBER MONDAY!

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Today I (David Brown) will be speaking with JoeåÊBeaulaurier of WhatcomMarketing.com about his recently published blog post “And Again, The Press Release is Dead.” Among other things we’re going to have some Black Friday / Cyber Monday… Cyber Tuesday(?) chat. And really… anything else is fair game as Ryan and Fabio are playing hooky today.åÊ

Getting on TV News ‰ÛÒ Geoff White ‰ÛÒ Internet Marketing Podcast #272

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In this week‰Ûªs Internet Marketing Podcast Andy talks to Geoff White, echnology Journalist for Channel 4 News, about the importance of TV news. Geoff first talks about the way the news industry is evolving and the mutual reshuffling between TV, PR and the web. He then discusses the difficulty of getting onto the news and gives some advice for businesses and PR companies to get their stories onto the TV news.
Post from Apple Pie & Custard blog by SiteVisibility – An SEO AgencyGetting on TV News ‰ÛÒ Geoff White ‰ÛÒ Internet Marketing Podcast #272

The Most Important Lessons You Should Have Learned in 2014

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On this episode of The Lede, Demian Farnworth and I spend a little time purposefully reflecting on 2014 and the most important lessons we will carry forward with us into 2015.
For so many of us, the end of every year revolves around holiday celebrations and spending quality time with friends and family. As it should.
But the end of the year is also a time for purposeful reflection ‰ÛÓ for considering the successes and failures of the year gone by, and for making sure that lessons have been learned and that plans are in place to hit the ground running in the new year.
In this episode, Demian Farnworth and I discuss:

  • The impact of Google killing Authorship
  • Predictions about Google+ and Author Rank
  • Why we eliminated blog comments and our Facebook page
  • Is native advertising working?
  • The intersection of serving your audience and creating a profitable business
  • How empathy can influence the customer experience
  • The next episode of The Lede: looking ahead to the evolution of content marketing in 2015

Listen to The Lede below …
React to The Lede ‰Û_
As always, we appreciate your reaction to episodes of The Lede and feedback about how we‰Ûªre doing.
Send us a tweet with your thoughts anytime: @JerodMorris and @DemianFarnworth.
And please tell us the most important point you took away from this latest episode. Do so by joining the discussion at Google+ or over in our new LinkedIn Discussion Group.
The Show Notes

