Week 20 - A Time To Be Thankful
Caught in the midst of the always-expanding “Black Friday” sales is an oft-overlooked time when we can be thankful for the people and things already in our lives. It has seemed to be a progressing phenomenon whereby the Christmas season that used to be marked by Santa Claus arriving at Macy’s on Thanksgiving Day in the parade now seems to start once we put away the Ghosts, Goblins, and Candy of Halloween.
While many of us might look forward to the close of 2020, let’s not waste this opportunity to be truly thankful for the blessings we enjoy.
Even amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, some of the most dire predictions both medically and economically have not manifested. Even among those impacted, this has served as an opportunity for neighbors, friends, and strangers to serve one another. Still engaged in the back-and-forth of a tightly-contested election highlighting opposing worldviews, we will still have a peaceful transition of power in our highest elected office.
There are many things for which to be thankful and my biggest hope is that you get to share some of that during this week with those who you care about. Let that time be spent in a fashion that you and they feel most comfortable, but don’t skip it.
For me, I am blessed to have a family with whom to share life as well as friends (both physically and digitally) to interact with. Each day brings new challenges and, having just passed 50 years old, I expect that there are other exciting ones on the horizon.
I want to especially thank all of you among the subscribers (and website visitors :)) for your willingness to join (and stay) on this journey with me. This edition is my 20th and it has been growing steadily since the onset. To those who were there in the beginning, thanks for joining when this was just a dream; to those who have joined along the way, thanks for jumping aboard. (While they may not see this, I appreciate those who have unsubscribed as well because they were willing to give it a try!)
Those who have checked out my book review of The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes (Note: Amazon Affiliate Link) may have seen this quote from the book.
It is keenly appropriate as we are, in many regions, exiting an expensive election season and entering a even-more-competitive Christmas season for advertising. In my home state of Georgia, it is even more so with the dual U.S. Senate races that will conclude right after the New Year’s celebrations.
I mentioned the 21-for-21 Challenge last week. One presenter was Jay Abraham. He is currently working in this arena identifying more effective (and therefore conversion-wise – cheaper) ways to attract audiences, engage prospects, and ultimately close customers.
One area that Jay is focusing on as digital marketing becomes more prevalent is the “slack” in available capacity that is creating in earlier advertising mediums. While normal ad rates may be at their peaks on platforms like TV, Radio, and Print. there are available “overflow” slots that can be purchased in those areas if you seek and find them.
Opportunities like Cable TV or Print Media to Niche groups or even Digital mediums like Podcasts often have unpurchased slots that you can buy at a fraction of their normal cost. Identifying these fringe “bargains” is a great way to advertise competitively with larger companies with a much smaller budget.
If your market is locally-targeted or you serve a specific niche (who congregate around a specific topic/media), you would do well to look into some of these ideas.
Here are a few other things that have caught my eye this week! I included a quick synopsis, but I would love to hear your thoughts on them as well!
Note: If you or your business need help developing some of the skills and processes, visit the Contact Us link above or shoot me an email so we can chat.
Turning Your Blog into a Lead Generator
It has been a topic that we have addressed in multiple newsletters, but Lead Generation is a growing challenge for businesses. While historically, lead generation gets more effective and cheaper as you better target your audiences and improve your conversion rates, the growth of Lead Sellers (and Aggregators like Zillow, LoanBright, etc) have changed the dynamic. Costs for Leads tend to increase over time as more of the margin is captured by the sellers.
Developing the ability to generate your own leads has never been a more important skill for business owners and professionals. It has also never been a less-developed skill among those business owners and professionals.
Google Ads “Smart Bidding” get smarter!
Many people are focusing on social media ads (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc), but one of the first places to investigate a digital advertising strategy is Google. It is the simple difference between Intent-based advertising versus Interrupt-based. Google Ads (and others like Bing) are shown to users in response to their direct search intent. Others (like Facebook Ads) are targeted to interested audiences, but they are interruptions in the usage of the platforms.
The differences are not subtle. For those who remember the Yellow Pages, those ads were based on intent; commercials on TV/Radio are interruptions to consumption on the platform.
Both have their place, but we have to understand what each represents and why they work!
More attention for Covid-19 Eviction Ban
There are likely to be more stories like this as the CDC Eviction ban nears its expiration on December 31st. While difficult and painful to many, the eviction ban was a bureaucratic overreach that should not have been done. There are plenty of stories about renters unfairly evicted and bad behavior by some property owners/managers. Those who acted illegally and unethically should be punished.
That said, the basic premise of residential real estate is that you cannot live somewhere without paying for it. If you will not (or cannot) pay, you have to vacate. A large portion of the residential real estate market is small-to-medium sized owners and investors. These are people who simply own rental property as an investment for their retirement (or their livelihood). They have bills to pay just like tenants do and shifting the damage onto them for our current system is wrong.
Shame on USAToday for this clearly one-sided article shaming a group of people; many of whom are simply trying to protect their own investments.
Getting More Backlinks for SEO
Backlinks are a mainstay of good SEO practices. They are often one of the more difficult areas to improve. To understand why it is important, search engines rank pages and sites based upon their relevance to topics. If your site is more relevant than another, then it will rank higher. Backlinks are relevance hints that Google (and others) use to measure how relevant other sites rate yours. As you are recognized by other sites by their act of linking to you, search engines rank you higher.
This article from Moz (as well as the original Part 1) provides some good hints for building backlinks (and thereby improving your SEO rankings).
Six SEO Tools for Rank Tracking
There are a number of tools that you can use to track your SEO Ranks. The article suggests six options that you can use, but I prefer Ubersuggest from Neil Patel. Most will have similar features, but be sure to get one that offers the right blend of functionality and price for what you need.
If there are posts, articles, etc. that you found valuable, add the suggestion in the comments below.
For those checking out the book reviews, I finished The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes. My post of notes from the book is complete. You can check it out on my blog at this link.
If you would like to read along, I will be starting Content Inc. by Joe Pulizzi soon.
Note: Book links are Amazon affiliate links.
