SEO Basics: Google focus
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SEO Definition: stands for search engine optimization. It’s the practice of
increasing the amount of traffic to a website through the search function on
google.
Must consider the type of viewer and their interests. Certain SEO strategies
might work in certain circumstances but less in others.
How to rank content: improve discovery and relevance, build authority by high
amount of back up links to the site.
Search engine bots initially have to discover the page that was created. They first
simply have a look around your page (discover functions), then the relevance stage
begins and the bot determines how relevant your page is by indexing it (looks for
keywords).
Authority and SEO: Simplified with a Library Analogy
Authority plays a big role in how well your website ranks on search engines.
Imagine you work in a library with a huge pile of new books. These books need to be
placed on shelves so people can find them. This process is similar to how search
engines work.
1. Discovery (Crawling) – First, you need to find all the books. In SEO terms,
this means search engines are checking if your content exists and if they can
access it.
2. Indexing – Next, you organize the books by looking at things like the title,
author, and pages. This is like how search engines process and store your
content.
3. Ranking (Authority) – Finally, you decide which books should be featured or
promoted. This depends on which authors are trusted and talked about a lot.
In SEO, this means websites with strong authority (trusted sources with many
mentions or links) are ranked higher.
These three steps—discovery, indexing, and ranking—work together. If your site
doesn’t have authority, it’s harder for it to be discovered or featured, just like a book
by an unknown author might not get a prime spot in the library.
How to create an SEO strategy:
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SEO hierarchy of needs (from essential to improves competitiveness):
crawl accessibility; compelling content(answer searchers query); keyword
optimization; user experience; share worthiness; title URL and description;
snippet or schema markup
The Foundations of Copywriting:
Copywriting is the act of making text phrases that are short but compelling which
would be incorporated into advertising. Can be loosely described as bullets which
are powerful phrases which creates a “lightbulb” moment within the audience’s head.
E.g. The one food you never want to eat on an airplane.
Questions to ask yourself when making a new advertisement:
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What am I trying to accomplish (establish purpose of copy: product; service;
converting leads(switch lead to a customer))
Who is target audience/Ideal Customer Profile (athletes; business owners;
parents)
Where will my content be seen (restaurant, online, billboards, blog, social
media)
Process of Copywriting:
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Create “bullet”
Highlight/emphasize how much that bullet hurts
Mention some of the remedy in ad, not too much. Leave them wanting more.
Humans naturally hate adversity more than they love the solution, therefor the best
way to give them what they want is by mention the problem, solve the problem a little
bit and they will most likely want the full treatment.
In Copywriting terms:
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Headline: makes them read subheading (if headline sucks nobody will read
the rest of the advert)
Subheading: makes them read the first line of the copy
First sentence: makes them read the second sentence… etc.
 Buzz words (words that grab people’s attention): New; Sale; Limited time (limited
edition); or mentioning the prices. (more buzz words = more affective advert)
 Timeliness: create a sense of urgency within your text. Eg. “we wont do anything
like this again”; “only 20 available spaces left”
Research for advert (more research than writing):
Examine industry to identify newest trends, common pain points and challenges.
Target these points with solutions. Can use other industries to learn trends.
Simple:
Consider writing as a sales pitch. It must be clearcut and brief for easier
understanding for the readers. Make messaging simple as well as visually simple
and easy to read.
Make layout easier to read by utilizing:
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Bullet lists
CTA (call to action) buttons
Short sentences
Captivating color schemes and fonts
Focus on customers not your company:
Customers are interested in their own problems so when creating a copy don’t
consistently reference the business but rather how the business or the
product/service will benefit the user.
Writing Voice:
You want to avoid sounding reactive, weak and unfocused. Convey message with
direct tone. Create sentences that build promise, in other words, guarantee that your
product will aid them with their struggles. refrain from using words like might, wish
and hope, and rather switch them to words like can, will and do.
Do not forget to proofread and fact check. Make sure to do it with a fresh mind, like
the following day.
HubSpot Academy Content Marketing notes:
Power of Storytelling:
Business storytelling:
Creating an alignment between business prospects (person with specific
characteristics, namely target market, has means of affording product or service, is
authorized to make buying decisions) and clients. The goal is to make prospects feel
like the main characters. A story is not history, it’s a summary of what you are doing
and why you are doing it. Story telling is about standing out and not fitting in.
Emotion is remembered more than logic.
How to tell a good story:
Keep audience and tone in mind. Golden circle: people don’t buy what you do they
buy why you do.