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The Transcript
Please note that this transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and grammar.
The Lede Podcast: The Most Important Lessons We Learned in 2014
Jerod Morris: Welcome back to The Lede, a podcast about content marketing by Copyblogger Media. I‰Ûªm your host, Jerod Morris.
This episode of The Lede is brought to you by Authority Rainmaker, Copyblogger‰Ûªs second annual live conference focused on providing content marketing training and networking opportunities for real-world results.
Authority Rainmaker takes place in May of 2015, and will be held at the stunning Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver, Colorado. Keynote presentations will be delivered by Daniel Pink, Sally Hogshead, and Henry Rollins.
Super early-bird pricing is still available. Go to authorityrainmaker.com for details.
For so many of us, the end of every year revolves around holiday celebrations and spending quality time with friends and family, as it should.
But the end of the year is also a time for purposeful reflection, for considering the successes and failures of the year gone by and for making sure that lessons have been learned and that plans are in place to hit the ground running in the new year.
On this episode of The Lede, Demian Farnworth and I spend a little time purposefully reflecting on 2014 and the most important lessons we will carry forward with us into 2015.
Demian, when you reflect back on 2014, what sticks out in your mind?
Demian Farnworth: What sticks out in my mind? The fact that you roared on one of our episodes.
Jerod: Okay, that‰Ûªs ridiculous. What about ‰Û_
Demian: (Laughs)
Jerod: (Laughing) ‰Û_ content marketing?
Demian: Oh, content marketing! Okay. Content marketing.
Thinking back over 2014, I think of two major events that ‰ÛÓ I don‰Ûªt want to say defined content marketing ‰ÛÓ but at least changed the course, gave it a rumble, so to speak.
The first event was when Google killed Authorship, and the other one was the emergence of native advertising.
The impact of Google killing Authorship
Jerod: Let‰Ûªs start with Google killing Authorship, because obviously that was big news.
What about that really sticks out? And then, more importantly, what can we learn from that?
Demian: Google Authorship was something that Google rolled out about three years ago in June.
It was an experiment, and ‰ÛÓ as we know with Google, nothing is a sacred cow ‰ÛÓ the experiment failed.
Google Authorship was supposed to allow authors to claim their content and then display it in search results with markup code.
Over the past three years, we‰Ûªve probably all seen when we‰Ûªve gone to Google and searched for something that some of those entries had photos on them. That‰Ûªs the display or the image support that Google allowed.
Google was trying to connect authors with their content, because they had PageRank, and PageRank evaluates and judges content based upon the content on that page.
The other half of the equation is who is the author. They wanted to bring in an authority factor. So it was not just the content on the page that was important but also who wrote it.
Authorship was their attempt to do that, and it didn‰Ûªt work out. Ultimately, they killed image support. They actually, in December of 2013, reduced image support and then ultimately killed it in June of 2014.
Then just this past August, Google said Authorship‰Ûªs done, and it‰Ûªs gone.
The reasons why they did it were, first, low adoption rates. People weren‰Ûªt implementing it. It was somewhat complex. It was even absent in some verticals.
You go to some industries, and it‰Ûªs completely absent. Nobody was implementing it.
And, in fact, it had such a low adoption rate only 30 percent of the top 50 most influential social media marketers had implemented Authorship.
Those who you‰Ûªd think it would be most important to weren‰Ûªt even getting involved, weren‰Ûªt even interested in it.
The other reason it failed was that it just had low value to searchers. The novelty had worn off.
Google sees that half their searches come from mobile devices. And since photos and Authorship snippets didn‰Ûªt look right in mobile searches, they decided to kill it.
Predictions about Google+ and Author Rank
Jerod: Let me jump in here and highlight a lesson, what we can take from this.
When Authorship came out, there was a pretty big rush of people, especially in our industry, who implemented it on their sites, and with good reason.
And it also seemed to really increase Google+ usage there for awhile. Once they removed Authorship, it feels like people have started to use Google+ less.
The lesson is, as always, with Google and any of these social media sites: You have to be careful about putting too many eggs in one basket because the rules of the game can change at any time, just as they did here.
It‰Ûªs not that implementing Authorship was a waste of time by any means, but it‰Ûªs just another lesson that these things can change.
It should just be one portion of your strategy, and you never want to go all in on anything that you don‰Ûªt control.
Demian: That‰Ûªs right. And I wouldn‰Ûªt be surprised ‰ÛÓ even though they‰Ûªve said contrary ‰ÛÓ if at some point in the future that Google kills Google+.
Because it‰Ûªs a social site now as it stands, and that‰Ûªs the only function that it‰Ûªs really serving. Unless they find a fundamental use for it, it‰Ûªs not serving a business objective.
I would not doubt that it goes away, too. Because we saw comments and such drop off on our actual Copyblogger profile, and I think part of that is because Authorship ended.
However, Author Rank itself ‰ÛÓ the concept that Google is trying to judge content based on who wrote it ‰ÛÓ is not dead.
And Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land discusses the current state of Author Rank in a good article we‰Ûªll provide in the show notes.
Because it‰Ûªs still used in what‰Ûªs known as in-depth articles, and of course, Google hasn‰Ûªt told us this, but they have other ways of identifying author authority.
Brian asked the question in an article he wrote: What if Author Rank never happens?
The answer is: It doesn‰Ûªt matter as long as you‰Ûªre still building authority and creating great content ‰ÛÓ then you have nothing to fear.
It‰Ûªs what we‰Ûªve been teaching you for the last eight years. If you continue to do those things, you‰Ûªre in good shape.
Why we eliminated blog comments and our Facebook page
Jerod: One of the lessons that‰Ûªs become a lot more clear to me this year is the idea that we‰Ûªre all in business, right?
An online business, or in business to make money ‰ÛÓ but to make money while serving an audience.
That‰Ûªs why I think it‰Ûªs so important to understand this intersection of where you offer the most value to your audience, and then what drives profit in your business.
And this is going to be different for everyone, right?
Two decisions we made this year that created a lot of discussion were removing blog comments and killing our Facebook page.
Some people agreed, some people didn‰Ûªt, and everyone‰Ûªs entitled to their own opinion.
For us, it really came down to understanding where we provide the most value for our audience with limited resources.
We can‰Ûªt be everywhere at all times and everything to all people, so where do we provide the most value?
In terms of our business, what actually drives revenue and profit? Understanding that intersection is what led to those decisions.
It‰Ûªs what you have to understand and think about when you consider possibilities such as ‰ÛÏshould we go after Google+, or should we step back from Google+? What social networks are we going to invest in? What type of content are we going to invest in?‰Û
It really is a lesson that is not specific to 2014, but understanding that intersection of where you‰Ûªre providing value for your audience and where you derive the most business value really is a way to guide your decisions.
Demian: That‰Ûªs right.
Is native advertising working?
Jerod: Let‰Ûªs move on to the next one. I know that you wanted to talk about native advertising.
As you reflect back on the big research project you did on native advertising, what are your thoughts?
Demian: Native advertising has got to be the buzzword of the year, I think. Especially at the start of the year, it was huge.
Companies were coming out of the woodwork to support it, and the funny thing is: we did a series and survey about it, and not very many people actually knew what it is.
In fact, our native advertising survey results demonstrated nearly 50 percent of the respondents didn‰Ûªt have a clue what native advertising is, and another 48 percent had a shaky understanding of what it is.
There were only about three percent that were very knowledgeable about it, and I guarantee those were people who have businesses that cropped up to serve native advertising.
For those who don‰Ûªt know, native advertising is paid content that matches a publication‰Ûªs editorial standards while meeting the audience‰Ûªs expectations.
For example, if you go to BuzzFeed, you can see lots of examples of promoted content, native advertising. If you go there right now, you‰Ûªll see promoted content by PlayStation and Heinz.
Another thing, too, is native advertising is not new. It‰Ûªs just new online.
Because David Ogilvy was doing native advertising back when he did campaigns for Guinness beer, and we termed that an advertorial.
It looked like an article, a top 10 best-of list, but it was an ad for Guinness. It was to promote their beer. It had a clear call to action, which is basically that a Guinness guy eats oysters.
You eat oysters, and it‰Ûªs best to wash them down with Guinness beer. Now we have the same thing online.
That‰Ûªs the editorial side of native advertising.
There‰Ûªs also the in-feed ad side of it: Twitter‰Ûªs promoted posts, Facebook‰Ûªs promoted stories. You‰Ûªll see in-stream ads inside apps, and Google text ads are also an idea that comes from native advertising.
It‰Ûªs just advertising that is basically invading, coming into the editorial space, but it‰Ûªs designed to look as if it was editorial, if it was an article.
Jerod: Let me ask you: is it working? Does it work, and what opportunities does it provide, especially as we look forward into next year?
Demian: That‰Ûªs a great question because here‰Ûªs the thing: Native advertising has been a boon for publishers.
Many big, blue-chip media companies have come collapsing down because they can‰Ûªt compete in the online world.
Well, here comes native advertising and publishers get to sell major real estate at a premium price.