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WHY: why are you doing what you do
HOW: how will it help the audience
WHAT: what are you offering
The reason for the pattern/ order is because of the affect it has on the parts of the
brain. When you explain the WHAT you are communicating with an analytical part of
the brain. When you are explain the HOW and the WHY you are communicating with
feelings and human behavior.
Characters that make up a story
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Characters: introduce the people involved(readers or audience), always listen
and respond to audience wants and needs. The character is the connection
between you and the audience. Consider buyer persona (parent/business
owner). Consider point of view: first person (the character is yourself); second
person (your audience. Make sure its empathetic); third person (he said/she
said). Once the point of view is set, keep it consistent.
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Conflict: how the character transforms through the challenge. If the story lacks
conflict it turns into a statement. Consider problems, needs and the stage of
the buyer’s journey.
Resolution: where there is conflict humans naturally want some sort of
resolution. A resolution should conclude the story (next steps or a call to
action).
Storytelling practices
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Use conflict to create emotional appeal
Be consistent and authentic
Clear and concise
Content Creation Framework:
Definition: a structure of processes for publishing content from the beginning stages
to post publication.
The reason why we need a content creation framework is because it allows for
creativity while decreasing the time it takes to finish the project. In other words, a
framework doesn’t restrict creativity if used correctly though it allows for a more
organized process.
How to build a content creation framework:
1. Conceptualizing content: write down frequently asked questions or industry
knowledge that would be considered helpful from the target market.
2. Planning a timeline: maintain agility while still having time to execute on your
initiatives. Identify any company wide initiatives that will need support.
3. Creating a workflow: the sequence of steps which a piece of content moves
through from its initial creation to publication. (who will do what, will you need
freelancers for the project). If you have done a certain process before, think
back to the problems that you experienced and consider how you would
prevent them from happening next time.
4. Reviewing and editing content: you need a reviewal system in place so that
your content is accurate.
- Set clear expectations: the reviewer should know what they are looking for
like grammatical errors
- Define roles in the reviewal process: each person should know what they
need to do and when to do it.
- Determine a timeline: set due dates in a high level timeline.
- Use a style guide: your content needs to be well aligned with the business
brand.
- Track edits: make suggestions rather than change immediately
- Manage progress: use a management software to track progress. (trello)
- Optimize for search engines
5. Organizing and storing content: store in a centralized location for easy
access. You can use things like google drive.
5 primary types of responsibilities in content creation:
1. content management and strategy
2. writing
3. editing
4. designing
5. distributing
Can be divided in a team.
Stages of the buyer’s journey:
1. Awareness Stage: prospect experiences a problem or opportunity. They do
research to get a better understanding of their issue. They are looking for
educational content to help them answer some of their questions.
2. Consideration Stage: prospect clearly defined the problem/opportunity. They
are committed to researching all available methods of solving their situation.
3. Decision Stage: prospect has decided on the solution/strategy. They are
compiling a list of all available vendors and products. Their goal is to shorten
this list until there are few enough options available so they can easily decide.
To give prospect what they want and get them hooked is by providing them
with what every other human in this world wants, something that is free. You
can offer things like free trials, consultations and supporting/education articles
on the advertised product/service.
How to Create a Successful Video Marketing Strategy:
Reasons why video marketing is effective:
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Videos create trust
Videos reduce bounce rate (when a person enters a website and then
immediately leaves. If bounce rate is low, then google thinks everyone
likes your website which improves SEO)
YouTube videos rank near the top of a search engine results page
(opportunity for exploit).
The Inbound Methodology:
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Attract: In this stage the viewers will have a problem that they are trying to
solve, therefore the best way to make a video is to create empathy with
the problem. Examples include: videos that show off brands personality;
thought leadership videos that establish the brand as a source for industry
info and insight; films that show brand values and mission; educational
how-to vids that have relevant tips for solving viewers problems. For
attract videos, talk about your product as minimal as possible.
Engage: Engage video functions as a way to convert prospects/viewers to
leads and then to customers. E.g. Tactical advice, product demos sent via
email, landing page promotional videos, case studies and in depth
educational how-to videos. In different terms it helps audience to visualize
themselves using the product/service.
Delight: Your goal of the delight stage is to continue providing the
customer with good service till they become an “ambassador” for your
business, in other words you want the client to tell their friends of the great
service that they got at said company or you want them to be so happy
with the experience that they invest in another product or service.