Advertisers pay for this space, so this revenue model actually saves these businesses.
BuzzFeed is a great example. VICE is another example. For the time being, this revenue model is profitable. The question is, like you said, will it be profitable in the long run?
This is to be seen, because eventually the novelty will wear off. And in fact, the sponsored content‰Ûªs native advertising does have a trust problem.
Contently ran a survey in 2014 and demonstrated that people look at, say, an advertorial in Entrepreneur magazine by Dell with a very skeptical eye.
And then ChartBeat, a data analytics company, did a survey in early 2014. They said people simply are not scrolling on this content.
Either advertisers are going to wise up and say, ‰ÛÏNative advertising isn‰Ûªt working,‰Û or they will create compelling content that will actually engage an audience, and maybe close that trust gap.
The opportunities are two-fold, I think. Brands are hiring a lot more writers to fill this gap because they see the value in native advertising, sponsored content, and promoted content.
We‰Ûªve seen a lot of journalists become content marketers.
But this could also be a revenue model for small-time publishers ‰ÛÓ actually allowing brands to come in and create content for their site as an ad.
But again, this is like what you mentioned earlier. You don‰Ûªt want to put all of your eggs in one basket.
The intersection of serving your audience and creating a profitable business
Jerod: And for some advertisers, native advertising isn‰Ûªt going to be possible simply because of the budget.
Like you said, it‰Ûªs a big opportunity for small-time publishers, but when you look at it from the content creator side, it‰Ûªs not always going to be feasible.
That leads me into another lesson from 2014. There‰Ûªs a lot of discussion about content shock ‰ÛÓ there‰Ûªs all this content out there, so how do you rise above it?
You‰Ûªve got to create better content. That simply doesn‰Ûªt change. The quality of your content, its usefulness to an audience, has to continue to get better.
That may mean thinking outside the box and finding new ways to reach people and new ways to maximize different mediums.
Most of our audience, as well as us at Copyblogger, don‰Ûªt have unlimited resources or unlimited budgets, right?
Demian: Right.
Jerod: If we‰Ûªre going to invest more in our content, we‰Ûªve got to take time, effort, and resources away from something else.
You have to find a balance between content and technology.
If you can find ways to be more efficient with what you‰Ûªre doing on the technology side, it will give you more resources on the content side.
And obviously for us, we released the Rainmaker Platform as the solution. The technical part of your business is taken care of on this one platform so that you can focus more on content.
I think as we look into 2015 that is going to continue to be so important, especially for publishers, advertisers, and companies who don‰Ûªt have unlimited resources.
For most of us, we need to find ways to be more efficient with technology so that we can invest more time into creating better content and become more successful with our content marketing efforts.
Demian: And I think to add to that, the idea of content shock is silly because we‰Ûªve always been under a deluge of content. There‰Ûªs never been a shortage.
I can‰Ûªt think of any time in my past that I‰Ûªve ever had a surplus of time to consume all the content that was out there. It‰Ûªs always been a flood of content.
It‰Ûªs really about content fatigue, right? Saying the same thing over and over. Rather than ‰ÛÏefficient,‰Û I think a better word is probably being ‰ÛÏeffective‰Û with your content.
For example, instead of a daily publishing schedule, maybe you only publish twice a week so you have time to focus on creating and researching.
Because the thing is, you have to figure out a way to rise above the noise. If you can pour more of your resources on one piece of content, then you‰Ûªre going to create something better than if you‰Ûªre spreading resources out to create five pieces of content.
It‰Ûªs also this idea of creating asset pillars, and I talked about this in a blog post on infographics. The infographic an as asset pillar reduces your content strategy time.
Say you wrote five different articles that are in your archives. You‰Ûªd take those, create an infographic, and then you create a podcast from that infographic, like we did with the 11 Essential Ingredients Every Blog Post Needs.
It‰Ûªs being smarter with what you have, especially for the small-time publishers. It allows you to pour more energy, focus, and creativity into one particular piece of content.
It gives you a fighting chance versus spreading yourself thin.
Jerod: That‰Ûªs a great point. So one more topic, here, before we close out this episode, and that is empathy, which is one of the biggest buzzwords from 2014.
Anybody who attended our first Authority conference in Denver in May knows empathy was a big word. It really carried throughout the entire year.
Let‰Ûªs close out by talking about empathy and then also how it influences that next-step idea of experience and journey maps.
How empathy can influence the customer experience