Examples of videos in this stage include: thank you videos in email that
welcome them to the community; onboarding videos that set them up for
success with their new purchase; building out a library of educational
product training videos (teach them how to use or “benefit from” the
product. Enabling customers to be successful users of your
product/service creates well informed and educated evangelists (a person
who wants to convert others to said company) of the brand.
PS. When considering these stages do not forget to add CTAs to engage viewers.
Steps for getting started with video marketing:
1. Think of video as entertainment rather than advertising.
2. Build audience
3. Create goals for video, what the video is going to consist of (brand:
storytelling time, business: advertisement time, entertainment: selfexplanatory)
4. Create ongoing relationship with audience (credibility)
5. Make it easy to find you when searching on google (findability). The title for
your topic should be based on what people search for on google, the reason
for this is so they can find it organically (without initially knowing of your
existence). It is usually beneficial to pair video with a blog post, this allows for
more “reach” in terms of how many people will be exposed to the video.
6. Make it a repeatable process
a. The three C’s
i. Commitment: if you have a certain amount of time to produce a
set number of videos, do not focus on how the audience react,
have more focus on getting comfortable making videos initially.
ii. Calendar: make video a routine
iii. Content: map out key topics that relate to industry or what target
market are interested in.
7. Analyze and measure video: views(if your target audience is of 500 people
atleast 10% should have watched the video, therefore 50 people should have
watched the video in this example); view length (did they leave the video
before it finished or did they watch the whole thing, state the topic of video
right at the beginning to filter those who are interested and those who are not
interested); audience engagement (did atleast 10% of the audience that
watched the video engage in likes, shares, subs or comments)
Building a Guest Blogging Strategy Powered by SEO:
Guest blogging definition: Writing and publishing an article on someone else’s
website or blog.
Reasons why guest blogging can be effective:
1. It expands your audience
2. It increases referral traffic to your website (inbound links)
3. It helps your website’s SEO
Creating a Guest Blog Strat:
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Write for websites that have a higher domain authority
Syndicate your educational content (spread your content in multiple
different ways to reach a larger audience)
Think critically about your link-building efforts (the more strategic your
placement of links, the more effective they will be with regards to SEO.
Have your most important inbound link at the top of the page)
Provide outstanding service to your guest-authored content
Nurture the relationship with your contact (people like to work with others
they know, trust, appreciate… etc.)
NB: AI reads through a website like a human, they will read from left to right and
from top to bottom. The reason why this is important is because the first link that the
AI reads (should be situated towards the top of the page) will be the link that the AI
“notices” the most. In other words, the link that is closest to the top of the page is the
link that will gain the most benefits in terms of search engine optimization.
How to find guest blogging opportunities:
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Find your niche (website must be related to your industry)
Find relevant webs that allow guest authors
Do research on twitter/google
Research websites that your prospects might visit often
Prioritize websites with higher domain authority
PS. To find websites that are looking for guest bloggers, input things like [industry
name] + writers wanted.
Secure a guest blogging spot:
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Do research on companies you want to write for
o Who is the author in each post
o Is there a senior writer
Engage with companies you want to write for
o Find recent blog post and repost it with review (provide reason why
you liked their blog), make sure to tag writer, business, and site
where blog was posted
o Send email saying how much you appreciated the article
o To find persons email use Viola Norbert. You will need their name
and their company website
o Remember to not be a pest
Take time to craft pitch
o Know website author guidelines
o Make sure your topic offers unique value (review most popular post
on blog)
o Consider offering ideas that you can repurpose from your content
Personalized emails
o Do not use a template
Always be seeking new opportunities
o They might potentially not answer your email so always look for
different opportunities
o Stick to an outreach schedule
How to effectively promote content:
Building a promotional plan: (Trello)
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What content do you have available to promote
Keep all content in an audit so you have all your content in one place
When should you promote the content (there is always a optimal time)
Optimize for engagement (consider comments, views and shares and at
what times they occur)
Depending on where you advertise you will need to adjust how often you
release content to your viewers. An example would be email vs twitter. On
email people will expect content sparsely meaning that if you send to
many consecutive emails, viewers might consider it as spam and not view
it. On the other hand, twitter requires daily content to attract viewers.
Experiment with frequency
Which persona can benefit from the content? Content must resonate with
the audience on various platforms (depending on the platform)
Create custom messaging for different channels
Do not place content on every single channel (try to provide unique value
to all audiences)
Promoting content organically
1. Search engine optimization
a. Optimize content for specific topics and keywords that you want to be
known for.
b. Inbound links (from high authority websites)