Demian: Empathy is this idea of relating to your customer, being in their shoes, but then also wanting to provide a solution to their problem.
For example, I have empathy for freelancers, because I‰Ûªve been in their shoes and I understand them. I know where they‰Ûªre at, and so I can speak to their plight. Their plight resonates with my plight.
Being able to do that is what we‰Ûªre after. And so empathy is just another way of saying something that we‰Ûªve been saying for quite some time, which is about focus on the customer rather than upon ourselves.
We‰Ûªre constantly fighting this from a commercial standpoint. You shift from ‰ÛÏit‰Ûªs all about me, the brand‰Û to ‰ÛÏit‰Ûªs all really about the customer.‰Û
In regard to empathy, what we‰Ûªre trying to do is just relate to them. Google did this when they were promoting some of their products, like Chrome and gmail.
They did it through the dad using Google products to chronicle the birth of his daughter and document milestones as she grows up. That‰Ûªs empathy, right?
Procter & Gamble did a commercial for mothers who are raising Olympic athletes that spoke to everything mothers do for their children.
It was a short commercial, but the idea was ‰ÛÏwe understand, we see what you do, so we want to create products that help you do your job better.‰Û That‰Ûªs empathy, too.
Jerod: Our next episode of The Lede will tie what we learned in 2014 into what we‰Ûªre going to focus on in 2015.
Empathy is really the first step toward being able to provide the most personalized experience to your users.
You have to understand what they‰Ûªre thinking, what they‰Ûªre feeling, and what they‰Ûªre going through to really be able to tailor content that‰Ûªs going to fit their needs at any given time.
Demian: Right.
The next episode of The Lede: looking ahead to the evolution of content marketing in 2015
Jerod: I think one of the concepts that is starting to gain some traction that will gain even more traction in 2015 is adaptive content.
You can‰Ûªt adapt content if you don‰Ûªt understand who you‰Ûªre adapting it for. And that‰Ûªs why empathy is such an important building block and foundational principle.
We‰Ûªre actually going to talk about that in our next episode. This episode was more about looking back to 2014.
Our next episode, which will be the final episode of The Lede in 2014, we will look ahead to 2015 and talk about some of the trends that we expect to see and how we individually, and as a company, are planning to capitalize on those.
Demian: Right.
Jerod: Any final thoughts here, Mr. Farnworth, before we close?
Demian: Yes. I was just going to say I have an article coming out on experience maps that will explain more of what we‰Ûªre talking about here.
But it‰Ûªs a natural progression from empathy to experience maps. An experience map is just a story of how your customer interacts with your product and your brand from start to finish.
We talked about customer experience maps with Brian, and as I did more research on it, it became clear that it‰Ûªs a natural next step to what we‰Ûªre calling adaptive content.
Because once you understand who your customer is and the interactions they have, and you see the high points and the low points, then you can create a better, a sublime customer experience from that experience map.
I suggest creating a prescriptive map, meaning looking forward. What is the most sublime, supreme customer experience you can create?
You can only do that by resonating, knowing your audience, knowing your customer, creating that experience map, and then creating that content, which then adapts to how they interact with your brand.
Jerod: In closing, Demian, I know we‰Ûªre recording this podcast before Thanksgiving, but it‰Ûªll be released after. I just want you to know that I‰Ûªm very thankful for you and for your contributions to The Lede.
Demian: That‰Ûªs very, very, very sweet of you. I need to find a tissue.
Jerod: (Chuckles) All right.
Demian: I am very, very grateful for you too, Jerod. Honestly.
Jerod: Thank you.
Demian: Yes. And you have a wonderful Thanksgiving in your new home, with your gal. Are you guys spending Thanksgiving in your new home?
Jerod: No. We are actually doing the family thing this year, and then next year will be the first time that we bring everybody together in the house.
Demian: Great. Right. Okay, good. All right, buddy.
Jerod: Yes. All right, man. Always a pleasure, and we‰Ûªll be back to wrap up the year in a couple weeks.
Demian: I‰Ûªll be talking to you. Sounds good, man. Take care.
Jerod: All right. Bye.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Lede. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider giving the show a rating or a review on iTunes. We would greatly appreciate it.
And don‰Ûªt forget to go to authorityrainmaker.com and check out all the details about the Authority Rainmaker live conference coming in May of 2015.
You won‰Ûªt want to miss it, and the super early-bird pricing is still available.
All right, everybody. We will be back two weeks from now with one final episode to wrap up 2014 as we look forward to 2015.

*Credits: Both the intro (‰ÛÏBridge to Nowhere‰Û by Sam Roberts Band) and outro songs (‰ÛÏDown in the Valley‰Û by The Head and the Heart) are graciously provided by express written consent from the rights owners.
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